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

[JethroB]

Ammonium Nitrate in 50 pound bags.

I remember 100# bags of Columbia brand fertilizer. About killed me as a scrawny teenager loading hoppers.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Ac was optional anyway. You had '55 air'. Flip the vent window around and all was good....

We called that "2-40 air conditioning"...Two wind wings and 40 miles per hour.

 

[turnkey4099]

Purchase a new car for $3500.00 loaded...

And finance it for 3 years. Even with today's wages I doubt anyone on hourly wage can afford to finance a new car for less than 6 or 7 years.

 

[turnkey4099]

I remember 100# bags of Columbia brand fertilizer. About killed me as a scrawny teenager loading hoppers.

So was I. Dad sent me to town with the truck to get a load of seed wheat. I figured 100lb per bag but was having problems loading them. Got home and discoverd they were 120lb baga.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

So was I. Dad sent me to town with the truck to get a load of seed wheat. I figured 100lb per bag but was having problems loading them. Got home and discoverd they were 120lb baga.

Loaded and stacked fertilizer at a plant in Trona California one Summer; as I recall, they were 50kg bags, for export, equal to about 110 pounds. I was really in shape when I got home; we worked 12 hours a day, 7 days a week.

 

[grsthegreat]

Yup…when i was younger i stacked and fed 110-120# 3 wire bales of alfalfa….huge stacks. Was nothing to throw the bales. Now days id kill me.

 

[Oaktree]

Back then 100,000 miles was considered a milestone; in that time you would have changed the oil 30 times. Replaced the plugs, points, condenser, wires, distributer cap, and wires 9 times. At least a couple of batteries, and 5 sets of tires. Plus they rode like an 8N Ford.

And don't forget drum brakes on all 4 wheels. Didn't exactly stop on a dime!

 

[Oaktree]

You could order a bank savings or checking account without volumes of disclosures that sometimes all change in a couple of months..

And maybe get a toaster or a clock radio or something just for opening it.

 

[grsthegreat]

And don't forget drum brakes on all 4 wheels. Didn't exactly stop on a dime!

But my old 1975 f250 could maybe stop….
soon enough. And if it didnt and smashed into a car…..the ford might get a scratch on the bumper. New trucks nowdays stop fast …and have plastic bumpers.

 

[Oaktree]

Bought a 1970 Chevy Nova brand new; I still remember writing the largest check I had ever written: $2330.00. It was a six cylinder, dark green, 2 door, three on the tree, radio but no AC.

Sounds like the first (and so far only) new car I bought. Mine was a '70 Dodge Dart, 318, 3 on the floor. More or less the same price as your Nova. Got almost 300k out of that car in the 13 years I had it. Pretty good for something that spent its entire life in New England.

 

[Oaktree]

Ac was optional anyway. You had '55 air'. Flip the vent window around and all was good....

We always called it "4-70" air conditioning. 4 windows down, 70 mph.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Sounds like the first (and so far only) new car I bought. Mine was a '70 Dodge Dart, 318, 3 on the floor. More or less the same price as your Nova. Got almost 300k out of that car in the 13 years I had it. Pretty good for something that spent its entire life in New England.

I drove it about 8 years, was rearended and totaled.

 

[Jstpssng]

But my old 1975 f250 could maybe stop….
soon enough. And if it didnt and smashed into a car…..the ford might get a scratch on the bumper. New trucks nowdays stop fast …and have plastic bumpers.

The new truck may be totaled, but you're chances of walking away are a lot better.
Don't get me wrong, for a while I was looking at a late 70s to mid 80s vintage 3/4 ton for something heavier to haul my trailer and put a dump body on. It turns out that my little Colorado has similar payload and towing capacities as those older F250s.

 

[grsthegreat]

The new truck may be totaled, but you're chances of walking away are a lot better.
Don't get me wrong, for a while I was looking at a late 70s to mid 80s vintage 3/4 ton for something heavier to haul my trailer and put a dump body on. It turns out that my little Colorado has similar payload and towing capacities as those older F250s.

Ya, i really dont recall if i even had seat belts in that ford. I know our old 1960 vw bug convertible didn't have belts…. And the heater was a cage over exhaust muffler as i recall….how can that be unsafe.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Ya, i really dont recall if i even had seat belts in that ford. I know our old 1960 vw bug convertible didn't have belts…. And the heater was a cage over exhaust muffler as i recall….how can that be unsafe.

I think seat belts, head rests and turn signals were required about 1968.

 

[ultrarunner]

I know early Corvettes I've been in have belts...

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I know early Corvettes I've been in have belts...

Yeah, I think they were a factory option beginning about 1955 with Ford, but the macho mentality at the time didn't do much as far as paying for the option.

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

I think seat belts, head rests and turn signals were required about 1968.

Laps belts were 68. I think shoulder harnessee and headrests weren’t until about 75 on the trucks. The 73 F350, didn’t have them, and the 77 F350 that replaced it had them.

I think cars had to have the shoulder harness and head rests, in 72 or 73. Had the shoulder harness in a 73 Dart Sport. Got a ticket for not using the shoulder harness.

Explained to the judge, that if I wore the shoulder harness I couldn’t use the turn signals, or reach anything on the dash, because they were just out of reach.

He made me wait until I was the last case, and then we went out and I read the owner’s manual section on adjusting the shoulder harness to him, as he buckled in. He couldn’t reach the turn signals, or any of the dash switches, so he dismissed the ticket.

 

[tallyho8]

A judge who would go to all that trouble to be fair is the type of judge I would like to have if I ever needed one.

 

[Peace]

Fifty years ago, if you got a gas station fill-up, you would get a gift. I remember the little dinosaur figures that Sinclair would give out. As an adult, I find this rather funny, as oil never came from dinosaurs.

Wow! It was made of brass. I’ve had mine since I was a child. When I read your post I had to go look for it behind the tv. It seems to be lost. The search will continue...