What are these sections of the center console for?

[Piper Cub]

I have a center console that looks like this in my 1998 Mercury Mountaineer (I stole the photo from Google). I would like to understand what these numbered sections are for. I know that the large oval hole in the back was for tissues, but what about the rest of the console?

Are 1 and 2 just stylistic or did they serve a purpose?

Is 3 just some extra storage for random things like a lighter or an MP3 player? It doesn't fit any modern cellphone

4 looks like cutouts so that something square can fit into the cup holder. What could it be?

Thanks for the help everyone. Sorry if this already exists as a thread, I could not find it.

 

[Piper Cub]

Well at least for 4, I found via this video that it is meant to fit an ash cup that came in some kind of "smoker's package":



It might also answer 1 & 2, as these indents would allow you to grab the cup and lift it out.

Maybe 3 was for a pack of cigarettes.

 

[allmyEXes]

1 and 2 are for coffee cup handles which don't fit my cups. One of our Gen IIs has the ashtray that fits in the cup hole. I have a different variation in the center of one of my consoles that has an ashtray. When I swapped trucks with my wife, I swapped into hers, the center section with the flip lid ashtray. My one-liter drink bottles are too big for any of the cup holder holes. Here is a picture of a 1996 center console middle piece. My early 1997 Mountaineer had this type.

 

[donalds]

.

The square is for a pk of cigarettes and a lighter the ashtray Can be rotated in any direction and locks and place the cup holder has a rubber cup in it to catch water in indents for your fingers to pull out the ashtray or your drink

 

[410Fortune]

The square pocket holds some smart phones ok
I have a coffee
Mug that fits the cup holder w the handle perfectly! These cup holders were made back in the early days of cup holders lol now days the modern trucks have spots for like 6 water bottles and a 44oz slurpee plus charge ports for devices under every door

 

[Piper Cub]

Thanks everyone!! Mug handles make so much sense, I hadn't thought of that.

 

[Flashflood]

I have a center console that looks like this in my 1998 Mercury Mountaineer (I stole the photo from Google). I would like to understand what these numbered sections are for. I know that the large oval hole in the back was for tissues, but what about the rest of the console?

Are 1 and 2 just stylistic or did they serve a purpose?

Is 3 just some extra storage for random things like a lighter or an MP3 player? It doesn't fit any modern cellphone

4 looks like cutouts so that something square can fit into the cup holder. What could it be?

View attachment 438831

Thanks for the help everyone. Sorry if this already exists as a thread, I could not find it.

Number 3 for napkins

 

[429CJ-3X2]

These cup holders were made back in the early days of cup holders lol now days the modern trucks have spots for like 6 water bottles and a 44oz slurpee plus charge ports for devices under every door

Friend of mine bought a new truck in the early '90s - one of the first with extra cup holders in the door panels - and he asked how much he was paying for all those cup holders. He was told they were free. He said they can't be free - it costs more to design and mold them vs a plain door panel. The salesman just couldn't grasp that concept.

 

[Mbrooks420]

What’s funny is the answer. Less than a penny.

 

[J_C]

Friend of mine bought a new truck in the early '90s - one of the first with extra cup holders in the door panels - and he asked how much he was paying for all those cup holders. He was told they were free. He said they can't be free - it costs more to design and mold them vs a plain door panel. The salesman just couldn't grasp that concept.

Depends on the design, how it's accomplished. The mold has to be designed either way (if molded into a larger area they were making anyway, opposed to a separate piece installed onto that) and the design, not difficult in comparison to all the molded parts on a vehicle, so basically they cost a few cents each for that amount of additional plastic, maybe close to nothing as a flatter area without, may need other structural improvements to be quiet and rigid instead of flimsy feeling.

On the other hand if you start adding fancy chromed plastic trim pieces, or a light, or a rubber liner, etc, cost goes up, but door holders don't usually have a light or chrome trim.

 

[toypaseo]

1 & 2 are a taco holder, 3 is for fries

 

[allmyEXes]

I did see some fries in mine, but they were mixed in with some change. Mostly pennies though and no long fries.

 

[Meadowlark Lemon]

I never in a million years would have guessed that was a tissue dispenser - I always assumed it was a hole for a handbrake used in some obscure export model. I am not on this site a whole lot, but this information definitely made it worthwhile today!!!

 

[410Fortune]

Yes tissue holder and the dealer parts department used to carry the small box of Kleenex that fit there. I put my old Kenwood music keg sticking out of that hole made it really easy to change the 150mb cartridge lol some have also converted it to a handgun holder

 

[J_C]

Is 3 just some extra storage for random things like a lighter or an MP3 player? It doesn't fit any modern cellphone

If a Ford engineer from the 1990's design team appears in a time machine and starts measuring my 2023 cellphone, I'll be more than impressed.

 

[CDW6212R]

Yes tissue holder and the dealer parts department used to carry the small box of Kleenex that fit there. I put my old Kenwood music keg sticking out of that hole made it really easy to change the 150mb cartridge lol some have also converted it to a handgun holder

Nice Jamie, I'd like to see that sometime. I have a music keg also that I plan to replace the CD changer with.

BTW, the console area discussed here, can you imagine fitting a shifter there, for the 6R I have to do? I'm not giving up my message center. Is it big enough there for a shifter to fit?

 

[Flashflood]

Nice Jamie, I'd like to see that sometime. I have a music keg also that I plan to replace the CD changer with.

BTW, the console area discussed here, can you imagine fitting a shifter there, for the 6R I have to do? I'm not giving up my message center. Is it big enough there for a shifter to fit?

I think a stang shifter will fit were the cup holders are. Not a hundred percent if it will have enough linkage to reach the trans

 

[Fix4Dirt]

1 & 2 are a taco holder, 3 is for fries

where for the big gulp?

I never in a million years would have guessed that was a tissue dispenser - I always assumed it was a hole for a handbrake used in some obscure export model. I am not on this site a whole lot, but this information definitely made it worthwhile today!!!

could put a hydro e brake there... a bit odd to grip in that position, but could be done... anyone with a drift X?

 

[CDW6212R]

I think a stang shifter will fit were the cup holders are. Not a hundred percent if it will have enough linkage to reach the trans

They use a cable to the trans, and the one I saw on a site for 6R80 products look like a new factory shifter assembly(pretty, but $650).

 

[CDW6212R]

where for the big gulp?

could put a hydro e brake there... a bit odd to grip in that position, but could be done... anyone with a drift X?

Can you drift with AWD, like the famous driver who died last year. I loved that old video of his 800hp AWD Mustang in the streets near Hollywood.