Panoramic rear view mirror

I've just discovered a clip-on panoramic rear-view mirror among an inherited pile of stuff.

Is there any any advantage to using one of these? I'm wondering what their main purpose is.

Comments

  • So you can see the blind spots at a guess.
  • Herzlos
    Herzlos Posts: 14,662
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    For keeping an eye on kids in the back seat?
  • Herzlos said:
    For keeping an eye on kids in the back seat?
    Yes, that's what I thought! As regards blind spots, fine, but you can lose more forward visibility on account of the longer mirror, I would have thought.
  • Grey_Critic
    Grey_Critic Posts: 1,330
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    Used to be very popular - we used to have wing mirrors and they were useless. Mirrors on modern cars are much better.
  • Ditzy_Mitzy
    Ditzy_Mitzy Posts: 1,848
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    My mother used to have one and swore by it.  My father used to swear at it, as it hastened the inevitable driving mirror coming unglued from the windscreen that happened to every eighties Ford with a stick on interior mirror.  I assume the extra weight of the panoramic mirror was too much for Ford's sticky pad.  One could buy little kits to glue the mirror back to the windscreen, but they never lasted.  I remember the use of other types of glue, telephone calls to windscreen fitters and all sorts.  In time, too, the elastic straps that secured the panoramic mirror to the normal one perished, and it ended up lashed on with God knows what.  For reasons I cannot now remember, the panoramic mirror disappeared at some point round the turn of the millennium.  It hasn't been missed.  

    I can just about remember driving one of the cars it was fitted to.  The mirror gave a much wider field of vision, and allowed one to see both rear pillars and the sides of the car.  The payoff, however, was that everything looked slightly distorted.  It also didn't have a dipping mechanism, so would be a hindrance at night.  They were, in all likelihood, simply a gimmick to fill the shelves of motorists' discount shops, in a time where there were many such shelves and even more gimmicks.  Dear, dead days.  
  • All of which nostalgic/satirical goodies neatly sidestep why your mother actually did swear by it, if it really was as useless as you assert...
  • facade
    facade Posts: 6,966
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    They were all the rage in the late 70s/early 80s.

    I had one on my Rover P6. Although you lost the night dimming feature they gave a superior rear view.

    I can't remember what was superior about it though......
    I want to go back to The Olden Days, when every single thing that I can think of was better.....

    (except air quality and Medical Science ;))
  • DullGreyGuy
    DullGreyGuy Posts: 9,878
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    Herzlos said:
    For keeping an eye on kids in the back seat?
    Yes, that's what I thought! As regards blind spots, fine, but you can lose more forward visibility on account of the longer mirror, I would have thought.
    You'd need an odd seating position or an exceptionally long mirror to lose a material amount of forward visibility and even then it would only be in the up/left direction
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