On topic (sorta)

I remember from the 50's manure spreaders, pea viners, old Ford and chevy pickups with broken rear springs, Farmall tractors, Ford tractors, a few put-put JD's, thrashing machines and fresh country air. That rod stuff was city slicker toys.

"dbu" ...

I wasn't driving in the 60s (born 1958), but I certainly remember seeing those jalopies.

Natalie

Cool music. :-) I recognized some of them. A friend's father had a '57 Chevy (mauve, IIRC), & my next-door neighbor's son has one - an aqua one, which he drives now & again during the summers. And another friend's mom had a Mustang which she bought in the late 60's - also aqua/turquoise - and she actually let her/ (my friend) borrow it for a while during our Sophomore year of college.

Cathy

"Jalopies"? each and every one is an objet d'art.

"Those were the days my friend" or something like that, Mary Hopkins maybe?

Yeah, I think you're right.

Cathy

Took Driver's Ed in high school in a '59 Chevy. The football couch was the teacher. Dad had a '55 Plymouth V8, auto with the shift lever on the dash and no park. Tube type radio that hummed when you turned it on. Yep, those were the days. Drum brakes that would haul it down from 60 in about 100 yards.

Jack

Football Couch? Noooooooooooo... Coach! FOOTBALL COACH! Damn spell checkers!

"Retired VIP" "Wickeddoll®"

LOL I remember seeing buttons on the dash, as well - dunno what critter that was.

Natalie

I think one of them was the starter. That wasn't too long after they moved if from the floor, right next to and just above the foot throttle (accelerator for you kids).

What used to get me was the late '50s and early '60s GM products. You could pull the key out at any time and as long as you didn't turn it to lock, you could start it and drive it without the key.

Jack

The good old days. I had cars that I'd start pumping the brakes half a block before I had to stop, seemed like they needed adjusting every 200 miles and that was done manually. Left foot clutch, pump the on the brake with my right foot, use my toe to pump the accelerator pedal to keep it running, while correcting the pull to which ever side the brakes happened to be working best at the time. Mom used to take away my car keys so I couldn't drive, and as soon as she went to work, I'd hot wire it, jump the starter and be gone. The hum in the radio was the "vibrator" and the tubes took a while to warm up before the radio came on, a rear seat speaker with a front back balance adjustment was way cool at the time. The main advantage of 4 ply tire? I used to keep track of the cords showing on the tires to figure out when I had to find another tire. Something was always broken or going to beak. That's how things were in those days. It's really nice to start the Toyota up with the remote start, hop in it and just drive.

"Retired VIP" "Wickeddoll®"

Whoa - bet the thieves just loved that.

Natalie

Back then, and especially in smaller towns, there WERE no car thieves to speak of. Helps a lot when everyone knew everyone, the best kind of "Neighborhood Watch"...

("There's Natalie's car..." "Ayup." "And... Wait a minute, that's not Natalie driving. T'aint Bob or onna the kids, either! Never seen him before around here... Go call Sheriff Pete!")

The ones who tried were treated like Horse Thieves and got a very prompt and no-nonsense reaction from the local police authorities.

As long as the driver was aware how the ignition lock worked, it was fine. My Corvair I regularly would leave the ignition unlocked if I was working on it, just so I didn't have to leave the keys sitting in it. Or if you needed something from the trunk you just pulled the key out with the car running, and opened the trunk.

But it got locked up tight before I went inside for the night. Big Cities you don't chance that.

-->--

That was a different time Natalie. Yeah, there were people who would steal a car but they were mostly kids who just wanted to drive it for a bit. They would drive it until it ran out of gas and leave it where it stopped. The police would call a day or so later and you'd take a gallon of gas and go pick it up. Most of the time, the only damage was burning up maybe 3 or 4 dollars worth of gas. I had an aunt and uncle who never took the keys out of their ignition. Their theory was that if the keys were always in the ignition, you couldn't loose them.

Growing up in a small town was great!

Jack

"Get a rope!"

I remember my parents leaving the car unlocked, windows down (in Florida), but not for the five years we were in Washington, D.C. That would have been just dumb....

We were there when King was assassinated - I don't have fond memories of D.C.

Natalie