When was the last time you drove without power steering?

[NotUrsula]

TVGuy, if I didn't know different, I'd say you probably have my BIL's old car. He was the guy that insisted on 3 on the tree, no power steering, no power brakes, no A/C, no optional seat belts and no optional wing mirrors on a new car that he bought in 1965. They had to order it special because no one else was that cheap.

The car was actually a Dodge Coronet wagon that was meant for my sister to haul the kids in; he had a Corvair at the time. (Yep, a Corvair, which he had purchased very used from a fellow Marine vet buddy.) I learned to drive in that wagon, the curb weight of it was 3,400 lbs. It was a beast to steer. (It was still their family car until 1981. By that time it had a new vent system, so to speak, because the door seals leaked and the floors in the back seat were rusted through. BIL put loose plywood over the holes, so sometimes we pulled them up and let the air flow in.)

 

[Lumpy1106]

I drove a 280Z until we had our first kid. No power steering, 5-speed manual, direct fuel injection - LOVED that car!

 

[goofyernmost]

My son? I didn't say anything about my son.
I CURRENTLY own a 1965 Mustang with manual steering. Not an issue when moving, but parking is a chore without power assistance.

Sorry, I accidently quoted the wrong post.

 

[goofyernmost]

For me, it is now last night

My older son’s car started acting up last night on his way home from work. He pulled over and the car died on him. I met him at the parking lot he ended up in, got the car jumped and restarted but it lost its power steering and had all kinds of lights on the dashboard going off. I had him drive my car and followed me in his car and I limped it a couple blocks down the street to an AutoZone, where we were able to get the battery tested. Battery was ok, but the alternator was shot. Unfortunately, the car was completely dead, so we had to go back this morning to get it towed to an auto shop.

I will say, I don’t know how people drove cars for years before power steering was invented. . I can only guess that people were much stronger then.

It wasn't the same as you experienced. It was harder yes but back then, unlike your sons car, they weren't engineered to have assisted help with steering. The systems were a lot tighter on cars that had assist so it is much harder to turn the wheel without the assistance. To answer you question though, the last time I drove a car that did not come with power steering was my boss's Ford Torino. It was fairly new and I think it was in the early to mid 1970's. The only thing I can date it with was that ABBA was on the radio almost constantly. That Ford took a lot of exertion to turn the wheel. I had many other cars before that that didn't have PS but they never turned that hard.

 

[fla4fun]

The only time I have driven without power steering was many years ago when I lost the power steering on my way to work. I was able to get to work with some great effort, but I wouldn’t have wanted to drive that way all the time.

 

[goofyernmost]

The only time I have driven without power steering was many years ago when I lost the power steering on my way to work. I was able to get to work with some great effort, but I wouldn’t have wanted to drive that way all the time.

Again, a car that never had power steering did not steer that hard. The additional mechanical things needed to make power steering work make it massively harder to steer the car if all that attached equipment isn't working. The only time steering was comparable to that when you tried to turn the steering wheel while stopped. That is how parallel parking got its awful reputation. Even moving only slightly made steering much easier.