Are you an old timer.

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jed
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Are you an old timer.

Post by jed »

If you can rember old people clicking their false teeth then you might be an old timer.
jed
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Re: Are you an old timer.

Post by jed »

Come on all you old timers. Tell us what u rember.
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Re: Are you an old timer.

Post by Splitter »

(never mind).
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Re: Are you an old timer.

Post by PackardV8 »

When a 327" was an unaffordable dream engine.

When a T10 4-speed was rare and expensive.

When no one I knew owned a micrometer or a torque wrench. Can't you feel when it's right?

When If you pulled the engine out of the frame for a rebuild, you were going big time.

When a rebuild was rings and bearings. Pistons were re-used and valves hand lapped.

When a 4-bbl and duals made you one of the fast guys. If you had a limited slip, that was cheatin'.

When a paint job in a real body shop was $75.

When tires lasted 10,000 miles. When points and plugs lasted less than that.

When tachometers cost too much, but we learned to shift by valve float.

When 100 MPH was fast. No one I knew had a stock car which would hit a genuine 100 MPH.

When the Packard Caribbean V8 was the highest horsepower engine you could buy.

When the 1956 Studebaker Golden Hawk with the Packard V8 was the fastest car made in the USA.

When the Studebaker Golden Hawk was quicker and faster than the Corvette, Thunderbird and Chrysler 300.

When cops wrote muffler tickets. (What changed? Can't remember the last H-D in town with any mufflers at all.)

When a country kid going squirrel hunting after school would put his gun in his locker and no one thought anything about it.

When telephones first came to the country and we'd dial "time" just to make sure it worked.

When pizza was an exotic treat.

When breaking a tapered axle meant you were running hard.

When the country kid drove to school in his old man's '39 Ford coupe with only a bucket seat. We thought it was a race car, but my dad said it was a whiskey runner.

When we would race in Huntsville on Thursday night, Midfield Friday night, Montgomery Saturday night and Birmingham Sunday afternoon. We must have slept sometime in there, but only if nothing broke and no one wrecked Bobby.
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Re: Are you an old timer.

Post by Kenova »

A loaf of bread cost a dime.
Heating the house with coal.
Sidewalk plows were horse drawn.
During the winter all but the main street were covered in hard packed snow, ice, and sand.
Everybody walked to school or rode their bikes. Our parents used the family car for more important things.
Milk and bread were delivered to your door. In some cases eggs too.
A kid with a part time job could afford a half decent car.

Ken
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Re: Are you an old timer.

Post by pdq67 »

50 cents to push mow a neighbor's small yard using a "reel" mower.

Riding the bus Sat. afternoon to uptown to the movie theatre and back home for 10 cents. Had to remember to get a return trip transfer ticket to get back home or it was another dime.

25 cents of it to get in the Sat. afternoon movie and the other 25 cents left over would buy enough soda, popcorn and candy to make you almost sick.

Meadow Gold Milk delivered by horse and icebox wagon twice a week. Mom always paid a bit extra for the Milkman to give me a pint bottle of Chocolate milk that I dearly loved. And following along side and petting his horse.

Walking to school and then came back home at lunch for a, "short", hour and then walking back. No matter what the weather was, we went to school unless the town was shut down! and I remember one time in about '55 or so when the town got hit with an ice storm and was pretty-much shut down for three days. And us kids that had ice skates playing, "ice hockey", on the baseball diamond in the Park.

Rode my bike SAFELY all over town.

Black and white TV with a tall antenna that had to be turned to pick up some other stations.

Raking leaves to the street gutter in the fall and then burning them with an adult around watching us. Got another 50 cents!!

I remember when the, "Dutch Elm Disease", killed all the great big trees in Champaign, IL in the mid '50's. The City cut them down, hauled them to the Park and had a great big bonfire!

Mom and us kids going to the same Park in the evening once a week to watch a free movie, news reel, and cartoons. Mom made a big grocery sack of popcorn to snack on as well as a jug of ice cold, "cool-aid". The screen was just a great big clean white tarp tightly hung between a couple of big trees and everybody sat on blankets on the ground or in any chairs they packed to the movie.

Us little kids playing baseball in the, "Farm Teams", at school as the big guys played in the, "Little League Teams", at the Park. Cheering when we won and crying when we lost!!

Mom would let us stay up late Sat. night and listen to, "Jack Benny", "Amos and Andy", "The Phantom", and later, WLS - Chicago Sat Night Barn Dance" that Mom waited to listen to on our big radio.

And some years later watching, "Leave it to Beaver", and, "Father knows best", on the TV.

There is way more to remember, but I have tended to forget these things due to old age is all.

pdq67
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Re: Are you an old timer.

Post by axegrinder »

What's crazy is how a guy in his 40s seems like an old timer to teenage kids now. You guys are on a whole different planet! :D I've got a few, but with a different tone;

If you have work ethic, you might be an old timer.

If you have a paid off car, you might be an old timer.

If you've been married to the same person for more than ten years, you might be an old timer.

If you can leave the TV off when your home, you might be an old timer.

If you don't try to impress strangers, you might be an old timer.

If you worked at the same place more than ten years, you might be an old timer.

If you believe effort = results, you might be an old timer.
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Re: Are you an old timer.

Post by Gregory »

You know the first car (year and make) to have a 4150 Holley style carburetor.
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Re: Are you an old timer.

Post by PackardV8 »

Gregory wrote:You know the first car (year and make) to have a 4150 Holley style carburetor.
1957 T-bird.

First to use the Carter WCFB?

First to use Stromberg 4-bbl?

First to use Carter AFB?
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Re: Are you an old timer.

Post by Gregory »

After the 4150 was on a Ford for five years how out place it looked like when it showed up on the 327 1962 Corvette.
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Re: Are you an old timer.

Post by emsvitil »

You know what a roll down window is.

You know how to use a manual transmission.
Ed
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Re: Are you an old timer.

Post by DanE2 »

If you started drag racing at Detroit Dragway in 1958. And Ubly, New Baltamore, Onadaga

If you went to the US Nationals in Detroit in 1959 and 1960.

If you went to the US Nationals at Indy in 1961.

If you were banging gears on Woodard Ave in the late 50's, and thru the 60's and 70's.
jed
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Re: Are you an old timer.

Post by jed »

If you know how to install a rope rear main seal.
If you can fit a set of king pins.
If you have ever rebushed a Chevy center bell crank.
If you used to ride your bike to baseball practice.
If your mom took you to your baseball game on public transportation bus because she didn't drive.
If you ever made a 302 out of a 283.
If you would grind a 350 forged crank to a 9/16 stroker because it had a badly spun rod.
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Re: Are you an old timer.

Post by jed »

Walking to church with mom and my brother on Sunday morning because dad was hunting or fishing.
In the summer when school was out walking to the Waldo Theater in KCMO on Wednesday morning to watch
Cartoons and a western for .15 cents.
Taking a summer nap to keep from getting polio.
Seeing mom and dad sitting at the dinner table lestening to the KC Blues baseball game. Way befor TV.
Loading Nuclear bombs on a B52 at 3am.
Going to Western Auto for all your bycicle parts and every thing was in stock. Every thing.
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Re: Are you an old timer.

Post by Circlotron »

When Christmas morning meant kids running up and down the street making a racket with all there new stuff. Now there's just tumble weeds while the kids are inside, glued to there new phones / tablets / video game consoles.
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