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schematix said:
:)
Prelude to getting older and graduating to emptying the powder out of fireworks into piles in the street and lighting it. Hugely entertaining watching what normally took 30 seconds to burn up going up in one big flash in half a second. Good times.
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Good times indeed! I did the same and after that graduated to ordering "fireworks kits" with all the chemicals to make your own from a company called Liberty Industries. I got some permanent scars but luckily didn't lose any fingers. The feds finally busted them in the 80's.
Just sad that kids just aren't allowed to do anything fun anymore. ;)

P.S. Speaking of fireworks and disaster schematix.. I just happened to be down the road from you in Dittmer one day, many years ago, visiting a fireworks factory when one of their buildings blew up. That was a show.
 
schematix said:
:)

Prelude to getting older and graduating to emptying the powder out of fireworks into piles in the street and lighting it. Hugely entertaining watching what normally took 30 seconds to burn up going up in one big flash in half a second. Good times.

Gasoline was fun too. Dangerous and unpredictable, but fun.
Click to expand...

We didn't have ready access to fireworks, so we used model rocket engines. Pound it with a hammer to break up the clay plug, then dump out the powder. We'd use a little toilet paper rolled up tight as a fuse.

Other after school fun was soak a tennis ball in gas, then light it and play street hockey or just take slapshots against the garage door. It would leave a little circle of fire where it hit the door that would burn out after a few seconds.
 
back in the day, tennis ball cans (& soda/beer cans) didn't have the stepped tops, so you could attach 2 together, make a mortar out of them and, using lighter fluid as a propellant, launch tennis balls a good couple hundred feet in the air...

or at each other

Cans4old.jpg
 
I was working at the local hospital in Enschede, the netherlands in 2000, when the fireworks disaster was....I've since never touched the stuff again, once you see wounded come in literally by the busload, you sort of lose interest in the stuff.
(2 bunkers full of fireworks stored inside a neighborhood, a big part of them illegal, not a good idea)



 
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^^ holy carp. Fireworks are meant to symbolize bombs bursting in air.

I remember when my grandpa gave us a grocery bag full of cherry bombs that he'd had in his closet for years. My brother and I blew up everything we could find. Good times, glad I still have my fingers.
 
- Schools used to teach cursive writing?

- Teachers would not let you use a calculator because "You wont always have a calculator handy in the future.." (Boy they were wrong there).

- You could wave at kids riding in the back of station wagons and they would wave/make funny faces back at you and yes, they did not have seat belts in those rear facing seats back then.

- Minivans were a new idea?

- The Pinto and the Maverick. (these were cars)

- TVs channels did not broadcast but during certain times of the day

- Kids rode bikes with their friends and hung out in neighborhoods looking for adventure instead of sitting in their rooms and playing Xbox/mobile phone games and texting each other instead of going out with your friends to a movie or on a real date with a member of the opposite sex.

- Speak and Spells/Sesame Street/Care Bears/Cabbage Patch Kids/Garbage Pail Kids/and of course, Teddy Ruxpins.

- The Atari 2600

- Sunday lunch at grandmas house (where everything was made from scratch)

Good times.
 
bbohanon said:
- TVs channels did not broadcast but during certain times of the day
Click to expand...

I remember getting up on Saturdays before the broadcast day began. First turn on the TV, nothing but snow. Turn it on a little later and get the test pattern (excitement!). Check back every five minutes (can't check much more often, since it takes close to a minute for the tubes to warm up) until the national anthem plays. Then cartoons came on!
 
triethylborane said:
Good times, sure. Might as well have said Mustang II. The good old days weren't.
Click to expand...

One of my friends in high school had a Mustang II liftback. Our school didn't have it's own pool so I hitched a ride with him to get to practice every day after school. There is a rather steep hill in between and we discovered that if we were going 72 mph when we hit the top, we could catch air on the way down. Good times!
 
bleme said:
One of my friends in high school had a Mustang II liftback. Our school didn't have it's own pool so I hitched a ride with him to get to practice every day after school. There is a rather steep hill in between and we discovered that if we were going 72 mph when we hit the top, we could catch air on the way down. Good times!
Click to expand...

My BIL had a '74 Mustang II and one time as he was flying down the freeway at about 70, the rear wheel came off and passed him.

It was really a nothing special car.
 
Homercidal said:
My BIL had a '74 Mustang II and one time as he was flying down the freeway at about 70, the rear wheel came off and passed him.

It was really a nothing special car.
Click to expand...

My first car was a Mustang. Forget which one tho. Remember when you could look inside the engine bay and have enough space to see road?
I think at one point I stood inside to work on something. I don't think at my current girth that would be possible on that same car. Time tends to make things shrink. Just to change a bulb you have to be a contortionist.
 
TheDudeLebowski said:
My first car was a Mustang. Forget which one tho. Remember when you could look inside the engine bay and have enough space to see road?
I think at one point I stood inside to work on something. I don't think at my current girth that would be possible on that same car. Time tends to make things shrink. Just to change a bulb you have to be a contortionist.
Click to expand...

lol... same with my '72 Chevelle (small block 350). my roommate had to stand inside the engine compartment to replace the flywheel
 
TheDudeLebowski said:
My first car was a Mustang. Forget which one tho. Remember when you could look inside the engine bay and have enough space to see road?
Click to expand...

Certainly no E36 M3 ;) Everything is buttoned up under some plastic, or newer production cars have ground effects so you cannot see the ground anyway. I guess its good since you had the E60 M5 hitting 205mph. You don't want this:



or



Actually makes me quite nostalgic for the ALMS. Great racing series.
 
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On a similar note, remember when you opened the hood and could identify most of the parts and easily get to everything to work on it?

Why do valve covers have covers these days...
 
triethylborane said:
Certainly no E36 M3 ;) Everything is buttoned up under some plastic, or newer production cars have ground effects so you cannot see the ground anyway. I guess its good since you had the E60 M5 hitting 205mph. You don't want this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8XxQkXCmsU

or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXZaAuyuYmQ

Actually makes me quite nostalgic for the ALMS. Great racing series.
Click to expand...

Not aerodynamic when you leave the ground.

Just something to look forward to in the future is autonomous cars. I worked at a company and one customer had a close friend die in a drag race flip over. He's trying to institute sensors that will kill the engine as a flip over is predicted.

Another customer was a japanese motorcycle company. Press a button and the bike will automatically do a wheelie for you. Somehow Darwin will be involved in this bike.

I work on all these advanced things but I'm a Luddite. I strip out computer overriding at all costs. I want to be in control of my destruction.
 
When I was a little boy we had an old Falcon. The back floor board had a rusted out hole and I’d stick and umbrella with the metal tip through the hole and watch it spark as we drove down the road.

In hindsight...I wasn’t a smart little boy! [emoji12]
 
Murphys_Law said:
When I was a little boy we had an old Falcon. The back floor board had a rusted out hole and I’d stick and umbrella with the metal tip through the hole and watch it spark as we drove down the road.

In hindsight...I wasn’t a smart little boy! [emoji12]
Click to expand...

And yet you survived. It's amazing that so many of us do.

Brew on :mug:
 
doug293cz said:
And yet you survived. It's amazing that so many of us do.

Brew on :mug:
Click to expand...



Man, ain’t that the truth! How many of us would be taken from our parents and be wards of the state, been sued, thrown in jail, etc!!? [emoji1]

Can you imagine seeing a car drive down the freeway and a kid laying in that flat area over the trunk?!

Its a small feat we’re still alive!
 
Murphys_Law said:
When I was a little boy we had an old Falcon. The back floor board had a rusted out hole and I’d stick and umbrella with the metal tip through the hole and watch it spark as we drove down the road.

In hindsight...I wasn’t a smart little boy! [emoji12]
Click to expand...

Similar, my friend Sean drove me the longish 30-mile drive to high school in an orange beetle with rusted out floorboards. High school was early, so we drove in the dark, the cold dark morning. Watched the road go by underfoot, a mesmerizing gray streak between two pine 1x4s. We cranked the heat in that winter and played Yessongs as loud as the little german speakers would play, and it was alright.

I didn't realize then that those were golden moments that I would remember on a beer forum 40 years later. No way to know at the time what will later be the hallmarks in your life.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Tdu4uKSZ3M[/ame]
 
passedpawn said:
Similar, my friend Sean drove me the longish 30-mile drive to high school in an orange beetle with rusted out floorboards. High school was early, so we drove in the dark, the cold dark morning. Watched the road go by underfoot, a mesmerizing gray streak between two pine 1x4s. We cranked the heat in that winter and played Yessongs as loud as the little german speakers would play, and it was alright.

I didn't realize then that those were golden moments that I would remember on a beer forum 40 years later. No way to know at the time what will later be the hallmarks in your life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Tdu4uKSZ3M
Click to expand...



Gotta like this post 4X!
 
Murphys_Law said:
Man, ain’t that the truth! How many of us would be taken from our parents and be wards of the state, been sued, thrown in jail, etc!!? [emoji1]

Can you imagine seeing a car drive down the freeway and a kid laying in that flat area over the trunk?!

Its a small feat we’re still alive!
Click to expand...

Never on the freeway, but did car surf on the bumper of a VW bug, hanging on to the rain channels. Then a few days later, thought I saw the same friend's bug, and jumped on the bumper. It wasn't the same one, thought I was going to get the **** beat out of me. Got away free tho, after much apologizing.

Brew on :mug:
 
skitchin', bumper skiing... whatever you want to call it

after it snowed, before the streets were plowed (or even after, if it was a big enough snow), would grab a passing car's bumper and let it drag you down the street. first did this in northern Virginia, you could basically count on 1 good snow a season to do this.

after HS, I moved to Atlanta and the very first winter we had a big snowstorm (same storm hit DC & Air Florida 90 went into the Potomac). well... 4 inches over 3 days in Atlanta is a HUGE storm, especially when it would thaw only a little during the day, then freeze overnight, then another inch of snow

so, since I seemed to be the only person in the city who knew how to drive in that kind of weather, it was me driving my '75 Skylark down the frozen/snowy road & a dozen drunken Georgia rednecks hanging off the sides and back of my car
 
We had a Ranchero when I was in 4th-6th grade. If we were just driving into town, I could usually ride in the bed but going to church Sunday mornings or during the 2.5 hour trips to the coast I had to kneel on the spare tire behind my mom's seat. My mom now marvels that I never complained, but what kind of idiot would complain when you are going to the beach??!??!

347849_932b201037_low_res.JPG
 
passedpawn said:
Similar, my friend Sean drove me the longish 30-mile drive to high school in an orange beetle with rusted out floorboards. High school was early, so we drove in the dark, the cold dark morning. Watched the road go by underfoot, a mesmerizing gray streak between two pine 1x4s. We cranked the heat in that winter and played Yessongs as loud as the little german speakers would play, and it was alright.

I didn't realize then that those were golden moments that I would remember on a beer forum 40 years later. No way to know at the time what will later be the hallmarks in your life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Tdu4uKSZ3M
Click to expand...

And beetles were not known for having an abundance of heat either ... :D
 
GrogNerd said:
skitchin', bumper skiing... whatever you want to call it

after it snowed, before the streets were plowed (or even after, if it was a big enough snow), would grab a passing car's bumper and let it drag you down the street. first did this in northern Virginia, you could basically count on 1 good snow a season to do this.

after HS, I moved to Atlanta and the very first winter we had a big snowstorm (same storm hit DC & Air Florida 90 went into the Potomac). well... 4 inches over 3 days in Atlanta is a HUGE storm, especially when it would thaw only a little during the day, then freeze overnight, then another inch of snow

so, since I seemed to be the only person in the city who knew how to drive in that kind of weather, it was me driving my '75 Skylark down the frozen/snowy road & a dozen drunken Georgia rednecks hanging off the sides and back of my car
Click to expand...

That was the after school activity of choice for many of us in jr. high on snowy days in South Dakota. We would sneak behind one of the school buses parked along the street in front of the school, grab the bumper, wait for it to pull out and off we'd go. There would be 3 or 4 guys in a row hanging on to that bus bumper. We would try to see who could hold on the longest. By the time we got to about 20 mph, our feet would slide out from under us and we would be left behind. Luckily there were never any cars following close.

That takes me back.
 
GrogNerd said:
skitchin', bumper skiing... whatever you want to call it

after it snowed, before the streets were plowed (or even after, if it was a big enough snow), would grab a passing car's bumper and let it drag you down the street. first did this in northern Virginia, you could basically count on 1 good snow a season to do this.

after HS, I moved to Atlanta and the very first winter we had a big snowstorm (same storm hit DC & Air Florida 90 went into the Potomac). well... 4 inches over 3 days in Atlanta is a HUGE storm, especially when it would thaw only a little during the day, then freeze overnight, then another inch of snow

so, since I seemed to be the only person in the city who knew how to drive in that kind of weather, it was me driving my '75 Skylark down the frozen/snowy road & a dozen drunken Georgia rednecks hanging off the sides and back of my car
Click to expand...
Skitchin'. That's what we call it in the Northeast too. Use to do that in the back Bay of Boston. First time I ever had a gun pulled on me doing that to someone's car. Good times.
 

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