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What was it Like in....

6K views 87 replies 34 participants last post by  DUSTY 57 
#1 ·
I'm 48...so I don't have the depth of knowledge or experience many here do...

Could some of you indulge and give me life from your perspective in:

1950s:

1960s:

1970s:


IF anyone was around in the 1940s ....please also chime in...


Thanks!

TE
 
#2 ·
Let's see, 1970s no internet, our speed shop was Reid Automotive or Hub Auto Supply. Summit and Jeg's were just getting started, you could get a lot of stuff at Western Auto, cheap was "made in Japan". You could buy a running '55-57 for $25-50 bucks, they were everywhere. Bought a '68 GTO for $300, bought a '68 Camaro for $50 bucks for my girlfriend (now wife) got it running and on the road for $100 in used parts from Ace junkyard. You could buy a running 396 rat for $75 bucks, 3-spd trans $10. We would go to New England Dragway for $5 bucks and see Don Garlits match race Shirley Muldowney. Hope this helps, I'm sure I left a lot out.
 
#3 ·
I’m just less than 10 years older than you, so it’s a kid’s perspective of the 70s, but…

I remember the Viet Nam war quite clearly. We lived in SoCal, and I remember folks not being happy with it. My dad was a career Soldier, so it was conflicting.

I was car crazy early, and would ride my bike to Irwindale to watch races. Would see cars that were rare even then but seemed common. I remember thinking Hemi cars weren’t that impressive. The cars run by privateers routinely got put on the trailer by L78 novas (seemed to tons of those cars around). The cars sponsored by Landry, et al, were another story. Would also go to Riverside with my brothers, and that fed my fascination for cars that could turn. Lots of cast off ex trans am race cars running in various classes. Lots of javelins, which likely explains why an AMX is a car I’d always wanted.

Watching the smog era come to cars, I remember thinking I’d just missed the good stuff. Probably why to this day, I find it hard to get excited about anything without chrome bumpers on both ends, even if performance was declining before the bumpers got ugly.

That’s what comes to mind when I read your question. Not much older than you, so maybe not quite what you were looking for. But football hasn’t kicked off yet, so figured “why not?” 😊
 
#4 · (Edited)
IF anyone was around in the 1940s ....please also chime in...
I was. We lived thru WW2 in Detroit, MI.
Air raid drills, rationed gas, some food items, tires, etc.
My dad had a small machine shop that made war machine parts.
We used to go to the army depot each week to deliver the pieces.
We raised chickens and had a garden.
We made Oleo by breaking the capsule in the bag of lard and kneaded it til it turned yellow.
We saved the alum foil off of anything that we could peel it off of.
We put it in a Quaker Oats can and turned it in with anything else we were asked to save.
I can remember listening to the big Philco console radio when they broadcast the surrender of the Japs. The entire family was there as my uncles were in the Pacific theater.
Then after the war, we moved to central Illinois with my grandpa. Then out to the country, a wide spot in the "hardroad" called Rome.
I consider myself lucky to have made it this far. Actually, a lot easier than later times. The young folks have a tuff road ahead.
I may have posted this pic before.. Here it is again.

My grade school graduation. I'm the tall geek with the bowtie!
Notice no pocket liner for the pens, either! 😁
Curtain Event Vintage clothing Picture frame Monochrome
 
#7 ·
Having been born in 1949 I remember the later half of the 50's and the 60's and on up pretty well. We had to pay to ride the school bus and we had to buy our own school books and pay for our school lunches. When I didn't have the bus fare (10 cents each way) I walked the half mile to elementary school or rode my bike regardless of the weather. In the winter, ice spewed up from out of the ground in a kind of reverse icicle. The building had steam heat with the old style radiators which had a terrible hammer problem. We sat with our coats on because the school room was never warm. We had no TV until 1959 but I could watch my neighbor's set in the afternoon. TV was black and white. We listened to the radio a lot. Our blue jeans had holes in the knees and we couldn't wait until they were worn out enough to make cutoffs out of them for the summer time. Our standard dress was blue jeans and tee shirts in warm weather. Every kid on the block had a bicycle and a dog. Our dads had blue collar jobs. We only went to the doctor when we were bleeding too much for a bandaid or really, really sick. No wellness visits. We took polio vaccine drops on a sugar cube. I had polio when I was six (ironically, in 1955) and still have a bit of a problem in my right leg from it. We played outside from the moment we got home from school until our moms called us in for supper. My dad took me hunting and fishing regularly. I took up girls in the mid 60's and got married in 1971. I'll let someone else take it from there.
 
#9 ·
Late 50's as kids as Granpa stated we played outside after school until it was dark...didn't have to worry about someone picking you up. Went to catholic school so I wore our "uniforms" daily. 60's brought out good bands like CCR, you could buy gas for around 30 cents a gallon in the early 60's. A lot of us had paper routes for money...nothing was handed to us, we worked for it or went without. Could go to the theater and watch a good movie, have a popcorn and pop for around 50 cents. Paid the price for screwing off with a "spanking"...never knew anyone that didn't live and learn through it. Late 60's and early 70's brought us "Bell Bottoms" boy were we "cool". Could buy a good running tri-five that was decent for about 100.00. Service stations actually performed service...pumped your gas, washed your windows, checked your oil and tires. Early 70's I could fill up my 55 for less than 8 bucks and get a free big bottle of pop or a free "glass". Police would give us a good talking to for speeding the first or second time...third time and you would get a ticket. Most of us had "hot rods" that we bought and turned into hot rods. A rich kid in our senior class got a new 70 Chevelle SS454 for a graduation present...we were all jealous of that:) Jobs were plentiful and we all worked, our girlfriends did too. One thing I remember well was the pro sports people...baseball and football players in Minnesota held regular jobs when it wasn't their season...boy has that changed!!! Good times indeed! :)
 
#28 ·
Born in 51 so the fifty's were pretty much kid stuff for me. We had a dairy farm ,raised hogs and my mother had a huge garden froze and canned alot, she also was in charge of our poultry, at one time we had 50 turkeys running loose on the farm along with ducks ( still my favorite) geese and of course chickens for eggs as well as meat. My dad worked at the local creamery as a cheese maker as well as farming. One of my jobs was every night I had to make sure all the birds were in our coop to insure they were safe for the night. I walked to a one room grade school for the first four years of school then was bussed 7 miles to town for school .My first car was a 57 Chevy cost me 75 bucks 210 4dr sedan six with a stick, next car was a $200 60 Chevy convertible 348 4speed ,but the next car was a 57 150 2 Dr sedan 283 stick that one was 50 bucks. Like others said gas was like 20 cents a gallon as a high schooler I could have the attendant pump 50 cents in for me.
 
#11 ·
I remember the 60`s well.....black and white TV`s....aluminum foil on the "Rabbit Ears" to pull in the stations better...most Electronics ran on Vacuum tubes and were extremely unreliable....you had to test and replace tubes all the time/// Black and white Tv`s ....Disney and Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom every Sunday night....Cartoons played every Saturday Morning for kids....Board Games were popular...GI Joes were all the rage to play with....along with Slot Car racing....and Marbles were played at Recess in all the grade schools.....I could fill the gas tank on my 1966 Honda trail 55 for $0.25.......everyone in my neighborhood had a vegetable garden....kids played outside from sun-up till sun-down in the summer....my Mom Avidly collected S&H green stamps.......The Soap opera Dark Shadows Scared the heck outa me !!! in 1966 McDonald fries were 15 cents and a Mc double was 28cents, a large choc. milk shake was 22 cents( a meal and change back from your $1 bill)
 
#12 ·
Like Granpa49 above me here, I'm a product of early '49. Mom and Dad stopped production after me. I was the third off the line. I got to spend a LOT of time on my Grand folk's farm when Dad was assigned to a out of state job site. Great time playing in the woods and ponds catching what we always called polly-wogs (small still growing frogs) Walked to school which was a one room school house. Two "little' houses out North of the school. Always checked for wasps and snakes before entering. Don't drop trou when you have wasps in the outhouse for sure, LOL. Dad rarely filled the tank unless going on vacation. Gas was maybe $0.18 a gallon. Five bucks filled a 20 gallon tank. Can't mow my two acres now for $5.00! Folks had a '52 Buick Road Master, 4 door sedan with a "straight eight" engine and Dyna-flow transmission. Played ball and rode bikes til heard a call for supper. Had a few fights growing up, fists, never involved guns or knives, would be friends quite possibly two months after that. Later as I grew and went into Junior High which I guess is called "middle school" now days I lived close to a local hamburger drive-in. Burgers were $0.15, fries were a dime, sodas a dime. Buddy of mine was given his folks 4 door '56 sedan when they bought a new '66 Impala. When money was tight we were picking up pop bottes along the road for $0.03 a bottle return to local grocery store. Selling old new papers to the local news paper printer for a few cents a lb. Graduated in May of '67, was not college material by any imagination and folks couldn't afford it anyway. Enlisted and spent 3 years in the US Army, 14 months Germany in 12th Air Cav, part of the 3rd Armd Div. August 1968 Russia (USSR) invaded Czechoslovakia much like the recent Ukraine invasion. NATO thought 3rd WW was starting up, issued 200 rounds live for our M-14s, armed the Huey M-60 machine guns and rocket pods. 19 years old, front row seat for WW3 was in my thoughts. Later sent to Vietnam for 12 months. Much preferred Germany, still have some dark memories of 'Nam. Didn't know it then but sure was a more relaxed and slower life style. Times were sometimes hard for us but we didn't know we had it hard, LOL. It was just what it was.
 
#15 · (Edited)
I was born in 42. Okla City In the 40s, the war was over. We STILL had street cars and I remember riding on them with my mother downtown to go shopping on Saturdays (Most of you probably do not even know what a street car was). They should have NEVER done away with them------------------environmentally friendly, clean, quiet, economical, electric (which would make Joe B. and friends happy). Every single car was so distinguishable that it could be identified as to what year and model it was.

A FEW cool cars were introduced in the first half of the 50s, but in 55, the automotive world of design changed, and in the second half of the 50s, MOST car manufacturers understood the desire for performance. The Corvette got fuel injection, 4sp and positraction. KEEP IN MIND when that was----------------------an FI 57 Corvette with a 4sp was the baddest animal on the planet!!! And GM, Ford, Chrysler got big cube engines with multiple carbs.

And the 60s-------------------by 1964, the war was on--------------IT WAS WONDERFUL TO GO THE THE DEALER SHOWROOM AND SEE AN OPEN HOOD WITH 3X2 OR 2X4 CARBS. The 63 fuel injected Corvette was from outer space. Anyone remember the Z11, 427 SOHC motor, Swiss Cheese 421 Poncho, HEMI cars, Olds W30, GT500 Mustangs??????????? No, they were not a common car on every showroom, but those of us who were into performance cars, were fully aware of what they were.
I came home from Nam in 64 and started Pre-med that fall-------------------------driving my 51 Chevy (first car, still driving it) and throughout the remainder of the 60s was a poor boy struggling to get my degree. ALL OVER THE CAMPUS, guys were driving SS396, GTO, 442, Super Bee, 390 Fords, etc, etc, etc, which mommy and daddy had bought for them to drive to school. All I could do was drool, start classes at 730am, be at work by noon, come home and study, take care of a wife and daughter, go to bed midnight-2am, get up at 6am and do it all over again. Work on weekends when I could find it.
And talk about 60s music on a cobbled up 8-track player in the 51 while commuting to and from college. Doors, Credence, Janice and on and on. The 60s were great!

The 70s (except for 1970 ONLY) were an embarrassment (and for the most part, still is! Yes, a 70s car CAN BE BUILT-----------------------------at home in the garage by the owner, but nothing worth while came out of Detroit by 1973.

Yes, I have a mid-70s GM A-body (76 Cutlass S). As built, it was nothing to brag about. It is a FACTORY 5sp, I special ordered it new. BUT THE 5sp WAS ONLY AVAILABLE WITH A SMALL ENGINE!!!!!!!!!!!! Fortunately, today, it has a built, W30 spec 455(468) Olds and a Richmond Street 5sp.

Yep, I remember all those days!
Wheel Tire Car Vehicle Hood



Automotive parking light Vehicle registration plate Automotive tail & brake light Land vehicle Vehicle



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Vehicle Car Automotive parking light Hood Motor vehicle
 
#16 ·
One member mentioned rationing fuel, we too had to ration not only fuel but water at one time, black and white TV`s with a color foil to turn your TV into a semi what color TV, video recorders and brick mobile phones, internet was non existent, dragster bicycles or BMX with tuff wheels were the rage for some kids, American cars were far and few between, when you saw one of those tanks driving down the road you got out of the way :oops:
 
#17 ·
I entered the world in 1955, so the "55 Chevy and I have a lot in common, my parents called me the "Motoramic kid", among other things. Must have been something in the water. I am fortunate that I "experienced" some of the 50's as a little squirt, all of the 60's and the "better" part of the 70's. I remember practicing the duck & cover, Micky Mouse Club, Popeye, going outside when the sun came up and not going in until last squint of daylight. Parents never worried. Didn't need all the newest stuff, We made the best from what we had, Old worn out baseball gloves, new pair of Keds Got my first Red Rider when I was 8, we would tie them to our bikes and ride all over. Would construct "go karts" out of old lawnmower engines and wood, sometimes we "borrowed" baby buggy wheels & parts. Thats why I could hear my name shouted from so far away. I wonder how we all survived. Music was the BEST, from the early days of R&R right through the 60's, 1967 being the best year in music. IMO. Could name every car make, model and year going down the road, couldn't wait for the "NEW" ones to come out, head down to the local dealers with dad to check them out. The sights and smells still linger. Bikinis Miniskirts, Sun Surf the Beach we waxed down our surfboards couldn't wait for June, we told the teacher we be gone for the Summer, Wait, that's a Beach Boys lyric. 409's, Duce Coupes, I can relate to American Graffiti we had the best two-lane circuit in and out of town, back to Gino's and the Bowling alley, never bowled, gas and burgers were cheap. Well, that's just a small glimpse into my early past, IT was great, still is, very nostalgic actually, Lucky to be here. Thanks for listening.
 
#18 ·
Born in 1947. The 50's was 24' bike with peddle assembly removed and pipe for foot pads in place of them. Welded a flat plate above in frame to mount old washing machine motor. Had pulley block mounted behind motor with belt to clamp on pulley on wheel spokes. For brakes we used the choke, also worked for shut off key. Had couple buddies that also had same setup, funny were still alive. Then in the early sixties when I got my license bought my first car 1940 Ford coupe for $50.00. When my older brother was going to sell his 1955 chevy HT 327 with 3 duces, I jumped on it for $150, thought I was in heaven. Keep it until I was out of school then some years after but ended up selling it and still kick my self at times for doing!
 

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#26 ·
Ah, a little late with that last post. Didn't click on that little line that said "There have been other responses. Do you want to see them?" For the record, I never saw a washing machine with a gas motor but I vividly remember wringer washing machines and I remember my grandparents washer sat out on the back porch. I suppose they fed it water thru a hose or with buckets and drained it afterwards because it would have frozen if it had retained water.
 
#56 ·
I hated wash day----pumping water and carrying it up to the back porch to the washing machine. Pot belly stove in the middle of the living room in the winter. Oblong galvanized bathtub on back porch used on Saturdays. 5 kids and the same water just warmed back up with some water from a pan on the stove.
 
#27 ·
Few more things I recall. While staying with my Grandfolks my older sister, older brother and myself used to toss a dump truck load of firewood down to the cellar to feed the HUGE wood burning furnace that heated a two story house in northern Wisconsin in the winter. Once in the fall and another some point mid-winter. Grandma did most all her cooking on a big cast iron stove, had a big water tank on the side for hot water. Did not get inside plumbing until '56, prior it was a trip to the "little house" out side. Again, watching for wasps and snakes. Winter time was the "thunder jug" kept under the bed and emptied first thing in the morning, LOL. Got my first rifle at the age of eleven, single shot .22 Winchester, wish I still had it. That was a tack driver after I learned how to use the open iron sights.
 
#30 ·
Don't get me started on school food. Some of the stuff was alright. We had salmon croquets on fridays. They served these giant green peas that weren't palatable and they served cornbread muffins that were hard as a brick on the outside but soft and pretty darn good on the inside. I would use my fork to make a square hole in the bottom saving the square plug. Next I would hollow out the muffin with the fork handle and eat the good part. Then I would stuff the green peas inside and seal it up with the square plug. As I was leaving the cafeteria I would carry my tray with the plate and the muffin sitting in plain sight. Invaritably one of the kids who was just coming into the cafeteria would spot it and yell "Hey, can I have your muffin?" I'd say sure, then beat a hasty retreat back to class. School wasn't all bad.
 
#33 ·
A few things that come to mind:

1. Network TV ended broadcasting around 10 PM. On the nights I was allowed to stay up that late I would stand as they played the national anthem as they signed off. We only had, like, 3 channels where I lived. [Now it's on 27/7 with thousands of channels]
2. We got a color TV sometime in the early-mid 70's and it took 2 people to haul it in (no, it wasn't a console TV - couldn't afford that) [Now TV color palatte is in millions of color and my wife can lift a 65" TV by herself]
3. Around that time we got cable TV. That was amazing...no commercials! [Cable TV is loaded with commercials and you still have to pay. Oddly enough there are commercials on TV advertising "free" TV on the airwaves. Kids these days are flabbergasted over that.]
4. MTV was exactly that - music videos exclusively. [I don't even know what MTV is now]
5. The Midnight Special also had great music videos. [Long gone, but the memory of seeing Queen perform Bohemian Rhapsody is etched in my brain.]
6. Like others mentioned, we were outside (on no-school days) at the crack of dawn, but when it turned dark we played hide 'n' seek or kick the can until our parents made us come in. [I rarely see kids outside in my 'hood anymore, it seems]
7. I remember my mom getting a "trimline phone". It had buttons instead of a rotary dial! Whoa, mind blown. [Dick Tracy's amazing watch was a true fantasy]
8. I watched Bugs Bunny, Road Runner, Foghorn Leghorn,and the 3 Stooges religiously. I was never inclined to poke anyone in the eye or kill da wabbit. [Now its teletubbies and bluey...]
9. There were no video games until Pong came out (it was amazing), so we entertained ourselves outside. Built forts, rode our bicycles everywhere, shot our bb guns, fished, played football or something we called "smear the queer" (if that needs to be censored, please do so. It was the 70's and it rhymed, that's all. No offense to the LGBQTetc. community intended). [Now kids don't even play video games let alone play outside, they watch other kids play video games on youtube.]

Of course those are all generalizations - kids will still play outside if forced to. LOL!
 
#34 · (Edited)
In the 1960's and early 1970's, I grew up in northeastern NJ, about 9 miles from NYC. For TV watching, we had a choice of channels 2, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13. I don't think we had a remote controlled TV in our house until the late 1970's. When the channels signed off late at night, I remember some would play the National Anthem, and then display an Indian head test pattern.
 
#35 ·
The usual, shoveled snow, cut grass, delivered newspapers, flipped burgers for dollars.
Before we got wheels we watched American Bandstand after school everyone had the hots for the blond, was her name Justine?
School days I hitch-hiked everywhere to save bus fare in the military I "thumbed" rides from Ft Campbell & Ft Dix back to Chi-town.
Friday & Saturday were cruise nights we put 260 Sunoco in the tank & your best Buddy rode shotgun, we hit all of the drive-ins looking for a "run". There were a lot of tri power Poncho's & 409 Chevy's & a lot of street racin. Dickie Messino lived across the tracks he bought a new red 57 Chevy, it morphed into Shake, Rattle & Run.
We were all car nuts It was American Graffiti time without the chicks.
 
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