Old Timers Unite---Give it Your Best Shot

[casaleenie]

Wheaton,

I remember when I remembered to pull of the road before I started to pee....

[petek]

LOL!

[Flyin_Freddie]

Hell....some of you guys are older'n dirt! But, here's some of what I remember....

The aluminum 'milk box' outside the kitchen door where the milkman would leave milk in glass bottles on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays....an extra 1/2 gallon on Fridays to go on my Sugar Pops, or Cap'n Crunch on Saturday and Sunday.

The wooden 'milk box' my father made when we moved and the new dairy didn't have milk boxes....

10 cent balsawood profile gliders from Vaca Valley Hobbies located right next to the Vaca Valley Theater in Vacaville, CA (Turk lives there now!). Used to go into the hobby shop when I got out of the Saturday matinee and take whatever change I had left over and buy a glider....Paul Guillows company made them. Sometimes I didn't have enough, but the owner would take whatever change I had and sell me the glider. What happened to people like that...?

"You just wait 'til your Father gets home!" (Need I say more?)

Christmas presents wrapped in VERY thin wrapping paper....the kind that would just disintegrate when you started to open it....and the thin yellowish brown looking Scotch tape that my parents wrapped them with. You could actually read through the paper if you tried hard enough...remember?

U-control flying model airplanes made by Cox with .049 engines in them. My first was a yellow Piper Cub...got it for Christmas. 'Flew' it around for days holding it at arms length and making engine noises with my mouth while walking around the house. 'Landing' on the coffee table in the living room.

Trying to thank my parents for Christmas gifts from 'Santa Claus' after I had been clued in....and trying to make sure my brother didn't catch on to the horrible truth that there WAS no Santa Claus.

Going with my father down to Kerr's Phillips 66 station to fill up the Oldsmobile Delta 98 station wagon every Saturday morning. Seeing the walls lined with Phillips 66 TropArtic motor oil. Thousands of fan belts hanging up around the two service bays...and the long wooden pole with the hook on the end of it Mr. Kerr used to use to reach the belts.

The "Tom's" candy machine at Kerr's 66 station...red enamel with a real glass front. Pull knobs located across the front of the machine with the product in verticle racks above each pull knob. Put your dime in the slot, and then pull the knob bleow your selection. Damn machine NEVER jammed, NEVER failed to deliver your dream candy!

Tom's "Full Dinner" candy in the machine....peanut butter candy, light tan with dark brown stripes. Crunchy...full of peanut butter...and a vertible orgasm of the taste buds! Maybe this is the REAL reasion I used to like to go to Mr. Kerr's 66 station with my Dad each Saturday morning...

My Mom soothing my crushed feelings when I had gone to the Vaca Valley grocery to pick up a roasted chicken for dinner while my Father was on a trip....(Air Force). They used to have a chocolate cream pie that was OUTSTANDING. I used to clip the pie in its box to my Schwinn book carrier on the back fender, and put the bag with the chicken in it in the front basket. One evening, while getting off the bike on the driveway, I accidentally kicked the pie when throwing my leg over the seat to get off. The bike fell over with the pie still on it...! The box popped open and the pie oozed out .... I ran around the side of the house crying because I knew I was in deep kimchi....! "It was an accident", I cried! My Mom came around the front of the house and calmly picked up the pie as she was trying to soothe her crying child. She opened the box when we got inside, and taking a spoon, she stirred all the whipped cream, chocolate and pie crust together.... "See? We just made chocolate pudding out of it...it'll still taste the same!" she told me. Right then and there I knew she could make anything right....anything! I got a chance to share this recollection with about two hours before she passed away in July of 2001. Still brings tears to my eyes....

I remember on Christmas my Dad bought me almost 50 different plastic model airplane kits. This was right after I started buiding models and he wanted me to have something to do every weekend. It was incredible....I had airplane kits stacked up in my closet from Christmas afternoon untill I went back to school after Sumer vacation. I still have the desk I built those models on...in the attic, but still there, nonetheless.

I remember going down to the bakery and getting free doughnut holes...a whole sack full....FREE! if you waited until late in the afternoon just before they closed. But...you had to bring your own sack....

I know I'll think of more...

I'm going to Arlington National Cemetary this weekend to visit my Father and Mother's gravesite. I haven't been there since we burind them and the marker was erected. I know I'll remember more when I see them again....

Thanks, Cal.....for the chance to wake up some old brain cells. Gotta go dry my eyes now...can't let everyone at work see me sniffling...

[Rick Parker]

Casalennie:

That's why surgical rubber hose was invented!

Rick

[Ed Rynex, Jr.]

To JRWCobra and others in South Jersey Howdy Doody and Frontier Play House on CH 3 Sally Star and Chief Halftown on CH 6 and Willie the Worm with Gene Crane on CH 10. On Rt70 in Cherry Hill the Turf Drive-In (have car will travel) the Latin Casino and the Chuck Wagon (all gone) The Maple Shade Circle with the Circle Drive IN(Movie) Matlacks Dairy Bar( I worked there as well as at my uncles Mobil Station on the Circle) The Drag races at the old airport adjacent to the Airport Circle in Camden(Bulldozed the runways the next day)
For You Guys in The Greensboro area(RACERAL) UNC Greensboro when it was Womens College (4000 women) the Boar & Castle Drive In on West Market(421) with its butter steaks(the only thing left is the sause now) and Ernies Bar-B-Que just west on 421. The Rathskellar across from Greensboro College and Anton's Italian Resturant(noth of down town). And of course Hamms Drive IN on Friendly Road. Going to the Jamestown Fair in Sept. Going to Bowman Gray Stadium in WS on saturday nights to the stockcar races Don't know if any still exist. Haven't been back since '96 for my 30 year reunion at Guilford College
Maybe I'll drive the Cobra next time I visit Guilford.

[Dan Semko]

How about the infamous "Route 66" with the great Corvette followed by "77 Sunset Strip" with Ed Burns and Efram Zimbalist Jr.

[dkjos]

Do you remember?

The soda fountain in the local drugstore - Cherry Coke, Root Beer in a frosted mug or a lime phosphate for 5 cents. They also carried Sports Cars Illustrated in their news stand. I wish I still had the issue with the story of the newly built Stovebolt Special.

Great radio programs that allowed us to use our imaginations-
Sgt. King of the Yukon
Lone Ranger
The Shadow
Bobby Benson and the B Bar B Riders
Twenty Questions
The Mutual Game of the Day with Dizzy Dean

Groceries deliveried in collapsible wooden boxes.

Non-synchro transmissions. I learned to drive in a '34 Ford truck. The truck was only 19 years old at the time.

One more wonderful memory - Helping Parnelli Jones and crew roll his Chevy powered sprinter back on to the open trailer after an IMCA dirt track race at the ND State Fair. They were having a problem with worn valve guides that day. I later read that Parnelli said that day nearly caused him to quit racing. He thought he'd never be brave enough to beat Jim Hurtibese, who was not lifting an inch while going into the huge clouds of dust at every corner.

Uncle Tom McCahill's road tests in Mechanix Illustrated- 1953 Studillac, anyone rember that?

The "Model Garage" series in Popular Mechanics. Gus Wilson was the cranky old master mechanic who could not be stumped.

The awful jokes on the last page of Boy's Life magazine. My folks hated the arrival of every issue!

[G.R.]

Oh yeah "Kookies" hot rod on the show--loved that car when I was a kid

What was the call letters of the Texas radio station "50,000 Watts of Power"-- KIMN radio I think the only Rock and Roll radio station in CO used to go off the air @ midnite, and if things were just right you could tune in that station, sometimes surprisingly very clear on your "transistor" portable radio--unless you wanted to listen to your folks music or country western

All the "rumours and legends" of the DJ, Wolfman Jack, primarily heard on Stations in SO CAL--late night

Remember when "FM" stations only played classical.

BOSCO--the stuff you mixed with milk

Anyone remember using "Butch Wax" when most every boy had a crew cut--

[G.R.]

I think "Route 66" made the Corvette--two vets, single, cruising the highway, in search of adventure, meeting beautiful babes every week--

[Rick Parker]

Ann Francis AKA Honey West Driving a 289 Cobra with high heel shoes, come on........... mission impossible.
The Fugitive had several episodes with 289 cars used, one that had a 427 street car with sun burst wheels driven by the college proffessor hell bent on using a computer to figure out what part of the country "Kimble" was going to travel to next.

How about this: The first time you rode in a "REALLY FAST" car.

Rick

[Dan Semko]

G.R.
I remember Bosco and the glass bear that it came in. When you finished the chocolate syrup, the glass bear became a bank.
How about slinkies as well as the very first Swiss Army knife that had 10 accessories. Anyone remember those little tools sets that they sold in the drug store around Father's Day. I think they cost $1.89 and came in plactic pouches and how proud you were when you gave it to your Dad on Father's Day. And Wonder Bread that helped to build your body in 12 different ways. (I'm still waiting and it sure didn't help my cranial hair to grow)

Kool Aid stands where you sold a glass of ice cold Kool Aid for a nickle and the mailman always bought at least two glasses when he saw you. Collecting for the Red Cross door to door in your neighborhood and everyone receiving a little red feather lapel pin. Since I attended a Catholic grade school, we always had a competition on who could sell the most "Catholic Exponent" newspapers, and whoever was the highest seller received an extra nickle per subscription sold. How about "mortal sins" verses "venial sins" and that mystical Catholic holding area called "limbo" ?

[A Snake]

Remember the Burma Shave signs? Usually five or six red signs on sticks with a part of the joke on each and the last saying Burma Shave. Saw those signs in the darndest places. Open highway 50 miles from anywhere.

How about "Grape Juice" The old Royal Triton motor oil that literally looked like grape juice.

Remember standing by the railroad tracks and getting the engineer to blow the whistle for you? Or, walking through the steam to board the train?

I remember buying a carton of cigarettes for $1.10 when civilians paid $1.89.

I remember going to the local wrecking yard, which was full of pre-war cars and jumping from one to the other until I went through the roof of one. Found out later that Harrah's went in and retrieved 16 pre-war Packards. Some with wooden spoke wheels.

The other wrecker in town used to sell parts for next to nothing. Model A's were plentiful at $75 complete or not. Extra fenders were $20 each.

Heck, when I was a kid, very few cars on the road weren't pre-war.

Now the Cobra part. My first ride in a Cobra was in 1966. It was a BRG '64 289. Met the guy just because of the car while cruising in Portland, OR. He was by himself (can you believe that with a Cobra?!) and so was I. Nearly ruined his paint job drooling on the car. He offered a ride and I nearly broke the rawhide thong getting the door open!

Sorry to say, no high speed runs but gad that car was quick in traffic! No girls but what a kick!

Tom still has it and it's never been restored. I hadn't seen him for 30 years and bumped into him at a Cobra run in 1994. Get this....he paid $3,800 for it in 1965! By 1994 he had a wife and two boys in their teens. Couldn't all fit in the Cobra, so his wife and one boy followed in a 308 Ferrari, with the boys getting to alternate riding with their dad. The "run" was from Portland International to Shaniko in Eastern Oregon, via scenic routes along the Columbia River.

Last time I saw Tom or the car was at the Portland Historic Races in 1997. Rest assured I reminded him of the"Ride of Rides".

Al

[REAL 1]

I still young and handsome unlike the rest of you.

Guess I loose.

[Flyin_Freddie]

"I want my Mapo!" (Maple flavored oat meal like concoction that I HAD to have....then didn't like it! Parents almost killed me...! )

Marx "Rock'em Sock'em Robots?

Mattel "Shootin' Shell" toy guns?

AMT Model car kits?

Revell Model Airplane Kits?

Monogram Models....best plastic models anywhere!

A&W Root Beer stands...that weren't a part of the KFC empire... GREAT foot longs with chili, cheese and onions and those Frosted Mugs of foamy root beer?

High School Football games with your squeeze...then goin' parkin' afterwards and gettin' the windows all fogged up?

Gettin' stuck in the middle of the field where you and your squeeze went parkin'...then having to explain to her father 1) why you were late gettin' her home, and 2) what all that damned mud was all over you and the car...?

You Mom finding a condom wrapper on the floor of the car and her reaction? Then your Dad finding out from your Mom and his completely DIFFERENT reaction?

Hearin' the Volunteer Fire Department answer an alarm and then jumpin up and gettin' dressed and followin' the sirens in the middle of the night?
Then stopping back by the 'diner' on the way home for a glass of milk and a piece of homemade apple pie?

Black and white TV's that took 20 minutes to "warm up"....and every home had a TV antenna on the roof?

Bud Collier and "Beat the Clock"?

Jack...somebody....and "Queen for a Day"?

Gary Moore and Durwood Kirby...?

Arthur Godfrey with Arthur Treacher?

"What's My Line" with John Daley, Bennett Cerf, Dorothy Kilgallen, Jane Meadows and some nerd with glasses and a flat top....hell, can't remember HIS name.......BILL CULLEN!!!! THAT was his name!

Allen Funt and "Candid Camera"?

"Ding Dong School" with Miss Francis?

Grandfather Clock, Mr. Moose, Mr. Greenjeans, and of course Captain Kangaroo and all his keys? Bob Keeshian....if I recall correctly.

God...I could go on forever...

[Flyin_Freddie]

In the words of my favorite artist...Jimmy Buffett, "...we have become the people our parents warned us about!"

[casaleenie]

Originally posted by G.R.


I think "Route 66" made the Corvette--two vets, single, cruising the highway, in search of adventure, meeting beautiful babes every week--

I think if they made that series today they would make them a couple of gay vets looking for adventure -- Hey sailor!!!

[casaleenie]

Christ,,, after reading these postings --- I've gotta get younger friends!!!!!

[Edley Rondinone]

This is NOT your father's Oldsmobile. Wouldnt you really rather have a Buick? Fahrvergnugen. The "Quiet as a Ford" toucan. Ford's big, furry dog sales/spokespersons. "Love American Style!" ...(on a star-spangled night, my love...). Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy! "cliffhanger" end-of-season TV episodes. "Sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip...that started from this tropic port, aboard this tiny ship!" Mid-September, all the car dealers had their showroom windows covered with paper so no one could see the new cars. Searchlights to let people know the new cars were here. "Jiggle" television! First jobs as teenagers were at McDonalds or Burger King...but not any more! Ice cream trucks! Air was clean, and Sex was dirty! Girls had to wear dresses to school.

[G.R.]

Edley
I got suspended from class twice when I was a sophmore once for not wearing socks and the second time because I wore a T-shirt with a surf shop logo--"young men need to be properly attired"--we were supposed to dress with "decorum" lol

Didn't mind the girls having to wear dresses or skirts--lol
espescially when they got shorter and shorter

[Rick Parker]

"Gosh Miss Landers!"
"Ward!.....Don't you think you being a little hard on the Beaver?"
"But Wally!"
"Hey Squirt"........
"Hello Mrs Clever"
Mrs Clevers "Pop Beads" were a fashion statment of the 50's

Leave it To Beaver

Best show as a kid that I can remember. Still stop to watch it if it's on. Wards very calm demenor and June was always looking so nice while doing housework, pisses my wife off every time she sees it.

Also Dennis the Menace and "HEYYYY.... Mr Wilson!!!!!!"
Margaret, Tommy

The Hardy Boys on the Mickey Mouse Club after school.

Disneyland in 1958 I recall when you could fly a gas powered model airplane inside of a cage with several other people at the same time, anyone else ever do it.

The Autopia at Disneyland, & "E" ticket rides.

Now we have them in our garages.

Rick