Old Timers Thread - Ya remember when......

[DJJSR]

Originally Posted by leahysailor

I had an MG that had a short in the wiring for the headlights, I'd be going down the road hit a bump and the lights would go out. I'd stop get out and shake the wires till they came back on.

Wire shaking was also covered in the manual, right after the section that covered how to clean up melted electrical tape.

[Java Junky]

Wrenched in'a "sportscar" (which meant'att we'd work on anythin' whut could be pushed, pulled'r air-dropped in frunna our doorz'n paid) shop ferr'a while.
'Z'I wuzz runnin' the Awful Healey widd'a Chevy (I live'da make'da Donster'z day) small-block unna the hood ('scuze me: bonnet) I sometimez caught'a bidd'a $hit'n the 'Healey some longing glancez from the "purists".
Budd'a real good learnin' experience regardin' brit livery: gremlin infested? I can get datt rollin' my own. 'Least den I 'spectz'itt, y'know?

[3.1415926]

My TR-3 was very well behaved in the garage, where it spent most of the time. I had an MGA which was much more dependable. While things occasionally fell off of it, they were seldom anything essential. I did get one surprise early on. A previous owner had hit a high spot in the road and jammed the tail exhaust up so it touched the cockpit floor (under the drivers seat). Apparently there had been some sort of little fire and a nice oval hole had been left out of sight in the wood under the seat. Well..... one wet day (a rarity in Utah) I drove through a puddle and my butt was instantaneously broiled in steam. The hole turned out to be a wondrous thing though- over time since I was always enveloped in a great throaty sound and aromatic vapors.

[Big I]

I don't think I ever caught what the age cutoff was for "Old Timer" here. I gotta be older than 90 % of those young 'uns here! But I do remember gas pumped by attendant at 35cents per gallon, triple blue chip stamps, free steak knives with purchase, and maybe a cheezy map of the California Missions fit for burning at your leisure. (sung to a jingle) "You can trust your car, to the man who wears the star! The big bright Texaco STAR!" (trust me you had to be there!) The *DING*DING* of crossing the rubber tube like bell switch at the pumps signifying the need for the attendant to get up and pump some tetra ethyl lead premium. Motor oil in glass bottles near the office door w/ screw top funnels on top. Someone said something about human smuggling in trunks? Ahhh Java Junky! My first ride was a '64 Chevy Impala 4 door totally straight body p/u for the paltry sum of $95.00 cash. Now that car had a trunk! A small family could lodge in there along side a full sized spare! lol One could make money charging each illicit passenger a small sum for entry into the drivein. I lost that big old hunk of automotive iron after only 6 mo. in a most horrendous crash. T-boned by an ElCamino at 60mph+ I exited the Impalla from the DR.S/rear door, the car only half as wide as before. It saved my life it did.