(Dave Skinner contributed key technical info to this post) At Dave Skinner’s recent 1964 Olds Jetstar 88 post, eagle-eye Jim Cavanaugh once again raised the question that had been bugging him for years: why were there two different wiper systems used on these B-Body Olds? The low-trim Jetstar 88 (top) has what GM termed as the tandem system, where the two wipers work essentially parallel to each other. The slightly more expensive Olds Super 88 (below) as an overlap system, where the wipers are mounted far apart and overlap in the middle.
I had never noticed that disparity, and became intrigued, and started doing some research via Google searches and at oldcarbrochures.com. Meanwhile, Dave Skinner went down to LA Central Library to dig up the technical data on these systems. So we’ve combined forces, working both in tandem and with a bit of overlap to wipe away any lingering confusion and mystery.
But first, let’s do a bit of wiper history.
Early wipers were often mounted above the windshield and commonly manually-powered. By the mid-late ’30s, most seem to have settled into the format seen until the end of the split windshield, which of course dictated that they not overlap, as on this ’49 Olds.
Even with the advent of one-piece windshields, the wipers still stayed the same.
And that’s how things stayed at GM through 1960, with center-meet wipers (no overlap).
But for 1961, GM came out with no less than two new wiper systems. On higher trim Pontiacs (Ventura and higher) and Olds (Super 88 and higher), all Buicks and Cadillacs, the center-meet wipers now had a decided overlap in the middle. This undoubtedly reduced the amount of unwiped area on the windshield.
Meanwhile, the lower trim Pontiacs (Catalina) and Olds (Dynamic 88/Jetstar 88) and all full-size Chevrolets got a totally new tandem wiper system. Maybe it’s already not such a big mystery as to why.
Dave found these two descriptions of the wiper systems in options brochures. The overlap system came standard as a two speed system, and the washers (with an electric pump) were optional.
The tandem/parallel system came standard with a one-speed motor, and a two speed motor with washer pump was optional.
Here’s a more detailed description of the two systems and what was optional:
- The base models offered single speed wipers with tandem action.
- The dealer could add a washer pump to the single speed wiper system.
- The base model cars could be upgraded to two speed wipers, but kept the tandem wiper action.
- The Super 88, Starfire, and 98 offered two speed overlap wipers including a washer pump.
Here’s some detailed images Dave found in the 1964 Olds Service Manual that show the guts of these systems. Here’s the tandem system.
And here’s the overlap system. And the mystery is of course solved: the tandem system used significantly fewer parts in its mechanism, not needing the center pivot (located at the same spot where the passenger side tandem wiper base mounted) and second mechanism arm from there to the outside wiper and its mounting. These parts undoubtedly weren’t exactly expensive, but over volumes of millions of cars, every penny adds up.
Where did the tandem wiper system originate? At GM, with the 1960 Corvair, where every possible penny saved was critical, and the tandem system worked well enough.
And the 1960 Ford Falcon had the same kind of tandem wipers too.
But the 1960 Valiant still had the center-meet, non-overlap wipers. And that was pretty much the case for all American cars at the time.
Rambler, like Studebaker and the all the rest, also used center-meet wipers, but it seems that starting in 1960, there was a bit of overlap to them, at least in some of the pictures I could find. Maybe folks just had the wrong sized blades on them?
But the 1961 Ambassador, with its larger windshield, clearly had some overlap to its wipers.
Chrysler stuck with the center-meet (non overlap) wipers through 1964 on its big cars, 1965 on the B-Bodies, and 1963 on the A-Bodies.
Then switched to tandem wipers on the subsequent years: 1965 C-Body, 1966 B-Body and 1963 A-Body.
Ford stuck with the traditional center-meet (non-overlap) wipers through 1962 on the big cars.
Switching to tandems in 1963. The 1962 Fairlane had tandems like its platform-donor Falcon.
The 1961 Thunderbird had overlap wipers quite similar to the GM ones. It kept them through 1966, and switched to tandems in 1967 when it went to the new BOF platform.
Meanwhile, the 1961 Continental played to a different drummer: it had tandem/parallel wipers, but mounted the opposite way of just about every other tandem system.
Why? Looking at this picture, the new Continental’s pronounced tumblehome created a windshield with a decided slant, looking at it from the front. That actually suited the arc of that wiper quite well, and it wiped the lower corner of the driver’s side much better than either a center/overlap or typical tandem system. Lincoln kept this unique system through the unibody era, ending in 1969. Then came conventional tandem wipers.
So what about GM after 1964? A good question, as there’s even more curious goings-on there. Chevrolets kept the tandem system.
A Google search for 1965 Pontiac Catalinas confirms that although some Catalinas, like this 2+2 did still use the tandem wipers, a majority of images show the overlap wipers. Was the tandem system eliminated mid-year, or just a factor of the production mix? Brochure shots show only overlap wipers, but clearly there were some built with tandems too. But I couldn’t find a single 1966 Catalina with tandems. And that applies to all the 1965 Olds B-Bodies too; no more tandems. They were now relegated to Chevy, but not for long.
In 1967, Pontiac pioneered the hidden wiper system, and as can be seen here on this Bonneville, it’s still an overlap system, but there’s now a second arm on each wiper, to create the articulation necessary to lower the blades below the lip of the hood. Pontiac kept this system through 1969.
But in 1970, Pontiac reverted to the tandem system.
I couldn’t find a suitable shot for a 1968 Olds 88, but the two fuzzy ones I found showed that they used the same tandem wipers as this 1970 88. Only the driver’s side is articulated.
It looks essentially identical to the ones under this 1968 Chevrolet hood. And Buick used it too. So when Buick and Oldsmobile B and C bodies moved to hidden wipers in 1968, they all used a tandem system with articulation on the driver’s side, except Pontiac.
Cadillac also stuck with the overlap wipers after moving to the hidden versions in 1968. Like the Pontiacs, they are articulated on both sides, apparently necessary to make them hidden.
But not for long. By 1969, Cadillac joined the rest of the GM tandem brigade.
And with the new 1971 B and C Bodies, everyone now had the same tandem system, as they would going forward.
So hopefully we’ve wiped away the mystery of GM’s two wiper systems, and cleared up some other related wiper history.
I think wipers were top mounted because the windshield would open from the bottom for ventilation
I remember riding in my dad’s 59 Ford in a snow storm and having that triangular blind spot in the center of the windshield
When we got our new valiant with the parallel wipers no more blind spot
Now were back to the center wipers which I think came back with the 1988 general motors w body cars
Ford trucks went the other way. They had parallel wipers from ’46 to ’55, then switched to claphands in ’56 when they switched to a more wraparound windshield. It’s hard to tell about prewar because most had only one wiper, but the pictures I can find show claphands before ’42.
I had some email correspondence about wipers some years ago with Aaron of AUWM, and his thought was that wipers were originally hand-cranked (no wiper motor), and it was easier to put the mechanism at the top. Your theory about the windshield opening at the bottom makes sense also.
I too am having the “I’m not alone!” reaction to all this. I’ll have more to say when I have some time.
Great article, but with all the research it completely ignores export RHD full size Chevrolet and Pontiacs.
All export factory RHD full size Chevrolets and Pontiacs from 1949 through to 1968 used “overlap wipers”. These “overlap wipers” suited both RHD & LHD cars.
The ‘unique’ 1961 – 1969 Ford Lincoln wiper system actually suited Right Hand Drive perfectly. I own a 1965 Chevrolet Corvair Monza Convertible that I have converted to right hand drive. This conversion includes reversing the “tandem system” so it suits RHD.
I could go on and on about export RHD Chevrolets & Pontiacs but better stop at the above.
I know VW used air pressure from the spare to power the washers, and the low end Mopars used a manual foot pump. Were there other creative solutions or did everyone else use electric pumps?
The early Mustang used a foot pump as well.
The motorized washers were also interesting. Some (mostly GM) would cycle you through a predetermined number of squirts when you pushed the button, while others (like Chrysler) squirted steadily as long as you held the button.
JP, are you sure about the foot pump? My ’65 Mustang has an electric washer motor; you just pull on the wiper knob.
Maybe the early ’65s?
1967-68 had the foot pump, but it was electric.
The earlier car had a round knob that you pulled for the washer.
The ’67-68 had a flick switch, like the blower fan. No provision for any other function, hence the foot switch.
I could have sworn that my 68 had a foot pump that was pressure operated. But it has been a long time ago.
Hey you’re right!
I just assumed it was electric.
https://www.google.com/search?q=1967-68+Mustang+windshield+washer&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi4tPi_06boAhUaVN4KHXQWCtcQsAR6BAgJEAE&biw=1366&bih=661#imgrc=-ELjXkqS9timVM
Now that’s what I call retrograde!
One benefit (?) of the Mustang’s vacuum foot pump was it would operate (once) without the electric system activated. I guess it would be handy to manually wipe the windshield.
Not directly related to windshield wiper systems, per se, but who could forget GM’s brief foray into hidden, windshield-embedded radio antennas in the late sixties/early seventies. Reception wasn’t that great even in the best of circumstances, but it really got annoying when the wipers were being used at the same time and the radio would cut in and out in time with each wiper sweep.
The windshield embedded antennas were used until the late 70’s. I have had several, and still have one in my Malibu. It doesn’t have as strong of reception as mast, but it’s not as bad as you describe. Albeit, I only listen to FM if I listen to the radio.
rudigger: I had an electric mast antenna on my 1977 Olds 98, but when I had the windshield replaced, they installed one with the embedded antenna. Since the electric mast no longer worked, I just capped it off and used the one in the windshield, then suddenly I noticed a huge improvement in my reception, especially when driving through the “radio hell” area just outside of Boston (Needham/Wellseley). I assume the roof protected the antenna from the signals coming from above, eliminating the overload that was prevalent in that area at the time. I remember a woman at work mentioning that the windshield antenna on her ’73 LeSabre was one of the best she had ever had as well. It probably depends a lot on the car body shape and the reception conditions. Anyway, I did get that cutout problem with the wipers on my ’86 Dodge Lancer GTS (with mast antenna); a switch to plastic wipers got rid of it.
J P is right as both my 68 Cougar and Mustang have foot operated pumps off to the left and above the high beam switch.
The 1959 Mercury was advertising the advantages of their parallel wiper system before GM joined in. During this era Ford, Mercury and Lincoln each developed different systems.
That picture is intriguing. The artwork has to be wrong, because there is not a flat edge on the drivers side as would have to be the case with parallel wipers.
And isn’t it fascinating that in that 10 year period from 1959-1969 we went from only one car having parallels (Mercury) to only one car having clappers (Pontiac).
Interesting discussion of something I haven’t spent too much time thinking about! Well done, guys!
Really cool post! I’ve often wondered about this kind of minutiae myself, and now there it is, all laid out. The Lincoln thing is really odd – never noticed it before.
Minor niggle: “Chrysler stuck with the center-meet (non overlap) wipers through 1964 on its big cars, 1965 on the B-Bodies, and 1963 on the A-Bodies.” You’re forgetting Imperial, which clapped hands until the end of MY 1966.
The opposite of the meet-in-the-middle kind of wipers were the ones made by Panhard on most of their post-war cars. Mesemrinzing.
https://youtu.be/fxU3KbSHH3o
Also used by Alpines well into the 80s.
Chrysler liked that system where the wipers met at the middle and rested along the outside lower edge of the windshield, used up until 1951 or 52, I think. Of course, they each stuck to their own half of the windshield. I have never seen that Panhard system – Cool!
The Panhard system reminds me of the monowiper system that Mercedes used for awhile.
The Panhard system reminds me of the monowiper system that Mercedes used for awhile.
And didn’t another manufacturer use a system with two wipers on one arm?
The Mercedes mono wiper was intriguing, but flawed. The wiper had a cam that would push out the blade to the upper outboard corners of the windshield and a heavy/strong spring to retract at 9, 12, and 3 o’clock. The result was a large sweep area, but created a vibration that could be felt in the brake pedal.
I’m surprised no one has commented that Ford used a butterfly wipe systems on vehicles like the Fusion, but retained conventional parallel systems the corresponding Lincoln (MKZ in comparison to the Fusion; MKC to the prior gen Escape/C-Max).
Not to mention the Benz monowiper lube dries up inside the cam assembly and it fails.
Another solution to a problem nobody had!
You know, I never noticed that before, and we owned a 2014 Escape and now have a 2015 MKC.
You’re right! The Escape’s are overlap, and the MKC’s are tandem.
The 61-69 Lincoln and 61 through, I think ’66 Thunderbird had hydraulic wiper systems which were powerful, but having several, two had problems not turning off properly, had two Mercedes 560 coupes with single blade wipers, fun to watch.
Those Panhard 24 wipers are absolutely hypnotic. What sort of linkage drove them, and what is the advantage of that design (besides looking mad cool?)
It wasn’t an issue in Canada. All Canadian Pontiacs used the parallel wiper system
since they were Chevy-based. I always assumed BOP cars used the handclap wipers, at least until the hidden era. I am surprised Pontiac stuck with it so long in the US.
Even when hidden, Canadian Pontiacs always had the parallels.
Growing up, I always regarded hand-claps as old-fashioned, probably because it was older cars that had them. I saw the parallels as being modern, and was disappointed
when the W-Bodies went to hand-claps in ’88. I saw that as a retrograde step.
By the way, the ’67 BOF T-Birds still used hand-claps, becoming parallel in 1968.
I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a Pontiac with the Vigilite lamp monitors. This shows them as an option, but I thought you could only get them on Chevys in the late 60s. I know they became an option for Caddys, Buicks, and Oldmobiles in the 70s, but I didn’t know they were available for Pontiacs. Can’t seem to find a picture of one with them, not even a fully-loaded Bonneville.
I’ll bet they were Canada-only, since much of the hardware was Chevy-sourced.
Here’s another example from 1967. What’s wrong with this picture?
Owners of 1967 US Pontiacs would know instantly.
Ooooh, I know, I know! The heater control does not look like a radio.
Right, that’s the main thing, also note the Power-Glide quadrant.
The ‘glide gear selector?
See? While this picture doesn’t show the passenger side wiper, it’s evident that it’s a clapper.
I had forgotten that change between the 67 and 68 Thunderbird. This fleshes out my memory that the 67 design had problems with the new federal standard, probably because of the big unwiped V in the middle. Pontiac got around that by the articulated design on both sides which wiped clean to each A pillar and bought enough wiped real estate that they could get by with the unwiped V in the middle.
67 Thunderbird had articulated wipers just like Pontiac.
I have been fascinated with windshield wipers since I was a kid. Here are some additional factoids:
I think the first US parallel wipers may have been the 59-60 Mercury. Also, the Studebaker Avanti used reverse-sweep parallels (like the 61-69 Lincoln), though apparently because the asymmetrical hood bulge interfered with wiper placement of the normal design. Finally, standard Studes switched from opposing to parallel wipers in 1963.
The really big change came with a vehicle equipment safety standards rule (515/12a) first proposed and published in March of 1966. 12a dealt with windshield wipers, and essentially mandated that 95% of the windshield be covered by the wipers. I believe that the 67 Thunderbird was the first to come up with the articulated wiper arm, which was necessary to meet the looming standard. And virtually everyone was using an articulated wiper arm on the drivers side by 1969 to add those precious few extra square inches to the wiped surface.
Finally, I still think there is more to the 61-64 B body wipers. Clearly the parallel system was cheaper. But I do not believe that Pontiac ever used it on a 4 door car – just 2 doors (and not all of them), while Olds used it on all of the low-end series through all body styles. I still wonder if there was a production angle there. I did a little research and it appears that only 3 plants turned out Chevy Olds and Pontiac B body cars (Arlington, TX, South Gate (Los Angeles) and Wilmington, DE.) Wilmington was a Chevrolet Assembly plant that took on the others, while the other two were from the old B-O-P Assembly operation that took on Chevrolet. I wonder if those 2 door Pontiacs and Olds Dynamic/Jetstar 88s came from plants that also built the Chevys (which were surely built in higher numbers). Interestingly, none of those 3 plants built Buicks.
Oh wait – one more early parallel system – the 1940-48 Lincoln & Continental. I don’t think they had figured out the big benefit of the parallel system in terms of greater wiping area. These could park in either direction and resulted in two separate half-moons of wiped area. The worst of both worlds?
Curiously, reverse sweep parallel wipers were featured not only on the mentioned Lincoln Continental and Studebaker Avanti, but also on the Ford L-series commercial trucks.
When this investigation started I was convinced that the finding was going to point to cowl area changes with the transition from the center-located wiper motor to the later DS located motor.
Your plant theory is intriguing. But even if so, the cost savings of the tandem system was obviously still the driving factor for their use on the lower cost cars. That doesn’t change.
Are you saying that only three plants assembled ALL the GM B bodies? That’s a couple of million cars. I would have assumed more plants. But if so, it’s certainly logical that those plants assembling lower trim cars all used the one system and vice versa.
I did find this ’61 Pontiac 4 door with parallel wipers, but it appears to be a factory shot and might have been a pre-production prototype.
It’d be interesting to see how/if parts books note the different cowl intake panels?
I found a place that decoded data plates (tpocr.com). I looked up Pontiac, Olds and Chevy. Pontiac, for example, had 11 assembly plants that year. Oldsmobile used 9. Chevy had 15. I compared those listed and after eliminating those that appeared to be A body plants, I got 3 where all 3 cars were built (as opposed to just one or two). I just checked Buick again and was wrong – it was built at the South Gate plant too.
You may also be right about Pontiac 4 doors, but I think that may have been the case in 61-62 only. I have not been able to find a 4 door 63-64 with parallel wipers. The Pontiac 2 doors are really odd, as they came with both.
I just wonder if there were certain plants that built lots of Chevy Bs that required some commonality in order to accept BOP cars. This was when GM was edging away from separate plants for Chevy and for BOP and towards GM Assembly Division. It is certainly an intriguing rabbit hole.
FWIW, it really wouldn’t be at all hard to build both versions in the same plant, and even on the same line. As those drawings show, the underlying cowl panel was the same either way, and it was already stamped with the hole and mounting holes for either system. It was just a matter of installing the right system, and a different outer cowl panel. This is much less difficult than so many other options that were installed without problems on the same lines all the time.
If it involved more extensive differences, I could see the plant issue being more of a point. It still might be one factor but to me it’s pretty obvious that cost was the biggest factor.
That 95% coverage rule led to another wiper oddity, triple systems like the MGB with 3 short wiper arms because the windshield was too short to accomodate a tandem wiper setup long enough to sweep the full width.
I thought I’d show off my MGB to support your comment.
Here they are in the up position
Excellent post.
So in 1961, GM higher trim cars had the overlap system while the lower trim cars had the tandem system.
I presume then that the overlap system is the “better” of the two. Why did this not survive then?
And what was better about it? More wiped area?
Had a 73 Porsche 911S that reverse-sweep paralleled like the Lincoln
’61 Pontiac Catalinas had the overlap wipers too. There was no difference between them and a Ventura in that area. And yes, Ramblers had a small overlap until they went to the other style.
I’m glad you included the Continental’s unique system, and maybe I missed it, but what was also unique (and used on those and later on T-Birds, up through at least 1970) is that they were hydraulically operated. I’m not aware of any other brand that was taking that approach in the ’60s.
Great article!
Admittedly, most of the ’61 Catalinas do seem to have overlaps. But I’ve found images of a few that don’t.Here’s one:
And here’s another:
My MK I VW Scirocco had a mono wiper. It carried over to the MK II for the first two model years when it was replaced by parallel wipers…The mono wiper was cool as is was unique , but the dual wiper worked better
Always loved my 80 Scirocco S single wiper system…worked well.
Am I the only one here who’s completely flabbergasted by the fact that my 4-5 year old self had amassed most of this inane information, only to lose track of it until reminded again this morning?
For some odd reason I carefully cataloged all of this knowledge of 60s-70s wiper system nuances by make and model, purely through observation of vehicles in traffic on rainy days.
Another oddball factoid: I can’t seem to fact-check the accuracy of this one, but I believe the ’81 Camaros and Firebirds were the last GM cars to retain the articulated driver’s side wiper arm due to the wide but not-very-tall windshields.
I must have been a really weird kid.
Not weird at all. What’s weird is never having forgotten it. 🙂
You should also remember the odd linkages – like how some Fords (trucks, and the 65-ish and later Mustangs, Mavericks, etc) had the sloppy linkage so that the passenger wiper was always following the drivers wiper by about a second. That one drove me nuts.
And this one – that I learned firsthand. The late 50s-early 60s Mopar clappers that would get some slop in linkages so that the passenger side wiper would never park all the way down against the windshield. Like this one. The only ones that are all the way down are helped by the hands of their proud owners.
Wow. Yup, I do remember those Ford truck wipers, and yes, they irked me something fierce.
The “stacked” wipers on ’70’s Mercedes SLs drove me nuts too. They were such an elegant and purposeful design, but watching them in action made me nuts. It must be some odd low-level OCD strain.
I owned 2 MG midgets in my 20’s, and I can distinctly remember sitting at traffic lights in the rain and watching those 3 little blades sweep back and forth, just to make sure they were all dancing to the same drummer. I’d probably have been very upset if one of them landed just a half second behind the others.
The Mopars had to be shut off when the wipers were in the lower part of the windshield (about 6-8 inches from the base of the windshield) shut off above this area, one or both of the wipers stay up too far. I’ve had a ton of Mopar’s over the years and every damn one of them will do this, sometimes it takes cycling them several times to park them flat. The original owner of my ’66 black Imperial did not park the wipers right, and even though only 3 1/2 years old when I got it, the right wiper still parks high occasionally, I have to cycle them using the correct parking area until it works. At car shows I let Mopar owner’s know the procedure. One owner of a ’56 New Yorker was dubious, they never parked right for him, with his permission, I started his car, ran the wiper through two sweeps, and shut them off in the lower part of the windshield, they went to the brite strip, all the way down. The procedure was told to me by Angelo Volpato, the local dealer, he said, watch a Mopar, when turned on the wipers cycle without going all the way to the parking position, turning it off close to the bottom of the sweep indicates the wipers should go all the way down and park. I spread the word to Mopar owners, asking they pass the info along, I have two ’57 Belvedere’s, convert and sportCoupe, like the white one pictured, the wipers are parked
MTN: you’re not the only “weird” kid! When I was in my single-digit years during the early sixties I memorized every car that had parallel wipers, overlap wipers, or “Clap hands” wipers (where the pivots were mounted in the center and the blades swept up to “clap hands” in the center of the windshield.
And let’s not forget the XKE (and other British sports cars) that had THREE wipers!
Same here. And European cars were much more diverse. Mercedes Fintails began using the overlap system which was later shared in the 108/109s and the 114/115. The Mercedes overlap was different, the blades were longer and the wiping looked to be more complete. Many years of riding in 220D taxis made me wonder why the 123s came with tandem wipers. Probably costs. The 107 and 116 that had those weird center installed tandem looked like a prequel of the large articulated monowipers that would come with the 124 and 201.
Finally and unrelated, the Peugeot 404 also had tandems that would lean towards the driver (to the left of the car, even if it was a RHD)
Great post. Lincoln was certainly marching to its own beat – the wipers on my 67 were also vacuum switched/operated and hydraulically powered. So you had two systems to troubleshoot when you had problems. You really have to love those 60’s Lincolns to own one. Jim.
I sometimes wondered if Hydro wipers and crank-snout PS pumps were always together. it would make sense. A broken PS belt would leave you without wipers.
Putting it on the snout eliminated that possibility.
I don’t recall the hydraulic/vacuum control interface, but a neat parlor trick was that with the key off, engine stopped, it was possible to turn the steering wheel slightly and that would generate enough hydraulic pressure to sweep the wipers.
Wow, and I thought I was the only one who had all this windshield wiper stuff down as a kid. A few more tidbits, that photo of the 65 impala shows the correct mounting of the wipers. There is a difference between left and right, the driver side arm has a slight angle to it so that the wiper does not hit the side trim when it is in use. It is also that the bottom part of the wiper clears a slight bit more area. The passenger side is a straight arm that sits up slightly and will clear more of the center. I see more 61 to 67 full-size Chevy‘s with these mounted the wrong way. Doing that means that the wiper on the driver side will hit the A pillar trim. Strange thing is they are marked left and right on the underside, but nobody ever looks when re-mounting them. The photo of The 65 Pontiac looks like it has two left hand arms. I’ve seen a number of Chevys with them mounted like that as well. Another little tidbit, the 1968 to 72 GM A Bodies had hidden wipers but the lower trim models have exposed wipers. The wiper arms were actually the same as the corresponding year X body Novas. The 1970 Camaro and Firebird also used the same set up I’m thinking that stopped after 1977 on F bodies, but memory escapes me now. I still own a 68 nova SS that I’ve owned since 1977, I also owned a 1968 Chevelle 300, from 1979 until 1992, and it had the same exact wiper arms as my 68 nova. Not sure about Pontiac Oldsmobile and Buick, but you actually could order the hidden set up on the Chevelle 300.
After 50 odd years in retirement centre meet wipers are backThe last car I can remember owning with centre meet wipers was a 1960 Vauxhall Velox my 61 model had overlap type though it shouldnt have but I noticed on a ride thru town the other week my mates 06 Citroen C4 has centre meet wipers so the idea has been revived his work really well clearing the entire windscreen far netter than GM UKs effort on the old Velox. Just to be different Vauxhall 6s prior to the previously mention PA series cars ran the wipers via a cable driven off the camshaft so not wiper slow down when you accelerated like Fords vacuum system which was their UK favourite and awful coming from a wet climate WTF were they thinking though knowing Ford it was probably cheap.
Our 68 Pontiac Catalina had the overlapping, hidden wipers and it did indeed follow a two-step process in which the wipers slowly moved up onto the glass, and then swept across it. And then it followed a reversing process to place the wipers back in their cove. It was a neat trick at first, but then you wondered how long it would take before something bent and jammed, or ice built up in the cove and stopped the whole process cold. And when you drove through a good puddle and got splashed, or passed a semi, there was always that extra moment of blindness while you waited for the wipers to come out of their hiding place. You quickly learned at such times to immediately turn the wipers to their high speed so that they could “catch up” with the splash, as opposed to just giving the windshield a quick wipe. That had to cause extra wear and tear to the system.
Our wiper system never gave us any difficulty, but this car was garaged, so it would not have had much chance to sit out in a good ice storm and test the system. I think the gas station that serviced it was always the one to change the blades. You would have had to move the wipers out onto the glass in order to be able to reach them, I wonder how they felt about that process. I bet there were stations that charged extra for the privilege.
The ’92-’95 Taurus and Sable were notorious too for wipers that had to make their way up out of the basement before they could do anything, even though they weren’t entirely hidden.
My ’70 Torino had hidden wipers, with the driver’s side wiper articulated to reach more of the windshield. Worked like a charm, but I never had to deal with the car in anything but a southern Arizona winter.
At least vacuum-operated wipers are gone. When one needed them the most, the vacuum was at its worst. When the driver let up on the gas, they would flail crazily back and forth.
Had a black ’69 AMX, when just bought, went for a speed run, open highway, no cars, pushing 130 mph. Suddenly, the WIPERS , WITH A SOUND LIKE SLIDING TIRES, ARC TO STRAIGHT UP AND DOWN on the windshield that second scared the hell out of me, pulled over looked under the hood. VACUUM WIPERS. I didn’t think any still had them. the force of air at that speed forced the wipers up the windshield, was AMC the last to make electric wipers optional? Sort of like my son’s 2019 Nissan, bought new with roll up windows, very base, only one the dealer had with a standard trans, he likes shifting.
You meant “Was AMC the last to make electric wipers standard?” And yes, I believe they were, and not until the 1972 model year.
As long as you bring up the Taurus, I recall the original 86-91 models seemingly setting a record for largest percentage of windshield cleared by the wipers.
Fast-forward to today, where (virtually) all cars (in the US, at least) come with power windows, because it’s cheaper to put P/W in *everything* than it is to design/build/inventory manage a non-power window system for cheapskates.
Manufacturing has changed a lot in 60 years.
The last remaining hold-out for manual hand crank windows are base model pickup trucks. Guess the volume is so high that the extra engineering/parts inventory are still justified.
Had to drive 64 Chrysler from Kelowna to Vancouver in winter once…horrible wipers and no washers. You opened a side window while driving and used a squirt bottle of fluid…not the ideal setup but it sort of worked.
This article dusts off a very old memory of my dad’s ’77 Cutlass Supreme. One of its wipers, I think the driver-side one, had some kind of an articulated rod/lever on its arm. I want to say this was atop the main arm, and I remember seeing the parts near the blade articulate into a little triangle at the top of the wiper stroke. But beyond that I can’t recall how it was configured or exactly how it modified the wipers’ behaviour. Any Collonnade geeks care to chime in?
It’s not the best video, as it doesn’t really highlight the articulated arm very well, but here’s one of an older A Body with the hidden wipers/articulated arm system was in place:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntLfemUItoM
I believe this carried on through the Collonnade era.
I just found this pic of Colonnade wiper arms, with the little triangular bit on the driver’s arm. Still wouldn’t mind seeing a video of this at work, but no such luck.
If you really want to see one, remind me in a month or two and I will make one for you when I take my Malibu out of storage. Like JP mentions below, these were very common in the 70s. My Torino has the articulated driver’s side arm as well.
Thanks, Vince; I’ll try to remember. Even looking at this pic, I just can’t get a mental image of just how that driver-side arm works.
As promised, GM Colonnade wipers in action:
Those articulated wipers became almost universal in the 1970s. See my comment above where the Gubmt issued a new rule that required 95% of the windshield to be cleared. That hinged blade changed angle as it got close to the side pillar and finished the outsweep almost perfectly parallel to the A pillar.
Here’s the Ford version. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4-uAuGZ3_Y
The GM A/B/C body cars got them in 68, Chrysler C bodies in 69 and B bodies in 71. The 69-70 Ford tried to make do without with a wiper on the drivers side that skinnied up to the edge, but they had an articulated arm in 71 which stayed through the 91 Crown Victoria. I think the M body Chrysler kept one through the end of its run too.
I’m not sure what happened to that regulation, as the small cars never had those, but perhaps the smaller pieces of glass they used lent themselves to effecient wiping without the articulation. And, of course, that system went away with newer designs (like the 1977 GM B body).
I figured the point was to comply with FMVSS № 104, just couldn’t recall how exactly it worked on the Cutlass.
The swept-area requirement is more detailed than “90 percent”; the percentage varies depending on the width of the passenger car, and the windshield is divided into zones. See FMVSS № 104 for details.
I think it was just the geometry of the windshields that changed. Dad’s 77 Monarch had the articulated DS wiper, because the pivot point for that wiper arm was well inboard of the left side of the windshield. Mom’s 78 Cutlass had the DS wiper pivot much closer to the A pillar, so no articulation was needed. I suspect that the windshield itself was taller, so the wiper blade could be longer and still cover the required glass area from the outboard pivot.
Great subject , haven’t time to post a picture now, but the Australian Dodge Phoenix (Plymouth Fury) kept meet in the middle wipers through 1968, not sure about the fuselage models,, hard to see in the pictures.
Here’s a pic.
And it looks like they went to a correct RHD sweep for the tandem set up in 69
Our 1963 Cadillac with overlap wipers would trip a circuit breaker (which would reset itself) if a gas station attendant washed the windshield and put the wipers back the wrong way. Fortunately it was not a fuse.
Dad had a 53 Ford where the washer bag hung down below the dash above the dimmer switch. You squirted the juice by pushing your foot against a little hinged pedal (IIRC, it’s been a lot of years) and that pressed against the bag, essentially just “squeezing” the fluid out of the bag.
Then I had an 03 Murano where the post that the wiper arm attached to was not even nurled. I had to tighten the big Phillips screw that held the arm to the post occasionally to keep the wipers wiping. No wonder that’s the same company who when I called about a non- functional fuel.pump (and hence non-functional car) told me to just “drop by your local Nissan dealer and they’ll fix it for you..” Little hard to “drop by” when your car doesn’t run.
Carlos Ghosen “you how much knurled wiper shafts cost!?”
That was the way my 85 VW GTI was, as well as an early 80s Mazda of a friend. Only you tightened a bolt instead of a Philips screw. I think the knurled knob was a US thing. It wasn’t perfect either, say when you bent the locking tab as I did on my 71 Scamp. I had to give it a pound with my fist from time to time, or else the arm would go flying off the car. Always in the rain, of course.
They aren’t knurled shafts, they are splined. Some vehicles, like my truck, have a nut that holds it on the splined shaft.
A friend bought an early ’65 Catalina convertible. It had parallel wipers, it was supposed to have clappers with articulated arms, but according to the dealer, production issues held up the adaption, thus the parallels on the early ’65s.
In fact, the ’65 Pontiac brochure shows Catalinas with the articulated wipers.
I believe the 61 thru 66 T-Birds used hydraulic wipers.
I remember seeing a washer fluid pump with a little wheel on it that leaned up against a fan belt when you needed fluid.
Other weird thing that has I have carried thru to this day, I stingy with the use of the washer fluid, wife always asking me to squirt some on and clean the windshield off. I suspect this is a hold over from the 60’s era of driving were it was not uncommon to run out of fluid because of the long drive home and all the crap on the road from snow storms.
Vacuum wipers were another fun thing, my drive included going thru the Minnesota river bottoms twice a day, long climb with the occasional quick let off of the throttle to get some wiper action. Last item, I have a Corgi and he takes great offense when the wipers are used, barking and growling while he hides either in the footwell or behind the seat.
That’s right, and they worked minimally even if they were driven by a proper motor rather than an incapable vacuum contrivance. This is from a Popular Mechanics review-and-owner-report of the 1962 Valiant, which had the same wipers as the ’60 model. Makes it pretty clear why the feds felt it necessary to issue FMVSS № 104 specifying a minimum acceptable percentage and area of swept glass.
I wonder what that generation of bureaucrats would have thought of the five-inch-thick windshield pillars on some of today’s compacts?
If by “bureaucrats” (oysh 🙄) you mean the traffic safety experts and proto-regulators of that time, they likely would have been very interested to see the data that drove the move toward the thicker pillars, and the data describing the safety trends as thicker pillars proliferated.
That pattern would drive me up the fricken wall as I don’t like any obstructions on my windshield anywhere.
My three decades’ experience with a ’62 Lancer confirms you and PM in this gripe; those wipers were just not adequate—and they were far from the only inadequate wipers at that time.
Back in the 70s I remember Consumer Reports would regularly show the wiper coverage of windshields, just like the picture above.
The Saab 99 had “reverse” wipers like the ’60s Lincoln and Avanti; the 900 went to the normal parallel design. Were wrong-way wipers common on early imports from RHD countries like UK and Japan? Sweden though has been LHD since 1967, a couple of years before the 99 debuted.
I wanna think cars like the 99/900, as well as others like the MB W116 and W126, Porsche 911, had their wipers pivot near the centre of the windshield to minimize aerodynamic lift of the blades. Wipers pivoting near the middle have airflow parallel to the blades for most of their arc, where wipers pivot near the corners have airflow across the blades, creating lift. I suspect it’s also what led MB to the mono-wiper of the W124 and others.
Sweden began driving on the right in 1967, but most cars on Swedish roads had been LHD for decades.
I’ve had 2 first generation Saab 900s. The driver’s side wiper made an almost 180° sweep, while the passenger wiper stopped in the middle like a normal car. I believe this system was made for 2 reasons. 1, the windshield was low and wide. 2, this allowed for the wipers to be mounted in the same position for LHD & RHD cars while just reversing the direction. They didn’t need to create 2 different cowls and motor mounting locations.
Like many of the OCD here, I can obsess about wipers.
My very early years were dominated by ’60s Chevies with tandems. I didn’t appreciate until today how fancy we were – we always had two-speeds with washers.
When my world expanded (still in the GM world), I came to realize overlaps were associated with cars typically fancier than our Chevrolets.
For reasons unknown to me at the time, the world seemed to go nearly all tandem in the ’70s.
When I stepped back in time in 1985 and bought a 1965 Buick Riviera, I thought its overlaps were just the coolest thing. The prominent widow’s peak that formed on the windshield when clearing a light snow was especially cool. But, at the time, I conceded that tandems seemed to clear the window most efficiently and fully, especially on the driver side in typical (non ’60s Lincoln) applications.
One thing I don’t think mentioned anywhere here was the ’70s Ford tandem system where the washer squirters were mounted on the wiper arms. At least the big Fords like my Dad’s ’76 LTD had them. They seemed to work quite well, I have no idea why I’ve never seen them in any other application.
I currently have two Ford Fusions (’16 and ’18) in my fleet. I was quite surprised to note they have overlaps. And, remarkably, three washer squirters. With their huge arms and overlap, they form nowhere near the widow’s peak that my Riviera would. As I’ve noted before, the bean counters did not get their way with the current Fusion, likely explaining its success.
I don’t have a good wiper photo of my Riviera, so this will stand in its place. When overlaps were fancy…..
My 96 Honda Odyssey also had wipers with a huge overlap. It was a little weird watching the slightly different speeds they moved as they approached each other. I seem to remember that there was an articulation mechanism on the passenger side wiper arm. It was quite unusual to see in operation.
Check out the GM dustbuster vans if you want some serious overlap. The two wipers are almost stacked.
I think a big reason the Ford washer nozzles on the wipers disappeared was in colder climates the fluid (especially diluted with water) would freeze in the wiper rendering them useless. My experience from Wisconsin.
Bob
I once read that the reason that the 1961 Lincoln Continentals had there parallel wipers oriented in the reversed wiping position, was that the engineering department took photos of the mockup (quickly based on the 1961 Thunderbird mockup), placed against a mirrored wall. Photos taken of the reflection of the mockup in the mirror were used and the design was then based on the reflected view of the correct orientation of the wipers.
Obviously, the driver has a worse sweep area in the upper left corner with the reverse parallel wipers.
I don’t know if this theory is correct of not, but it is hard to believe that engineering would have done this intentionally, unless there was a technical reason.
Some thoughts on wipers, in no particular order.
The Datsun 510 had center-meet wipers when it first came to the United States. Pretty early in its history, starting maybe in the next model year, it got tandem wipers. I don’t know why they made the change.
The Peugeot 304 had reverse-sweep tandem wipers, at least on LHD cars. In their road test of the 304, Consumer Reports said they found this odd, since France drives on the right. Tatra87, if you ever see a RHD 304, I’m tasking you with reporting back to us!
With few exceptions that I know of, British cars (or at least British Leyland cars) sold in LHD markets had reverse-sweep tandem wipers, at least from the LHD viewpoint. Japanese cars for LHD markets had (and have) tandem wipers positioned for LHD. It’s hard not to see this as a microcosm of why Japanese automakers are thriving and the British motor industry has gone away.
The International Harvester Metro van had the driver’s-side wiper at the top the other wiper on the bottom. Maybe to give good sightlines down the road and to mailboxes, house numbers, what have you, on the right?
https://flickr.com/photos/terry_frederic/5855152446
My Dad’s ’49 Frazer had the same system as contemporary Chryco products– where the wipers met at the middle and rested along the outside lower edge of the windshield, as JPC put it.
And here’s the Hupmobile J-521 featured on CC: clappers at the top of the screen. Only such case I know of.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1935-hupmobile-j-521-six-aerodynamic-raymond-loewy-helps-usher-in-the-aerodynamic-era/
At the end of its time in the US market, the MGB had three parallel wipers—presumably because of FMVSS № 104. At the time Road & Track said, “Three wipers seems ridiculous, but law is law.” Of course the Toyota FJ cruiser with its wide, shallow screen had a similar arrangement.
The Datsun 510 first came to the US shortly before the advent of the first Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, which is probably why they quickly reworked the wiper system.
I’m fairly sure the FMVSS took effect with MY 1968, which was the first year for the Datsun 510 in the US.
The first Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, including № 104, took effect on 1 January 1968, which was midway through the 1968 model year—except FMVSS № 209 (seat belt assemblies), which took effect on 1 March 1967 because that date had already been set in a prior rulemaking action; see 32 FR 2408.
FMVSS № 104, in its original form, applied to “passenger cars 68 or more inches [in] overall width” (32 FR 2410).
One of the first changes to 104 was to make it applicable to “passenger cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks, and buses” — no longer just cars at least 68 inches wide. The proposed effective date on that change (32 FR 20867) was 1 January 1969, and after consideration, that effective date was enacted (33 FR 6467).
The 1968 Datsun 510, according to Wikipedia, was 61.4 inches wide, so FMVSS № 104 would not have applied to that model until 1 January 1969.
Never mind, I answered my own question! Here’s a RHD Peugeot 304 with UK license plates and the wipers parked on the left.
http://bestcarmag.com/sites/default/files/20594121974_peugeot_304_convertible.jpg
50-odd years ago J. C. Whitney sold electric pumps to give an assist to vacuum wipers.
The wipers in the Citroen 2CV were driven from the speedometer cable.
This article has triggered my OCD.
I am reminded of an article in the Dallas paper several years ago about an autistic kid who knew all about the different automatic car wash systems and which car washes in Dallas had each system. As I recall there were only a handful of different automatic car wash systems in total.
Here’s a wiper pivot on a ’37 Buick. I don’t know why they put the pivots on those little pedestals, but they did. The wipers met in the middle.
And all was well with the world, and we all saw that it was good.
Then they invented the Toyota Previa.
Someone above asked if the 1981 Camaro and Firebird were the last with articulated wipers…I don’t think so. Pretty sure it was the 1991 Grand Marquis/LTD Crown Victoria twins!
Will someone please retrieve my comment from the trash? Thanks kindly.
Both our Peugeots – the 307 and the 508 – have wipers that overlap enormously. They’re easily the best wipers of any car I’ve driven. Not our 508 below, but shows the wipers u pin the ‘service position’ (ie for new blades)
When I started noticing cars in the late ’50s, most European cars had tandem wipers. There may have been a few with meet-in-the-middle wipers, but I can’t think of any. Of course Japanese cars weren’t even a blip in the US at that time, so I can’t comment on them.
Not sure why I missed this when it was first published, but here are some interesting European single-wiper examples
https://petrolblog.com/2014/06/10-best-single-wipers/
You’re incorrect about why Pontiac offered articulated wiper blades. Pontiac introduced them on the big cars in 1965. They were articulated, but not hidden, on the 1965-66 models. With the 1965 redesign of the big cars, the engineers at Pontiac found that the articulated blade provided the best clearance of rain on their new windshields. They came standard on the Bonnevilles and Grand Prixs. (Not sure about the Star Chiefs). You could have them on the Catalina, which came with standard parallel wipers, if you ordered the windshield washer option.
RHD Chevys (which were built in Canada for OZ/NZ retained the center parking wipers during the 60’s!
ALSO in OZNZ, specific signal colors were required……Just try finding THOSE lenses at your local swap meet!!!
I watch a lot of ‘Out of Spec Motoring’ YouTube videos on EV’s, and noticed recently that the Europe-only VW ID.3 uses a monster overlap wiper system
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcVvHR9EPJk&lc=UgyDqd7S5Q-i-Iq0OM14AaABAg.9TOE6WoiUto9TS9BK4kIAS&t=469s
while the ID.4 (at least the US version) uses a parallel system.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikheO2Nb3-k&t=3492s
I’d assumed these cars were identical in most underlying respects. Is the parallel system a cost-saving measure for the US where VW’s hopes for the ID.4 are so great?
I have been intrigued by windshield wipers since I was a kid riding in my parents 1968 Pontiac Bonneville. That model had articulated wiper arms that met in the middle of the windshield. The purpose of the articulation seemed to be so the wiper blade could reach out to the edge of the windshield in alignment with the edge, maximizing the cleared area if the windshield. The articulating arm also changed the blade angle to align with the pocket where the wipers parked, when not in use. Later in the 70’s. The passenger wiper was changed to again be a tandum type to wipe more of the area the driver needed cleared, at the expense of the passengers side of the windshield.
I owned a 1976 Mercury Monarch with the tandum wiper arrangement using a driver side articulated wiper arm.
In 1986 I owned a Mercedes 300E. It used the single center mounted articulated wiper, using the cam system. What I didn’t like about it was, that even at the fastest speed, the wiper had such a large area to sweep, that it could not clear the windshield fast enough in heavy rain. Also, the velocity of the blades outer tip was so fast, it threw water violently left and right off the windshield onto pedestrians at stop lights. Over time I noticed abrasions on the outer edges of the windshield from the asymmetrical velocity, and blade wear on the outer end of the blade, since it had to travel at least 5 times more windshield area during each sweep. Washer fluid had a hard time reaching the outer edge of the wiper blade, making the dry rubber more abrasive and eventually scaring the glass.
My 2010, 2015 and 2020 Lexus RX 450h’s used a drivers side wiper arm with an articulating second arm support component, that appears to maybe be attached to a cam. It articulates the blade angle to better align with the drivers side windshield edge. It also ducks the wiper blade down toward the hood as the wiper reaches the straight up position during a sweep across the windshield. This allows for a longer blade and more windshield coverage. The second tandum arm uses a shorter blade to catch the passenger side area and wipe off the water shed from the driver side arm. This wiper arrangement, in my view, has achieved the best of all worlds, and approaches to clearing a windshield of water, and covering the most significant area.
My favorite wipers to watch in action, are the gigantic articulated wipers found on transit busses. These articulated units end each sweep vertical to the outer edges of the two separate windshield sections. It’s fun to watch them in action, sometimes not in synchronization. Some buses have upper windshields too. Four wipers all articulating their wiping action.
The mid 60s Pontiacs with tandem wipers with no hideaway are Canadian.
The GM W bodies used the corvette’s wiper system — opposed, hideaway, and with the right wiper on top. If you watch them, you will see the right wiper reach the end of its arc and stop while the left wiper catches up, then gets a head start on the way down before the right one starts moving again. The W also used the Corvette’s transverse monoleaf rear suspension. I had an 89 Cutlass and the wipers were the only thing I liked about the car.
All hideaway systems with tandem wipers used articulatiion until the GM 77 B body and GM 78 A body. The Granada/Monarch used articulation without hideaway as did the Dodge Diplomat/Plymouth Gran Fury of the 80s.
Honda Odysseys and Toyota Previas used an articulated right wiper on its opposed systems to prevent the wipers from colliding.
The only opposed hideaways with dual articulation were the 68 Caddy and 67-69 full-size American market Pontiacs.
Who remembers the one-wiper VW Scirocco?.
I had an ’81 Scirocco with the large single wiper.
It looked cool, and covered an impressive percentage of the windshield area. Being centre-mounted however meant that the glass in front of the driver was cleared at alternately shorter and longer intervals – and the longer of the two was sometimes only barely adequate in heavy rain.
I do like the early W-body wiper system; however, it does have a couple of flaws… or at least annoying quirks:
If you have the left window open at all, you will get a steady dribble of water raining in on your door panel at most speeds… the only time it doesn’t is when you’re completely stopped or above about 60mph. The right side doesn’t do this, and I’m guessing it’s because that wiper slows down more toward the end of its travel, thus doesn’t “push” water quite as hard so as to make it go over the A pillar. The left wiper will actually fling water a few inches beyond the A pillar if you’re stopped with wipers on high speed. Also, the wipers start to lift off the glass at about 80mph, and will just float several inches in the air above 90-95mph. I found this particularly amusing due to my age (late teens through my 20’s) at the time, however, I now cringe at the thought of driving north of 100mph in the rain in a plain-white-wrapper Lumina sedan. Somehow, I still exist, as does the car. Both in mechanically sound condition, though a little worse for cosmetic wear.
Articulated wiper arms were made to clean the windshield all the way to the A pillar. The bottom of the blade would swing out to be parallel with the A pillar. Eliminating the blind spot on the bottom corners!
My favorite is still the articulated type on our 78 Thunderbird. GM changed from the articulated type on full sized cars in 77 i belive and every one I’ve owned has a chatter. I’m old fast I guess!