[markeb01]

The short answer – a few independent thinkers still like them on our trucks but they were generally passé by the time our trucks came along.

Add on accessories really hit their peak right after World War II. And the primary reason was not due to popular demand; it was the result of greed and price gouging. Citizens had been unable to obtain new cars for at least 4 years, and the government stepped in and set profit margins on the automakers to prevent price gouging. So the dealers who had been hanging on by a thread during the war years did an end run and slapped every accessory imaginable on new cars and forced buyers to pay outrageous prices for these trinkets. If they wouldn't pay up, they lost their place on the waiting list and the car would be sold to the next person in line. That’s why the most accessorized original cars are primarily from the late 40’s and early 50’s.

By the late 50’s and early 60’s the general shape and style of mainstream cars didn’t look anything like the earlier shapes, and many of the accessories like visors and spotlights never appeared on late model cars when they were new. Some elders thought skirts looked rich on their big Buicks or Lincolns, but younger people were interested in sporty cars, so new installations disappeared almost overnight.

I’ve never been so hot on visors, mainly because I grew up in cars that had them and more than once witnessed an owner pull over, rip the visor off and toss it into a canyon (my dad included). Years later I discovered my father in law had done the same thing, for the same reason – the visor had a tendency to flutter, rattle, and obscure vision. The ripping and tossing generally happened just after some life threatening incident which involved the poor vision offered by the visor.