Things we remember,

[donsrods]

And after hours you could just pop a cap off a bottle still in the machine and
stick a straw in it?

I never thought of that one ! I did however drain the lines when I worked at gas stations. After a customer would leave I kept a can near the pumps and would squeeze the trigger on the nozzle and get all the gas that was in the hose. Then, when the next customer came in we had to quickly stick the nozzle in his car (remember full service ) and then turn the handle on the side of the pump to start it running. If we didn't do that he could see that before we started pumping gas the numbers would go from zero to maybe a dime or so because it had to fill up the line again. By the end of my shift I had a few gallons of gas to take me out on a date or whatever. [ddev Here I was stealing gas and it cost something like $ 20 cents a gallon back then.

Speaking of gas, anyone remember Sunoco 260? My buddies Dad owned a Sunoco station and on Saturday night he could get the lever to go past the 260 mark and pump pure Hi Test, some called it 270. It was our race gas.

Don

 

[RPM]

Sunoco 260 was a good hi octane. You could run 12.5 to 1 pistons with it and no problems

 

[Sniper]

And after hours you could just pop a cap off a bottle still in the machine and
stick a straw in it?

Yeah!! Used to use a bean shooter, bigger bore...didn't have to draw so hard. Small straw would make the pop fizz and come out your nose!

 

[rainman]

I remember the first TV show I saw in color!!!

Gunsmoke!! Can't remember the year though!!

 

[rustybeercan]

We take FM radio for granted now but when it first came out it had an incredible feature and advantage over AM, your station didn't fade out when you went under an overpass. I laugh when I think about that now!

Beercan

 

[Dr Crankenstein]

Haha, those are terrific. [cl


Oh, and remember the soda pop coolers that you lifted the lid up on and the sodas were in cold water and after you put your dime in the gate released and you could pull your bottle free?

Keep em coming, please. [cl

Don

Yeah, I remember those coolers. My barber had one of those in his shop. Remember barbers?

Our local butcher had one, too.

In those days, we had a butcher, a barber, a baker, and a candlestick maker in our own neighborhood.

I remember grease nipples/fittings on steering and driveline components.

I remember drain plugs on transmissions and differentials.

I remember when a vacuum gauge and plug readings decided how to tune your fuel curve.

I remember when dual-point distributors and a ''hot'' coil were high performance.

I remember when blue-dot taillights were an indication of how "bad" you are.

I remember when black leather and the "wrong" haircut equalled police harassment.

I remember round refrigerators and finned quarter panels.

I remember chrome-plated brass.

I remember when cars were made of steel, not plastic.

I remember when a message was sent and delivered on paper.

 

[bob w]

Tip Toe semi automatic shift in my Dad's '52 Chrysler

County cops in 1950 Studebakers

Home Delivery milk trucks

Rag Man in a horse drawn wagon

Street cars

One speed balloon tire bicycles

Whizzer Motor Bikes

Tire Irons

 

[CR55]

The bread man used to come to the house to deliver our bread along with the milkman and the insurance man who came to your house to collect your payment. And if you were sick the family doctor would stop by your home also!

 

[earthman]

Wooden ice box, a man with cubes of ice under a tarp stacked on a flatbed
truck grabbed a foot square cube with big tongs, brought it into the kitchen and put it in the top of the "refridgerator". Would like to know what that cost.
Probably 15 cents.

Kerosene kitchen cooking stove
Wringer washing machine and clotheslines. Apparently we had the modern new plastic coated cotton rope lines because when a visiting cousin in-law from the farm saw them he got excited and said Wow! what will they think of next!

 

[TiredIronGRB]

I remember watching the Moon shots...the ones with the astronauts.

 

[earthman]

Yeah!! Used to use a bean shooter, bigger bore...didn't have to draw so hard. Small straw would make the pop fizz and come out your nose!

Or try to stick 3 end to end so you didn't have to bend over

Penny candy and nickle candybars at the neighborhood market. The market gave you 2 cents
refund for pop bottles which everyone threw out of their cars along the roads back then. Start out from home broke and collect enough bottles along the way to pay for candy.

 

[Toad]

I remember watching the Moon shots...the ones with the astronauts.

I remember the other kind too. My buddy and I used to moon Jack-in-the-box (the big hang out spot) every Friday night!

Toad

 

[Snake Farm]

My buddy and I used to moon Jack-in-the-box (the big hang out spot) every Friday night!

Toad

Didn't see me with my camera did ya ? [ddd

 

[donsrods]

The bread man used to come to the house to deliver our bread along with the milkman and the insurance man who came to your house to collect your payment. And if you were sick the family doctor would stop by your home also!

Yep, we had a bakery van that would stop Mondays, Wednesdays, and Friday. I was a kid and loved those chocolate Hostess cakes.......never see those any more.

As for milk, the milk came in glass bottles with paper lids and the milkman dropped those off and picked up the empties. The milk was REAL milk with cream so thick on the top you would skim it off and use it for coffee.

Doctors made house calls and worked late into the night. We paid him his fee and gave him eggs and vegetables from our garden as partial payment. There were no specialists in those days, the family Doctor did it all from colds to heart attacks.

Friday was payday at the steel mill where my Dad worked and everybody went to town that day to shop. As an incentive for me to not act up, my Mom would take us to Isaly's Ice Cream shop for a sundae, and I also got some toy.

When we got our very first TV I was about 2 or 3 but remember it clearly. My Mom was so entranced with watching it she fell behind in her housework and my Dad chewed her out when he got home from work and dinner wasn't done. Funny the early memories we have.

Don

 

[Dr Crankenstein]

My father worked shifts at a steel mill, too. When his truck's starter crapped, my mother, my brother and I pushed it down the street to bump-start it. We did it for a week until he had time off to replace it. (That was a '64 GMC, and turned out to be my first "car").

On Saturdays, we'd go shopping. Groceries, clothes, shoes, whatever we needed. I always chose a Matchbox or Hot Wheels car if I could buy anything.

I remember when:

- garbage was picked up by two men hanging off the back of a truck.

- sirens were mechanical devices, and sounded like an air-raid signal.

- the welding shop had a forge and a selection of anvils.

- radiators were made of copper and brass.

- firemen were hetero.

- cops had to be male and a minimum 5' 10''.

- people used their phones to TALK.

- Used oil was spread over gravel roads.

- scavenging at the landfill was encouraged.

- I saw a bathtub gel-coated in lime green metalflake.

- home movies were family films, on film.

- crack was only harmful to your mother's back.

- neighbors looked out for each other, not themselves.

- you couldn't get air conditioning or power steering in a truck, and you could walk beside it in low gear.

- the farmer's market actually had farmers.

- service industries provided service.

- people were adequately competent to hold their position.

- you phoned a business or office, and you spoke to somebody.

- gasoline had lead in it, and didn't smell like toxic waste.

- you could buy 5 gallons of aviation fuel if you had cash and a proper container.

- taking public transportation wasn't a survival expedition.

 

[RRR Mod]

I remember the other kind too. My buddy and I used to moon Jack-in-the-box (the big hang out spot) every Friday night!

Didn't see me with my camera did ya ? [ddd

Hey... I've warned you guys about that toad porn!!! [ddd[S

Rat Rod Mod

 

[donsrods]

We lived in the country and our phone was on a party line setup. Younger people might think this is really weird, but there were 3 other families sharing the came phone line as us, so if you picked up the phone to use it you would hear conversation and have to hang up and try back when they got off the phone. The way you knew an incoming call was for your house was by the number of rings.........our first phone number was 491-J3, so when the phone rang 3 times it was for us. Every once in a while you would hear someone else quietly lift up their phone and start snooping in on your call and you would have to yell "HANG UP THE PHONE!!!!!"

Obviously, if you were a little long winded during a conversation another neighbor would come on and ask "How much longer are you going to be, I have an important call to make?"

Don

 

[the reverend muddy grimes]

i remember being a kid and riding in the back of a pickup with no one thinking anything about it. Walking all over town at 5 years old and it was safe. the little penny football and basketball chocolates. american bandstand signalling the end of cartoons for the week. and former horror stars hosting a weekly CREATURE FEATURE.

 

[gassersgarage]

Color bars you hooked up to your car radio or 8 track.

Backyard incinerators

Sting Ray bicycles with rear slicks and a metal flake steering wheel.

You could get beat by a teacher for misbehaving.

 

[Tripper]

You could get beat by a teacher for misbehaving.

When I was a boy... you DID NOT act up in school! If you did... you got swats & when you got home your old man whipped you again. My high school principal was a 6'5" muscular ex-basketball player. He had the shop teacher flatten an old baseball bat & drill 3 holes in it... when he gave you swats you literally came off the ground. You were VERY, VERY good after that for a LONG time! This is no BS!!! They'd put him in jail for that now.

We always addressed adults by Sir or Mam. Yes Sir, yes Mam. When was the last time you heard anyone's kids say that. I guarantee my kids did!!! It's all about respect... or lack of it!

BoB