I'm so old that....

[RedHorse1]

Originally Posted by JFlightRisk

"Route 66" with the two guys in their Vette. They seemed to go down that road forever.

Martin Milner, and I don't remember the other one...

77 Sunset Strip!

[norty1]

Route 66:

George Maharis was the other one!

Another great show in 69 was "Then Came Bronson" with Michael Parks.
From that show, my favorite quote, "You don't work, You don't eat"!

[deepsea5]

Originally Posted by norty1

Even younger yet, we used to dig trenches and cover them and had a whole fort underground. I think we saw it on a Little Rascal's show.

We did the same thing, but in deep snow. One winter we set up an after-sunset "ambush" station in one of my friend's parents field. The field was next to the road. The snow happened to have a thick crust, which we used as covers for our "foxholes". We made up a bunch of snowballs and stocked our foxholes, which we would use to pelt cars with as they drove by. We'd fire the snowballs and immediately crouch down and pull the ice lids over our foxholes. Never got caught. "Ya bedder not let me catchya, ya liddle bahstids" (how an "old Mainer" would speak) was yelled out by a few of the victims.

Originally Posted by mharrison

Sounds familiar, had a Plectron myself, we even have a couple Plectron helmets hanging on the station wall. Most of us bought portable Sears 4 channel crystal scanners to carry. Had a Bearcat in my truck when I was 16, didn't join the department until I was 19. When I was full-time (we only had 3 full-time then) we had fire phones in our house. When a call came into the station our phone at home would ring so we could pick up and hear the call. At the time we had the tallest fire pole still in service in Missouri, it was a building built in 1905 that had a hay loft and a lot next to it for the horses. Our town got it's first motorized fire truck in 1914. Things have come a long way since then, I'm 59 now and still running fire & EMS calls.

Oh yeah every truck was a stick shift! All we have now is automatics.

We are about the same age. My hometown got their first motorized truck in 1919. Ford Model T. They still have it and use it as a parade piece. When I joined at age 16, they had a '47 Seagrave open cockpit ladder truck with a gasoline engine. That thing was brutally cold to ride in during -0 degree F temps. Once in awhile it would blow a spark plug out of the cylinder head. That was fun...
When I moved back to Maine and rejoined the dept, they has replaced the 47 Seagrave with an 87 Seagrave. Big upgrade!
We did have 1 pumper truck ('76 FTI Truck with a Cummins diesel) that had an Allison automatic tranny. The Cummins sounded like it was taching about 10,000 RPMs during acceleration.
Much easier to drive than our other pumper ('67 Ford/Howe) with a gas engine and 4 speed stick shift.
Although I'm no longer involved with the fire service, I have friends who still are. The equipment sure has changed for the better!
One example: when I was still active, we went from the ancient (1970s era) Scott Air Paks with the 2200 PSI steel tanks to Scott Air Pak 50s with carbon fiber 4500 PSI tanks and PASS devices. WOW, what an improvement!

[deepsea5]

Originally Posted by norty1

Route 66:

George Maharis was the other one!

Another great show in 69 was "Then Came Bronson" with Michael Parks.
From that show, my favorite quote, "You don't work, You don't eat"!

A classic movie from the late '60s: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
One of my favorite quotes: "You May Run The Risks, My Friend, But I Do The Cutting. If We Cut Down My Percentage... Who Knows? It Might Just Interfere With My Aim."

[craigav]

I found all the Gunsmokes tv shows and watching them again. I am not all that old really, early 60's but didn't see them all when I was a kid. Times were pretty good all in all back then (some tough times for people for sure), but a simpler life, and not all of the modern electronics we has seen over the past 50 years or so. I am not sure things are better now or back then, some things are and some not.

[Thomson]

We have been watching Gunsmoke, Maverick, wanted dead or alive, twilight zone and more. We get them on antenna TV. We get 38 channels at our house in northern AZ. Phoenix has over 80 and a lot broadcast our old fsvorites

[craigav]

Speaking of new electronics, these electronics shouldn't automatically use the wrong words as my Iphone does often. ie: "we has seen", the phone should have known better and used "have". I knew that, most people know that, but iphone doesn't seem to know better. So I am old enough to remember when you didn't have to worry about things like that. Now, back to Matt Dillon.

[mharrison]

Originally Posted by deepsea5

We did the same thing, but in deep snow. One winter we set up an after-sunset "ambush" station in one of my friend's parents field. The field was next to the road. The snow happened to have a thick crust, which we used as covers for our "foxholes". We made up a bunch of snowballs and stocked our foxholes, which we would use to pelt cars with as they drove by. We'd fire the snowballs and immediately crouch down and pull the ice lids over our foxholes. Never got caught. "Ya bedder not let me catchya, ya liddle bahstids" (how an "old Mainer" would speak) was yelled out by a few of the victims.


We are about the same age. My hometown got their first motorized truck in 1919. Ford Model T. They still have it and use it as a parade piece. When I joined at age 16, they had a '47 Seagrave open cockpit ladder truck with a gasoline engine. That thing was brutally cold to ride in during -0 degree F temps. Once in awhile it would blow a spark plug out of the cylinder head. That was fun...
When I moved back to Maine and rejoined the dept, they has replaced the 47 Seagrave with an 87 Seagrave. Big upgrade!
We did have 1 pumper truck ('76 FTI Truck with a Cummins diesel) that had an Allison automatic tranny. The Cummins sounded like it was taching about 10,000 RPMs during acceleration.
Much easier to drive than our other pumper ('67 Ford/Howe) with a gas engine and 4 speed stick shift.
Although I'm no longer involved with the fire service, I have friends who still are. The equipment sure has changed for the better!
One example: when I was still active, we went from the ancient (1970s era) Scott Air Paks with the 2200 PSI steel tanks to Scott Air Pak 50s with carbon fiber 4500 PSI tanks and PASS devices. WOW, what an improvement!

Gotta love those open cabs during the winter, we had a '53 Ford open cab pumper. I miss riding tailboard, jump off and grab a pack mounted in bags on the side of the rig. Back when we wore 3/4 boots instead of bunker pants in the summer. We're still a small town department with very few full-time and volunteers. Lexington, Mo. known for the "Battle of the Hemp Bales" www.lexingtonfire.net

[RAurand]

My son and I enjoy watching the old black & White Andy Griffith shows together.

[Thomson]

Did anyone get baby chickens in a box that looked like a large pizza box with finger sized holes around is sides. Late winter, early spring my grandfather would pick up a box of baby chickens from Sears.

[deepsea5]

Originally Posted by mharrison

Gotta love those open cabs during the winter, we had a '53 Ford open cab pumper. I miss riding tailboard, jump off and grab a pack mounted in bags on the side of the rig. Back when we wore 3/4 boots instead of bunker pants in the summer. We're still a small town department with very few full-time and volunteers. Lexington, Mo. known for the "Battle of the Hemp Bales" www.lexingtonfire.net

Ahhh yes, the good ole days of riding the tailboard; or even on the fenders and laying on the aerial ladder!

As for hemp bales..it appears that that scenario could happen in Maine. Seems like every corner of every block in this state is loaded with marijuana growers & retail outlets.

The town that I grew up in (Lisbon, ME) is known as the "Moxie soda capitol".
http://moxiefestival.com/

A couple years ago, Lisbon Falls Fire Company (my former department) actually purchased a new pumper truck painted in the Moxie soda theme.
https://www.wmtw.com/article/lisbon-...truck/31044943
Quite the upgrade from the Engine 7 ('67 Ford chassis/Howe body) that I was working with!

[deepsea5]

"Rampart Base, this is Rescue 51!" Emergency; another classic from the early '70s. Was an inspiration for a lot of us "kids" back then, who were inspired to join the Fire/EMS service when we were adults.

There is a guy in Maine who actually built an exact replica of Rescue 51 and uses it as a parade piece. I spoke with him during the State of Maine 200th Anniversary Parade, last summer. He has a buddy who is building an exact replica of Engine 51. They intend to parade together. Should be interesting!
https://www.hmpgloballearningnetwork...ther-maine-ems

[RedHorse1]

Yup, the Maverick boys, Bret, Bart and Beau.
How bout Rescue 8?
Johny Yuma, he’s a Rebel don’t ya know.
What’s My Line? To Tell The Truth. Password.

[Route 66 Traveler]

The $64,000 dollar question.....


https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexp...4000-question/

[deepsea5]

I remember when "Joy To The World", by Three Dog Night, was released.

A friend of mine is Catholic. When his Catechism teacher asked him who Jeremiah was, he responded "a bullfrog". He was quickly shown the error of his ways.

[JFlightRisk]

No one has brought up the Lawrence Welk Show. Real family entertainment back then.

"A one, and a two...."

[FPM III]

Although Lawrence Welk is deceased (he died May 17, 1992), he built a theater in Branson, MO, that still exists today.

[Thomson]

You can still watch Lawrence Welk on broadcast TV. You guys ought to try out your antennas and cut the cable or satellite.

[deepsea5]

Originally Posted by Thomson

You can still watch Lawrence Welk on broadcast TV. You guys ought to try out your antennas and cut the cable or satellite.

We did just that about 12 years ago. Ditched cable/satellite service and never looked back. Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime and an antenna works well for us.

[norty1]

We have tried to cancel our Direct TV for several years but after calling, they lower it so much for another year that we succumb for one more!