Reminiscing About the Past from the 80+ Group

[Mitch86]

I'm 86 and would like to reminisce with others about our past lives, songs of the past and news events as we experienced them at the time. Please limit posts only to those who are over age 80 and are looking back like me.

 

[bowmore]

I am 83 and a member of the United Flying Octogenarians. My most vivid memories are riding on 2 Nuclear Submarines out of Scotland. The scariest memory I have is when I was working at an FAA facility near Atlantic City NJ. The morning after Pres. Kennedy gave his Cuban speech, I was met at the entrance by armed military guards. As I looked out on the flight line, there were B-47's and F-106 interceptors. These bombers were dispersed and armed in case the balloon went up.
Fortunately Khrushchev backed down and that was then end of it. whew!

 

[win231]

I'm 86 and would like to reminisce with others about our past lives, songs of the past and news events as we experienced them at the time. Please limit posts only to those who are over age 80 and are looking back like me.

You aren't 86. You are 60 with 26 years of experience.

 

[Timetrvlr]

My first car was a 1929 Model A Ford sedan and was unique in what was missing from today’s cars. There were no hydraulic brakes; they were strictly mechanical, no power windshield wipers; only one on the driver’s side that was hand-operated. There was no ignition key or lock, the starter button was on the floor, no automatic choke, it was on the passenger side, direct mechanical linkage and you could also twist it to adjust the carburettor richer or leaner. The gas tank was mounted horizontally below the windshield and there was a gas gauge in the center of the dash. When the tank was full you could see the gas sloshing around in the gauge. There was also a lever in the side of the steering column and used to advance or retard the ignition spark. This car had a manual transmission; three speed with the gearshift on the floor, running boards, distinct fenders, one taillight, no turn signals, no heater, no a/c, but it did have a windshield that could be opened outward to provide ventilation on hot days.

My second vehicle was a big step up, it was a 1936 Chevrolet pickup. I believe it had hydraulic brakes, two vacuum-operated windshield wipers, and a handy crank-out windshield. Later, I had a ‘39 Chrysler coupe with a foot-operated windshield washer. That was the high life!

Many cars later, I had a ‘64 Pontiac station wagon that I bought from a friend for $400. I was afraid of it because it had so many new-fangled gadgets like power hydraulic brakes, automatic transmission, power windows, etc. I was afraid it was going to break down on me with all those gadgets.

Now I’m swaddled in luxury with a Toyota Sienna minivan. It’s loaded and I’m glad!

Do you remember any of those early cars?

 

[horseless carriage]

Do you remember any of those early cars?

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You have seen my avatar, meet Jessica, my vintage MG. Here's an ode to her:

There was a time when motor cars were serious fun to drive,
back then they didn't have seat belts, which help you stay alive.
They had quirky things like running boards and trafficators too,
those were little semaphore arms that gave the direction true.

Jessica is just like that in two tone fancy colour,
an MG of classic vintage, a real beauty to discover.
There's nothing more that she prefers than to show off in the shining sun,
and be photographed by one and all: she smiles for everyone.

This classic car has survived the years and not been torn asunder,
not for her, the breaker's yard, her body parts to plunder.
Despite her years she's greatly loved, her lines to be admired,
and she can still put on a turn of speed to get the adrenaline fired.

Out on the highway she likes to go and keep up with the traffic.
But serious problems can arise, when all the cars are static.
The water in her engine boils and out the steam comes hissing,
she doesn't have a temperature fan but it's not exactly missing.

​

It simply wasn't ever there like modern cars today,
there's so much missing with vintage cars,
it's the price you have to pay. But for all her lack of equipment
and of technology, there's something intangible this car has, this lovely old MG.

It's that distinct smell of old car, of walnut and of leather,
a fragrance that's so captivating, it doesn't get much better.
Then there's her style & grace & beauty and class in overload,
but her greatest asset is the fun you can have, that comes by the bucketload.

 

[Timetrvlr]

I was a little guy during World War II. In those days, before we had electricity, we all listened to a battery-powered radio at night. We had no reception until nightfall and even then, it required a very long, complicated copper wire antenna positioned just so. I can remember my parents both hunched over the radio every night for the latest word on the Battle of The Bulge and later, the war in the Pacific.

We had a small herd of milk cows and my mother milked them by hand twice a day. My job was to carry water to the corral so my mother could wash their udders before milking. I was so little that a half-bucket of water was awfully heavy. My father raised the alfalfa and grains that we fed the cows. Before I was old enough to go to school, we stored alfalfa hay in large haystacks. One time I found the hay knife, a wicked-looking blade about three feet long with very large coarse teeth and a handle at the top. I climbed a haystack and hauled the hay knife up with me, then proceeded to cut up the haystack. When I was done, I threw the hay knife over the side and jumped down after it. Apparently, I landed on it for I had a nice slice in my leg just below the knee. I managed to get to the house and was taken to a doctor in the village. I recall he sewed me up with a cigar clenched between his teeth.


For a while, mom separated the cream from the milk by letting it stand overnight and the cream rose to the top. Then she dipped the cream off for making butter. Later, we had a mechanical cream separator and it had lots of parts that had to be removed and washed by hand. It was quite a job to put it all together again too, but it worked really well. My older brother was the mechanical one in the family and taught my mother how to take it apart and put it all back together again.

Mom churned butter in a two-gallon butter churn. The temperature had to be just right, not too warm or too cold, and it still took a lot of cranking to make butter. I got to help with that. When it was done, we had buttermilk! Mom washed the butter to get all the milk out and then pressed it into butter molds. Then she wrapped each one-pound block in waxed paper.

We did not have electricity yet, so we did not have a refrigerator either. We had to keep the butter and milk cool so my dad built a cooler about the size and shape of a large refrigerator. It was a wooden framework with shelves. The outside was covered with screen wire with a couple of layers of burlap over that. This box was placed under a great Pepper tree and a galvanized number 3 tub was placed on top. The tub had a pattern of tiny holes in the bottom and the leaking water saturated the burlap. Our was a desert climate, very dry, so the evaporation of water kept our cooler quite cool. My job was to keep that tub filled by carrying water from the pump up the ladder and dumping it into the tub.

This was during World War II. Butter was rationed and brought premium prices. My mother would sell our butter and buy margarine for our family because it was cheap. In those days, margarine was sold in its natural color, white. A small package of red coloring was included and you kneaded the coloring into the margarine to make it yellow.

 

[Manatee]

The 38 Ford convertible that I had featured a rumble seat (dickey seat). The mechanical brakes were terrible. I paid $100 for it in 1955.

There were no trafficators on my 51 MG TD, but it was a lot of fun. The 1950 Riley 2.5 roadster was a real novelty in NY. One day I picked up my girl friend, now my wife. I had put the windshield down flat and it took her a few minutes to figure out why it was so windy.

We still have a convertible, but it does not have the character of those older ones.