# Let's remember the Good Old Days! /s **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 4, 2023, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062 "2023-08-04T18:25:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2023, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/101 "2023-08-07T21:38:30Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > Yes, a car with 100k miles on the engine was at the end of it’s life, if it even made it that far Oh yes. 100k was pretty much a death warrant. Rings, valves, just about any bearing and any part that could leak anything. Of course U-Joints would have already been replaced. But any other part of it’s chassis would be suspect. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2023, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/102 "2023-08-07T23:30:20Z")
As a matter of course, the gas station attendant would pop the hood and check the oil level. Because those engines would burn or leak oil _even when they were new_. And you had to take your car to a garage every 20K miles (or whatever) to get the valves adjusted. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/103 "2023-08-08T00:17:41Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > And you had to take your car to a garage every 20K miles (or whatever) to get the valves adjusted. I recall a conversation with my grandfather, where he mentioned that his Puch 500 came with a set of valve-shims that he had to check and adjust every 5000km or so (going from memory) . Puch 500 (an improved version of the fiat 500 with Steyr-Puch engine) [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Steyr-Puch_500_DL_02.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Steyr-Puch_500_DL_02.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![X.L.Lent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a5b964/32.png) [@X.L.Lent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X.L.Lent)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/104 "2023-08-08T05:39:13Z")
Need to get some cash? You might need to do that as many places did not accept credit cards. No ATM machines yet. So you had to walk into the bank, fill out a withdrawal slip, wait in line, hand over the slip to the teller who would give you the cash. (I can’t remember what security measures they had. I do remember handing the teller a small booklet that had been issued to me by the bank. The teller would record the withdrawal into the booklet and then hand it back). Cash a check or make a deposit? Same thing - go into the bank, fill out a form and wait in line for a teller who would complete the transaction. And don’t forget that the bank is only open 10am to 3pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 4pm on Friday. Try any other time you will be out of luck. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/105 "2023-08-08T11:42:29Z")
Does anybody remember kid’s pyjamas made with asbestos fibers? Parents., remember! Protect your child with flame-proof pyjamas. !! Asbestos fibers woven into the cloth, to keep your kid safe and healthy. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/106 "2023-08-08T11:55:22Z")
those were not to keep your kid safe, those were for crisping them up… 😉 In most parts of central europe, many families had a masony-glass full of oven-grease (“Schmalz”) sitting around for in-between-meals-snacking -\>Schmalzbrot … I recall many families had those sitting between the double windows in winter (that space sirved as a poor-mens-fridge. Related to that: in the good ol days, people aged 65 were really old, worn out and on their last leg, healthwise… Dying age 67 would get you a “he had a long and good life” at the funeral service … ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/107 "2023-08-08T12:01:11Z")
ohhh… and the black-magic involved in getting to start a car in winter … “choke” anybody??? extra points for a borrowed car, where you basicalluy needed an “orientation class” to get it to run in the winter … pump the accelerater more than twices, but less than 5 times pull the choke return the choke pull the choke again turn engine over for 2-3 seconds - it will not start stop turning over pump the accelerator exactly twice then turn it over again, count to 1004 and then mash the accelerator et voilá - you can now safely drive down to the corner to get your smokes ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/108 "2023-08-08T13:18:28Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > I don’t think you could smoke in movie theaters. I guess it depended on the jurisdiction. I remember people smoking in theatres in Ottawa in the mid '70s. And in the late '90s, in a theatre in Alliston, ON (a town maybe 150 km north of Toronto), people were smoking, though I’m pretty sure that it was illegal but nobody gave a damn up there. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/109 "2023-08-08T14:26:48Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Someone doesn’t understand the thread. Sorry 🙄 ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/110 "2023-08-08T14:43:07Z")
Yea, getting my car to start in the middle of an Ohio winter was always frustrating. Those automatic chokes on the carburetors never worked right. And the engine would have problems turning over because the oil was thick and the battery sucked. Nowadays, just turn the key and “presto.” I love modern fuel injection. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/111 "2023-08-08T14:58:33Z")
Discovering the stash of homemade dandelion wine, and the applejack cask in the corner of the barn. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/112 "2023-08-08T15:03:52Z")
Heh. Boones farm. My cousin and I at about 11 years old scored two bottles and drank it as fast as we could so as not to get caught. The results where predictable. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/113 "2023-08-08T16:02:04Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > The results where predictable. There predictable! There vomitus. ≈(´ཀ`≈) ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/114 "2023-08-08T16:24:22Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Nowadays, just turn the key and “presto.” I love modern fuel injection. 🙂 EVs are even easier. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/115 "2023-08-08T16:52:54Z")
Yep one sip of that homemade wine and we were heading to the 7-11 for the Boones. Not much better. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Krupe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/116 "2023-08-08T17:00:00Z")
My friend and I stole some MD-2020 from his parents and [ugh] watered it down so they couldn’t check the level of the bottle to see that we’d stolen it. The results were predictable. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Krupe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/117 "2023-08-08T17:04:36Z")
Another one: we took our sleds in the winter and went down the biggest hill we could find. Some older kids also set up a car hood as a ramp. You don’t see kids today flying 20+ feet in the air trying to be like a ski jumper at the winter olympics…then falling to earth and crumpling in a heap of twisted, broken body parts. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/118 "2023-08-08T18:03:24Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Nowadays, just turn the key and “presto.” I love modern fuel injection. 🙂 Dad, what’s a “key”? How do you turn it? And why? ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/119 "2023-08-08T21:30:28Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > … Oh, and if you were in a vehicle, it was acceptable to throw your trash out the car window. The sides of the roads were completely littered with trash. Not just trash, but cigarette ash and smoldering butts. No matter what the season or condition of the vegetation you were driving through. ---
**Author:** ![X.L.Lent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a5b964/32.png) [@X.L.Lent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X.L.Lent)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2023, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062/120 "2023-08-09T04:44:03Z")
Want to relax and watch some TV? You have a choice of three channels (ABC, CBS, NBC) and if you were lucky you might have a forth channel for the local station. Major cities might have a few more - where I grew up we had _seven._ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-remember-the-good-old-days-s/988062.md?page=7)