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

[bullbreaker]

I'll never forget my old Erector set...do they still make these?

Yes but instead of batteries they now use viagra !

(sorry could'nt help it)

Yes they still make a modern version of them most by a company named Meccano , most of the vintage versions were made by Gilbert .

 

[ljjhouser]

I'll never forget my old Erector set...do they still make these?

Yes, but they are different. Amazon has them

There is a movie titled "The Man Who Saved Christmas" about the true story of toy inventor A.C. Gilbert - the part is played by the same guy that plays George in the "Sienfield" series (Jason Alexander) It is about the WW1 era when the government converted his toy factory to manufacturing weapons for the war and actually canceling Christmas Day as a national holliday. The movie came out in 2002 and is a little hard to find - but can be streamed.

 

[PJSprog]

My Father used to have a Marlin model 55 bolt action 12ga that my Mother bought for him through the Sears catalog as an anniversary present one year, late '50s I think.

I didn't get it (thanks to a greedy relative who "borrowed" it and refused to return it), but I do have another one just like it.

 

[ljjhouser]

Colt Python 357 and Colt 45 National Gold Cup. I had one of each, both new in the box. Wish I still had them.

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

Yes, but they are different. Amazon has them

There is a movie titled "The Man Who Saved Christmas" about the true story of toy inventor A.C. Gilbert - the part is played by the same guy that plays George in the "Sienfield" series (Jason Alexander) It is about the WW1 era when the government converted his toy factory to manufacturing weapons for the war and actually canceling Christmas Day as a national holliday. The movie came out in 2002 and is a little hard to find - but can be streamed.

I still have my Erector set, plus about six others, my siblings have found various places and sent my way.

I tried to give it to my daughter when she was about 8. She told me no, it should stay at my house. If she took it to her house, the nephews would loose all the pieces.

So, they are still at my place, packed away.

 

[turnkey4099]

I always found the internet and online shopping destroying Sears, and JC Penny as semi humorous in a slightly twisted way.

You had a store chain, which built itself as a mail order catalog enterprise, which then branched out to brick and mortar where they stocked the more popular items from the catalog, but which still had their catalog.

The the internet move started, and they still had their catalogs, and brick and mortar stores. The internet ate into their mail order sales so the got rid of the catalog division, and moved to just brick and mortar.

If they had only had a modicum of foresight, and actual intelligence: They could have moved their catalog, (it was already in HTML, and it would have been pretty straight forward), to an online presence they would still be world class enterprises.

Actually, it seems I was wrong. I noticed this morning that someone had changed the dialing system from rotary to push button.

 

[JasperFrank]

Meccano predates the Erector sets for sale in the USA. Its my understanding that Meccano was the same company, rebranded in the USA as Erector.

 

[JasperFrank]

1972... I can remember hitch-hiking with a 22 rifle. Bolt in the pocket, of coarse.

 

[otlski]

I still have my Erector set, plus about six others, my siblings have found various places and sent my way.

And that is how member jigs_n_fixtures got his name.

 

[Jstpssng]

1972... I can remember hitch-hiking with a 22 rifle. Bolt in the pocket, of coarse.

1988... Although I don't recall why, I can still remember riding through town on a motorcycle with my 30-30 strapped on. A woman I knew who went by when the cop stopped me said that he was laughing his tail off!

 

[/pine]

Since the thread has drifted a bit...
When I was in elementary school...every year for "show and tell"...I would take the Japanese dress sword my dad brought home from the war (he took it off a Jap officer after they were released from the prison camp)..
...these days it would be bad news if you tried to take a sword into an elementary school...!

 

[Larry Caldwell]

1972... I can remember hitch-hiking with a 22 rifle. Bolt in the pocket, of coarse.

It was a different world. 1964, duck hunting with a buddy, jump shooting the creek that ran north from my folks' farm. When it got too dark to shoot, we climbed out of the creek, mud to our belly buttons, and thumbed a ride home. The first car by stopped for us, two unkempt teenage boys carrying guns in the dark.

 

[ultrarunner]

Some of the best duck hunting was down by the airport and my nextdoor neighbor would take the express bus with shotgun and always come home with at least one bird if not two... really a different world for sure.

 

[oosik]

A 45 cent hamburger.......

 

[Oaktree]

A 45 cent hamburger.......

Change from a dollar at McDonalds. I doubt anyone under 65 or so would get that reference to their vintage ad today.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

7UP candy bar and Cherry Humps candy bar.

 

[bullbreaker]

Heck on thursdays when I was a kid we use to buy a case of cheeseburgers at Royal Castle in Miami, Fl for five cents a burger . Ten cents would also buy you a gallon of kerosene .

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I remember ordering 110 volt arc welder complete with a carbon arc heat source from Popular Mechanics ad for like $19.99.

 

[Blue Mule]

I remember being able to order items from the Bass Pro Shops catalog and pay the UPS driver "COD" cash on delivery when he showed up at the house with it. Those were the days!

 

[JasperFrank]

I had entirely forgotten about Cash On Delivery. I wonder if you can make a long distance land line call and reverse charges anymore?