Transmissions that whined in low and reverse...the sound the ash tray lids mad when you flipped them, resetting the shift levers when you hung the column shift, learning that Y-blocks don't install the timing sprockets with the dots together, never drive off with the speaker still attached, topping off the battery when you checked the oil and tires, the smell of a burning "pic" mosquito repellent, vacuum wipers quitting going up hills
Yep, I remember all of those too. Saw reg @ 16.9 cents one time during a gas war. Used to listen to Cyde Clifford @ KAAY also. Beeker street didn't come on until midnight, if I remember correctly. Also listened to WLS out of Chi-town. Both those were big power AM stations, that could be heard after sundown to sun-up, by about half the country it seems. Sun-up, they had to cut the power back due to federal regulation. 10 cents would get you a bottle of soda and a big candy bar almost anywhere in the 50's. Narrow fake whitewalls; the kind that had to be mounted between the wheel and tire were the best (early 60's). Until you curbed them. Lived in quite a small town which was blessed with (3) new 409's (409 horse) '62 chevys. I asked one of them how it ran and he told me; "Man, at 6,000 rpm I can hardly keep it between the ditches!" No one had headers. Next best thing seemed to be Exhaust Cutouts, which I believe were $11.99 a pair from JC Whitney.
Pulpwood saw: belt driven by a big single cyl cast iron engine, two solid wheels, handlebars with throttle. Circular 36" blade that would cut horizontal or vertical. Limbs were stripped with razor sharp axes. Bad ass dangerous!![/QUOTE] You mean like one of these?.....
buying gasoline from a visible pump drive in movies-2.00 a car load nickel coca- colas in a machine dime 7-ups in a chill water box gas pumps you put quarters into a loaf of bread , .25c nickel coffee at Sambos restaurants .14c diesel fuel cleaning spark plugs in a bead blaster setting Ford points with a matchbook cover Left hand Lug Bolts /not nuts Hi Way Hi- Fy's 4digit phone numbers , oh yes , a place I lived in Oregon had them ! scrubba
The best thing about remembering all these things is that I can still remember! I know many people encluding my sister-in-law that can't remember! BE THANKFULL, VERY THANKFULL!!!!!!
Party lines. We'd sneak the phone off the hook and listen to the old ladies gossiping until they got pissed and shouted for us to hang up. Letter sweaters. Do they even give out letters for high school sports anymore? Playboy bunny decal in the back window of my 5 year old '62 Rambler Classic. Of course it signified that I was cool. "Driving" my Dad's '50 Ford Tudor in our driveway by putting it in gear and mashing the starter button. Of course the battery ran down and the next door neighbor ratted me out. Got my ass whupped and sent to bed without supper when Pops came home from work. Playing gas pump jockey with aforemention '50 Ford with garden hose. Filled Pops car with super lowtest out of the garden hose. Pop came home from work and tried to drive on a gas tank full of water, car stopped within view of our house. Ratted out again by same neighbor. Ass whupped and sent to bed again. I was 5 or 6 years old when all this was going down. I was having my fun. Harris Against the World Love American Style That Was the Week That Was Checkmate Mr Magoo Wagontrain Clutch Cargo Rocky and Bullwinkle Buzz and Todd Sherry Lewis and Lambchop Cannonball And in Philly, Chief Halftown Sally Starr Gene London Peter Boyle Captain Noah
I remember when cars were the big topic at family gatherings and all of the men and boys went for a ride in the new cars.
My dad, my brother, and myself did that too. Mom had no interest whatsover. Now me and my wife guess the make and year walking up to a car at a car show, then decide the winner when we read it's show card.
Riding in my grandfather's '49 Ford........back in the mid '50's. When we would go to town.......he would put it in neutral, turn key off and coast down hills. When it was time.......he would turn key on, pop the clutch and go. Did this all the way to town. I just assumed this was the way you drove cars back then. All about the gas mileage I guess.
HA! Good eye, hadn't noticed that! Pic was off the net for the uninitiated. Regardless, it still was a BAMOFO!
Spending all my birthday money on Dumas "Miss Thriftway Hydroplane speedboat kit" working on it and saving every penny for a COX 049 Engine to run it on a tether line at the lake, when we went to Higgins Lake for the summer..... And seeing something I built all by myself run under it's own power for the time...... That my friends equals ,... Awesome ! Artwork from the box !
In reference to Steve McQueen`s sawed off.It was actually a 44-40 Winchester rifle.The name generally given to that type of conversion was "Mares Leg". Good luck.Have fun.Be safe. Leo PS.If I have posted ANYTHING really screwy or perhaps offensive over the appx a week.PLEASE forgive me Wound up in the hospital yesterday due to some drug interaction problems Thanks for you patience. Leo
I'm glad someone else remembers Winky Dink. I tell people about it (even people my age) and they think I'm crazy.
Iremember everyone i ever loved or cared for was still alive n now all gone! And being from Iowa the floppy show and Johnny Quest!
A ritual I performed every Spring, after a winter's worth of salt damage, on my mother's '58 BelAir! My grandfather also had a '58, and "saved" $15 on undercoating, so he would spend the Spring scouting for real estate signs to repair his floorboards.
I remember growing up in Arizona and riding my bike around in 120 degree weather looking for cans so we could cash them in so we could have enough money to get into the pool at the school. Because that's where the girls were. we did not seem to mind the heat but if you crashed you had to get up as fast as possible because the street would burn you as bad as the road rash you had.
Remember one hot day my buddy and I rode our bikes down town to watch them unload the new 55 chevys..then pooled our money and rode down to the creamery to buy a chocolate malt to share. Remember I kept tipping it upsidedown to show him how thick it was. Remember it finally falling out on the street and how pissed he was....then both getting down on our knees with our straws and sucking up what we could....good times.
Family reunions, Hot summer nights, Waiting for summer vacation to start, Sunday visits to Aunt's and Uncles homes.... Walking a 1/4 mile to "Palmer Drug store" to look at the latest copy of Hot Rod & Rod and Custom.... Good Humor "Ice Cream" trucks,... Orange "Push Ups"...... 45 rpm records hanging on the handle bars of my bike, on my way to a friends to listen to them. The principal coming on the "PA" system to tell us that President Kennedy had been killed,... and leading the entire school in prayer for our nation and the Kennedy family,.... And how he broke down during that prayer....... The solemn walk home after school was dismissed early.... And Mom having the radio on and it being so quiet that day........ How all of a sudden it hit me how serious it was, when I swore an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. Aunt Gertrude and her special German cookies she made us for every Christmas..... (Not until I was a teen did I figure out that she made us cookies for Christmas because she was poor,.... As I considered them one of the very best gifts I would get)...... Family and friends were the most important thing followed by love of God & Country.
....( mid 60's) about once a week my friends and I would ride our bicycles across town to the slot car track. Our moms would make us a bag lunch, and we could fill an entire day and probably only race for a total of 60 minutes each. We used to build our own cars, my dad was into electronics so I had all the tools we needed and he had a killer work bench. We produced a lot of brass tube frames. Some we would copy from Rod and Custom articles and some we would just invent. This was before all the big crazy wings and aero bodies. My buddy Mike would even try to rewind the armatures. The fastest cars ended up being the angle-winder design, with the small can (16D)motors. i want to say we used Team Dynamic motors in the end as they were rockets. Some had ball bearings, heat sinks on the brushes, crazy shimmed magnets, rewound, epoxied and balanced. All of us had paper routes so we were self funded race teams. A bunch of car crazy 10 year olds trying to get our fix.
Oh yea, god were they fun! Chamblee, Georgia had a huge facility, I remember it having probably 10 tracks, one of which was a monster, and had a drag strip . . .straight track against the wall and the car just crashed into some foam. We carried our cars and controllers in fishing tackle boxes. Some fun!
Every Sunday (after pop's nap) we'd head out to either Uncle Jim & Auntie Kay's house, or Auntie Sophie & Uncle Pat's house for a visit. The adults would have coffee & at the kitchen table, and us cousins would play. Christmas morning, last day of school, going out all day in the summer on our bikes, and only have to be home at "10 minutes to 5" for dinner. If I was late, pop would whistle with his fingers and I'd somehow hear it. After dinner was over, it was outside again until the street lights came on. I'd stay up late to watch The Honeymooner's and Twilight Zone, and hope to God I didn't wake up pop laughing at Ralph & Ed or I'd have to come up to bed. Pop's vegatable gardens in the backyard, my older brother's 69 Swinger 340 and later his 69 350 horse Vette, Krate bikes, AFX race tracks, Saturday morning cartoons, Sunday Mass at St Augustine Cathedral, Emergency, Adam 12, Starsky & Hutch, The Sweathogs, Happy Days, The Bicentennial celebration and the Freedom Train, walking 2 miles to Caldor or Bradlees in the dead of summer just to be in the air conditioning, Freezer Pop popcicles, pop's new 1976 Monte Carlo, buying model cars from Bob's Hobbies on Wood Ave in Bridgeport, CT. Such MAGICAL memories I had as a kid. If I could go back and do it all over again, I'd do it exactly the same, but I'd probably get up earlier and go to bed later just to get more time in. GREAT thread. GREAT memories. Pasta
The Jalopy Journal
