things have changed

Ralph Williams sold AMC Gremlins without the rear window. It was an option
Where is he today I wonder?

 

Don't know if anybody has mentioned this yet - how about changing hi/low beam with your LEFT FOOT? or starting the '54 (I think ) Dodge pickup as a 9 year old by holding the clutch in with my left foot and using the toe of my right foot to engage the starter while the heel of my right foot pumps the gas pedal. Man, I'm old!

 

......had to roll the window down to actuate the turnin' signal.

 

I remember when heaters and defrosters were extra cost options. For air conditioning you opened a vent and dust blew out for five minutes.Only farmers and tradesmen owned pickups. You got a discount on a new car if you paid cash and $ 1.00/hr was GOOD pay.

 

I must say it sounds like you found some good deals. I bought my peice of junk wagon four years ago for $500 bucks and have put a bunch of miles on it. But it isn't old nor new. I look and look and I just don't find what I'm looking for. It seems we pay more for our cars no matter what the year now.

I went and looked a '68 Chevy longbed when I was 16 it was rusted out just about everywhere. 3/4 ton with nothing all that great. The guy wanted $1000 bucks for it and it smoked so bad that you'd thought that the woods were on fire. I just don't get it. This stuff didn't cost a ton of money before all these reality shows and crap. And then all this nostalgia stuff also. I mean really when did it all go so wrong. I'm greatful there's this big aftermarket and all but hell at some point things just blew up. Oh well just a 33 year old punk rantin.

 

That pisses me off too.

 

that's nothing,the walmart here had Christmas stuff out before Halloween was even here.

 

Things have changed. I miss vent windows, gas station buildings made of those porcelain squares, 35 cent rod magazines, and root beer that came in glass jugs. Going to the theater and seeing 6 cartoons, 2 Three Stooges shorts, and a movie with a drink, popcorn, and candy on 1 dollar. Drug stores with soda fountains. Cherry phosphates. REAL hobby shops. Auto parts stores with beat up, wornout counters, stools for customers, and girlie calenders. Hardware stores that repaired electric trains. The local G.C. Murphy store. The whole place smelled like theater popcorn cause they made it continuously smack in the middle of the place. Elgin street cleaners. 6 cylinder 2 cycle GMC diesel trucks with a straight pipe running through the gears. Unlimited Hydroplanes powered by Allisons and Roll Royce Merlins. Novis and all Indy cars with engines in the front. Gassers, Fuel Altereds, and Modified Production classes. 50s and 60s style jalopy racing. Standing in the Super Stock stagging lanes in the mid 60s. Oh.....guess thats enough, I'm getting depressed.

 

WalMart EVERYWHERE !Christmass decorations on the opposite side of the halloween costume/decoration isle here!And Chrismass carols were playing 2 weeks before Halloween but they apparrently stopped that was there yesterday and different music playing.

 

I bought my 40 Ford pick up for $75 in 1967

 

Let's see: second gas shortage in the 70s. 150 mile plus daily commute. Needed a high gas mileage car asap. Didn't spend 40K on a Hybrid, or depend upon a government clunker rebate. I went to a junkyard and bought two Opel Kadettes for $50 each. One had a good motor and the other a good body. Spent a day making one out of two and another installing a second Opel gas tank plus one from a 63 Chevy. Ended up with a 35 mpg car that carried 40 gallons of gas.

Put over 200K miles on that car. It needed the motor rebuilt once more, and when the rust got really bad I sold it for $350.

 

For 30 Cents you got a Comic, Chocolate bar and a Coke.

The Old Tinbasher

 

I can't help think about what changes are to come in thirty, forty and fifty years?

 

Dude, that's too scary to even think about! I'm trying my best to bring up my kid right. 8 years old and he loves old cars, Elvis, and junkyards. The kids now are the future later.

 

Yeah, really, is this ridiculous or what? I mean right after Halloween there is Christmas stuff out? Heard Christmas music on the radio yesterday. This is nuts or what?????

 

What? What was the turn signal your arm? I remember trucks had an arm that went out when you pulled a chain inside.

 

He, he, yep. My arm.......

 

....5 years ago I took my kids thru the mall on Haloween because it was pissin' rain . I was pissed when I saw them handing out candy at the front of the store, and putting up the Xmas shit in the back ......THIS YEAR...Canadian tire had thier Xmas shit out the 1st of October. So in another 10 years it'll probably be in the stores year round.

A one day event is now 3 months of misery.....

 

as a kid Thanksgiving was a time when the whole family got together and ate and caught up on the past years stories, well things have changed around here, all the old times are gone and the family all moved away, so now Thanksgiving is just a day off.

 

yep, i remember a time when people took pride in what they had, took care of their cars, trucks, houses, wives, kids, whatever. now they just throw the bascially new 'whatever away, get a loan and buy a new one. socieity is definitly evolving in the wrong direction and you can blame (in order) the industrial revolution, womens rights, technology, the media and access to too much information. i could go on and on, sadly the only thing i believe i can do is attempt to retain my values, principles and morals. other than my house payment, i have no loans, no debt, my vehicles average 21 years old, i can fix them with a visegrip and hammer, no tv, shop at the salvtion army and fix shit if it breaks rather than buying new. i have a relationship with just about all my shit - so i care if it gets lost, stolen, broke, whatever, no one cares anymore. i could go on and on and on.

i like this site because it has people that i think have similar thoughts as mine, ive been reading for years. thanks.

and "thinking" no one has to think about anything thing. you must excercise your brain just as you do your body. your car thinks for you, the interent thinks for you, the media thinks for you, the tv thinks for you, what do you actually have to figure out these days? nothing, go to the computer and "google" it or your i phone. damnit, im going to the shop, after i adjust the choke on my carb!

 

Telephone number??? Ours was two short rings
followed by a long ring !!!!
Tootsietoys, Erector sets,old cars, I'll never grow up!!!!

 

In 1947 our phone number was 2216 ..........
One thing that hasn't changed in my family. Theres enough kids and grandkids for some of them to come over for Thanksgiving for the day. Yesterday, whilst the turkey was in the oven, we had pie and whipped cream for lunch, feast in mid afternoon, and turkey sandwich about sundown. Then they they left. It'll be the same for Christmas. Holiday is for family. Sad to hear it isn't for some folks.

For the troops that couldn't spend the day for Thanksgiving with family, a special thanks;

Hooah!

Hoo-YAH!

Oo-Rah!

 

on the subject of this thread does anyone remember Santa Claus Conquers the Martians,when it first came out? 1964 watching it now, and it's so bad it's hysterical.

boy special effects sure have changed!

 

I see at least on every few weeks aroud here (East Tn) Lots of old farm trucks...And just for the record...it's peanuts in PEPSI...but it has to be in a glass bottle. The plastic ones make them taste funny.

 

no S&H green stamps.

 

I wish they would go back to that way of thinking as I am tired of christmas way before thanksgiving but the stores now are after every penny they can get..