QOTD: What's Your Favorite Ride With Odd Windshield Wipers?
Look, with the best word in the world, we’re all pretty odd around here. Writers, readers, editors (past and future), we’re a community of pedantic gearheads with an affinity for the peculiar. How else to explain Panther Love or Sajeev’s Bitter Tears?
I’m no different, which is why I like it here. One of the things I enjoy — which no one in my immediate family can seem to explain — are cars and trucks with a weird number of wipers. Two wipers? Pah! How pedestrian. The discerning TTACer requires – nay, demands! – their ride of choice to be equipped with rain-clearing devices of the oddest configuration!
Ahem. Yes. Let’s look at a few, shall we?
Toyota’s FJ Cruiser boasts seemingly non-existent depreciation and a trio of wipers with which to clear its windscreen. T’would would appear the house of Akido discovered two wipers would clear the FJ’s mail-slot forward glass with the effectiveness of a worn-out Regina Electrikbroom, and decided to give it three of the things. I think it was a fabulous decision.
Single wipers are a hoot, too. Some were deployed by their penny-pinching manufacturers in a bid to save a few simoleons, such as on the old Fiat Panda and Renault Twingo. Come replacement time, cheapskate owners of these hatchbacks could bask in their half-price wiper fees.
On the other end of the single-wiper spectrum is the Monoblade system developed by Mercedes and found on the W124 cars. In what is definitely one of the best solo blade systems on the planet, the Benzo’s arm manages to extend outwards during its sweep, clearing more of the glass than it would otherwise — a full 86 percent, according to M-B propaganda.
If one is good, two are better, right? That edict might not hold true for headaches, lawsuits, or bouts of the dropsy, but from 1992-1996 Toyota saw fit to endow the Camry wagon with a brace of wipers on its rear hatch. The twin rear wiper setup cleared the vast expanse of glass in a jiffy, leading me to think some manufacturers would do well to adopt this idea today, especially when I’m trying valiantly to see out the pitiful mailslot that’s been cleared by the single rear wiper on [choose just about any modern crossover].
What’s your favourite odd windshield wiper setup? Don’t be shy; we’re all odd around here … perhaps even odder than the wiper solution on the EleMMent Palazzo.
[Image: Sashkin/ Bigstock, Toyota]
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Not mentioned: The Ford Falcon/Mustang/Maverick wipers that had different points, right arm to left, at the end of their swing. Reason being, the motor crank was offset with two rods working each wiper, and the top point was different relative to the two pivots. It was really annoying, to have first the one wiper stop, than the other as the first wiper took off in the reverse direction. Single wiper: The current generation Toyota Yaris. Say what you want about that McCar, but the single wiper, with its articulation arm (shades of 1970s GM!) does in fact clear more of the glass, and more effectively, than most sets of two wipers on most cars.
I like the wipers on the R107, w116, and w126 Mercedes. There are two wipers, but both rest on top of each other. One wiper swipes completely to the other side, and the other one goes halfway. It works very well, and it is very neat to see in action. On the w126 the wipers rested below the hood, they were out of sight until needed. And they were very quick on the fastest setting. That system came before the Monoblade system that was introduced on the w124 chassis.