Vintage Things That Have Disappeared In Your Lifetime?

[1961MJS]

One reason our crime rates are low is because there are a great many crimes that go unreported. I've had my car broken into and robbed half a dozen times in recent years, usually by punks looking for drug money, but I never bother to report it because our police department won't do anything about it. I did report it last year when some pud shot out my car window with a pellet gun, but they still didn't do anything about it. I guess that's one way to make the statistics look good...

Ha, my son can beat that. Bought a used car from the Wichita Toyoda dealer. When we got it home and tore off the price sticker, there were two pellet gun holes in the front window. They fixed it in about a week. Got the car back on a Friday and the Moon roof exploded on Sunday. I still pretty much spit when I drive by the dealership.
Later

 

[1961MJS]

The last time I tried to drive an automatic transmission car, I drove it up the side of a curb and nearly into the side of a building. For the safety of all concerned, I'll stick to my clutch.

Hi, we had an 1977 or so Plymouth Vol are, two door with a dang van Transmission under it. Bought it new, Plymouth made the local dealer take it and since he and Dad were friends we got it at cost or something close to it. We also owned a blue 4 door Vol are. We were going out to dinner in the 4 door, I was in the passenger seat leaning on the door with my left foot on the hump. Dad was "Driving the two door Vol are", when we left the gas station, he pumped the gas, slammed on the brakes and jammed my knee into the dashboard (shifting!!). That sure woke me up dammit.
Later

 

[Trenchfriend]

How good was the compact Dodge Omni?

 

[Bugguy]

Rust had gotten to my '69 before I did. When I bought it there was a big fiberglass patch on the floorpan covering a rust hole in the battery compartment under the back seat, and there was another hole that had been punched by a screwdriver to allow water to drain out -- whenever you drove the poor thing in the rain, water would be thrown in by the wheels thru a rust hole in the firewall, and if the drain hole plugged there'd soon be a couple of inches of water sloshing around your feet.

It got worse the longer I owned the car. One day when I put my foot on the running board and the running board fell on the ground, I knew the game was up. I reluctantly and sadly traded it in on an '81 Rabbit, and when they hitched it to a tow to haul it away to the junk yard, the entire front end broke off. I started sobbing. I really loved that stupid little car.

My first car - 54 Chevy Belair - had rusted out floorpans, as well. My father taught me a reasonable repair. He flattened out beer cans - I don't think they were aluminum - and riveted them together and riveted them to any solid floor. They worked and still allowed the water to drain out. I remember seeing the road go by through the holes in the floor.

 

[BobHufford]

I remember seeing the road go by through the holes in the floor.

My first car (a '51 Willys wagon in 1976) also had the floorboards rusted out and I could see the driveshaft spinning away down there. I made sure to keep my shoes tied.

 

[Trenchfriend]

I was wondering if the DISCOVERY of that particular trilobite was made before the queen??

There is hope.
The former "Stockholm" is still alive, after 74 years. Held by Sweden, DDR, Norway, Italy, Portugal, USA. Totally reconstructed in 1994 as a modern times ship, but on it's original body!

MS Astoria is actually for sale, not cruising, after the whole Covid-shit.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Shopping carts with one wheel gummed and blocking, driving you nuts. Probably, the old generation carts were abandoned for newer generation.

 

[LostInTyme]

where I live, we must have inherited all those old carts. They call them buggies here.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

Dial telephones
Teletype machines
The Washington Star
The Pittsburgh Press

 

[LostInTyme]

Youth, virility, vision, teeth, agility, balance, hearing, banana flavored Twinkies, 35 cent/gallon gasoline, summer vacation, Santa Claus, Sears Roebuck, whitewall tires, nickel hot dogs, Black Label Beer (Hey Mabel, Black Label), cheap stuff from Japan, S.S. Kresgee's, Woolworth's, cherry phosphates, Manners Big Boy, Royal Castle, 10 cent comic books, GTO's, (Pontiac and Oldsmobile cars), Hootenannies, Saturday night baths, pain free living.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I guess I'm the last person in America who not only still uses rotary phones, but never, in my entire life, has ever had any other kind at home. Still don't like the push button models at work that cut you off because you take too long punching in the numbers.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

There is hope.
The former "Stockholm" is still alive, after 74 years. Held by Sweden, DDR, Norway, Italy, Portugal, USA. Totally reconstructed in 1994 as a modern times ship, but on it's original body!

MS Astoria is actually for sale, not cruising, after the whole Covid-shit.

Is that the Stockholm that collided with the Andrea Doria, sinking it?

 

[Zachary]

Shopping carts with one wheel gummed and blocking, driving you nuts. Probably, the old generation carts were abandoned for newer generation.

Well at one of the preferred retailers in the vicinities of my premises they still have loads of them …

 

[Trenchfriend]

Is that the Stockholm that collided with the Andrea Doria, sinking it?

Yep. Superior old swedish steel body, with (2nd) icebreaker bow.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

I don't know if it's been mentioned before and I'm not going to go over 349 pages to see, but it occurred to me that I haven't seen a paperweight in use in ages. In summer people used to leave windows open for ventilation. Paperweights were often decorative items and people collect them now. I had a relative who used a massive brass artillery shell fuze he'd picked up in WWII to keep papers from flying off his desk.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^^
So for once I’m not the last person to figure out how to use some online tool.

You don’t have to look through all 349 pages. That spyglass-looking icon on the upper right takes you to the search function. Just enter the keyword(s) and then tell it where to look. Choose “this thread.”

It turns out that paperweights were mentioned a couple times a few years ago. But it’s worth another mention. I haven’t seen a paperweight made for that purpose since I don’t know when. I have a few old glass telephone pole insulators that do the job fine.

In a similar vein, how ’bout doorstops? Not those ones that screw into baseboards to keep the doorknob from banging up the plaster or drywall (as the case may be). I got a few of those around here myself. I’m referring to the heavy things, generally made of cast iron, that you picked up and placed where needed.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Paperweights were often decorative items and people collect them now. I had a relative who used a massive brass artillery shell fuze he'd picked up in WWII to keep papers from flying off his desk.

Aah, "paperweight"! I needed a second!
Wanna learn a nice very german word?

Gimme the B R I E F B E S C H W E R E R !! Naaah, NOT THE FLAMMENWERFER!

 

[LizzieMaine]

I miss Sunday newspapers with the comics section wrapped around the outside of the paper, when the Sunday comics were considered a primary selling point. It was nice to have one day a week when you could walk past a newsstand without being distracted by depressing headlines.

 

[tonyb]

I miss the stacks of newspapers at my favorite greasy spoon, and I miss that greasy spoon, too.

 

[Turnip]

I miss the days when we had a compulsory military service here in Germany.