"GRIT", suicide knobs, lik-m-aid, ducktails...

[radar ralf]

Okay, I might be showing my age, but does anyone else remember this stuff? Here's more: White Clover, piss cutters, bouncer pitchers, passion pits, curb feelers, mangles ...

GRIT was a newspaper I used to sell door-to-door

suicide knobs were attached to your steering wheel so you could turn faster

lik-m-aid was a candy powder that came in a small envelope

a ducktail was a hair style that j.d.s wore (also called a d.a., or duck's ass)

White Clover was a salve that was sold by youngsters and offered prizes to high saleskids

a piss cutter was the flat cap worn by gas station attendants (and some branches of the military)

bouncer pitchers were the heavy-duty plastic pitchers that draft beer was served in at dance halls; they were used by the bouncers to subdue extra-frisky patrons

the passion pit was the local drive-in theater

curb feelers were springy little wires attached to your car so you could tell when you got close to the curb (kept you from ruining your expensive white-wall tires)

mangles were machines you used to press your clothes

[UncaStuart]

Showing my age as well, but . . .

In our neck of the woods, "suicide knobs" were called "necker knobs" because they facilitated steering while you had your right arm free to drape over your girlfriend when she had scooched across the bench seat to sit next to you.

[Gazoo]

I'm obviously a little younger, but I remember Grit. My grandmother used to have it delivered. I believe lik-m-aid is still around. Slight side note, there is a company now selling boxed sets of the "old" popular candies (they're still being made, but not as popular). Wax lips, lik-m-aid, those wax bottles filled with "juice," pixie sticks, dots, and more. I saw on TV but didn't catch the company name. The box was called something like "groovy candy."

[kunilou]

Any of you seen that Corvette the insurance company was selling for $100, but you had to figure out how to get the smell of the dead guy out of the fiberglass?

[UncaStuart]

Any of you seen that Corvette the insurance company was selling for $100, but you had to figure out how to get the smell of the dead guy out of the fiberglass?

Nope, I was too busy trying to figure out how to pry the hook off of my right door handle last Saturday night.

[justwannano]

How about
Butch Wax ,Whip Antennas, Rose Bud Salve, HiFi.

Butch Wax is what we used to keep our Flat top haircut flat.It was really wax.
Whip antennas were CB antennas 1/2 wave antennas I think.
Rose Bud salve was White Clovers compeditor I think.
Hi Fi The greatest invention in sound since the five tube superhetrodine radio. Hi Fi abbr High Fidelity
The colored celophane that was put on a Black and White TV screen to make it Color.
What did we call those Fake white walls?

[Una Persson]

I thought "suicide knobs" were called "Brody bars"?

[RealityChuck]

Brylcreem (A little dab'll do you.)
Fizzies
Greenie Stick-em Caps
Ipana
Fruit loops (not the cereal)

And the definitions:

Brylcreem -- used to style your hair.
Fizzies -- Fruit-flavored Alka-seltzer.
Greenie Stick-em Caps -- Caps were used in a toy cap gun -- a tiny charge of gunpowder and a strip of paper that flashed and made a "bang." Greenie Stick-em Caps were individual caps (instead of a roll) that you stuck onto a toy bullet and put in your gun.
Ipana -- Toothpaste
Fruit loops -- a loop of cloth on the back of most boy's shirts. No one knew their function, but it was considered a big joke to tear them off.

[radar ralf]

justwannano: your post reminded me of the old TV show, "Winky Dink and You". Every week you put a clear piece of plastic on the screen and drew on it another part of a secret message that was part of the program. The plastic sheet and 'special' crayons were part of a marketing gimmick like "Winky Dink Secret Message Kit" or some such. Strangely, that's all I can remember about that show.

[justwannano]

Ralph
Yes I remember that show too. Mom wouldn't let us do that.
I guess not being allowed to didn't leave any lasting scars.

The celophane thing that I was referring to had three colors,Green on the bottom for grass blue on the top for the sky and I think yellow in the middle for every other color .We didn't have one but I remember dad was excited about it until he saw the picture.

[JBENZ]

What did we call those Fake white walls?

PortaWalls!! Haddem on my '51 Cheby Coupe for years!

[justwannano]

JBENZ

Porta Walls Yep thats them.

Hula girls on the dash board.

Fuzzy dice--although I think they are coming back.

Real made from scratch Hamburgers.

Soda Fountains --every Drug Store had one

Malts and shakes that tasted like something

can you tell I haven't had lunch?

Ipana tooth paste -was that the one that had Bucky Beaver as Spokesman?

Cap Guns

Pop Guns

Radio Flyer Wagons

Sleds with runners

[Diver]

Oh Yeah!
Along with fender skirts, moon hubcaps, and dual glasspacks.
Damn, didn't those glasspacks sound good coasting down a long hill?

[AuntiePam]

Anyone else ever put "spinners" on hubcaps? My '55 Ford looked so cool! And of course I had to put the chrome extension on the tailpipe.

And guys? You can start wearing long-sleeved white shirts (sleeves rolled up a bit) with your Levis again. Do you have any idea how sexy you looked? Probably.

[justwannano]

Damn Pam why didn't you say so back then.

[kunilou]

Was it Aero Wax that had a commercial of someone firing a tommy gun at a jet airplane's window to demonstrate "a shine so tough, bullets bounce off."

How about fastback bikes with the tall handle bars and a banana seat?

[Earl Snake-Hips Tucker]

"GRIT" was still being published as of a year or so ago. That's the last I heard of it, but I think it's still around.

[Liberal]

Grit

Complete with broken picture link and remedial grammar...

(Also links there to Cappers and Farm Collector)

[PRISM02]

I recall GRIT! I'd forgotten all about it until you guys mentioned it.

Remember the big-tired bikes? Those single speed bicycles with the fat, white walled tires most kids had before the 'racers' with multiple gears and skinny wheels were popular? Those things could plow through a dirt road easily.

Root Beer barrel candy. Hard, sweet barrel shaped root beer flavored candy that was good -- though pretty strong. One could get bit root beer'ed out after box of the stuff.

Zippo lighters. No 'JD' worth his salt was without one because they could be whipped out, snapped down against the leg of one's Levi's, then snapped up and appear lit in front of one's smoke. They made that great clinking sound too. If you were really cool, you filled it with gasoline or something else from auto shop class so it burned with a yellow flame. (If you over filled it, the thing leaked and burned your leg.)

Man! I miss the soda fountains. I came in at the very end of them but I recall how cool they were and how good the ice cream and sodas tasted. They mixed the soda right there for you and sometimes would put in an extra daub of syrup which made the drink extra good! You don't get the same flavor from ice cream sodas today and a malted milk is hard to find.

I miss the ball park hot-dog. You know the type, boiled in a 40 gallon cooker with about a million others until eventually one was cooking the dogs in their own juice, which made them taste indescribably fantastic! Not like today, where the buggers zap the dog and slap it on a steamed bun for you.

Those delicious chopped onions, cooked on side of the grill at a hamburger joint until just right and then heaped on your burger to make the flavor mouth watering! Remember those? Now days they dump on a great slab of uncooked onion that you have to thin down in order to taste the meat.

[Nutty Bunny]

Does anyone remember when "Pop Rocks" were called "Cosmic Candy"?

Are the candy cigarettes still around or is that too non-PC these days? I mean the ones that are gum covered in powder and wrapped in paper, so that when you blow on it, it looks like smoke is coming out. There were also some that were just white sticks of candy with the tip colored red. I always looked SO cool "smoking" my candy.

[Sweet Basil]

Are the candy cigarettes still around or is that too non-PC these days? I mean the ones that are gum covered in powder and wrapped in paper, so that when you blow on it, it looks like smoke is coming out. There were also some that were just white sticks of candy with the tip colored red. I always looked SO cool "smoking" my candy.

I remember both of those being around 15-20 years ago.
I recently worked at a store that sold the chalky, candy-style cigs. They have to call them "candy sticks" now, so kids don't get the idea that smoking is cool. Oy!

Sweet Basil

ps- I used to get both kinds of candy cigs when I was a tot, and I haven't turned into an adult smoker.
Sheesh!

[tracer]

UncaStuart wrote:

In our neck of the woods, "suicide knobs" were called "necker knobs" because they facilitated steering while you had your right arm free to drape over your girlfriend when she had scooched across the bench seat to sit next to you.

What ever happened to bench seats, anyway? Were they deemed too unsafe? I'd think a modern car company could make a killing by reintroducing the bench seat. The nostalgia factor would be enormous, akin to the nostalgia factor of the New VW Bug.

[justwannano]

How about Bush wacking.

Do kids still do that?

You sneak up on a parked car and scare the bejeebers out of the young lovers inside.