I'm so old that....

[JFlightRisk]

The belt coming off my father's pants when I really messed up.

[osbornk]

I watched the Little Rascals and there were no cartoons.

[nambarc]

I'm so.old that I'm the founding father of JOF

[XoXSciFiGuy]

When the high-class TV shows starting in the early 60's started introducing programs with the phrase, 'In COLOR!'

[RPR]

Us kids thought we had color TV. But screen was old and had greenish tint to it.

[FPM III]

Originally Posted by XoXSciFiGuy

When the high-class TV shows starting in the early 60's started introducing programs with the phrase, 'In COLOR!'

In 1956, NBC started introducing their color broadcasts using this peacock.

The Original NBC peacock (1956)

In 1957, the peacock became animated, and while the peacock’s feathers morphed into color, an announcer would speak:

"The following program is brought to you in living color on NBC"

The national networks, CBS and ABC, created their own color broadcast announcements. However, I don’t think they were as striking and memorable as NBC’s peacock.

[Gdandrew]

Istill have a car that I have to pump gas behind a taillight.

[Onyrlef]

When "a dollars worth" of gas would get you around all week. If you weren't at home nobody could call you. Had you suggested someday people would buy a bottle of water because it's better than tap water you'd be looked at funny. A brand new VW cost $1700.00, a new Corvette would set you back $6500.00. My Dad made $600.00 a month and we lived okay. The mortgage payment on our $7,000 house was $55.00 a month.

[norty1]

I bought my 1st house in 1967. 3 br, 1bath & 1/2 acre lot for 11K. Payments were a whopping $89 a month including escrow.

[Onyrlef]

Originally Posted by norty1

I bought my 1st house in 1967. 3 br, 1bath & 1/2 acre lot for 11K. Payments were a whopping $89 a month including escrow.

I made a dollar an hour at my summer job in the late 60’s, $40.00 a week and I was rolling in the dough.

[Bill Johnson]

Originally Posted by Onyrlef

When "a dollars worth" of gas would get you around all week. If you weren't at home nobody could call you. Had you suggested someday people would buy a bottle of water because it's better than tap water you'd be looked at funny. A brand new VW cost $1700.00, a new Corvette would set you back $6500.00. My Dad made $600.00 a month and we lived okay. The mortgage payment on our $7,000 house was $55.00 a month.

It is really something looking back in those days, In 1960 my dad would have made 729.60 a month and in 1970 it would have been 1,027.20 and like you say they bought new cars every few years, probably because they were cheap and didn't last very long. Think of all the cars broken down on the side of the road back then. Cars always overheated on hot days no one had air conditioning and everyone used the ashtray in the car instead of throwing it out the window. I remember cleaning the car for my dad wiping the brown tar off the windshield and opening the window in the middle of winter so I could breathe, then getting yelled at to close the window because they were cold. When the city worked on the road they set out The Highway Torch or Smudge Pots to let people know there was road construction. Building forts in the empty fields, we would dig big holes in the field and cover the holes with an old screen door covered with the long white grass, like hay from the field and hide inside. Sometimes we would go to hide from other kids only to find the screen door smashed like someone fell in the big hole we dug. Those were the days

[JFlightRisk]

A pack of gum was .10 for 5 sticks. Now look at it...

[Dave W]

Originally Posted by JFlightRisk

A pack of gum was .10 for 5 sticks. Now look at it...

A nickle for 5 Dentyne or Wrigley's and a penny for Dubble Bubble plus you also got a cartoon in the wrapper was what I recall way back then. Ican't recall when I last bough chewing gum but it was not inexpensive even at the end of the last century.

[RedHorse1]

I remember taking my girlfriend to a movie, buying 2 Cokes, a popcorn to share and having a little change left over from my $5.00 bill.

When stopping for gas my dad would roll the window down and tell the guy, “couple bucks worth of regular”. I tried that in my first car, a ‘63 VW, and the guy came back with my change and said, “wouldn’t all fit in”.

[JFlightRisk]

Ah, the gas tank under the 'hood'. Had a '66 Beetle. My recollection is of never actually filling the tank, just a couple of bucks worth here and there during the week. Lousy heater, non-existent defroster, but a real tank on the snowy or icy roads with studs on.

[RPR]

Guy ran a stop sign and run over the front fenders and hood of my Beetle. His insurance totaled it out. I bought back from insurance company for 1/3 of what they had just cut me a check for. Unbolted the fenders and hood. Beat them back out. Bolted back on and kept driving it back and forth to work.

[Onyrlef]

Originally Posted by RPR

Guy ran a stop sign and run over the front fenders and hood of my Beetle. His insurance totaled it out. I bought back from insurance company for 1/3 of what they had just cut me a check for. Unbolted the fenders and hood. Beat them back out. Bolted back on and kept driving it back and forth to work.

I drove a '59 VW van, stick, no fuel gauge, it had a 1 gallon reservoir with a pull under the drivers seat, when it started sputtering you released the contents of the reserve and you had 30+ miles to go get you a dollars worth. It went 59 mph max, and I mean if you drive it off a cliff it would fall at 59 mph. Lord knows I miss that van.

[bdreinv]

1966 Dad had a 66 VW beetle, I was ten. Can remember in the winter in Indy windows iced up solid inside. By the time we would get home the heater would just start working! Those were the days now at age 70 other problems! LOL

[norty1]

I had a 65 Beetle purchased new. I pulled a small pop up with it after putting oversized tires on the rear. It looked like a baby dragster!

[Onyrlef]

Originally Posted by bdreinv

1966 Dad had a 66 VW beetle, I was ten. Can remember in the winter in Indy windows iced up solid inside. By the time we would get home the heater would just start working! Those were the days now at age 70 other problems! LOL

Those old VW’s used the air blown over a metal box heated by the exhaust for interior heat. Everything in them was basic, but they ran like an eight day clock, you could fix virtually anything on one with a pair of pliers, a screwdriver, hammer and baling wire.