1980s Car Window Manual Crank<\/span><\/p> Your mom’s wood-panelled station wagon had a hand-cranked window that would allow you to calibrate the most perfect breeze, not the one the car’s computer system decided for you. And if you were lucky enough to have pop-up headlights? Then your dad was probably Cameron’s dad from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off<\/em>.<\/p>\n READ MORE:\u00a0Old-School Ways We Listened to Music (and Why We Miss Them)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Fast-forward to today, and, well, you’re driving an iPad. Needing a computer science degree (or help from the Geek Squad) is\u00a0increasingly the theme these days, with many options buried deep within menus and settings.<\/p>\n 1980s Car Radio Buttons<\/span><\/p> Sadly, buttons have gone the way of a good road atlas. But are buttons making a comeback? Button-loving Gen X-ers may be happy to know that a\u00a0report in Wired<\/a>\u00a0says some car companies are finally acknowledging the universal love for buttons after years of touchscreen exhaustion, leaving drivers frustrated \u2014 and even dangerously distracted.<\/p>\n It got us thinking about all those satisfying little features that used to make driving genuinely fun \u2014 the ones that slowly disappeared, sacrificed for the sake of dreaded “convenience.”\u00a0Because when you’re flying down the highway at 70 mph, nothing beats the feeling that you’re the one driving the car. Not an algorithm.<\/p>\n Gallery Credit: Stephen Lenz<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n From kitchen gadgets to clunky electronics and classroom staples, the 1980s were packed with unforgettable everyday objects. Scroll through and see how many of these totally normal \u201980s staples you remember.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Gallery Credit: Stephen Lenz<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAre Buttons In Cars Making a Comeback?<\/h3>\n
Get Ready for Some 1980s Car Nostalgia<\/h3>\n
PHOTOS: 17 Retro ’80s Car Features We Totally Miss<\/h2>\n
MORE ’80s STUFF: 25 Things From the 1980s That You Totally Forgot About<\/h2>\n