Handy upgrade
You can’t imagine it nowadays, but it was once not so obvious that you also had a wing mirror on the passenger side on your car, let alone that it could be adjusted from the inside. 30 years ago we showed you how you could still make the latter possible with a Volkswagen Golf.
Anyone who buys a modern car now always has two side mirrors and can adjust them from the inside. This can often be done electrically nowadays, it is striking if that is not yet the case. That was different 30 years ago. Certainly in the lower segments, it was not yet an established fact that the mirror on the passenger side could be adjusted from the inside. Just look at the then brand new Renault Twingo, for example. In addition, during our first test drive we discovered no ‘stick’ to get that mirror in the right position from the cockpit. We thought that was ‘not possible anymore’. In 1993 it was already something that you mainly found in used cars.
This is also the case with a Volkswagen Golf, for example. AutoWeek 6 of 1993 featured a Golf I that not only had a broken side mirror, but also one that could not be adjusted from the inside. Time to kill two birds with one stone. We would give the Golf both a new wing mirror and a button in the door panel to adjust the mirror from the inside. It turned out to be no cheap joke. We had to go to the Volkswagen dealer to get such a new mirror and the associated mechanism. After leaving over 200 guilders behind, the work could begin.
It wasn’t really rocket science, but you had to keep your concentration. There was some drilling involved. Fortunately not in the outer sheet metal. There was already a recess for the Bowden cable (the cable that ran from the transom to the dial). However, the mounting plate had to be attached to the inside of the door with two self-tapping screws. The most exciting job was drilling into the door trim panel. After all, it had to be done in the right place. By holding the panel against the place where the button should be placed, it was easy to see where a hole should be made. After drilling, the door trim could be put back and the button could be put on. Voilà , a new side mirror that could also be adjusted from the inside!
Classic owners may still encounter this nowadays, but we are curious: what was your last car with a wing mirror that could only be adjusted outside the car? And what was your last car that didn’t have a passenger side mirror at all?
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl