In a previous thread, a certain person, who we shall call "BB" asked "How old are you" in reference to a certain thread about milestones in automotive history. In dog years, I'm pretty old, (371 to be exact). I'm proud to say that I'm old enough to remember B&W TV's with a manual tuner, 3 channels (ABC, CBS and NBC). I'm proud to say that I hung on every word David Brinkley, Chet Huntley and Walter Chronkite said on the evening news. I'm proud to say that I watched Bonanza and Bewitched, both sponsored by Chevrolet, before they were in color. I'm proud to say that I carried a genuine draft card with draft lottery #261 during the Vietnam war (1-H status). I'm proud to know what leaded gasoline looked like and smelled like. This is only the beginning!
I'll bite! I listened to the Yankees on my fathers short wave radio. (we lived in the sticks!) As far as I know I'm still 1H. (believe it or not I was born in a leep year and my draft number was 366) First car was a 63 Valiant, slant 6 about 6 years old! (that could be another thread) And my first car with AC was in 76! (had a few really hot summers in Houston before I broke down and bought a car that had it!)
I am also 1-H after getting 316 when I was 20. I was 1-S (student) before that. My first "car" was a '59 3/4 ton Apache, 2nd was a "64 Chevy wagon, 3rd was a '68 Camaro RS. I remember watching Walt Disney in B/W on Sunday evening in the mid-50's. I think I saw every episode of "Leave it to Beaver" and had to watch Friday Night Fights because we only had one channel in town. Only rich people had "Community Antenna" from over the hill in California and had choices. Golly, I'm starting to sound like my Grandfather. Come to think of it, I guess I should, I have 4 grandkids.
*As a youngster, I remember listening to Ronald Reagan's state of the union addresses, on AM radio *roller skating rinks were a popular hangout. *I had a bike with a banana seat *I remember when leaded gasoline was first banned in the U.S. *I remember watching the Challenger explode (On T.V.) *I watched Benny Hill (re-runs on PBS), Cheers, Mash, the Cosby show, and Dallas with my parents *We talked about the cold war in social studies and current events class. *I wrote a current events essay on the fall of the U.S.S.R *Gas cost about 72 cents a gallon when I started driving (pretty cheap for the times) *My first car was my yellow GMC! and I still drive it! *16 I got my drivers license, 18 I bought my first legal pack of smokes, 21 I had my first legal drink, 25 my insurance rates were cut in half.... I guess now the only B-day I have left to look forward to is my 65th so I can get half priced meals at the diner *BTW-My truck is approximately twice my age..... I am betting most of you are as well:b
I can vaguely remember the Vietnam War. I can remember Watergate. I can remember the 70's gas crunch and the rationing. I can remember the bicentenial. I can remember Ford, and Reagan being shot. I can remember the first home computers, and the start of the public internet. I remember the Vietnamese Boat people. I registered for the draft at 18. I remember the Iranian hostage crisis, and the Iran, Iraq war. I voted for Reagan in my first election. I remember the first Space shuttle being launched. I survived the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. I owned a 1967 SS,RS Camaro at 17, wish I still had it. I've been a mechanic for 20 years, will turn 40 next summer, and will have a teen age son in October. I am scared to death about what the future will bring from all the chaos in the world. I own a 1950 Chevy, that is my small piece of sanity I'm trying desperately to hang on to. And I am very grateful there are so many others on this site like me!! Hope everyone has a great Holiday Season......Mike
First car a 1960 VW, 36HP, seventeen years old and paid $300 for it in 1968, $.025 for a gallon of gas, a quarter in the cigerette machine for a pack of Viceroys, another quarter for a burger at McDonalds, $,075 for a movie and Wow $5.00 was a lot for a night out, when you were only making $1.05 per hour. My second car was a 1958 Rambler American, what a bomb, had alot of great memories in that thing. Was lucky enough to find a 1959 Rambler American(same style only made them in 58, 59 & 60) last year sitting in a farm house. That's my next project after completion of the 58 Chevy pickup. Thanks for the memories. Les
I remember JFK getting shot in Dallas. My sister and my folks and I were on the parkway in Mom's '57 Chevy when we heard it on the radio. I remember their reaction to this day and the exact spot on the parkway when the news came over. I was all of four years old. Mom wrecked the Chevy with me and my sister in it the next year. Nobody hurt, thank God. The year after that, I pulled up on the door handle of Dad's '56 T-bird when Mom was making a turn and fell out and rolled along the pavement. Mom made Dad sell it right away. I don't think he ever forgave me for that one even though I wasn't hurt that time either. Dad's not a car nut like I am, but he remembers the T-bird as being very fast. He was flying down the parkway late one night. When he pulled off at an exit, a policeman pulled up next to him and made him pull over. The cop told Dad that he had been following him for quite some time and was unable to catch up to him until he pulled off. Cop let him off with a warning after he made Dad pop the hood to take a look. Dad bought the 'bird used and swears it had a supercharger in it, although I doubt he even knows what a supercharger looks like Probably true though as the 312 those 'birds came with wouldn't have been fast enough to outrun a cop without the supercharger. Just imagine what that 'bird would be worth now Viet Nam was fresh and current to me, as were the hippies (whose point of view seemed to make much more sense to me than the war in Viet Nam). Watergate was a big deal and it was a happy day when Nixon resigned for his part in it. I was 15 years old and had already been working for two years. The job I worked that summer was in construction. Busted my gut lifting a very heavy piece of concrete that had escaped the form when it was poured. Hernia operation that year because of it. Didn't turn me off from construction, though. Next summer, I worked in Dad's structural steel fabrication shop which is where I learned to weld and use a torch. Valuable skills to this day for sure. First car was a 1940 'Olds coupe with an inline 8 in it. Andy
You guys (and Jess) are great!! What a comeback to my question............ my question was just meant to make y'all laugh but awesome replies, I really enjoy this forum, great people for sure........... my first car was a 57 Belair in '76 AAAAAND I still have it............I remember running my ma's Fiat all day long on the change in the ashtray! Oh yea, I remember being the first one to show up at the local dragstrip (in 1980)with nitrous oxide on my 429 Tbird and smoking all the Camaros. Man were those guys mad.............4200lb Ford was mean to those little Chevys........boo hoo hoo (but they did not know I'm a Chevy man too)
My first car was a 1961 Fiat taxi. It was made like a VW bus with the steering wheel over the front wheels and the front doors were suicide doors. Dad got it for me when I was 13 and put me in the hay field in front of the house to learn how to drive. I made several thousand laps. He just told me to stay out of the creek. I grew up watching 2 channels on TV. We got NBC really good but could only get CBS when it was cloudy. The shows of the day were Daniel Boone, The Virginian, Rawhide and The wonderful world of color (Disney). All the shows had a moral to the story and all the dying people got to make one last statement to redeem themselves or explain there lives. There was never any blood. It was a noble time when good always won out over bad. I could take my lever action BB gun and leave in the morning to scour the hills and not come back till supper time. I would have dirt in all the creases of my little fat body and be happy and tired. The only thing I would have to worry about was the mean bull two farms over. What will our kids be relating about their childhoods to one another in 30 years or so? Gater
Gater........got me laughing..........little fat body and the bull 2 farms over........that's good stuff......... your BB gun makes me remember the kids on the school rifle team taking their target rifles(22 cal) on the school bus!!!!!!!AND NOBODY DIED!!!! Now a BB gun is a "FIREARM" to the news anchors.......... I remember a girl on the bus getting a BB to the back of the head........some tears but no police , no news crews, no hospital for 'mental' damage...........settled by a few fists to the gents head and problem solved........over and done.........never happened again....... .but, this issue is a can of worms....lets not open it. Stay light.....
The shows I remember were: voyage to the bottom of the sea lost in space bonanza daniel boone the rifleman ozzie and harriet/ leave it to beaver watching vietnam news footage every night at 6 on ma's little black and white tv in the kitchen while eatin dinner, seemed like for years, every night. Now I have a son inlaw in Iraq....
Watched them all! Let's not forget the following: I Love Lucy Father Knows Best Palidon-Have Gun Will Travel The Rebel 20 Mule-Team Borax Presents Rawhide Combat! (My favorite) The New Adventures of Superman Ed Sullivan Show The Tonight Show starring Jack Parr Truth or Consequences I've Got a Secret And who remembers who sponsered the weekly boxing matches?
When I Were a Laddie , Boston , Mass. only had three TV shannels and one of them was PBS on Ch. , 2 , I believe it's still on Ch. 2 there . I was supposed to be allowed to watch the moon landing on TV but my teacher punished our whole class for being too excited about this world changing event so we didn't get to go . I'm still sore over that one . We didn't even _have_ a TV set untill 1963 or so , prolly a good thing as I still prefer to read a good book . I was given an assortment of old cars including a near cherry '55 Chevy Coupe in blue and white before finally not listening to the adults who said I couldn't bring them home and got my '59 F-100 stepside , that was an ex U.S.A.F. runway crash truck , really low milage and never wrecked although thefloor was rusted out . I think we paid $25.00 for it from the DOD auction . My first VW was a 1960 Beetle with the big canvas sunroof , paid $50.00 for it on time payments . I bought another 1960 VW Beetle sunroof for $250.00 in the middle of the gas crisis of 1974 (IIRC) , I still have that one .
I had a Super Beetle that was so cold in the winter that I put a WOODSTOVE in it!!!!!! Worked good until waiting at a red light and a backdraft would fill the car with smoke! I would get home and smell so bad that my wife would make me undress outside..........
I remember my grandmother taking a picture of me, my brother and sister holding the newspaper with the headline "Man Lands on Moon" - I was 6. I remember watching the space shuttle take off for the first time in high school and Challenger explode in college. I remember having cars and home without AC and what a great thing the that first window unit was. I remember when Mom and Dad got a used color TV to watch all 4 channels - ABC, NBC, CBS and PBS - a full lineup! Oh, and I remember rigging up an antennae in the attic to try and get Saturday night live from the St. Louis station because the local station in central Illinois would not carry it in the beginning. I remember when gas first went over $1 a gallon.
