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Hydraulic power windows?? In doors? Man, I had enough trouble bleeding a hydraulic clutch properly, and that line was maybe 30 inches tops.

dawidloubser 2y ago
And hydraulic power back seats, and a hydraulic sun roof (!!) and hydraulic power aerial, and hydraulic controls for the air suspension. Some models even had a hydraulic glass partition between driver and passengers. Absolute nuts. But the high point of dead-silent, powerful, smooth conveniences no matter the maintenance cost.
- TacticalCoder 2y ago
  > Absolute nuts. But the high point of dead-silent, powerful, smooth conveniences no matter the maintenance cost. Wife's car broke down (probably the water pump or just a loose hose) on the highway while coming back from vacation. As it was a very busy day where we were (France), there were not any regular cab left so the insurance company sent us a driver with... a Mercedes S class 550 (not a taxi but a private driver: no "cab / taxi" thinggy on the roof). It's still as you wrote: dead-silent, powerful and silky smooth. Diesel engine but as a passenger I honestly couldn't tell, even though I'm a petrolhead and tend to notice these things.
- technothrasher 2y ago
  I used to have a Ferrari 355 with a hydraulic soft top… sort of. The hydraulics (when they worked) only got the top part of the way up, and you had to manually finish the job. If the hydraulics didn’t work, or the seat and window sensors didn’t work, which was frequently, you were out of luck. If you disconnected the hydraulic system you could do the whole job manually and it was actually faster to do it that way.
- peterbecich 2y ago
  In addition to those reasons, the pneumatic system was smaller than an equivalently powerful electric motor, at that time, so I've been told.
bri3d 2y ago
Mercedes love using Anything But Electronics; even into the 2000s they made cars with pneumatic power locks. I believe there was a philosophy that electronic running gear felt wrong. This trend was not universal as my W260 G-Class has only electronic gear (locks windows, etc.), but I believe this was an anomaly amongst Mercedes models.
- jauntywundrkind 2y ago
  And then when they did start replacing all their pneumatics, they used bio-safe wire insulators... That degraded inside the car. Caused unbelievably massive problems. The 1987 W126 is often regarded as the last truly overbuilt car available from Mercedes. In sizable part because of the switch to electrical systems.
m463 2y ago
looking at wikipedia: "In 1963 the Mercedes-Benz 600 was the most expensive car in the world." I expect there was a team of people mobilized to maintain these vehicles. That said, I retrofitted a hydraulic clutch on a dirt bike that came with a cable clutch. The precision movement was so wonderful. I guess by carefully sizing the "sending" and "receiving" cylinders, you can easily choose the exact amount of movement or force you want.
- hinkley 2y ago
  The best thing about the British roadster I had was that if you were real careful you could get it moving from a standstill in third gear. Compared to the piece of shit X-shaped transmission on a piece of shit Chevy with no torque that I learned on, this was a godsend. Some of that was the hydraulic clutch, and part the engine - which descended from tractor engine designs. But the other thing you could do on that transmission was stomp on the clutch pedal, shift out of 2nd on the way to the floor, and into 3rd on the way back up. Where your foot was, the clutch plate was, down to the mm. Fastest I ever shifted a car without double clutching.

dawidloubser 2y ago

And hydraulic power back seats, and a hydraulic sun roof (!!) and hydraulic power aerial, and hydraulic controls for the air suspension. Some models even had a hydraulic glass partition between driver and passengers. Absolute nuts. But the high point of dead-silent, powerful, smooth conveniences no matter the maintenance cost.

TacticalCoder 2y ago
> Absolute nuts. But the high point of dead-silent, powerful, smooth conveniences no matter the maintenance cost. Wife's car broke down (probably the water pump or just a loose hose) on the highway while coming back from vacation. As it was a very busy day where we were (France), there were not any regular cab left so the insurance company sent us a driver with... a Mercedes S class 550 (not a taxi but a private driver: no "cab / taxi" thinggy on the roof). It's still as you wrote: dead-silent, powerful and silky smooth. Diesel engine but as a passenger I honestly couldn't tell, even though I'm a petrolhead and tend to notice these things.
technothrasher 2y ago
I used to have a Ferrari 355 with a hydraulic soft top… sort of. The hydraulics (when they worked) only got the top part of the way up, and you had to manually finish the job. If the hydraulics didn’t work, or the seat and window sensors didn’t work, which was frequently, you were out of luck. If you disconnected the hydraulic system you could do the whole job manually and it was actually faster to do it that way.
peterbecich 2y ago
In addition to those reasons, the pneumatic system was smaller than an equivalently powerful electric motor, at that time, so I've been told.

bri3d 2y ago

Mercedes love using Anything But Electronics; even into the 2000s they made cars with pneumatic power locks. I believe there was a philosophy that electronic running gear felt wrong. This trend was not universal as my W260 G-Class has only electronic gear (locks windows, etc.), but I believe this was an anomaly amongst Mercedes models.

jauntywundrkind 2y ago
And then when they did start replacing all their pneumatics, they used bio-safe wire insulators... That degraded inside the car. Caused unbelievably massive problems. The 1987 W126 is often regarded as the last truly overbuilt car available from Mercedes. In sizable part because of the switch to electrical systems.

m463 2y ago

looking at wikipedia: "In 1963 the Mercedes-Benz 600 was the most expensive car in the world." I expect there was a team of people mobilized to maintain these vehicles. That said, I retrofitted a hydraulic clutch on a dirt bike that came with a cable clutch. The precision movement was so wonderful. I guess by carefully sizing the "sending" and "receiving" cylinders, you can easily choose the exact amount of movement or force you want.

hinkley 2y ago
The best thing about the British roadster I had was that if you were real careful you could get it moving from a standstill in third gear. Compared to the piece of shit X-shaped transmission on a piece of shit Chevy with no torque that I learned on, this was a godsend. Some of that was the hydraulic clutch, and part the engine - which descended from tractor engine designs. But the other thing you could do on that transmission was stomp on the clutch pedal, shift out of 2nd on the way to the floor, and into 3rd on the way back up. Where your foot was, the clutch plate was, down to the mm. Fastest I ever shifted a car without double clutching.