What ever happened?

You got it fishbreath. It all started with the oil/energy crisis in the 70's. Smaller lighter 4 cylinder cars were going to save the world. Steel bumbers then became a safety issue due to the effects they had on all the compacts in crashes. IMO drip rails, wing windows, etc went by the wayside because of cost. Its alot cheaper to just design a single piece of glass without all the extra mechanism for the wing. Back then the car market was at least twice as competetive as it is now. Look at all the car companies that have either gone away or been bought out from that era.