I hate dangling keychains because they always rub on my leg in the most annoying way possible.

Automotive electronics have come a long way since the 50's and 60's.

The keys never leave my pocket now. It's the way it should be!

The mom's Saab 900 had that.
I guess the spring being too short wasn't a problem.

I have rented several cars in the last year and many of them have the keys in the dash as they once were. Of course some are going to keyless, where the key stays in your pocket and most keys don't resemble keys anymore, they look like the key fob and have a USB like protrusion that sticks in the key socket.

You had to turn the light switch off and back on to get the lights back. Very disquieting when it happened on a poorly lit road in the Adirondacks

to remember ignitions on the dash...

I also remember that the first Mr Pipi, before we were married, had a particular late 60s Dodge (can't remember the model) which didn't have a stick shift on the floor or column. It had buttons on the dash for the various gears.

I loved that car. It was a champagne color, convertible, slightly jacked up in the back, and had a Thrush muffler.

Along with several other Chrysler models.

and the 62 to 64 model looks pretty similar.

Was there ever a Dodge version of that?

First Mr Pipi was heavily into Dodge products

That car had major fins in the back. I think I paid $45 bucks for it.

Cost me $50. I drove it for a year and got $15 for it at the junkyard after a leaf spring broke. It was a bit of a rust bucket though

A face only a mother could love:

Mine went to the junk yard in 1970 and it was a mess - lots of rust coming through. I can't complain, though - my net purchase cost was $35 and I got about 14,000 miles out of it.

It's a pic from Hemmings.com. Ours was red and white, and if I recall the Reverse button became stuck. Not a good thing.

I don't know the exact year it was, but somewhere in the '50s.

constant maintenance. The level of quality has generally improved throughout the years.

I also remember learning that having too many keys on a chain could loosen the ignition switch, no matter where it was located.
Happened to one of my cars, and to a couple of friend's cars.

had a friend tell me he had installed a new Lucas switch with three positions-Off, Intermittent, and Fail.....

He says the Lucas electrics are great for his fitness. Pushing a bike home is a heck of a workout (and it allows him to practice up on his swearing).

Had to call the shop from a pay phone to come get me and their bike. Damn lucky, because I was ready to write a check before that happened.

q) "Why do the english drink warm beer?"
a) "Because Lucas makes refrigerators too."

...perfect for old bikers and bars. Consider it stolen...

Also increased maintenance and parts costs imo.

of varying designs that are suppose to mimic metals and composites of the past. Ignitions and ignition switchs have always been a weak point. Look at any old cars keys the key gets worn down, from in an out and jangling around. Todays cars with mirco chipped keys won't run if the keys are damaged or bent. Perhaps we're asking to much of the keys...but then people tend to heap and entire collection of them into a switch designed for one. It only takes a short time to defeat a column switch and lock, any self respecting thief is gone in seconds. The new way push buttons and bio-metrics will eventually fall to the way side when they are circumvented too. The problem is designers seek to thwart theft and forget the operator.

My 2003 Monte Carlo has the key in the dash and not on the steering wheel.
Nothing hits the keys.
My ignition failed last year. It started when I would be driving along and all of a sudden all instrument indicators would light, guages, speedometer would go to zero momentarily just as if I turned the key to the off position and back on. The engine would hesitate and then all would return to normal. It finally degraded where the lapse would last longer and the power brakes and steering would stop working as the engine was off long enough to lose hydralic power.
After 2 visits to the dealer they finally replaced the ignition switch and fixed it at a cost of $415.00.
I am waiting to see if they add Montes to the recall list, but I doubt it. I am just hoping that the replacement switch is not another faulty one.

house keys and all others on one side, ignition key on the other. A tip from my friend who was a mechanic.

house keys/bike lock on one side, and then two separate mates for car keys and motorcycle keys.

I also had a friend with a '63 Dodge Dart that had a push button trans. on the dash. Very cool!

push buttons. Faster than blazes but had trouble passing gas stations with it's two four barrel carburetors. I remember it was really hard to keep the carbs in sync. Ah, the good old days. Amazing that we survived!

I'm 5' 10" and (like tridim) the key in the steering column gets in the way of my right leg. Some years ago, the head of parts department at a dealership told me to keep the car key separate from all other keys because the weight could bend the key and make it unusable. I've done that ever since and it means that I have fewer keys bashing my leg. That's a plus!

I worked in a few dealerships & many independent auto repair shops. I always advised customers not to use oversize key rings or mass bundles of keys in the ignition if at all possible. Does not matter the brand any lock cylinder will fail prematurely if you hang a heavy weight on a pendulum at the end-physics.

But I left the industry just when they started drive by wire-I never liked the idea & still do not. And Chevy's problem was having airbags that could disarm themselves while the vehicle is in motion. They already have/had speed sensors that would give this critical information to the so called brains.

Redundancy in critical systems is always important. Then the switch can fail but the airbags would be there if needed.

It's not even hard to incorporate-but obviously they cut corners. The mechanical peg the blame in the switch is really only a last link. The problem should have never been allowed to occur.

a box of 12 ga. Buckshot on your key harness. I used to teach a non-credit course on basic auto repair, and warned people against metallic dreadlocks hanging from their chains.

Where you could remove the key from the dash-located ignition switch without locking it. So you didn't need a key to start it. All was good until she went back to college and some kid "got lucky" and stole her car--no tools needed. He just took it for a joy ride so things were still all good.

to the gas pedal. And of course later starter buttons on the dash as well. I guess it is easy to figure out I am old as dirt.

Guy who sold it to me had it already running, but when I turned it off, I couldn't figure out how to get it started again, for the longest time.

on the one car he ever owned that was remotely attractive to thieves. If you didn't know where that switch was, you couldn't hot wire the car.

That was as close as I got.

Mine has the truck key, both house keys, padlock key to the fence gate, and two keys that I don't even remember what they're for.

S5.1.1Each vehicle must have a starting system which, whenever the key is removed from the starting system prevents:

(a) The normal activation of the vehicle's engine or motor; and

(b) Either steering, or forward self-mobility, of the vehicle, or both.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/571.114

But I also preferred the key in dash arrangement.

The keys are so large these days that I carry the car key by itself.