Re: Touch screens
"but the electric park brake saves space in the central console where a physical handbrake would otherwise have to be."
Most US cars in the 1950s and before had bench, not bucket, front seats. No easy way to have a mechanical centerline parking brake with a bench seat. I may misremember, but as I recall, the parking brake back then was usually controlled either by a handle attached to the steering column or by a foot pedal (adjacent to the clutch?)