Topic: Those were the days

[dave500]

i used to be able to ride wheelies for as long as i wanted on my dragster three speed hub gears,some kids just never got the hang of it,i mustve put too much pressure on the shimano hub as it busted early and the bicycle shop replaced it with the english sturmey archer 3 speed hub,never busted again,just had to watch you didnt damage that tiny link chain that pulled the gears in and out if you crashed,those were the days,you had a generator that rubbed on the tyre for the lights,you could really feel the extra load pedalling,not far from our place was a joint about 10 acres with a track and you hired honda dax mini bikes for a dollar half hour and went round n round,they had a bigger track for bring your own bikes,those were the days,then you ride your dragster home longing for a mini bike,now ive got a TT600 thatll flatten anything in its path,cant do those forever wheelies on it though,im too scared it flips too easy!!

[dhall57]

Remember the wheelie king kid from On Any Sunday

[dave500]

ha ha excellent,that was me but id be sitting on the seat,we used to ride around like that no shirt(or helmets)one time i was doing swoopies left n right(like in between invisible witches hats)laying hard over and came off no shirt,took the skin off my shoulder to the bone!had a scab like pork crackling for months,those were the days.

[dave500]

coming home from school in teeming rain my mate with his head down to avoid rain in his eyes ran his bicycle into a parked car(was a hillman imp),he was con cussed,lucky a neighbour saw it and put him in their car and home,the guy whos car he hit kept the bike untill his dad paid for the dent in the bumper,those were the days,these days id go there and take the #$%*ing bike back #$%*!!

[emlupi]

That’s a great scene from On Any Sunday. I had a Schwinn Varsity 10 speed that I could wheelie down the road as a kid. I tried it recently on a friend’s old Huffy and almost killed myself.

As mentioned above, the only electronic distractions were tv and radio. As far as tv there were only channels 2,4,7,9,11, and 13. The networks used to sign off the air at midnight. They would play the national anthem and then it was a test pattern until the next morning. Now kids can watch cartoons 24 hours a day.

[ekpent]

  Well since it Christmas time I'll share a couple of old pics of Christmas mornings. First pic is me all dressed up and a rootin' and a tootin' in my brand new cowboy outfit. Bet some others got one of those also. I still like to watch old Westerns on TV !  Other is my sister and I on Christmas morning. Sadly she has passed away as well as my parents.
   Happy Holidays all -------------

[dave500]

old childhood christmas photos it is then,heres me and my older sister,mum and dad i guess about 63/64?stuff ya cowboy outfit,im a ww1 british soldier!!

[StockRider]

This thread caught my eye when I was thinking about what Dad would want done with his CB750K0.

I'm inspired by the fact that he owned 'Truck' and this 1970 Pontiac at the same time. I kept the bike (of course). I didn't have the space (or bank account) for the Pontiac.

The first picture is from 2011 when we sold the Pontiac to a Camaro shop that wanted to rebuild what most would have sent to the salvage yard. The others are what 5 years worth of sourcing parts and restoration produced.

[jlh3rd]

born 1953. Lived on the city limit at the time, cotton fields behind the row of houses across the street, louisiana. At the age of 3 I'd sit and watch that red stearman dust the fields.
Summers spent running around barefoot playing " your it", hide'n seek, red rover, red light/green light, cowboys, army (war), tetherball, badminton, croquet.  We drank out of the hose and played with that. I was top dog hunter with my daisy slide pump bb rifle. (I have a re-issue)   We dug holes in the backyards and connected them with tunnels. Any piece of plywood and a set of wheels became a cart. Later on when we/I became small engine savy, it was a go cart. Any distance between two trees became ripe for a rope, pulley, and a 2x4 seat. There were no bedtimes during the summer....and no restrictions, just the constant reminders to " watch out for cars" and look both ways when crossing the street. When it rained, we played in the puddles...unless there was lightning. Or, we stayed inside and  played monopoly, life, clue, dug out our lionels or marx train sets, or slot cars. Or mom dropped us off at slot car centers so i could race my cox ford gt 40.....we invented and entertained ourselves...there were no overweight kids....and fouth of july?....it was no holds barred....and my dad's bbq was to die for. Lusted for a mini-bike, but no motorized 2 wheel stuff until you left high school and bought it yourself.
     Dad was a used car dealer so i got to drive ( from memory): 69 chevelle SS, 69 SS camaro, 69 cobra jet mustang, GtX convertible (440 magnum or hemi), .....edsel was my every day driver......( dad wasn't stupid).
......and we settled our disputes amongst each other......no parents or police involved.....

[rb550four]

 SR , love that bird, I had a 70 too .Bias ply M50's on the back ,T/A radial 60's on the front, modified B/B350 .that car 's front end seemed to stick to any road surface on any turn at any speed no matter how sideways ,loved that car. Lost it to a deer one night, he jumped right out in front of me at high speed . Hit that rubber nose and bounce up above the headlights , I was braking,when it came back down and hit the same place  for the second time, he was over the headlights again, and landed on that rubber nose for the third time and went under the car. The rear wheel was on top of it when I came to a rest. It fired up again,and spun the deer out from under the wheel and limped what was left of that car home. The engine went into a 69 goat but that car handled nothing like that Firebird . Good times .Thanks for the memory.

[emlupi]

This is Christmas 1966. No video games or cell phones. The pedal car fire engine was for me, my sister got the Mustang pedal car. There was a kid in the neighborhood who had a driveway that went downhill into his backyard. We used to race anything with wheels down that hill and sometimes right into the evergreen trees between the houses. Years later I went on a run in the fire engine. It was looking good for me until I rolled it at the bottom. I lost a fair sized hunk of meat out of my knee on that pass. Needless to say, my day at the races was over. Great memories from bygone days.

[ekpent]

 Nice haul that year Emlupi ! Some old pedal cars are doing well in the marketplace. For some reason that football almost looks as big as you.   

[emlupi]

Yeah, my grandmother really loved toy shopping for Christmas, God bless her. I remember we also had a pedal tractor in later years, maybe one of my brothers. One of my favorites was the Big Wheel, I used to ride that thing all over the neighborhood. I remember almost getting myself run over when I turned into the road without looking. It’s amazing that we survived all the stunts we pulled as kids. We sure did have alot of fun.

[dhall57]

 

[dave500]

we had that stuff here as well,it was a right of passage,the stuff never washed off for ages.

[ekpent]

 My Dad used to slather any cuts, scrapes etc. that I got in my youth with his ever handy bottle of Mennen Skin Bracer aftershave.  OH YEA - feel the burn baby -pay the price ! 

[dhall57]

Who's mom made you take this nasty chalk tasting stuff.

[ekpent]

 We were more Pepto Bismol people    The nasty pink !
  My great great uncle had a farm that I hung out a lot at when I was kid. Back then in the olden days the farmers would take trash like bottles,cans, appliances and whatever and just dump it in a pile back in a ravine off the edge of a farm field. I hate to think how many of those blue Milk of Magnesia bottles I shot with my .22 and probably some other bottles that were collectible looking back now. He loved that stuff along with drinking copious amounts of Vernors Ginger Ale.

[dave500]

for some reason we had cod liver oil?

[scottly]

My Dad used to slather any cuts, scrapes etc. that I got in my youth with his ever handy bottle of Mennen Skin Bracer aftershave.  OH YEA - feel the burn baby -pay the price ! 

Mom used liberal doses of Bactine, when the bottle wasn't empty, which was most of the time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bactine

[grcamna2]

subscribed 

[Old Moe Toe]

You guys had it easy.

[grcamna2]

Oh No   

[emlupi]

Who's mom made you take this nasty chalk tasting stuff.

The Phillips factory was located close to my home in the Glenbrook section of Stamford, CT. When we were kids we used to get onto the property through a hole in the fence near the railroad track. Those little blue bottles were all over the place on the grounds of the factory. Bringing back lots of good memories.

[grcamna2]

Who's mom made you take this nasty chalk tasting stuff.

The Phillips factory was located close to my home in the Glenbrook section of Stamford, CT. When we were kids we used to get onto the property through a hole in the fence near the railroad track. Those little blue bottles were all over the place on the grounds of the factory. Bringing back lots of good memories.

I'm originally from Stamford,Ct,we lived off Hope st.,North of Sprindale:Eden rd.