Side-steps - who has them and why?

[NoBeardNoTopKnot]

Now I'm one for period accessories. Can't abide modern stuff, yet any old shonk goes on if it's 'period'.

Yet, even when the kids were young, never understood why anyone would want side-steps? The kids always managed to clamber in; it's too long ago for me to remember how I got in at that age. But I did.

Seems to be an option sold on the day of purchase, akin to any Ford dealer back in the day; ready with a vinyl-roof mit GXL badge for your Cortina.

Have I got this wrong?

[Wittsend]

Yes ...

[NoBeardNoTopKnot]

There's brevity.

[Peter Holden]

I have one on the passenger side so that my wife who has arthritis can get in.

It is a pain because it often gets clobbered when off roading

Peter

[w3526602]

Hi,

I never had any problems just "getting in" ... no recollections of doing anything unnatural. I am (or was) 70" tall, with a 29.5 inside leg.

Barbara is/was 64" tall, also with a 29.5" inside leg. She also had no difficulty just getting in. But that was then. It was over a year ago that she fell. She would not have gone on the Triage for three hours, so I called the Fire Brigade. The snotty Crew Chief called an ambulance, which arrived within very few minutes. She spent three weeks in hospital, while they prepared our bungalow. Since then, she has never been able to get out of bed.

Arthritis!

I will return in a few minutes.

602

[Herald1360]

I've got them on the front of my 109 SW. Sitting up on parabolics it's just that bit high for easy access without for me. Getting up in through the back side doors needs full use of arms and the grab handles behind the front seat backs. The back tail door is OK, there's a step bolted onto the tow bar mountings.

[riedland]

Now I'm one for period accessories. Can't abide modern stuff, yet any old shonk goes on if it's 'period'.

Yet, even when the kids were young, never understood why anyone would want side-steps? The kids always managed to clamber in; it's too long ago for me to remember how I got in at that age. But I did.

Seems to be an option sold on the day of purchase, akin to any Ford dealer back in the day; ready with a vinyl-roof mit GXL badge for your Cortina.

Have I got this wrong?

You wrote it: the goal of the steps is to get into the car rather than "manage to clamber in".

[Exile]

Rover/Land Rover couldn't make up their mind either. They were not deemed necessary for Series One Station Wagons.

They were an extra-cost option on SII and IIA 10 seat Station Wagons - but fitted as standard to 12 seat Station Wagons.

They were an extra-cost option on One Ten non-County Station Wagons, but fitted as standard on the County Station Wagons.

If they were seen as "necessary", they would surely have been fitted to all?


Where side steps are very useful, is on any Land Rover fitted with seats with side bolsters.

You can put your foot down when alighting, and raise your best feature over the bolster, rather than sliding it across.

However, the number of vehicles displaying seats with worn and tatty side-bolsters suggests that many don't bother.....

[Alan Drover]

I have them on my Series 3 for my late wife to get in. They're still there as they're very effective against careless door openers.

[101v8]

I have them because the came with my truck and I'd struggle to get in without them.
William

[diffwhine]

Simples... The older I get the more I need side steps.

[TimV]

I'm trying out some 'stirrups' apparently a military thing. Seen too many side-steps ripped off.

[jkhackney]

I got'em because mine had the original rubber buffers in the sills, just no steps, and at the time I was in for a 100% accurate rebuild. Accordingly I got the Britpart ones  . They're helpful for loading/unloading my roof rack (with the other foot on the freewheeling hub) or for cleaning the Dormobile roof, and you can lock stuff to them in campsites. But they bent under my not-very-heavy weight and I had to spend time fixing them. And they're in the way when I'm setting my toe-in with a straightedge or when I'm working under the vehicle, a bit less irritating than the mudflaps, though.
Jeremy

[Alan Drover]

Mine came from Dunsfold. They're genuine Land Rover ones complete with rubber sill buffers.

[geoff]

Ditto Wittsend and ditto Peter Holden