Are You Old Enough To Remember What This Is?

There are many things from the good old days that I yearn for. I miss the days when everyone wasn’t glued to their phones, I miss how often families got together, and I miss the sense of friendliness and community that largely seems to be lacking these days. But one thing I do not yearn for from the past is how people smoked all the time and everywhere.

Restaurants, airplanes, hospitals, inside homes, you name it – people were smoking. Looking back, it’s strange to remember how normal it all was. One thing I don’t miss was people smoking in vehicles, particularly with children as passengers. But if you or your family had a vehicle from the 1950s or 60s, this was probably a regular occurrence.

Smoking in vehicles was so common, in fact, that most vehicles were outfitted with ashtrays and lighters fitted into the inside of the car doors. Most of these compartments had a flip-down lid to ensure ashes were concealed and didn’t spill over when the ashtray wasn’t in use.

This feature continued on for the next few decades, finally being replaced by those punch lighters under the car radio in the 90s and early 2000s. Now, no such thing exists in the majority of new vehicles. Probably for the best!