Auto memories from the days of the original T Bird

[jerrym3]

How about listening to the static on your AM only radio with one speaker in the dash. The cool guys had another speaker that they put in the rear shelf and added a reverb unit. Of course, some came without a radio or even a heater.

My 53 Ford had an add on electric heater that hung under the dash.

[CROW]

OR sum others;
My Granny knitting doylies for the seat backs or head rests.
OR bolting roof rack on the car to put a boat and towing a tent trailer; NOW today it is climbing in the PROVOST and towing the 40 foot boat.
OR complaining the tray for the A n W would not sit level hanging off the side window, as the Roller Derby girl left your Momma burger and Root Beer waiting to hit the pavement.
OR guys pushing potatoes up your exhaust pipes hoping you blow the system or cause the car to die.
OR lastly taking some Spanish onions soaked in vinegar for 6 weeks and wire tying to the exhaust manifolds by the firewall. Boy did they smell sweet
AND LASTLY pouring confetti down the defroster vents on your cousins wedding honeymoon car.

OH WHAT A FUN CHILDHOOD I HAD!!!!

[Jimr]

Air conditioning meant putting the window down and turning the vent window to blow air in your face.

This was called 255 air.

[007Cruiser]

This was called 255 air.

What does 255 signify?

[Quickdraw]

My 53 Ford had an add on electric heater that hung under the dash.

Umm Jerry... you were supposed to leave that at the drive-in theater.

(At least our drive-in supplied them during the winter)

[2Redbirds57/02]

What does 255 signify?

2 windows down at 55 mile per hour.

[007Cruiser]

Thanks, Sam.

[wcoates]

Dad's '56 Plymouth had the windshield washer on a pedal under the dash much like an emergency brake pedal.

Dad had us convinced that for only the first day of bringing the car home that every time we said "wash window" the water would splash and the wipers went on. We thought now that was really high Tecnology.

[merlot4]

Great thread, Gene! Agreed, vent windows were a great loss. My Volkswagen had no gas gauge, only a lever that you could flip with your foot for a one gallon reserve tank. And somewhat similar to Bill's, my '68 Barracuda had a rubber bulb on the floor that you squashed with your foot for the windshield fluid. Some fun memories, but some are dark as well, such as those who were impaled upon a non-collapsing steering column, or became part of the windshield, or dash prior to seat belts becoming mandatory.

[RBIRD]

So, those images remind me of the driver's ed. films we all had to see in high school as we were taking the class. Pretty graphic!

[RBIRD]

Oh yeah, who remembers wearing out your latest copy of the JC Whitney catalog before you got your new one about a month later? Seems like I got a new one monthly after my first order!!

[jerrym3]

Umm Jerry... you were supposed to leave that at the drive-in theater.

(At least our drive-in supplied them during the winter)

I heard some of the best movies in drive-ins.

Drive-ins would give out mosquito repellent in the summer. (Our local drive-ins were in the NJ Meadowlands otherwise known as mosquito heaven.)

First drive-in movie: Camden, NJ, 1933.

You're welcome.

[KY-BYRD]

Gentlemen (& Ladies); doesn't anyone remember those days when your local bootlegger would swing by in their modified auto and he had that special floor pump to to dispense that clear liquid into your old milk jugs. Those were the days to reminisce about auto memories.

[007Cruiser]

Speaking of mosquitoes (that were more like B-17s), remember those trucks that would come through neighborhoods spraying a fog? That insecticide sure did smell. We would run inside to close the windows before it got inside. Ah, the good old days.

[merlot4]

I remember the mosquito fogging trucks; as a little boy, I wanted to play in the fog.....