Remember When
Quote: EvenBobIn the 60's a 5 year old car was over
the hill.
the odometers used to stop at 99,999 miles, then they rolled over. There was a reason for that.
Quote: odiousgambitthe odometers used to stop at 99,999 miles, then they rolled over. There was a reason for that.
It was then broken in real good. You
didn't car's with 100K on them.
Quote: GWAEMy 2003 has 189k miles on it. The body is in perfect shape. Engine is burning oil but acceptible for 12 year old car.
Cars today are meant to be driven. 100,000 miles on a car today with certain brands is just breaking them in. If you take care of your car and properly maintain it, most cars today will get you close to, if not over 200,000 miles. Even if you don't properly maintain it, most cars will still get you well north of 100,000.
Quote: 1BBDoes anyone remember the Cadillacs with the filler under the taillight?
Wasn't there a reference to this in one of the National Lampoon's Vacation movies (I want to say the first one, but it could have been Vegas)?
Quote: 1BBDoes anyone remember the Cadillacs with the filler under the taillight?
Yes, and I forget which car it was that had the gas cap behind the license plate. I think it was a T-Bird. How about the car that had the electric rear window that was slanted in the opposite direction. I think it was a 1960 New Yorker.
I had an an analog odometer on my T-Bird. If you drove in reverse the odometer spun backwards.
Quote: GreasyjohnYes, and I forget which car it was that had the gas cap behind the license plate. I think it was a T-Bird. How about the car that had the electric rear window that was slanted in the opposite direction. I think it was a 1960 New Yorker.
Probably multiple cars fit those descriptions. I think my wife's 1965 Buick Special had the gas cap behind the license plate, and one of the Mercury models had a reverse-sloped rear window that could be lowered, fitting into a slot between the rear seat and the trunk. I think it may have been the Mercury version of the Ford Thunderbird revision that came out maybe in the 80s. Or I may be confusing two car models with reverse-sloped rear windows.
Remember those commercials where the two guys would be fishing and one would say th the other, "That's a nice reel you have there." And the other guy would say, "Thanks, I got it with my Raliegh coupons."
Quote: rxwine
Is this the car they used in Christine? A friend
of mine had one in 1966, a very cool ride. Huge
interior, wonderful dash, with a push button
tranny.
Quote: beachbumbabsOne of our Cadillacs had a fill-up behind the license plate. Think it was a 1978? Baby blue. Don't remember any others.
Too many to remember, filler behind the plate was very common. Two in my family I remember for sure:
1977 Plymouth Fury
1979 Cutlas Supreme
What killed this was threat of fire when getting hit from behind. Both the filler neck could be ripped off and the tank was behind the rear axle. It changed around 1980. But it was exceptionally common.
Quote: AZDuffmanToo many to remember, filler behind the plate was very common. Two in my family I remember for sure:
1977 Plymouth Fury
1979 Cutlas Supreme
What killed this was threat of fire when getting hit from behind. Both the filler neck could be ripped off and the tank was behind the rear axle. It changed around 1980. But it was exceptionally common.
In 1981, I was driving a 1969 Olds 442 with filler behind the plate. Owner's manual recommended "premium" gas or Ethyl or some such, that was only still available at a couple stations in Austin at the time. Higher octane than anywhere else in town I guess (?), not like it can be found today.
Here in the South, Sunoco stations have one pump for race cars (ie NASCAR) that are higher than anything at a regular station, though I don't know the number.
The other is any airport that sells gas has 100LL (low lead); a lot of airplanes need that. Really expensive, but if you want to give the right kind of engine a treat, that would be it.
Quote: beachbumbabs2 places you can still find high-octane:
Here in the South, Sunoco stations have one pump for race cars (ie NASCAR) that are higher than anything at a regular station, though I don't know the number.
They used to have 108 (IIRC) octane race fuel at one place. Be careful if you do this, mix it with half a tank of their normal premium fuel. Too high an octane can burn a hole in your pistons. Ouch.
People think "high octane = more power" but this is not the case. Octane is resistance to combustion. Gasoline will burn under high compression. Higher octane allows higher compression and higher power engines. 100 octane gas helped win the air war in WWII. We had it, the krauts did not.
Quote: AZDuffmanOctane is resistance to combustion.
Autoignition? Detonation? Surely not just ordinary combustion???
I think I recall that the rating is a match between the knock-resistance performance of the particular fuel and a mixture of that percentage of pure octane plus heptane. It's been like half a century since I studied that stuff, so the memory cells aren't really reliable.
Quote: zippyboyIn 1981, I was driving a 1969 Olds 442 with filler behind the plate. Owner's manual recommended "premium" gas or Ethyl or some such, that was only still available at a couple stations in Austin at the time. Higher octane than anywhere else in town I guess (?), not like it can be found today.
GM had countless car models with the gas fill up behind the rear license plate. My parents owned half a dozen Pontiac/buick/chevy's with that set up.
Quote: DocAutoignition? Detonation? Surely not just ordinary combustion???
I think I recall that the rating is a match between the knock-resistance performance of the particular fuel and a mixture of that percentage of pure octane plus heptane. It's been like half a century since I studied that stuff, so the memory cells aren't really reliable.
When you compress the air/fuel mixture it makes heat. If you heat anything you eventually get a flash point, the lower said point is the easier it is to get combustion before the spark plug sparks. This is a bad thing in a car engine.
The higher the compression in the engine the more power you get, however. So there needs to be a balance. Most cars run fine on 87 octane, but if you put in 93 octane you can have a higher compression and more power. 100 octane even more.
The rating blends Research and Motor octane tests, which may be what you are talking about.
They run 98 and 110 at my track. I'm not sure if there's anything on the planet that smells better than that.
Sometimes they would have night or evening scenes in movies and you could barely see it on the TV. Or you had to go try the contrast knob or brightness knob.
Quote: ontariodealerand my mother was a switchboard operator.
My mom was a switchboard operator for
15 years in the 50's and 60's. Most
young people now have no idea what a
switchboard is. Until the mid 60's, you
had to manually connect people to
who they wanted to talk to in private
corporations. Amazing.
Quote: EvenBobMy mom was a switchboard operator for
15 years in the 50's and 60's. Most
young people now have no idea what a
switchboard is. Until the mid 60's, you
had to manually connect people to
who they wanted to talk to in private
corporations. Amazing.
In the 50's there were lots of rural areas where an operator had to connect you manually before you could talk to anybody.
You learned to pick up the phone and listen before dialing. Sometimes we would listen to other conversations when we were kids.
We'd have gotten our asses beat if we'd gotten caught.
It was a PITA if somebody was long winded and you needed to use the phone.
Quote: JimRockfordThere was a phone number you could call to tell you the time
Yes! With all the stuff I tend to forget, I can still remember the number for "time" even though I haven't dialed it in over 30 years!
I don't either.
buzz isn't around, he might.
from the old. Remember when nobody used
paper towels? They were invented in 1931 by
Scott, but took decades to catch on. In the 50's
and early 60's, I never saw a paper towel. We
used washable dish cloth's for everything.
It really wasn't till the 70's that paper towels
caught on and low enough in price. Can you
imagine a world without paper towels? That's
all of humanity prior to about 50 years ago.
Don't even talk about toilet paper. Wiki the
history of it and see what people wiped
their backsides with for thousands of years.
Clue number one, it wasn't Charmin Ultra
Soft. Not even the richest king had access
to that. But we do..
I remember having to connect to dial up for the Internet....and it was so incredibly slow. Argh!
Back in the day, you could buy a hotdog wrapped with bacon, onions & mustard along with an orange Fanta can for 7 pesos. You could buy most bags of chips for 3 or 4 pesos. The bigger ones were 5, good thing I didn't like those.
Back in the day, people used to think drinking orange juice while eating cereal & milk was bad for you. (I did it anyway.) Seriously could you imagine -- drinking a glass of milk with your cereal & milk breakfast? Neanderthals if you ask me.
Or how about when gas was less than $2/gal? Could fill up most a tank of gas with a clean crisp $20.
Who remembers watching the OJ Simpson and George Zimmerman trials on TV? Whewee, time sure flies.
Or back in the day, the ocean was so close to my house. For a while, the sun rise was over the ocean, then it changed to sun setting over the ocean....and now the ocean is so far away!
Or back when everyone thought those stupid ankle/no-sock socks were cool? Darn hippies. Socks are supposed to go up half your calf (calph?). No more no less.
Or Pepsi Blue? That was an interesting mistake.
Same with when Heinz came out with purple mustard. Never was a huge fan of the stuff, but come on, everyone knew that was going to be awful.
Back in the day when people thought having pockets in your pants or shorts was just a fad. Now we all have pockets, some even on our shirts, sweatshirts, and jackets.
Now we got technology.
We can order chipotle for pick up now a days. No idea how people survived before that. Unfortunately, I'm an old geiser, and still don't know how to set that up.
Or the first "clickers?" When TV remotes functioned by striking a bar (like a tuning fork), and the specific tones were recognized by the TV to change channels.Quote: RSI remember wayyyy back when -- our old TV had them switchy knob things. I liked that TV for some odd particular reason.
Three words (maybe 4): 300 baud modem.Quote:I remember having to connect to dial up for the Internet....and it was so incredibly slow. Argh!
I remember the breakfast cereal commercials where they used to promote their cereal as part of a "balanced breakfast," which consisted of cereal milk, OJ, and toast!Quote:Back in the day, people used to think drinking orange juice while eating cereal & milk was bad for you. (I did it anyway.) Seriously could you imagine -- drinking a glass of milk with your cereal & milk breakfast? Neanderthals if you ask me.
Ah, yes. I remember it like it was yesterday. Oh, wait... :)Quote:Or how about when gas was less than $2/gal? Could fill up most a tank of gas with a clean crisp $20.
What about Crystal Pepsi?Quote:Or Pepsi Blue? That was an interesting mistake.
FYI
http://www.hucosystems.com/articles/First%20Job.htm
I started smoking at about 14. Back then, I could sneak into the lunch room of the local Pontiac dealership and buy Marlboro Red for 35 cents a pack from their cigarette machine (can't remember when I last saw one of those). When I started to drive gas was 27 cents a gallon.
Haven't had a cigarette in 32 years.
I remember mail before zip codes. In urban areas, you had "zones." Mine was Cleveland, 24 Ohio.
I remember local phone exchanges before they went all digital. Your exchange was always a word, as in "Garfield 1-2323" (you dialed the first two letters, then the number). Anyone from Cleveland in the middle of the last century will recognize that number.
I was in 7th grade in 1963. My mother made lunch for me 4 days a week that I carried to school. Does anyone still do that? On the fifth day, Friday, I bought my lunch, a complete lunch, for 33 cents. Here's how it broke down.
Grilled cheese sandwich: 15 cents
Lance cheese cracker 4-pack: 5 cents
Bottle of milk: 3 cents
Ice cream sandwich: 10 cents...
I remember when a 6 oz bottle of coke from a vending machine cost 10 cents. The first time I saw it cost 15 cents, I thought the world was coming to an end.
Quote: iamnomadI will date myself with these...I turn 65 next month.
I remember mail before zip codes. In urban areas, you had "zones." Mine was Cleveland, 24 Ohio.
I remember local phone exchanges before they went all digital. Your exchange was always a word, as in "Garfield 1-2323" (you dialed the first two letters, then the number). Anyone from Cleveland in the middle of the last century will recognize that number.
I recognize that number. I grew up outside of Cleveland in the 216 area code. Although I don't remember the exchanges, I do remember having a shared "party" phone line with the neighbors.
Quote: iamnomadI will date myself with these...I turn 65 next month.
I remember mail before zip codes. In urban areas, you had "zones." Mine was Cleveland, 24 Ohio.
I remember local phone exchanges before they went all digital. Your exchange was always a word, as in "Garfield 1-2323" (you dialed the first two letters, then the number). Anyone from Cleveland in the middle of the last century will recognize that number.
I was in 7th grade in 1963. My mother made lunch for me 4 days a week that I carried to school. Does anyone still do that? On the fifth day, Friday, I bought my lunch, a complete lunch, for 33 cents. Here's how it broke down.
Grilled cheese sandwich: 15 cents
Lance cheese cracker 4-pack: 5 cents
Bottle of milk: 3 cents
Ice cream sandwich: 10 cents...
I remember when a 6 oz bottle of coke from a vending machine cost 10 cents. The first time I saw it cost 15 cents, I thought the world was coming to an end.
Remember when, people actually admitted to being from Cleveland
Quote: Greasyjohnthe local Pontiac dealership and buy Marlboro Red for 35 cents a pack from their cigarette machine (can't remember when I last saw one of those).
.
They're long gone. Even NYC only has about
a dozen left, in bars, relics from 40 years ago.
They used to be everywhere. In the barber
shop, the drug store, every gas station had
one. Every public place had a couple. I would
walk by the teachers lounge in the 60's and
smoke would come billowing out when they
opened the door.
Quote: HeySlickI'm old enough to remember setting pins in our local bowling alley (Coolidge, Arizona) for extra spending money. I've also picked cotton --- what a terrible thing to have to do. Incidentally I didn't have to do this terrible thing, I did it because I wanted to be around some of my cousins/relatives during the summer school break.
FYI
http://www.hucosystems.com/articles/First%20Job.htm
Re: picking cotton:
Quote: GreasyjohnPrior to sbout 1990, where I live, they didn't have for-home-use trash cans that were picked up by a mechanical arm of a trash truck. Prior to that everybody bought the style and type of hash cans they wanted. And a huge guy traveled on the rear platform of the trash truck and hoisted up the trash cans and tipped their contents into the rear of the trash truck.
I started smoking at about 14. Back then, I could sneak into the lunch room of the local Pontiac dealership and buy Marlboro Red for 35 cents a pack from their cigarette machine (can't remember when I last saw one of those). When I started to drive gas was 27 cents a gallon.
Haven't had a cigarette in 32 years.
When I served my time in Vietnam (68-69) cigarettes were 12 cent a pack -- a whole carton of cigarettes for $1.20. I quit smoking in 1994.
I think they always kept a bottle of Paregoric (tincture of opium) around as well ;-)
Quote: RSRe: picking cotton:
Cotton picking is a huge deal among blacks,
like all they did in the South was pick cotton
all the time. The truth is, actual harvesting of
cotton only takes a couple weeks. The rest
of the time was spent on farm chores, just
like on any working farm. The urban legend
of blacks picking cotton in the hot sun all
day every day, with the boss on his horse
cracking a bullwhip, will die hard, if it ever
does die.
Like the kids mom getting all upset because
they took kids to a cotton mill. Ridiculous.
Farming is damned hard work. Glad I got beyond it.
Quote: TwoFeathersATLDo you remember when parents gave their sick little kids a mix of whiskey, honey, w/a little lemon juice to make them a little less miserable, maybe let them get a little sleep, parents and kids both? Dem were the days! (1960)
I think they always kept a bottle of Paregoric (tincture of opium) around as well ;-)
I remember paregoric...yech! Drug stores also used to sell coke syrup, which parents would give you to settle your stomach...
I actually used to like Zima as a mixer. Twist off the cap, take a swig to make room for the Gin or Vodka shot. Pour in the liquor, squeeze in a lime, and you're good to go!Quote: AxelWolfI had friends that drank Zema.
Quote: AxelWolfI had friends that drank Zema.
Zima... Alcoholic Sprite.
when Diet Rite came out. We hated it but
drank it because my parents bought nothing
else from then on. It tasted like medicine
to us. Mexican TV dinners and Diet Rite
cola was a Friday tradition in our house for years.
We looked forward to that all week because
it was so out of the norm, it was almost
exotic.
Go into a supermarket in 1962 and the frozen
food section was one side of one aisle. In
my current market, it's both sides of three
long aisles. One whole aisle in nothing but
frozen desserts.
