I guess this must be a Yankee thing cuz I have heard those all my life, grandparents and parents. We still call "dinner" supper, (dinner is on Sunday) running boards are just that, and many of the others. God I love the south, still civilized, HA!
Any of you kids remember when you passed a car in the rain, your wipers would stop? They ran off vacuum from the intake. You had to "pedal" your way while out in the passing lane. Spinout, age 66.
gas station stuff.... Hi test fuel Gifts when you filled up (marathon man mugs!). Oil in round card board quarts. The equally cool spout it took to "open" and poor the oil with. When BP was known as SOHIO (may be a northern thing). When a gas station sold gas, oil, sodas and maybe a small selection of candy bars instead of the grocery stores that pretend to be gas stations of today. Center post lifts. A rack of tires hanging from the wall in the service bays. Free air with a pump that you could dial the pressure you wanted and the unit would shut off at that point. The cord you drove across that went "ding ding" to announce your arrival. Before "insurance regulations" kept you out of the mechanics work area. Tires were bubble balanced. The sound of a hub cap hitting the ground as it was removed from a wheel. The tune up machine the read spark on a graph that looked like a bunch of squiggly lines to a kid. Blue coveralls with the mechanics name on it that rarely got washed.
*Taking a bath on a Sunday night after dinner, and looking forward to Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom followed by the Wonderful World of Disney Isn't it funny how "Jim" was always the one who had to wrestle the lion or tiger while the the commentator (damn what was his name) sat safely in an office? I'm thinking Jim was either a bad dude or had very good health insurance.
Rotary Phones, a dime for a pay phone, Creature Feature on tv, Marathon candy bars, Fat quart bottles of Olympia beer, baby Oly's, Near Beer, Candy Smokes, Ash trays in the back seats of cars, 2 for 1 movie matinee's, Chiswick, K-tel, Alligator records, late night with alan freed, the midnight special, Monster Squad, H&R puff-n-stuff, Mr Green Jeans, "I see marry, and Jeffry, and Timmy, and David" Romper Room, jeezus, sorry for that one! Wacky Racers, Woolworths, Emporium, Roman Brio Cologne, Nehi flavored soda and FRONTIER VILLAGE AMUSEMENT PARK in San Jose. Damn what a cool place that was. And now that I have little kids, I wish it were still around.
The little red light at the bottom of the TV cabinet that let you know it was on.. Zenith Space Command Corded Remote control.. "clunk" when you changed a channel..which replaced the human remote control..when Gramps would tell you.."Changa the channel..to 9".. Putiing a penny on the record player arm so it wouldn't skip.. Wind up record player..that your Dad somehow thought would sync up to the Popeye 8mm cartoons..but never matched up.. Wool baseball uniforms..2lbs at game start..1,025,125 lbs after double header in summer in Chicago.. Nails in cracked baseball bat..hitting a friction taped up ball..in the rain.. Ding..Dong..Italian song..as the knife sharpener man walked his push cart down the street.. Pantyhose as a birth control device.. One handing a bra strap..middle finger..and thumb..presto..! Hop A Long Cassidy chrome .45 with caps..to kill Indians with suction cup tipped arrows.. Minature plastic army men..and the one dude frozen in the granade throwing postion.. Briggs N Straton motors..on anything you could get to be powered and sat..stood..or laid down on..that you made in your garage.. Your first Kay guitar with surgical wire strings and 2" action.."music hurts"..thats why we play the blues.. Naming every make model and year of car..and being paid a quarter..or a nickel..to stop..for 10 minutes.. Learning how to use that hardeding body putty on your model cars to make your own customs..and collecting motors from many kits to use as transplants.. "Hey I can see the ground"..as you stood behind the front seat of Dad's Kasier with the rear floor rotted and gone after you kept pushing it till it broke off..
IMO its all turned to shit today. I was brought up in the 70s and early 80s with values that were common/normal in the 40s and 50s, but were already antiquated when I was exposed to them. So Im an old fossil re this. So I mean it when I say its really turned to shit. I remember having a chat with a 94 yo WWII Vet who was as sharp as a tack and I asked when "When did things REALLY begin to change?" He looked at me right in the eye and said " Son, it all turned to shit in 1965 with involvement in Vietnam." I know every generation says this about the next, but the reality is Gen Xers largely were probably the LAST generation to have a normal childhhood free of over regulation, political correctness, and had discipline, actual work ethic and respect for family and elders. Now? Not to generalise, but the ME generation has been created to expect that the world owes THEM something, they are invincible, they never get disciplined at school or at home and when they get into the real world they tend to fall to pieces. Having no fear can work for you and against you but in this case mostly against you. Funny how I can still remember getting fresh milk delivered to my home in glass bottles, and the clip /clop of the draught horse the milkman used to deliever the milk. And it TASTED like milk, not like the shit they call milk these days. Ditto for the baker delivering bread to the house. Or going to the milk bar and getting 2c worth of mixed lollies and that would get you a bagful of candy. WOW !! My brother and I would play in the street after school kicking the football around until in it got dark - and when Mum called you in for dinner, you went in or you be up for a whipping. Now, you just don't see kids playing in the street this anymore?? Too many computer games or is it that the parents that don't give a shit and let the kids do what they want? My brother and I had one second hand bike which we learned to wrench on to keep it rideable - and we did just that. Other kids were leaving their bikes out in the street when they went into the house - they just didnt give a shit. Times have changed..... Dinner at the table WITH my folks/family..... NOBODY left the table unless ALL had finished dinner,especially the folks. If you tried to split, you copped a beating......think this still happens in family homes ? HAHAHA !! Kids mouthing off at the cops when I was a kid? You'd cop a beating from the cops then when they took you home your old man would give you a beating as well for stepping out of line. Think this still happens today? NOT !! Was everything better in those days ? NO. But would I prefer to live in those simpler times. Yes I would. Rat
Bygone era? Yeah. Going to the dump with Dad, while he's unloading we're scrounging for bike parts, taking nearly as much stuff home as we left. Taking the parts & building bikes dam'near from scratch, maybe only buying a tube or patch kit. I never had a new store-bought one but was never without a bike. I remember wishing I had a new sting ray like the neighbor's. But his lasted only till he left it out once too often and it was gone. Mom taking us 9 and 10 year boys several miles from home & dropping us off with burlap bags and maybe a wagon, to walk back home picking pop & beer bottles to collect the 2 cent deposit refund on 'em. A rare find was a big beer bottle worth 4cents. Stopping halfway home at a store & cashing in enough bottles to buy a cold drink and a candy bar. Getting home from school & watching "Razzle-Dazzle" for half an hour before sis got home and turned the TV to "American Bandstand". Hiding in the ditch while big brother and his buddies had "drag races" on the blacktop road, then watching 'em scatter when somebody up on the corner flashed their light & someone shouted "COPS!"..... Riding our bikes up lovers lane & turning the flashlights on a couple "neckers", then running like hell! Going to the "Lakes" Drive-In and running thru the bug foggers while waiting for the show to start..... wonder we're still alive, that stuff was likely pure DDT! Checking out the latest tissue paper paged J.C.Whitney catalog for all the cheap deals on car parts and accessories, then somebody saying Washawski had the same stuff cheaper. . . . When big bro' drove home a '39 Ford coupe, missing the front hood & fenders, sitting on a wood crate for a seat - that he bought for $35. Then traded it a week or 2 later for a piss green '52 Chevy (Blech!!) Dad telling us if we want to drink beer, do it at home, he'd buy the beer but we couldn't go anyplace later. Worked great, but only when nobody else had a party going someplace else! Camping out in the field a mile or so from home with the buddies, with one transistor radio and tuning in WTAC - 600 on the AM dial in Flint, or CKLW big 800 in Detroit/Windsor, staring at the skies for UFOs - and seeing at least 2 or 3 every night!. . . .
I remember having to change the tires on my 20" bicycle because they were actually worn out (bald). Do you know how many miles it takes to wear out a bicycle tire.
For all you "kids" from So Cal, remember Rainbow Pier, The Auditorium, Airplane Hill, Marine Stadium boat races and Hody's?
The Jalopy Journal
