Things you could order over 50 years ago that you can't order now !

[Diggin It]

 

[Jstpssng]

I accidently killed mine!

(Not really... I'd never even seen a picture of them until now.)

 

[jmc]

Every time I asked my parents to let me buy that junk in the back of magazines, they said the reason it's mail order is because if you could actually see it first, then you wouldn't buy it. Finally my buddy and I scraped up $3 for a western style revolver "that fires real bullets". We were gonna hunt rabbits with it... The 6 weeks or so for delivery seemed endless.

Turned out, my parents were right. It was a plastic shell of a revolver with a steel tubing barrel liner. "Bullets" were tiny lead shot and the powder charge was a stick-on toy cap. IIRC, if you used multiple caps, the range was a foot or two.

 

[SLONORTE7]

My mother and I saved up enough Green Stamps, pasted them in a book and sent off for a HI-Standard ,22 caliber Ned Buntline "Special"revolver with a 9 1/2" barrel. I loved that gun and my Pa was a better shot with it than any man we knew using a rifle.

 

[Thomas]

Sears Robucks had alot.

 

[Jstpssng]

My mother and I saved up enough Green Stamps, pasted them in a book and sent off for a HI-Standard ,22 caliber Ned Buntline "Special"revolver with a 9 1/2" barrel. I loved that gun and my Pa was a better shot with it than any man we knew using a rifle.

I was thinking about S&H the other day, wondering if you could still redeem if you had some leftovers. I never realized what you could buy with them though... I believe that my mother put them toward house supplies.

Welcome to TBN, you made a great first post.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Vintage comic book ads that were too good to be true! - Dangerous Minds

I was never going to be Spider-Man--no matter how I tried to swing from washing lines or scale neighborhood walls or tumble out of trees. My enthusiasm for imitating Peter Parker always ended in disaster and bruised limbs. Obviously being a superhero was not all it was cracked-up to be. And when...

dangerousminds.net

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Sears Robucks had alot.

I can remember when you could order a Model A carburetor from Sears. Ordered a set of sealed beam headlights for my 1930 Chevy from Sears.

 

[jmc]

S & H Green Stamps factoid: The family behind S&H funded Yale's rare book library. The panels are translucent onyx to reduce damaging light. The family wanted to use green onyx but architects discovered there wasn't enough green onyx in the world for the job.

 

[Oaktree]

Every time I asked my parents to let me buy that junk in the back of magazines, they said the reason it's mail order is because if you could actually see it first, then you wouldn't buy it.

Ain't that the truth! I ordered some stuff from one of those comic book ads, my parents didn't say anything figuring that this was a good lesson on "buyer beware". Don't remember what I ordered, but it was all crap. I do remember the name of the company, it was something like Honor House of Products or something similar.

Army surplus jeeps for $40... I don't know the exact details but heard that what you got was a crate with a jeep in various states of disarray.

I remember reading an article in Popular Mechanics or one of those magazines that even if you were able to get one of those surplus Jeeps running, they weren't road-legal. Don't recall all the details, but apparently they lacked even the minimal safety requirements of the day, and most states would not let you register them.

 

[Jstpssng]

TNT

 

[ruffdog]

The original Geritol.

 

[/pine]

Your union secretary to get you some coffee...then pick up your dry cleaning...!

 

[m1garand762]

Back on the day you could order an m1 garand out of the back of outdoor life

 

[ruffdog]

Lawn Darts. Funny....they outlaw these because they were dangerous....if they only knew.

 

[Dftodd]

Now I ask you how much trouble could a young boy and x-ray vision glasses get into.

You don't need xray glasses today. All you gotta do is go to the mall.

 

[Ken45101]

You could buy ant farms complete with starter ants...

OMG! I had forgotten about the ant farms! I had one of those!

 

[beowulf]

Many, many years ago, I think it was on cereal boxes - you "could" buy land in Canada for - like a few cents. I don't recall the details but it intrigued me then and still does. I hope someone else remembers this and can provide a bit more information. I recall - I think - that some of it was near a place called Lake of the Woods. I don't know why I remember that particular place. Early '50s?

 

[ultrarunner]

My grade school teacher collected enough bix tops for a 25x50 lot in the Santa Cruz mountains...

I went and said it's still there... the lots are campsites but in 1950 a few built cabins that are grandfathered....

 

[Jstpssng]

At one time you also could buy a square inch of land in Alaska, or perhaps as in Canada you got it for boxtops.
Imagine the taxes on a piece of land like that?