wow i am old i used a car seat like that until i was about 13 and used up all the squeak in the horn ...
Safety wasn't an issue as much back in the good 'ol days.I remember steering my uncles XKE while sitting in his lap.I also remember hitting the dashboard of my Moms Safari Wagon and having CAITNOP(Pontiac)stamped on my forehead for the afternoon.BTW,Sam's car is pretty cool for the family truckster.
I took many a trip in my 40 over the years with the kids in back. I made a back seat for them with lap belts, but in hind sight, it really wasn't the smartest thing. But they still talk about all the trips we took. I was lucky I guess.......
My parents always drove station wagons, mostly Studes, usually our seat was on the top of the folded up rear seat right behind my parents where the bottom folded against the back of the front seat with our legs trapped between. It did actually keep us in place once when someone T boned us and ran us into a ditch, But I think the real reason my parents let us three boys ride there was because we were within reach of my mom's backhand if we got too rowdy. My little sister always rode on the front seat between my parents. When I had kids I installed belts in the back of my Satellite to hold the carseats.
I started driving at age 5. Seriously. Pa would take me out and I'd sit on his lap and turn corners. It was quite Fun actually. Same with my brother at around age 10. I kept driving into the ditch!
Ryan, This was always one of my favorite issues ! Got it, along with the rest of my "little pages", when I was a kid and thought it was neat that Sam did a "daily driver"-type custom as opposed to all of the radicals that he and George had turned out. Seeing him with his wife & kids in the Cover Shot, gave him "the guy nextdoor" look, and after seeing that pic, and reading the story, I always had a greater opinion of him...and a different one than the regular "kustomizer/bodyman" image with a hammer, dolly, and, torch, that he'd had from the pix I'd previously seen of him doing his builds. Great story, good, solid, ideas for helping to protect your family...and "Barris-Built" all the way ! (Below is a scan of the cover of that December, 1955, Issue from my personal collection.) Jonnie
I agree, during those days when were just kids, safety is not an issue. Though our parents would always want us to be out of danger. Today, safety is a big issue. i actually read an article and it says that the brand new survey has found that many parents do not use booster seats in carpool situations, which could be very risky. Booster seats are intended to keep kids who are too large for car seats, but not yet adult sized, safe in vehicles. I guess, for the safety of their kids, they should be well informed about safe driving. Article resource: Half of kids being transported without safety seats
Just a bump of an old thread ... 'cuz I found yet another "Traditional" child restraint system in the 1961 SEARS catalog:
Soooooo, your saying our parents were a bunch of lunatic-dumbasses back in the day?!! Sticking his arm out to help stop a kid(standing in the front seat-WITH fold down seat backs) from going through the windshield? Standing up in the back of a moving pickup? Keeping the windows rolled up while "the adults" were chain smoking cigars/cigarettes. They didn't care about the safety of their children? Nope......they did all that stuff because that's how everybody did it! It was accepted, maybe. It wasn't just the trashy redneck families. It was everybody! Including my folks. And we lived through it! Our folks loved us just as much as we love our kids...."things" just change. I will now relinck-wish my soapbox to the next old coddger HAMB'er!! 6sally6 PS........I KNOW that ain't how you spell^^^ that word so I just winged it!!
I remember being a kid riding in a car before seat belts. I also remember my seven year old face meeting my Grampa's 11 year old 51 Dodges dash board in 1962. Do you also remember your great grandmother putting a butter knife in the ice box and then applying it to your eyebrow to make the swelling go down! lol Larry
The Jalopy Journal
