If you’ve ever been stopped by the constabulary in your car, you may well know the sign that they wish to speak to you, when they indicate that you should wind down your window, by drawing a circle at you with their index finger. You might be wise to comply. The way you wind it down is of course by pressing a button, so you don’t have the massive strain of winding it down yourself, the car does it for you.

Window winders on cars went out years ago. One was in those days never in danger of catching one’s finger in the window really, but now, if you are the proud owner of a Tesla ( a modern day souped up milk float ) you may have your vehicle recalled for a software update as there is a danger of getting your finger stuck in the window. I suspect the danger is slight and that one’s fingers would be kept clear of closing windows. It’s my understanding , and that understanding is neither deep nor broad, that one cannot buy a car with a window winder, yet the constabulary may well still use the window winding gesture.

The best car I ever had, a Passat that we called Percy, eventually had to go as the doors jammed and the back window would not open on the button command. It would not have passed it’s MOT test. It had an engine on it that seemed to never waiver and purred like a highly tuned racer. If the window and door had not jammed it would still have been going. In fact, the engine might be, as I sold the car to a chap who has a garage of the old type where he repaired huge trucks. Even he said it was a good engine and gave me more cash for the car than I expected. He may well have transplanted this fine beating heart into another vehicle

It could have still been mine if it had been fitted with good old fashioned window winders. Shame.