Riding bicycles without helmets. Took my son to the doctor a while back his doctor could not believe I let him on a bike without one. You would have thaught I shot his mother. wow....
Going to the store while laying down ON the rear package tray enjoying the sun on my face. Walking down to the local two pump gas station with a note and getting my Dad a pack of smokes. Not getting carded for buying model glue. Getting a spanking from the nuns AND from my parents when I did something wrong, not my parents threatening to sue because I got a spanking at school. Waiting in line on the correct day for gas because our license plate was an even number. Getting a ticket for driving my friend through a parking lot at a slow crawl to his car, my mom would drive me down the street as a small kid so I thought it was alright. (Cop didn't think so!) Standing in the playground saying the pledge and a prayer before school. All the stores were closed on major holidays AND Sunday. When the speed limit on the freeway changed to 55. My Mom making me fold the shoulder belt and putting it back on the clips that held it to the roof of the car because she was so neat. The TV remote making that clicking noise when you changed the channel. Having to watch the president speak on TV because his was on all three channels, and we only got three channels.
I remember riding up to Mr. T's in Whittier at night in the late 60s (I was too young to drive) and looking through the fence at all the really nice cars. They sold nothing but custom cars and trucks.
I used to like to check out the cars also. We moved to Whittier from La Mirada in 68 and we lived off of Lambert and Mills. Remember Bobs Big Boy and that barricade that was used to close off that residential street next to Bobs during cruisin' hours? You should check out the thread on Whittier Blvd.
I remember dad picking me up from baby sitter and us driving home out in the country where we lived but often stopping by the wrecking yard a few miles from our place and him buying cars that were just dripped off that day. One time was a cherry 50 chevy 2dr black had a shredded tire and ran like crap with bent push rods which he bought for 300 bucks and the tow truck followed us home with it which he kept for 15yrs and built a mild custom out of.. Also when I was 10yrs old we stopped by again on way home and a clean 62 chevy ll was just dropped off which he bought for 200 bucks which he drove home and told me to drive the 69 Chev truck home following him!! I remember thinking I was king shit following him home since I was 10 with no license driving by myself.. Man things have changed since then..
Checking the pay phones for change jump rope contests at school rabbit ears on Televisions Pinewood Derby!!! Rubicks Cubes, Army Men, and Stompers Wearing the back tire out on my banana seat bike playing "skid" Rotary Phones Walking to get gas for the lawnmower and paying for it with change Boy Scout campouts and newspaper drives Sundaes at Dairy Queen sold in those mini plastic baseball helmets The turquoise interior of my grandmother's 68 Galaxie
Gas Station Bells, riding in the back of the pickup, people knew how to swim, respect for your elders, you went to the movies to see the movies, not talk on the telephone
Going shopping Friday night because the stores stayed open till 9:00 Living about 2 miles from the Milford MI GM Proving Grounds, we'd sit along the road in summer and watch the "new models" go by. GM engineers & techs drove the next years' cars home & back, months before they were in the showrooms. I remember first time we saw new Tempests, Chevy IIs, F85s etc. zooming by. We thought they were too small to be any good. Standing up between the 2 front seats of Dad's Ford panel truck. Watching the farrier spend a day putting shoes on our horses. Dad and big brother shooting off fireworks they got from Missouri, and the State Police stopping by in a '57 Chevy to discuss the issue. Dad knew nothing about any fireworks, must have been somebody shooting at a raccoon or possum . Most stores were closed on Sunday. Going to the grandparents for dinner - or they would come over to our house. Dad starting the wood cookstove in the kitchen, then waking us up to come out & warm up our "hineys" before we got ready for school. The school bus coming up our 1/4 mile-long driveway to pick us up at the door when the weather was bad. Riding my bike to the corner store (about a mile away) with $1 for a Sunday Detroit News, breakfast jelly roll and a pack of Old Golds for dad. And bringing change back to him. 2cents for a 1/2 pint carton of milk at school for lunch. Going to the drugstore while Mom was grocery shopping, and checking out the "man" mags. - I mean "CAR" mags . . Then to the dimestore to see if any new AMT model cars came in. Most were $1.39 each. Snitching a couple of drinks of pure cream off the milk before Mom mixed it up. mmmm..... When we were 8-10 years old having Mom drop us off 5 or 6 miles from home with burlap sacks and a wagon so we could pick up pop & beer bottles to turn in for 2cents each. If we were lucky we'd find a 'big boy' - they were 5cents each. Cow-pie fights in the barn and pasture - the fresher, the better. Ruined many white tee shirts that way! A bunch of us kids going horseback riding out in the country. When it got hot we'd go skinny dipping in the pond or river. Boys and girls!-and thinking nothing of it.
Halloween in Detroit (way before they decided to burn Detroit on Devils nite). One neighbor worked at Wonder Bread & he would give out those small loaves of bread every year. Another down the block worked at Sealtest dairy & would give out pints of chocolate milk. Always one of the first stops & those two items would never make it home.
Cap guns Soft ice cream cones at DQ with the curly top My paper route, and Schwinn Corvette The push lawnmower Outhouses and catalog pages At 6 yrs old being sent out to catch and kill a chicken for Sunday dinner Getting a haircut for $1 while reading the Police Gazette or Argosy Flying kites 5 cent popsicles Being in the hospital with a broken leg in 1958 in a ward with 12 other kids Lining up at school for Polio shots Coke from a fountain made of syrup and soda water, with two ice cubes A big dog named Andy that stole kids lunches on the way to school Lagging for pennies at recess Soaping windows on Halloween
I remember the changing of horse to truck milk delivery, I heard a neighbor lady ask ''How do you like your truck?'' Milkman replied,'' It's ok but the horse knew the route and always moved up.I have to walk farther now.'' Bill aka Tnomoldw
Playing cards in my bike spokes. Towing a wood hydro plane behind my bike. Getting in a fist fight at school and the principal spanked both of us and we later shook hands. Catching crawfish on my way home from school. Having to walk to the TV to change the channel or adjust the rabbit ears. Know its time to go home when the street lights come on.
going somewhere no trafic lights but now every where you go, some day they will have them at your front gate? cops would just say take your time slow down, now days they just want to revenue raising for govt. speeding cameras they call it safety saving lives if they didnt make money on it they would just think something else up. my bitch for the day.
Amen, brother! I use this to illustrate what I feel like at work when we're so busy we're dizzy. "Oops, another plate just hit the ground!" Or how about the guy who would juggle cigar boxes. Ed had a lot of lame vaudeville acts. Sir, you are a bona fide old fart!
Just a few...... oil in metal cans , 25 cent candy bars, 45s and 8 tracks, tires that came in numbers like.. G-60-14, walking several blocks with your shotgun to go Hunting in the woods behind houses and nobody calls the cops, getting pulled over for doing something stupid in your hot rod and just being told not to do it again, milk delivered to your front door by the milk man. going on the roof to adjust the tv antenna when reception was bad.
driving a 1962 fi corvette in 1963, i was 19, paying 70.00 for the car payment making 70.00 a week working in my dads mobilgas station. so i had 210.00 left a month for slicks, headers, gas, cheesebugers and girls. did not smoke or drink just drag raced every chance i could.
I remember a time if you were down the block acting up, any parent on the block had permission to get after you. You got it again when you came home. The local gas station would do a 2 cycle mix in your one gallon can for you if you needed it for the lawn mower. Telling your parents that you were staying all night at your pals house and him telling HIS parents the same story. Then hanging out all night and getting in trouble!
Making homemade ice cream The yellow plastic sheet with the water hose hooked to it (Slip & Slide) on the front lawn Making chopper forks for our bikes Tree forts in several trees Praying for snow so school would be cancelled Dad getting out the electric shaver to give me a crew cut Eating stale Trick or Treat candy durring the year when mom let me have some Splitting and stacking fire wood as wood heat is all we had Trimming the Christmas tree and putting up the outside lights Mowin the lawn the first time since fall and killing the lawn mower engine every 10 feet as the grass was so wet and tall Freezing at the bus stop in the spring mornings because you didn't want to wear a jacket as it would be hot later in the day
My old man would use old cast iron frying pan fill with stove oil light on fire to heat up the oil pan in the old buick so it would start in the cold. 2 cents for pop bottles gay ment you where happy 35 cents a gallon gas 35 cents smokes and the cold war was all we had to worry about and no terrorists
If the cops caught you up town on your dirtbike or go kart they sent you home and told your parents instead of arresting you, impounding your stuff and putting you on a terrorist watch list.
I remember in high school there was a smoking area in the gym. During the winter when the restaurent at the tobacco warehouse across from the highschool was open,you could take your fifty cent lunch money and get a coke,a bag of chips and a pack of smokes. On a Saturday night,the first order of business was to steal a gallon coke syrup bottle from behind the truck stop and wash it out. Then you had to find a wino to go into one of the local bars and buy a gallon of draft. You gave him a dollar,he paid seventy five cents for the draft and kept the extra quarter for his trouble. After that you and a couple or three of your buddies would chip in fifty cents or a dollar apiece for enough gas to cruise the local driveins til you found a car load of girls to divvy up or maybe a good fight with a group from another town. If you had five bucks in your pocket you could take your girl to the drive-in movies,out to eat at the Big-Boy drive in and still have enough left over for a couple of gallons of Sonoco Ethyl to burn at the midnite drags. God,I loved growing up in the sixties.
i can relate to the cable chokes three on the tree ect. but only because i love to drive old cars but i mised out on all the other
Blue Dots Painting just the edge of the wheel red and putting the wheel cover back on. Changing a flat on my dad's car and not being able to install the lug nuts 'cause it was a Plymouth. Using a gas tank tube and cap for a "lakes plug" Using only four seconds to open the hood and adjust the shift linkage and get back in before the light changes. Draining the water on a cold night, then refilling before school.
The Jalopy Journal
