The Good Old Days (early sixties)

Here's another not so good fact about fifties and sixties cars: Drum Brakes that lost a lot of their efficiency when they got hot from repeated use or when they got wet. The brake shoe surfaces were primarily made from absestos or had a lot of abstestos in them. . Millions of cars spitting tiny absestos particles into the environment. One of my duties while working part time in an auto garage was replacing brakes shoes, turning the drums then cleaning them. I'm sure I inhaled a lot of absestos during those days. The garage used to clean used parts in leaded gasoline. One of the mechanics told me to go to the field (where junked cars are stored) and siphon a supply of gas for the parts pan. I had never siphoned anything before. I put one end of the hose to the bottom of a car gas tank then sucked the fuel up the hose directly into my lungs. Thought I was going to die. Couldn't breathe. Those grizzled mechanics got a good laugh out of it. They also had great sport over my introduction to how a ignition coil produces one potent shock.

I recall some of those cars being comfortable for the time. Cadilliacs, Lincolns and some others with thick carpeting (deadens road noise) deep plush seats upholstered in nice leather, power windows. Those cars were comfortable, at the time, and had top speed comparable to a lot of cars today. Just hope you don't have to stop in a short distance.

 

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Mine was plenty comfortable. It had AC and I tend to like the bench seats because my bucket is not the one these bucket seats are designed for. There is also something to be said for being able to have your girlfriend able to slide over next to you instead of being stuck in their seat over there. I never had any problems with the suspension because frankly the roads tended to be in better shape than a lot of them are today. I'll give you the steering wheel, but it was possible to add a padded aftermarket cover. I had no problem with the soundproofing, and it had power steering and power brakes. True, it didn't have power windows or locks but I could roll up the windows without having the power turned on and who needs power locks? I'm perfectly capable of pushing the button down or pulling it up. And I never had to fool with the power window guide messing up and costing $350 to replace like I did twice with a later car. If the window crank stripped you could just pull on off one of the other doors and crank your window up. Replacement cranks cost about $3. True the radio left something to be desired, but for the longest time there only was AM radio so you didn't miss anything. And later I added an adapter that let me have FM as well. Today I'm back to listening to AM anyway. And then there was the one big comfort that today's cars don't have, ROOM! Head room, leg room, ease of getting into and out of. You could put six good sized guys in there and everyone had plenty of room and they were comfortable.

Now for what I like in today's cars. Reclining seats, better seatbelts, airbags, GPS can be very nice. Less routine maintenance which is good because you can no longer work on your own car like you used to be able to.

 

Hey Conder, I pulled my 1885-CC Morgan (from the GSA sale in the 1970's) out of my safe depost box and checked it. No VAM-4 Doubled Dash. Oh well. No idea on the grade on this but I am guessing that PCGS might assign an MS63? The reverse looks cleaner than the obverse (the reverse might be a 64 ... but they dont grade that way!)

It's interesting but the grade really doesn't affect the value that much on this date/mint combination as the online PCGS guide lists the values as:

G4 = $600
F12 = $615
VF40 = $630
MS62 = $665
MS63 = $675
MS64 = $715

I think you would be hard pressed to find another coin (series/date/mint combination) over 100 years old where there is such a small spread between a G4 ($600) and an MS64 ($715)! Although maybe there are other Morgans in a similar boat?

So funny that I cannot remember how much I paid for this back in the 1970's but if your information is correct that I paid $60 for it -- that's a bargain. I am guessing this might bring $600+ on the open market today.

When compared to all CC Morgans, the 1885-CC actually had the lowest mintage (238,000) -- however because it was included in the GSA sale where many Unc's were released, it's a lot more common (and less expensive) than some of the other CC dates (1879-CC, 1889-CC, and 1893-CC).

When compared to the entire Morgan series, the 1885-CC has the 3rd lowest mintage of any date/mint combination, only eclipsed by the 1893-S (100,000) and 1894 (110,972) -- I'm not including the 1895 which was Proof only and not a business strike.

 

There's a reason all the good car songs are from back in the day. :smile

 

I friend of mine sent this to me about the 60's ...

I remember when Dr. Pepper was only available in the South...I had cousins that lived in Virginia, and I loved getting a cold bottle of Dr. Pepper from a soda machine. Plus they lived on a highway down the street from a Mr. Peanuts store, with the huge metal sign shaped like Mr. Peanuts with his top hat, and we'd go and buy a paper bag of nuts.

I was sitting at a counter in a diner in Florida with my parents the day we landed on the moon. The owners brought in a black and white tv to watch it happen. Everyone stopped eating and watched in hushed excitement. I remember even then there were people that believed it was staged.

I remember when the only "fast food" in my area was a Dairy Queen. and while visiting other cousins going to an A & W Root Beer establishment, they served those great ice cream floats.

In my hometown there was a general store, with newspapers and magazines (and comic books), plus a soda fountain/lunch counter. When any of my family was sick, my mom would go there and buy a small container of Coca cola syrup and mix it with plain water. (you know that Coca Cola was initially sold as a medicine, right?)

I lived across the street from my elementary school. I remember we'd line up and go to the lavatory to wash our hands several times during the school day, probably after "arts and crafts" and before snack-time. I bet there'd be a whole lot less colds and flu if schools still did that! And I remember the glue that came in a small bottle with a funny rubber top with a slit in it to let the glue out slowly. And another kind of white pastey glue that tasted minty (cuz of course we all tasted it!). And big big wooden easels with big metal clips on top to hold the big pieces of paper for painting, (I guess everything looked big, I was probably only 42 inches tall!) But my favorite thing was the old piano in the room, and once in a while being allowed to "play" it.

In the summer my next-door neighbor friend and I would walk to the library, take out books, and climb a big pine tree in her yard to read. It was at her house that we listened to the Beatles, and Herman's Hermits, and Paul Revere and the Raiders. We had crushes on all of them! I remember that, even though the 10 or 12 kids on my street were all different ages ranging from 5 to 15, we all did stuff together, because no one would even think to ask to be driven elsewhere to play. At night in the summer we'd play "hide and seek" and "murder in the dark"...in the daytime we'd play croquet or badminton, or the girls would put together a "fashion show"...

Anyway, thanks for nudging the memories...I do have a few kids now in my neighborhood, and they still play outside, I can overhear them playing some of the same role playing games, but not sure if they still play hide and seek.

Just a last thought. Childhood games are passed down from older child to younger. Think about it, I doubt a grown-up taught you how to play any of the games you played. So if kids don't hang out in multi-generational groups anymore, they aren't going to learn all the games!

 

If you sent it to PCGS for grading, they would remove it from the case, add the GSA Provenance on the insert and you wouldn't get the case back. NGC will grade it right in the Mint case.

Chris

 

What your friend sent to you is "universal" winged fellow. I experianced it all first hand......

And I'm very thankful for that experiance. It's helped me along in life.......

 

OK, '60s memories, western Missouri/Arkansas

Dr. Pepper had gone national at least by the mid-'60s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1gZkf_-UyI

We never bought Coca-Cola syrup. It was Vicks 44 for colds. There was a little general store, but there were also several supermarkets in my town of 5000+. There was also a soda fountain at the two pharmacies downtown, and one of them also had racy magazines on the shelf that even 10-year-olds could look at. Although at that time, I was much more interested in comic books and coin magazines.

No climbing pine trees-- they were too sticky, and the bark was too rough. Mimosa trees were much better for climbing. And sometimes we could see hummingbirds sucking at the fragrant blossoms.
Neighborhood kids did sometimes play hide-and-go-seek (pronounced "hine-go-seek"), although that was usually only when a neighbor's granddaughter from Colorado came for a summer visit. Otherwise, it was usually kickball or "horse" basketball. Croquet and badminton were usually only played among family members for some reason.

We had a few fast food places-- A&W, as well as locally-owned Jan-Lin Drive-In, Ness Dairy House, Bessie Dream, and Susie-Q. Dog-N-Suds (based in Springfield, Missouri, I think) had a place on the edge of town for a couple of years, but it disappeared.

I lived within a 3-minute walk of my elementary school. We would also be lined up at the lavatory a couple of times a day in 4th Grade. I had perfect attendance that year.

There were no art classes at my school. Once in a while we would make valentines with construction paper, but nothing involving paints or anything like that. We also had music class, but the only instruments I was allowed to play during my entire 6 years there were a "triangle" and a tambourine.

For music, most of the kids' parents had country albums-- Buck Owens, Roger Miller, Johnny Cash. The local skating rink would play a lot of British Invasion songs, though, and the swimming pool had a juke box that, in 1969, always seemed to be playing "Spinning Wheel", "American Woman", "Sunshine of Your Love" and "In the Year 2525". There were also quite a few music shows on TV-- Lawrence Welk (not my cup of tea), Hee-Haw (ditto), American Bandstand, Teen Hop (local program I think), Liberace, Buck Owens, Sonny and Cher, Dean Martin, Mickey Finn (summer of '66, I think), Herb Alpert's Summer Special (1969?), Petula Clark special, Cowsills special.

 

I bought 47 Hudson Pick Up for work one summer while in High School. Huge flat head 6 with dual carbs. Not quick out of the blocks, but kick in the overdrive and it would go well past 100 cruising !! Had 8" high leaf springs and 12 ply tires. I could haul the bed full of sand ! Actually the best working truck I ever owned, and I've had 30 or more of them, all much newer of course. That thing got about 25-28 mpg hwy !! But it wasn't a nice car to date in, so I sold it. Man there are a lot of ladies, but only a few good trucks. IMHO

 

Bonomo turkish taffy anyone? Red rover, red rover...

Regarding the comfort of the cars... who the heck cared back then about the comfort??

 

Hey speaking of old cars ... who do you think would win in a

1959 Chevrolet Bel Air vs. 2009 Chevrolet Malibu crash test ... (the answer may shock you)

http://www.wimp.com/crashtest/

I guess there are more than a few things that are better now

Totally agree with this. I dont go near pines, the sap is impossible to wash off. (I wonder if her memory is faulty on the tree species?)

Perfect attendance! That's commendable. Not me. I would fake being sick more than I like to admit -- as soon as my parents left for work it was party time with ice cream and hours of tv. I grew up on I Love Lucy, Andy Griffith, Dennis the Menace, Dick Van Dyke, etc. I guess i was like a young Ferris Bueller in training. I remember looking at my elementary school report cards years later and was shocked to see how many days I missed. Fortunately I was smart and always got A's and B's anyway.



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I like the solid steel in my 1940 Chevy with Suicide Doors

 

that's a cool car!

 

Dentists loved Bonomo turkish taffy because it pulled out a lot of kids' fillings. I'm not a dentist but strawberry was my favorite.
A local grocery store still sells it though it looks to me the same stock is there all the time.

Red Rover? was that the red cinnamon flavored gum? ugh.

Comfort - some of those big deep bench seats were great especially for a three hour double feature at the local drive in.

 

I think you're thinking of Big Red.

Red Rover is a children's game where kids on opposite sides of the playing field hold hands in human chains. In alternating turns, one side asks a player from the other side to come over ("Red Rover, Red Rover, let XXX come over"). The kid who's called tries to break through the line by running at the weakest link. If he/she breaks through, he/she gets to take one of the players from the weak link back. If he/she doesn't break through, then that kid becomes a member of the other team. The side with the most kids at the end of the game wins.

 

I remember being a toddler and riding in my Dad's 68 Chevelle SS 396 laying in the package tray at the rear window!
(The flat area between the back glass and back of the rear seats for you younguns. Where the rear speakers are.)

He had shag carpet up there, and no speakers. Made a great place to lay.

I also remember his 78 hatchback with fold down rear seats.
He was afraid me and my sister would spill something on the seats, so he left them down.
We rode sitting on the carpet behind the front seats, indian style (criss-cross-applesauce for the younguns).
I had a permanat crink in my neck because even at 8, sitting this way I was too tall and had my head pressed against the roof.
We would go on long trips this way. It was nice when you wanted to sleep though.
(I still have that car!)

Used to ride in the back of pickups too.

My first car, a rusted out 71 Torino had huge holes in the floor pans.
The exhaust ended under the car, right at the biggest holes in the floor.
The fuel was still leaded, and the car was filled with exhaust, windows up or down. Didn't matter.
Didn't think too much of it, just made sure to stop for fresh air every once in a while.

 

*I think you're thinking of Big Red.


*Red Rover is a children's game where kids on opposite sides of the playing field hold hands in human chains.. . . . .
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That would've been the fifties for me.


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I remember being a toddler and riding in my Dad's 68 Chevelle SS 396 laying in the package tray at the rear window!
(The flat area between the back glass and back of the rear seats for you younguns. Where the rear speakers are.)


He had shag carpet up there, and no speakers. Made a great place to lay.


I also remember his 78 hatchback with fold down rear seats.
He was afraid me and my sister would spill something on the seats, so he left them down.
We rode sitting on the carpet behind the front seats, indian style (criss-cross-applesauce for the younguns).
I had a permanat crink in my neck because even at 8, sitting this way I was too tall and had my head pressed against the roof.
We would go on long trips this way. It was nice when you wanted to sleep though.
(I still have that car!)


Used to ride in the back of pickups too.


My first car, a rusted out 71 Torino had huge holes in the floor pans.
The exhaust ended under the car, right at the biggest holes in the floor.
The fuel was still leaded, and the car was filled with exhaust, windows up or down. Didn't matter.
Didn't think too much of it, just made sure to stop for fresh air every once in a while
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Very funny stories. parents would be locked up today for a lot of the stuff they got away with in the sixties.

 

Here's one I almost forgot about.

Until 1965, Maryland had slot machines along Rte. 301 in Waldorf and along the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. You could play 5c, 10c, 25c and 50c slot machines. The proprietors didn't really care how old you were. We used to skip school and go to Waldorf to play the slots. At Beverly Beach and Mayo Beach all they had were 5c & 10c machines and I remember getting quite a few Buffs, Mercs & Barbers.

Chris

 

My parents used to take us to beaches in Anne Arundel county where they had slot machines. You're right nobody stopped me or my buddy Richard when we played the machines.
Of course driving to Ocean City we'd stop in Waldorf and Indian Head, where my mother would spend her time playing the slots, on the way to Ocean City. I don't think OC had slot machines.
Anybody remember?

Almost forgot - some of the commercial beaches had large rooms known as slot machine parlors that were filled with the machines It seemed everybody in those rooms smoked
The smoke would float in layers. It was so thick it made me light headed until later when i started smoking.

 

I don't ever recall slots in OC. Our family started going to OC in 1952 which was the year the Rte. 50 bridge opened. My Dad built our first summer home in North OC in 1959 and our second one in Snug Harbor in 1967. I only recall a couple places on the eastern shore of the bay on Kent Island that had slots.

Chris