"I remember when..."

[AllenM]

Real "Service" stations.
Where someone pumped your gas, checked your oil and transmission fluid.
Cleaned your windows...
Gave you directions you could understand, and actually use!
Fill or fix your bike tires for free.

I worked in several service stations as a teen and my early 20s in Las Vegas around 1980. I remember working in one that was on one of the main highways leaving Vegas. It was a great job for a teen. The things you could buy for a tank of gas

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

Oh man, Drive-In theaters...

My dad would put a mattress on the roof of our station wagon and us kids would lay up there and watch the movie.

 

[sticks4walking]

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

I do remember driving past the cornfield that includes my house now, there's still some of the old farm fence out back. That was in the next door neighbor lady's van that I hotwired for her one time when the keyswitch borked itself. They were also the first ones in the neighborhood that got a VCR. That was a big deal, toploading with a corded remote. Movies on tape were $80 and up each, and pr0n was out before you knew it. I'm glad I couldn't afford to get into 8-track tapes, that was a lose. They were basically self destructive, developed from radio ad carts that were only intended for a short lifespan. Cassettes were developed not to be able to reproduce high fidelity, but those sneaky engineer types had other ideas. This message will self destruct in five seconds. I had hours of fun with an old reel recorder. Mission Impossible and Star Trek were both made by Desilu (Desi Arnaz/Lucille Ball) and Leonard Nimoy had roles in both. That was why Star Trek came out kinda cheesy, they couldn't afford to do both well. My parents thought I was too young to watch Star Trek, and when they finally relented, they were horrified that the first episode I saw was the salt vampire one. They were good sports, though, and I ate that stuff up. That was coincidentally the first regular episode aired, on my second birthday. Man, I can even geek reminiscence out. I remember so much... gonna have to go lose myself in it some more.

 

[IndyDave1776]

I'm glad I couldn't afford to get into 8-track tapes, that was a lose. They were basically self destructive, developed from radio ad carts that were only intended for a short lifespan. Cassettes were developed not to be able to reproduce high fidelity, but those sneaky engineer types had other ideas. This message will self destruct in five seconds.

I had forgotten how high-maintenance 8-track tapes and to a lesser extent cassettes were. I never realized how self-destructive they actually wre given that my mom and her second husband had both worked at CBS making the things and repairing them on the way out the door, so when one broke the tape, chewed up the tape, or jumped off the spool, one of the other of them would pop the thing apart, fix it, and go right back to listening to it.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

I had forgotten how high-maintenance 8-track tapes and to a lesser extent cassettes were. I never realized how self-destructive they actually wre given that my mom and her second husband had both worked at CBS making the things and repairing them on the way out the door, so when one broke the tape, chewed up the tape, or jumped off the spool, one of the other of them would pop the thing apart, fix it, and go right back to listening to it.

I remember you could wedge a folded piece of matchbook cover against the edge of the 8-track tape in the player to keep it from jumping tracks while you were driving.

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

The matchbook cover was obviously the most important car maintenance tool

 

[MrPeabody]

Having to catch someone at home to call them on their dial phone.

Telephone party lines..... What a pain they were.

 

[olhorseman]

Telephones without dials or buttons to dial. Only operated assisted calls and numbers had an exchange (city) and number (Fort Wayne 555). You only knew if you had a call on a party line by the number and pattern of rings.

 

[pudly]

You had to get up and walk across the room to change the TV channel.

 

[mikebol]

Cars without seat belts.

Riding in the back window of the car.

 

[IndyDave1776]

You had to get up and walk across the room to change the TV channel.

You had to get up and walk across the room to change between the two channels you got reliably and the third one you got part of the time.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

I gues the youngest thing I remember was going to the Prom with my Dad and going home with my Mom.

Wait, your dad's name isn't [STRIKE]Bruce[/STRIKE] Kaitlyn is it??

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

And wave your arms around with the rabbit ears to get a signal, only to find it went away as soon as you let go.

 

[chezuki]

I remember when rock was young...

 

[poppy]

I can remember dad attaching a thick rubber strip from the rear bumper of the family car. The rubber strip came in contact with the road. He said it helped cut down static on the car radio. Shortly after that, he installed a running light in the front grill.

 

[Dockem]

Going to the drug store to test the tubes from the TV on their TV tube tester to see which one was bad, rummaging thru the inventory to find a new one, then being shocked to have to pay more than $5 for it.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

I remember having to push with my foot if I wanted high beams while driving

My first car (1960 Olds 98) had that dimmer switch, plus an additional one right next to it for changing the channel on the TUBE radio. It had the Wonder Bar, which would scan to the next strongest radio station. I had a lot of fun with friends that didn't know about it. I'd point my finger at the radio and it would "magically" change stations (they didn't see what my left foot was doing). It was funny watching them waving their hands in front of the radio trying to get it to change stations again.

Oh, and I had an FM converter which fit in the glove box that let me listen to FM stations on the AM radio.

 

[SAILORGOLF46]

What a great read, soon to have my 70 th birthday and I remember most all of these. Sure was a simple life style back then. Have a great day Ingo.

 

[Dockem]

I remember phone prefixes with NAMES instead of only the 3 numbers. If you were in the same prefix area as the number you were dialing, you only had to dial the last 4 numbers.

We could create a conference call by someone calling a person, then everyone else would too. Even though you heard the busy signal, you could talk and everyone else that dialed could talk and hear you also.

TV's with rotary dials for VHF and UHF. Once when the atmospherics were crazy, I picked up nearly 50 UHF stations one night from all over the eastern US!

Taking a VCR to a shop to actually have it cleaned and "tuned up". A 2 head non stereo deck cost me nearly $400.

Buying monoral LP vinyl records because I couldn't afford those silly "stereo" albums.

My first "portable stereo record player" had a 2nd speaker in the removable lid and extended a whole 6' from the turntable for better "separation".