turn indicators in the 30's

Dont know if anyone here is old enough, but when I was little there were still a lot of OLD cars and trucks on the road for every day use. does any one remember the old metal arrows on school busses and trucks with reflectors on them operated with a lever by the driver of the vehicle?? They were usually mounted somewhere near the doors of the vehicles a few cars had them too, but not many. I see a lot of old restored cars and trucks, but never see the "period" turn indicators. before we had 2 tail lights. I was just wondering, hope someone remembers!
jo anne

 

Nice intro,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, not.

 

Weren't they called semaphores ?

 

I've seen them on some British cars like R/R and Bentley, recessed into the B pillar. Most of the time back in the day, we used hand signals or at least we were supposed to. I grew up in a small town where turn signals were not much of an issue because the guy behind you had known you all of your life and knew perfectly well where you were going to turn.

 

There is one on an old Mack truck.

 

VW vans had them into the 50s. I'm not sure if they were optional or not, but they were around and probably still are in the vintage VW community. They called them Trafficators. I think they even rated a short mention in that fine hippie bible and repair book, Volkswagen Repair for the Complete Idiot

 

semaphores

that was the name for them

 

Hi in the foreign car world they are called Trafficators. I have them on my 1937 Mercedes Benz.

 

i looked up semaphores..and they did indeed call them Trafficators
different name..same thing

 

VW's Bugs and vans had then til mid 50's

 

I have a 1928 stude 2 1/2 ton flatbed truck that has turn signal arms, both operated by driver side mechanical linkage. It's in Idaho in storage so I have no way to post pics yet. It's still way down on my to do list........DON