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Windscreen quarterlight

 
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The other day, it was sufficiently warm in this sceptred isle for me to actually put my car's top down. I drove with that sense of smugness that is available only to drivers of convertibles in warm weather.

It occurred to me, though, that full top-down-ness is not really essential. The only difference between driving with the roof up, and driving with the roof down, is the wind burbling over the top of the windscreen and messing with your hair.

At the same time, convertible cars tend to be more expensive than their non-convertible brethren, because of the extra complexity and the extra strength needed in the car's lower body.

Proposed, hencefore, is the Windscreen Quarterlight. Quite simply, this is an openable section that involves the topmost two or three inches of the windscreen. With the Windscreen Quarterlight and the rear windows open, the full burblage of the oncoming wind will be free to tousle your hair, giving you the exhilaration topless driving at a price affordable to the unwashed masses.

(And yes, [8th], I am well aware that the Series I Landrover has openable sections designed by Fotherington-Bullthrope in his revision of the earlier design by Bullstrode, as requested for use by troops stationed in Myanmar; and that those openable sections were themselves cribbed from the design of the 1932 Great Western locomotives manufactured at the Blithwick works; but they are at the bottom of the windscreen, and fail to achieve the necessary hair- burblage.)

That is all. The remainder of this idea is intentionally blank.

MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 08 2016

For when your bug supply is interrupted by events... Bike_20Beauty_20Bugs
[normzone, Sep 09 2016]

[link]






       "Burblage!!"   

       (horses rear and whinny in background)   

       Wouldn't the wipers get hung up while traversing the (presently closed) Windscreen Quarterlight?
whatrock, Sep 08 2016
  

       Couldn't the same effect be got from having an air-conditioning vent in the roof of the car to provide the required hair-tousling? If necessary, a UV light could also be installed to give the concomitant characteristic convertible car sunburn.
hippo, Sep 09 2016
  

       //Wouldn't the wipers get hung up while traversing the (presently closed) Windscreen Quarterlight?// Hmmm. That's a point I hadn't considered.   

       //air-conditioning vent// possible, but then the car would have to carry a small container of insects that could be injected at random into the airflow, for the full effect.
MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 09 2016
  

       //the car would have to carry a small container of insects// - surely a small robot arm can pluck insects from the car's air filter? This would preserve the 'terroir' of the experience as it would ensure that the insects injected into the airflow were appropriate for the vegetation, region and weather you were driving through.
hippo, Sep 09 2016
  

       [hippo], your place on MaxCo's Design and Recall team is secure.
MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 09 2016
  

       You could always remove the windscreen entirely, and wear some stylish aviator goggles. Throw in the leather cap and scarf as well...   

       Or maybe a windscreen that retracts downwards partway into the cowl. The HVAC system might need some tweaking...
RayfordSteele, Sep 09 2016
  

       //remove the windscreen entirely// The problem with that approach is that, when driving at any speed above 40 miles per hour, a Silk Cut lasts about 14 seconds.
MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 10 2016
  

       ^ This info could find its way onto those cigarette packages: "Always Use A Windscreen".
whatrock, Sep 10 2016
  
      
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