Gadgets and classics - from fog lights to dash cams!

Whether it’s a dash cam or a digital radio, many classic car enthusiasts who take their cars out for long country road trips, choose to add a few modern accessories to their vehicles, so that they can listen to their favourite tunes or provide extra cover should an accident happen. Others may prefer a classic gadget as a luxury edition to their car, such as adhesive heated rear windows! Yes, there is such a thing.

Whether you like your car to be as authentic as possible, or are inclined to a few modern upgrades, the odds are you’ll have some kind of gadget in your classic when you take it out for a spin.

Given how expensive these modern gadgets can be, you may want to consider covering them against loss or damage and this May we’re offering an exclusive 10% discount on gadget insurance policies curtesy of our great friends at Gadget Cover. Just enter the code LANCASTER10 at check-out. T&Cs apply.

But long before smartphones or dash cams, drivers in the 1950s had a few other gadgets that were top of their list when it came to accessorising their cars. Reading the small ads from past editions of The Motor or The Autocar is to enter a world of wonder. For just a few pounds or even shillings, you too could make your car even more desirable, as these yesteryear gadgets demonstrate…

1. The Cig-O-Matic cigarette dispenser - One of the more notorious gadgets of yesteryear, which allowed lit Players or Senior Service to be dropped onto the floor of your car.

2. Locking fuel cap - Alternatively, you might consider your 13/6d better spent on a Tudor locking fuel cap, if only to deter Teddy Boys and rotters in general

3. Windscreen washers - Some readers will remember the days nearly every motoring magazine seemed to contain an advertisement for Tudor’s windscreen washers. Such fittings remained an optional extra on several cars into the 1960s

4. HMW wireless - Essential for anyone wishing to listen to the BBC Light Programme as they sped down the A27 to Goodwood

5. Inflatable garage - For additional weather protection, an inflatable garage, as demonstrated on a Standard Ten, seems like a rather good idea

6. Roof-mounted tent - For those long days in August, you could invest in a roof-mounted tent, albeit possibly one of the most uncomfortable holidays of the year

7. Fog lamp - And at a time when winters still meant Sherlock Holmes-style mists, a trip to Halfords to invest 92/6d in a Lucas fog lamp might be a good idea.