things have changed

The other day I was watching a young guy work on my RV. I was thinking that if it was me doing the work I would be surrounded by wrenches, sockets, ratchets etc. He was lying there surrounded by alligator clipped test leads, probes, a code reader and a laptop. Not a "real" tool in sight.

 

Mazooma I sold American Seed and greeting cards when I was a kid, still got a desk lamp with a globe that I got as a prize in the late 50s.
Haven't had homemade ice cream hand cranked in a long time.
Used to get S&H green stamps at the gas station & grocery store.
20 cent gas in the late 60s. Porta walls. Back row of drive in movie theater.

 

Yep. Then before dawn, the first show on the air was 'Modern Farmer'.

 

The Nedlog delivery man would leave a gallon of Root Beer syrup..or Cherry. Mix with soda water. Or..freeze and have a great rootbeer popsycle.

Get up early in Chicago to get the milk left by your door..before it froze OR a dog pissed on the bottles..

Daring the moron kid down the street to lick the aluminum door..in January..

Trying the Can and string "telephone" to talk to your friend next door.

Putting air in your bike tire..asking what it costs.."kid..water and air will always be free"

Boy Scout Jamboree..finding the Girl Scouts were camped nearby. Sneaking to the shower tent at night and watching dozens and teen age scout leaders take showers..
Until..moron kid starts laughing..and we get caught..and kicked out of Boy Scouts..starting the fall into the 60s..

Flannel baseball uniforms..10 lbs of sweat by the fifth inning..and your pitching..in 90*..90% midwest summer.

Saving $4 for a Louisville Slugger..when it cracks..driving a nail in it for street ball.

Mrs Donovan complaining about the gas mileage of her 64 Bonniville. Jimmy S. fixing it..swapped her 4bbl and manifiold for his two barrel on his Dad's Catalina..she thanks us for "tuning up" the year old Pontiac...and paid too...

Learning how to snap a bra strap off one handed..A SUPERB EVENT. Peggy Donovan..in her Mom's now fuel efficeint Bonniville..

 

i can tell you, having worked in the car business for the last 11 years (not for much longer!!) that there is not a single "car guy" left in the car business.

back in the day (i've heard) the owners, managers, and most all employees of dealerships were true car guys-people who gave a shit about cars-grease under their nails, just with business sense.
those people have all vanished. there is not a person on the management or sales staff (or half the people in the service dept., excluding technicians of course) that could change a fucking tire.

it's amazing, nothing but spineless numbers men with no passion for the automobiles, other than the fact that they represent a paycheck to them. they could all be selling (and should be) futons for all they care. and as a side note, most all new cars may as well be a futon in my mind-pure garbage as far as i'm concerned. basic transportation for the purpose of getting from point a to point b. nothing to get excited about.

the car industry as a whole has taken a shit, basically from the early 70's on as far as i can tell.

it's sickening really.

 

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I'm not sure how true that is, I can't argue that fact 100%, but I do know it is in their best interest to sell these cars. The dealers certainly have 100% control over that, and they act like they are doing you a favor talking to you. I'd expect you should be able to order a car and wait, just like the old days. Hell you are paying stupid money for a car today.

 

I still offer hand painted signs/lettering/pinstriping

 

Another thing I miss is growing up, almost every gas station had atleast one race car or a couple hot rods there....... Those were the days..... the cars also had names on the front fenders or quarters..........

 

I miss driving over the hose at the gas station and hearing the bell, but one of our local burger stands has one, makes going to get their burgers even sweeter

 

I also miss the little semi truck my Uncle got me from Japan when he was in the Merchant Marines. You put 3D batteries in it, some sewing oil in the stack, and it would drive across the floor, lights on and smoke pouring out the top like a real truck. Bandai bump and go VW bug with the clear decklid that showed the engine fan turning. Metal Tonka toys that could take an explosion and still be played with.

 

Hey, im a Wacoan! lol im 23 so all i can say is i remember gas being $1, diesel was $0.59, propane was dirt cheap, hell even dirt was still cheap.
i remember my dad buying a couple VW's running for $400 or so for the pair, try that now, still possible but very rare(at least around here)
people still gave a damn, for the most part. cops wouldnt tazer you for sneezing wrong (no offense to the good peace officers) i remember the mini truck days, lol tandem axled isuzu/chevys with hydros and Dayton wires. glad those days are gone now we have the DONK movement

ok my rant needs to stop now.

my older friends (in their 50's) have told me about the peanuts in coke thing, done it, still dont get it. maybe thats because i was born in LA, Lower Alabama... i blame that for allot

 

At the local gas station where I grew up,the kid who worked there(his Dad owned the place) was building a 2 4bbl big block '55 Chevy in the garage.We always tried to sneak in for a look at it,but the kid would run us out.

At the same gas station the kid would sit in the office all day drinkin a coke and reading comic books or Hot Rod. We would ride our bikes over the bell hose 500 times and he would'nt bat an eye....just sit there reading...

 

AAAhhh, The smell of REAL gas. Filling up the lawnmower and thinkin I was rich getting $1.00 a lawn, front and back. Extra buck if ya wanted it edged. Then riding the 10 speed to the beach 18 miles away with no helmet and riding home at the end of the day absolutley wiped out. Dad's whistle that could be heard for blocks and not be confused with the neighbors.
Dad was a teacher. He tought citizenship class at night school. From 1964 to 1988 he had over 5000 foregin born naturalized citizens pass through his class. After graduation and U.S. Citizenship was achieved there would be a thank God we made it party. Every body would bring a desert from their country. The next morning we got the left overs and let Mom and Dad sleep.
Miss you guys BAD.

 

Bill Alexander and his "Almighty Brush" Bob Ross started on TV with him

 

I remember when cigarettes sold for 23 cents a pack. If you bought them from a vending machine they had two penny's taped to the pack

 

I totally agree. I get tired of standing in line waiting on somebody picking out there next big win. Geez they should just give me the money for waiting.

 

putting air in your tires was free, and the machine you used you would crank up to the pressure you wanted and when the bell stopped dinging you had the correct amount of air in your tire, the hose more often then not was neatly coiled back up on the holder and not laying all over the ground and everyone driving over it, and they had real toilet paper in the bathroom and not that one ply crap!!

 

Most guys started smoking in the service. They gave you cigarettes for free in your K-rations. If you were on a long march or digging foxholes (or some other hard labor during basic training), they'd call a smoke break ("Smoke'em if you got'em!"). If you didn't smoke the sarge would tell you to either keep working or have a smoke. Most guys took up smoking right there.

 

Ironing my Fatigues at 3:45 a.m. so i could look good before crawling in the mud with a M-60 machine gun and ammo boxes slapping my ass during field maneuvers!!!

Real Polka music at the Weddings played on an accordian by my drunken Irish Uncles... funny as hell...!

 

Howabout when your family was loyal to one car line and the salesman brought the car 2 your house and the whole hood went for a ride with dad and he was your salesman to your grave and the back lots of the dealerships ,how many cars you guys got your first like that....ah those were the days and horsepower was CHEAP!!!! they wanted to get car out so there concern was the sale not always how much they make on the bottom line and being a customer ment something

 

That's funny. I was out cutting wood today and I was thinking about this thread... and things that just kinda went away (not much else to do when its you and a chainsaw and several thousand acres of trees). Polka shows on Sunday came to mind. Along with the "Bowling for Dollars" show. Maybe that's a Wisconsin thing, though. I used to sit with my Grandpa and watch those.
Now, Sunday TV is nothing but an endless string of infomercials.

Doesn't matter though. My TV took a long flight off my back deck and then a couple 12ga slugs just for good measure.
Maybe my computer'll be next...



JOE

 

Yea, I remember when people drove their rat rods to car shows. Now they just put them on a trailer. Sheeesh, I must be getting old...

 

Thats the type bumper I was talking about at the start of this thread. As a kid I saw then on Chevrolet, Ford, and Dodge trucks.

 

I remember when there WERE no ratrods. Those were the days.

 

Check out the "trophy girl" thread, if you want to see something that has changed.

 

That is EXACTLY like the bumper on my friends Texas bought Ford Camper Special wish I could remember the dealer name.It's not all that long ago that truck bumpers were optional because my son got ticketed in the late 80s for not having a rear bumper on a new S10 pick up cop would not listen even with the window sheet that a bumper was not stock equiptment he had to go to court with statements from the dealer that the truck came standard without rear bumper.

 

Not really car related, but I worked in a small town clothing store in high school, and we didn't have sacks for the purchases, we wrapped everything...

We also sent items home " on approval" with no money or credit changing hands...

We also had the tower of local banks checks at the cash register for anyone to use.
If i remember correctly, we had about 20 different banks worth of checks, all blank,
for customers to use...

We also sold Unionalls (long john underwear with the trap door in the back) and Hush Puppies shoes.

The store owner taught me to hem pants and sport coats, as it was "part of the business", even if you were only 15 at the time.

All this, "and" $.75 an hour.

Those were the days.

 

great thread!
I think everything has been mention in here.
but the thing I remember most is being a kid and going in to the 7-11 and they made the slurpe,or filled the soda in the cups.service
I tell that to the teller every week at the bank (bank of America) when she asks me for my debit card to help her do her job...that I pay for by banking there!

 

oh and I remember being a kid going to the corner gas station and filling the lawnmower gas can up,1 gall. and a pack of smokes for a dollar.
I don't smoke,but I think gas is cheaper than smokes now.

 

Dealers stamped their names and location in these and you can jusy see "FORD INC." on the left. The bumpersticker covers the dealer name. The location/town was stamped on the right side.