Older Than Dirt

R-Matey":33wq765n said:
Some other things that I can recall is the rotary dial telephone.
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I am using one again. Our new fangled phone at home does not work when we lost power and only works when the generator is running. Terri went to the attic and got our old rotary phone. Will probably keep using it when we get power back on.

I remember every one of the items mentioned on the thread. I even remember the foot operated start button on older cars.

I remember our first TV in the early 50’s. Our dad had an old oscilloscope with a 4” tube. He used it and made a TV for us. The tube was weak and green so it had to be dark to see anything. I remember we took it to the attic and my brothers and I would go up there with a blanket over our heads and the TV so it would be dark enough to see the picture.
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Dave dlt.gif
 
Joe-What a great trip. We didn't have a car in our familygrowing up but I had some great ones in the 50's-Hudson Wasp, Studebaker Silver Hawk, Nash Metropolitan, Renault Dauphne. The best though, was a '50 Olds Rocket 88. It's hard to believe that the only auto company still is business is Renault! I bought my first Ford last year. Hope I don't put them out of business too.
 
What a great trip back! Thanks. Remember crowds standing on the street looking in the store window at those newfangled televisions? Our first was a Spartan with the CRT facing up and a mirror on the inside of the console lid you could tilt at just the right angle to watch it laying on the floor. Remember TV shows "Omnibus", "Korla Pandit", and wrestling with Lou Thez?

I worked at a service station, not a gas station, and folks would come in, get five gallons of gas, their windows cleaned, oil, tires, and water checked, S&H Green stamps, and pay $1.50.

My first car was a '47 ford convertible, my older brother bought for me in 1955, for $100.

Started delivering papers from my bike when I was about 11, I'd walked the route before, carrying one of those side saddle style paper bags that went over your head with papers in front and back. The bike was a big deal. My previous transportation was a scooter made out of a 2x4 (that was really 2x4), an orange crate and one taken apart roller skate. Movies were 15-25 cents and for that you got a double feature, six cartoons, and a newsreel. Money for the movies came from the paper route or from collecting soda pop bottles. Small ones were worth 2 cents and the big ones were worth a nickel.

Boy, I am older than dirt, and even worse, I remember the late forties pretty well :disgust
 
Thanks, Joe. Here's my all time favorite ride. Photo taken somewhere here in San Diego or maybe Port Hueneme. My memory is about as short as Charlie's is now. The heater in this convertible ran on gasoline and it had headers, duals, bullnosed and outragious tuck and roll upholstery done in Tijuana.

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Don
 
Chuckle, Chuckle!

And then there's old Dusty who invented dirt :lol:

Boot camp in San Diego in 1937 after graduating from Sequim High School - well, sort of graduating! After 37 years on the same old treadmill decided fishing was more fun.

My kids all remember the old stuff that Joe and Charley talk about!!

Don, I still wonder what happened to that old Auburn boat tail convertible I left running on the dock in San Pedro when I had to run to catch a water taxi 'cause I missed the last liberty boat and the ship was underway in a few minutes. :cry

Dusty
 
Sawdust":1823om79 said:
Don, I still wonder what happened to that old Auburn boat tail convertible I left running on the dock in San Pedro when I had to run to catch a water taxi 'cause I missed the last liberty boat and the ship was underway in a few minutes. :cry

Dusty
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I'd say you left your future fortune behind on the dock!

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$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

(Hope you're feeling well, Dusty!)

Joe.
 
Man you guys are OLD !!!!
I still have my first car...a 1931 Model A roadster...that I bought in high school in 1963.... I worked at a Chevron gas station and sold gas at 19.9 regular and 29.9 for the good stuff...6 volt batteries were $8.99 at Wards. I made $1.60 hr. pumping gas and had to pay for my uniform cleaning....after tax and deductions made about $100 a week.

Joel
SEA3PO
 
Gee Joe,

Had no idea those old tubs were worth anything anymore. Suppose my '37 Cord supercharged ragtop is probably worth something now too... :roll:

And thanks, Joe - much better now, and with a little luck I'll be out and about soon. Sure missed seeing you at the SBS.

Dusty
 
Boy does that bring back memories. My first car was a 1937 Chrysler Imperial I bought in 1957 for $25. I had a collection of over 3500 1943 metal pennies and one 1943 copper penny. When I went into the Army in 1959, my little brother used my penny collection to buy gas for my car and totaled it.

What a great time it was.
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Dave dlt.gif
 
Sawdust":39tj8qoy said:
Gee Joe,
Suppose my '37 Cord supercharged ragtop is probably worth something now too... :roll:
Dusty
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I remember my brother's best friend Paul Duffy (USAAF) came to visit us after the war driving a supercharged Cord. Dusty. That was "the" car to own if you were a cool ex fighter pilot (or wanna-be.) The late '40's chick magnet of choice, apparently....

Don
 
I remember back in the old days when we had to watch movies on VHS, no DVD's. You had to actually rewind the movie when you were done and return them to a Video Store.
I even had friends who connected to the internet via a dial up modem, no DSL , imagine, 5600 kb, and they couldnt even use their phone when they were on the computer.
 
oldgrowth":2k2k01nz said:
When I went into the Army in 1959, my little brother used my penny collection to buy gas for my car and totaled it.

What a great time it was.
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Dave dlt.gif
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Hence, the reason, your brother is providing you with "free labor" on the 2 foot boat extension project? :lol:
 
I just thought of a few more "old memories".

As a kid - I remember when we had camera's that had what they called film in them. You would take a picture and then have to take it in to a place to get it developed. You had to order a CD to get your pictures digitally. Most people would get them on photo paper.

I was at an antique store the other day and I saw a keyboard that you put paper into it - they called it a "typewriter". I dont remember those.

Tom
 
I'm not proud of this, but in the late 50's I could buy a pack of Lucky Strike straights (no filter) from the vending machine at the local gas station for twenty five cents (a quarter), and get two pennies back, slipped into the cellophane wrapper.

wineman
 
Things I can barely remember:

!. Streetcars in Los Angeles-yellow ones on the city streets, and the Red Car system that ran out to "rural" areas more than 5-10 miles from downtown L.A.

2. Black out curtains, war ration stamps, piston engine fighters on practice runs over the southland. My dad with a "CD" (Civil Defense) whilte metal helmet at the ready.

3 Sitting on our front porch in Rosemead reading the newpaper and looking at the daily changes in the North/South controlled sectors of Korea.

4. Going to the San Diego Zoo from L.A. on the train. Going to Catalina on a covered launch on a rough day because they didn't want to take the big ship. (lots of Green People on board.) The opening of Knotts Berry Farm and Disneyland.

5. President Harry Truman begging out of the train in Shasta Lake City (then Central Valley) and riding in a 1951 yellow Cadillac Convertible up to Shasta Dam for the dedication.

6. Gas pumps where you cranked up the 5 gallons into a glass cylinder, then let gravity flow it down to your car (these were pretty much relics even then in the late 40's early 50's).

7. Oleomargarine coming in a plastic bag. It was white, and had a yellow capsule in one end. You had to pinch and break the capsule, then squeeze the package 'till the color was distributed evenly!

All this before my 10th birthday! So what happened to the next 55 years???

Older than dirt! Feel like I'm just a part of the eternal Rock Cycle Itself!
(Ask Bill Fierro (of El and Bill), The Geologist to explain it to ya'!

Joe.
 
I worked at Standard Gas stations for over 4 yrs to help pay my way through college. Back then the customer was NOT ALLOWED to pump their own gas, against insurance regulations. We had gas wars, Standard was generally the highest at 32.9 cents/gal, across the street was a Thrifty station selling at a cutthroat rate of 27.9 cents/gal! High test was 104 octance Custom Supreme gas - Corvettes and Porsche's ran that. We wore white shirts, blue pants and a bow tie (propeller) at all times. We checked the customer's oil, water, brake fluid (if asked), belt tensions/condition, tire pressures and anything else asked. Those were the days...
 
Sea Wolf

I Rode those red cars many times and mixed the yellow capsule for the oleomargarine about once a week. Then we spread it into molds to make it look like butter. My recollection is that the butter companies insisted on oleo being white. Paper and aluminum drives, spam and scrapple for dinner.

Sounds like we were in the same place at about the same time. I lived in Oakland during WWII and moved south to Belmont Shore just after the war. It snowed there in 1946 or 47. It was a big event. Spent many a good day at Knotts Berry Farm (when it was still a farm) and at Disneyland when it opened in 1955.
 
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