Mirrors On The Hood

  • Thread starter Rykon Zero
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Rykon Zero

Rykon Zero

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RykonZero
ok. i searched, and couldnt find a thread like this.

What is up with these old japanese cars that have the wing mirrors located on the front bumpers? did this have any advantages, and disadvantages other than the fact you have to see the bumper? :confused:
 
One of my first cars was a Japanese import that had its mirrors on the fronts wings of the car (above the wheel arches). It had to be the worst place for mirrors. They are too far away (even on a 1985 Honda Accord) so you can't make out things as clearly as those mounted on the door and to make matters worse whenever you got anywhere near motorway speed the wind would make the mirrors vibrate so much that you could'nt see anything in them at all!
 
I’ve always wondered that myself. The only thing I can think of is that maybe they were better at seeing in blind spots.

BTW, many cars sold in Asian markets still have them – usually there will be two normal door-mounted wing mirrors, then one bumper-mounted wing mirror on the side opposite of the driver.
 
I wonder if it's so you can better see what's alongside you in the mirrors. then again, (looking at my avatar) why was the Great Western the only railway to use pannier tanks attached directly to the sides of the boiler, rather than on the engine's chassis?

To be different? I dunno? there had to be some functional reason. It might have been an attempt to reduce blind spots, but it's still a puzzle...
 
Rick, I'll forgive you for living in West London. ;)

No influential American car had that styling feature for as long as I can remember. I'm even thinking back to the '40s and '50s.
 
I could never figure out why they did that.

But, a friend has a '57 Bel-Air 4 door with the mirrors mounted halfway up the fenders, and he has pretty good vision from them. Maybe they are to better see what's alongside. Don't some semis have a mirror or two mounted way up in the front?
 
Actually, some school buses have mirrors on the nose to see what's directly in front of the nose. and, yes, I've seen those mirrors mounted on Semis, too. Also taking into account that the cars those nose mirrors are used on are relatively small, and that cities like Tokyo are rather congested, perhaps that's the goal of having mirrors waaaay out there, to see better what's alongside.

and the Panniers, I found, were used to lower the C.G. and solve water heating problems over saddle tanks, while leaving access to the valve gear. You learn something new every day.
 
neanderthal
blind spot mirror.


kthxbye
Click to expand...
...except that you can't see anything in a 4" diameter mirror mounted 4 feet in front of you.

It's a style thing, and JDM styling is actually verrrrrrrry conservative and chnages verrrrrrrry slowly.
 
Duke
...except that you can't see anything in a 4" diameter mirror mounted 4 feet in front of you.

It's a style thing, and JDM styling is actually verrrrrrrry conservative and chnages verrrrrrrry slowly.
Click to expand...

im guessing you dont actually drive an old car.

i have three cars, two are the same model, so lets call it two for the sake of clarity. lets also call one new and one old.
one is a 1969 BMW 2002.
the other is a 1990 mercedes 300E.

on the old car, the windshield is far more upright, the dash is not very deep and having a mirror at the base of the A pillar entails actually moving your head to look at it. leaning forward does nothing to show me whats in the blind spot.

on the new car, the windshield is far more sloped than on the old car. the dash is rather deep, and i can look at the mirror at the bottom of the A pillar without having to move my head. i can lean forward and see whats in the blind spot.

there you have it.
on old cars, the mirror is positioned there so you can see the blind spot better while also seeing whats behind you. measure distance from head to mirror if you dont agree. your milage may vary depending on what car you measure with. my old car is small. a 69 eldo is not.
on new(er) cars its for the blind spot.
 
Yup... blindspotters... in fact, they're still sold as a popular accessory in some shops here.

While it's true you can't see very much in those tiny things, the point is not how much you can see, but increasing your awareness that there's something there... that's why it's usually only on one side... (the passenger side), as it's hard to see into that lane when you're merging in.

It comes on the top-of-the-line fully-JDM (yo) and ridiculously over-kitted X-Trail here.
 
neanderthal
im guessing you dont actually drive an old car.
Click to expand...
Yes, I do drive an old car - I have a '67 Pontiac LeMans. The windshield is fairly upright, the dash is shallow, and the wing mirrors are mounted aft of the A-pillar outside the little triangular vent window that '60s cars used to have. I don't have to move my head at all to look out the driver's side mirror, even though it's quite close. And with proper adjustment, there is no blind spot.

Take your wife/girlfriend's compact mirror and hold it at arm's length. You can pretty much see your whole face in it. Now have her hold it four or five feet away from you and look at what you can see - not much.

@ nicky: I've never seen them mounted singly - always pairs:

celicaxxhh4.jpg


Seriously - look at how small and far away those mirrors are. If you can even see the driver's side mirror through the A-pillar, what you can see is going to be nothing but a bunch of little specks.
 
Hey guys. I saw the mirrors on an old MG sedan this weekend. where were they? out on the fenders.

So, they have something to do with seeing out of small cars. the way they're mounted on that Celica's a head scratcher, though.
 
On modern Japanese cars/trucks with two door mirrors, they're often mounted singly. Comes in handy, I guess, when merging on our tight roads, where you've got building built right up to the edges of the road.

Regarding how useful they actually are... *shrugs*... my door mirrors are tiny, too... :lol:
 
I actually like wing mirrors on old japanese cars,it's the old fashioned JDM style that is well known between enthusiasts.

But the functionallity is pretty much questionable,it is true.

@ Duke: I think i saw single once,but only once somewhere on the net.
Probably personal modifictaion or something,i think KP61 Starlet was the car.
 
Japanese trend my backside.....


Cl_Morris_Minor_Car_1.jpg



....the rest of you Brits should be ashamed for not being aware of this styling cue on the 1948 Morris Minor.

A number of British cars featured wing mounted mirrors in the 40's onwards, the claim being that they did help with blind spots, however it is quite true that they can also be difficult to use.

Regards

Scaff
 
and in that pic my point is ably made by the short distance from the bottom of the A pillar to the driver.

akin to my car.

but as i said, not quite as likely in an american car. their idea of a "small car" back then was still bigger than mine.
 

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