I was cleaning up in the shop today & I noticed 2 old business cards from VW shops I used to deal with stuck on the wall ever since the early 80's. I had a flashback about the way I used to restore "splits" & "oval" VW bugs back in the 70's. Since Nate is a dyed in the wool old school VW guy from Pasadena.... I thought he might recognize these players in the VW scene from the L.A. SFV area back in the late 70's..... I found it interesting that there are no area codes indicated on either card { but back then it woulda been before the 818 code so those would have been 213 numbers }.
Neat old cards Those are some neat old cards! I remember my grandparents phone number up in Las Vegas, NM....used to be 7777 ....and that is all you had to dial to get the call through...eventually added a 5 to the front and now all of that is history. Most people would not believe it. Here in NM we more recently went through having a second area code for the state...that was and still is a huge problem...the reasoning they gave was all flawed...I travel to Panama in Central America and they simply solved the problem of not enough numbers by adding one number infront of any new numbers....of seven digits. Simple and no changes...same old area code! rod
Business Cards Wow ~ those are old . I remember Valley Independent but the other place was way too far off in the Valley for me back then . I remember dozens if not hundreds of Indie VW Shops back then ~ the smart Mechanics took jobs at the VW Dealer and went to the Factory training in Culver City then worked a couple years for experiance then opened their own Inde shop . In this time period the area code was 213 for all of Southern Cali , they chose that because the two first area codes in America ever were New York's 212 and Cali's 213 , easier and faster to dial being closer to the # 1....... Anyone else still have rotary 'phones in use ? .
We have one rotary (a Western Electric 202 from the 1930s) that came in real handy during our last hurricane. Cell circuits were out or overloaded and most household phones require wall power (out for 10+ days) to operate. But Ma Bell's battery powered switching offices continued to work as did our local line that had the rotary phone attached.
Batman phone Yep, still have a red one...like Batman....still use it and sure feel good during storms to have it. That is right, when power goes out most people are at a loss....phones go because they are cell or plug in even though the portable is battery...useless, if no electricity. Lots of people around here have a pellet stove or furnace...again useless if elec goes out..I have always understood that the last thing to go would be the land line...very low power...and battery! And, if you really think about it very little...audio quality is far above what people currently think is good. rod
Old Telephones Once of these days the PUC will allow them to change how basic telephone service works and our old sets will no longer work . I foolishly sold off 99 % of my vintage telephones including many Western Electric # 202 " French Style " desk sets , in the 1980's when they didn't have any value . I still keep a nickle plated Candlestick telephone next to my bed and a couple rotary sets here and there around the house . The sound quality is magnificent but I imagine hard wired telephones will be a very small minority in houses before long . Every time we have an earthquake most cell service dies but my old hard wired sets all work just dandy .
Which also reminds me.... Back in 1979.... I used my VW bug to haul my '51 216 motor to downtown L.A. to have "Broadway Engine" rebuild it
GREAT Photograph ! Were you happy with thier work ? . I ask because in the same year , they managed to loose my buddy's original set of 1937 connecting rods and returned him a bent crankshaft , he was only 17 at the time and wanted to do a really bang up job instead of my suggested " periodic overhaul " , he never did get the '37 3100 back on the road and *vanished* with my low mileage , *perfect* fan to bell housing 216 in the bargain . Oh well . In the 1970's I twice had young folks show up with VW long blocks precariously balanced on the seat of a Honda Motocycle ~ .
Yes. I drove that thing for 34 years & I just sold the truck last month & it still ran like a sewing machine. I did do a valve job on it back in 2005 to install hardened valve seats for unleaded fuel.... Other than that..the only thing I ever had to do to that motor was change the oil & adjust the valves. I even left their block control tag on it all those years
