Remember when...

[bleme]

I remember when you didn't have to have a degree in electrical engineering to work on your car.

I had a 1991 Toyota Corolla that I intended to keep forever. The engine was simple and I could put my whole arm down all the way around it. I figured there wasn't anything in the whole car that I couldn't fix myself and there were so many of them that parts were cheap and plentiful. Then I got t-boned....

 

[arturo7]

I remember when 1991 cars were considered complicated, cramped and unworkable.

 

[Sailingeric]

Back in my day we had 9 planets

 

[GrogNerd]

I could use one of these for my (tube) guitar amps...

My JCM900 is easy : 12ax7s & 6L6s & can tell right away when one side or the other goes bad

Pre tubes aren't bad, but a matched quartet of those power tubes is $85

Had a friend whose dad forgot to use the numbered decals on the tubes & their corresponding sockets

 

[day_trippr]

I remember when you didn't have to have a degree in electrical engineering to work on your car.

I've owned a '56 F100 Panel Truck, a '60 T-Bird, and a '67 Goat. A high school drop-out with basic manual skills could keep any of them running.

I'm an EE with 45 years of practice. After tiring of laying under all the above Detroit Iron, the series of Z-cars, Supras, and Audis I've owned since '75 required someone with experience working on miniature nuclear reactors. With tiny hands.

The 2017 Durango R/T and the Spousal Unit's 2017 Impressa hatch? Fahgetaboutit.
They have more controllers, sensors and servos that can be counted. Or debugged

Cheers!

 

[jleiii]

Keeping with the car theme.....

Back (way back) in the day, windshield wipers were powered by engine vacuum. Going downhill, they'd be screaming like banshees. Uphill, a maddening crawl. I recall a trip to Lake Tahoe in the family station wagon in blizzard conditions. On the pull up to the summit, suckers had inch of snow piled up before wipers started the return cycle. Dad drove with head stuck out the (roll down) window until we began the descent. Pre-SUV so everyone was running chains doing 3 MPH and it took forever - and all us kids had to pee the last hour....

Ahh, you were lucky! (that's one too) I had a 144 cuin Falcon wagon with a 2 speed fordomatic (??) trans, vacuum wipers and a tube AM radio. The wipers would stop dead until you were at a constant speed, or going down hill. I had to let off on the gas every so often to clear the window. Drove that 100k miles before I put it down (already had almost that on it when I got it), and halfway through put a 3 speed automatic in it. The wipers still sucked.

 

[passedpawn]

Frigging Ford Granada I had that loved to die when turning. I'd have to put the transmission in N and restart while driving. I got really good at it, like a BOSS. If you were behind me, you'd never notice.

Which makes me remember how well people used to accommodate bad cars. Lots of friends with similar turds, but we kept them going.

 

[jleiii]

I could use one of these for my (tube) guitar amps...

I built my own from a kit, and still have it. It came from Lafayette Electronics, and the only kit I built that was not from Heathkit. They are all obsolete now, except the VTVM.

 

[SEndorf]

I had a 1971 Toyota Corolla.
0 - 60 in about 15 minutes.
4 cylinders have sure come a long way since then....

 

[jleiii]

I could go on and on with the car theme.....too many 60's cars in my past. When I met my wife she was driving her grandfathers '66 Impala. What a beautiful car. You could almost stand on the ground straddling the engine, and nothing was hard to find or get to. You'd be lucky to see the ground under the hood now.

El Caminos anyone? We had a '70 with a 4 speed and a 402 bigblock. I so loved that car... Got stopped by the police twice in my recently mentioned Falcon, but never in the El Camino! Go figure.

 

[passedpawn]

I could go on and on with the car theme.....too many 60's cars in my past. When I met my wife she was driving her grandfathers '66 Impala. What a beautiful car. You could almost stand on the ground straddling the engine, and nothing was hard to find or get to. You'd be lucky to see the ground under the hood now.

El Caminos anyone? We had a '70 with a 4 speed and a 402 bigblock. I so loved that car... Got stopped by the police twice in my recently mentioned Falcon, but never in the El Camino! Go figure.

I had an old (70-something) impala. Massive car. My brother ruined the transmission in it, shifting into R while driving. It would only go into R after that.

To get it home, I had to drive it backwards, slooow, for many miles on winding hilly roads. Cars lined up honking at my face. Pretty funny thinking about it now.

It was so big. I remember driving down tight roads and it's sideview mirror would knock off the mirrors of parked cars on the right. I wasn't such a good driver at that time

 

[SEndorf]

It was so big. I remember driving down tight roads and it's sideview mirror would knock off the mirrors of parked cars on the right. I wasn't such a good driver at that time

So.... That was you... !!!

 

[GrogNerd]

It was so big. I remember driving down tight roads and it's sideview mirror would knock off the mirrors of parked cars on the right. I wasn't such a good driver at that time

Did that one time in my '97 Civic driving down 9th ST NW in DC, past the FBI . was pouring rain, some d-bag was illegally parked in front of the Hoover Bldg and I bashed his sideview mirror with mine. kept on going, when I got home and checked, didn't even have a scratch.

 

[ncbrewer]

When I met my wife she was driving her grandfathers '66 Impala. What a beautiful car.

I hope she doesn't see that post.

 

[jrgtr42]

My JCM900 is easy : 12ax7s & 6L6s & can tell right away when one side or the other goes bad

Pre tubes aren't bad, but a matched quartet of those power tubes is $85

Had a friend whose dad forgot to use the numbered decals on the tubes & their corresponding sockets

yeah, I have one of those too - the 4100 - high gain dual reverb. I keep mine on the 50-w setting, so when a tube starts going, I swap the pairs. It's my other Marshall and more so my Boogie that are issues - the Boogie especially; it wears out preamp tubes like no one's business. It's a pain figuring which one went bad.

 

[MaxStout]

It's the now sound, it's what's happening...

 

[jleiii]

I hope she doesn't see that post.

Ouch, took me 3 times reading to get that one. I can be a bit dense. She was pretty sweet too!
And, she would rather have hot needles in the eye than read about beer. No worries about her drinking mine is a bonus.

How about Two Guys Dept store? Or maybe Pomeroys?
Or, Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Mickey Rat and Dizzy Ratstein comics? For those in the know, uh, its just comics....nothing to infer here.

 

[passedpawn]

Ouch, took me 3 times reading to get that one. I can be a bit dense. She was pretty sweet too!
And, she would rather have hot needles in the eye than read about beer. No worries about her drinking mine is a bonus.

How about Two Guys Dept store? Or maybe Pomeroys?
Or, Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Mickey Rat and Dizzy Ratstein comics? For those in the know, uh, its just comics....nothing to infer here.

I used to pick up FFFB comics at record shop. Best ever.

 

[day_trippr]

Wow. Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers.
It's been hella long since I last saw those dudes

 

[GrogNerd]

yeah, I have one of those too - the 4100 - high gain dual reverb. I keep mine on the 50-w setting, so when a tube starts going, I swap the pairs. It's my other Marshall and more so my Boogie that are issues - the Boogie especially; it wears out preamp tubes like no one's business. It's a pain figuring which one went bad.

IT GOES TO 20!

 

[MaxStout]

Wow. Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers.
It's been hella long since I last saw those dudes

Fat Freddie and Fat Freddy Scat. Loved the FFFB back in the '70s. And Creem, an irreverent look at rock 'n' roll.

 

[GrogNerd]

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers

It's been a loooong time since I've heard mention of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, or Fat Freddie's Cat.
Regards, GF.

 

[SEndorf]

Can never forget driving to Ellsworth Wisconsin in 1965 for the "Teen Trot" to hear The Trashmen. We were so.. uhhhhhh....cool? Or not....

 

[MaxStout]

Can never forget driving to Ellsworth Wisconsin in 1965 for the "Teen Trot" to hear The Trashmen. We were so.. uhhhhhh....cool? Or not....

View attachment 549853

A Minneapolis classic! The bird is the word.

 

[Kharnynb]

I've owned a '56 F100 Panel Truck, a '60 T-Bird, and a '67 Goat. A high school drop-out with basic manual skills could keep any of them running.

I'm an EE with 45 years of practice. After tiring of laying under all the above Detroit Iron, the series of Z-cars, Supras, and Audis I've owned since '75 required someone with experience working on miniature nuclear reactors. With tiny hands.

The 2017 Durango R/T and the Spousal Unit's 2017 Impressa hatch? Fahgetaboutit.
They have more controllers, sensors and servos that can be counted. Or debugged

Cheers!

Ugh...I would love to have a F100 panel truck, still such a great looking vehicle. I was late with driving(living in the middle of a big dutch city means not owning a car or needing to spend the rather massive sum for a dutch driving license) so I never owned anything that would be "self fixable"

 

[flars]

Remember when one of these was would be the family entertainment system. The radio was the first radio in our farm house. The 1890 piano was my wife's first musical instrument.

 

[TheDudeLebowski]

Remember when you use to hear older people talk about how things use to be and have no clue what they were talking about and make fun of them

 

[DoctorMemory]

It's been a loooong time since I've heard mention of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, or Fat Freddie's Cat.
Regards, GF.

Speaking of cats, who can forget Fritz?

 

[day_trippr]

Ugh...I would love to have a F100 panel truck, still such a great looking vehicle.][...]

Eye of the beholder stuff
The F100 started life as a Denver FD rescue vehicle (I went to the University of Denver) and was entirely white when I bought it third hand (the owner used it to haul hay for his Shetland ponies). When I finished school I moved to a hamlet out on the Olympic Peninsula and one day got crazy and did this to it:

Not having insulted the poor thing thoroughly enough, I eventually did this to it:

Yeah, it was the early '70s
By that time the old 272ci had been upgraded to a T-Bird 312 and an Edsel 3 speed with electric overdrive

I put over 150K on it over the years, went from coast to coast 2.5 times (stayed East on the last trip), and went through at least a half dozen generators and voltage regulators, at least that many starter motors, and a couple of radiators along the way.
Sold it for a buck to someone who needed it more than I did by then...

Cheers!