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

[Fuddyduddy1952]

A hundred years ago Sears Roebuck catalog you could order morphine and syringes.

 

[tom3]

I remember at my "local" country school it used to be cool to wear a necklace with a rifle shell on it. Ideal to have a complete big shell with smooth primer. Probably get frowned on today for that. Hide around the back of the building and smoke a Camel. Play a game with pocket knives, get in stuck in your shoe sometimes. Learned to fight pretty good at the school too. Life lessons.

 

[SouthernSky]

Can you still purchase striptease highball glasses or stripper pens?

 

[Diggin It]

Is J. C. Whitney even in business any more? They used to sell fiberglass bodies that would turn a Volksbuggen into a flashy car. Scrounge a Porsche engine and transaxle, and you could really be unsafe at any speed.

RIP JC Whitney. I had many sets of crappy "off-road" lights from there. Almost bought a train horn too.

Sort of. Regurgitated and recycled ... now part of carparts.com ....

https://www.carparts.com/jc-whitney

I haven't scrolled though it to see if they still have that weird stuff vibe.

 

[/pine]

50 years ago you could buy a gallon of gas with a quarter...you still can today if the quarter is pre '64'...(at current silver values a quarter is worth about $3.50)
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I had an outstanding order with J.C. Whitney when they filed for BK...lost over $100 which was a chunk of change back then for someone working their way through school...
Before that they were a great place for jeep/Willys parts etc...

 

[5030]

Sort of. Regurgitated and recycled ... now part of carparts.com ....

https://www.carparts.com/jc-whitney

I haven't scrolled though it to see if they still have that weird stuff vibe.

Wondering where they went to. They had a positively huge warehouse and distribution center on the south side of I 80 just west of Joliet, Illinois. Used to offer some pretty strange stuff too. Always had one of their catalogs on the top of the toilet tank in the bathroom for 'relaxing reading'.

I bought my genuine sheepskin seat covers from them and believe it or not, they are on my 3rd vehicle and still going strong.

 

[5030]

Can you still purchase striptease highball glasses or stripper pens?

You can still get the 'Girlie' suicide knobs (steering wheel spinners) where the gal drops her top when you turn it. Available at most sleazy truckstops.

Have them on both my Kubota's.

 

[jyoutz]

In the seventies in Louisiana you could bring your guns, knives and bows to school where they had classes in weapon safety and proper handling.

I remember driving to HS with my shotgun sitting in the rack in my back truck window during bird seasons, and it was replaced by a rifle during deer and elk seasons. I have carried a pocket knife since grade school and still do. None of the guns or knives were considered unusual, and frequently we would go to the parking lot during lunch break to compare each other’s guns.

 

[jyoutz]

Albuquerque must be one big place. We drove around it on our trip out west and it seemed like we'd never get past it. It's the only big city I remember from the trip. The other thing I remember from the drive is the high number of pickup trucks with passengers riding in the bed. I sometimes wonder how the seat belt laws affected that.

Albuquerque (including unincorporated areas) is about 1 million population, so not really large in the sense of largest US cities. It’s about 10 miles east/west and 20 miles north/south, making it seem larger than it is because it’s situated in the Rio Grande valley so it’s long and narrow.

 

[jyoutz]

I wonder if in the next few years, people will be required to have home owner's insurance, with exculsions for wild fires and such. I mean you have to have it on your car and motorcycle all ready in my State. And they have lobbyists that work day and night, to get legislation in. Right now the insurance companies are just dropping policies left and right for owners: Meaning that they get no money. Right now they are selective of the areas, but at some point, they will want to recoup their losses here, and spread the loss out to include everyone, with some sort of law. I don't insure my boat, yet in some areas, this also became a requirement for attending a meeting.

Insurance companies should do risk rating of homes located in flammable forest locations and assign a high rate for properties where the owners haven’t reduced hazards by thinning trees and brush, and reduce rates for those who have reduced their hazards.

 

[ultrarunner]

Sort of. Regurgitated and recycled ... now part of carparts.com ....

https://www.carparts.com/jc-whitney

I haven't scrolled though it to see if they still have that weird stuff vibe.

I bought a chrome VW bumper for $9.98 plus shipping from Whitney plus assorted Model A parts...

 

[ultrarunner]

Insurance companies should do risk rating of homes located in flammable forest locations and assign a high rate for properties where the owners haven’t reduced hazards by thinning trees and brush, and reduce rates for those who have reduced their hazards.

They do... we all pay a high rate and if you aren't on top of it you're cancelled...

Very hard to get insurance now and much harder if cancelled... and the companies know it.

Fire rating based on build is almost non existent...

Spending money on a clay tile roof, now exterior exposed wood, triple pane windows, full inside and out fire sprinklers plus we'll cleared with a fire hydrant in front with 180 psi and a fire station a 1/4 mile away means nothing...

What counts is how close to park and open space!

 

[JasperFrank]

"Insurance companies should do risk rating of homes located in flammable forest locations and assign a high rate for properties where the owners haven’t reduced hazards by thinning trees and brush, and reduce rates for those who have reduced their hazards."

I've done that, but everyone else around me has not. Its a weird situation. I have reminded neighbors to get their forest fire loads down. And they don't care at all.

 

[jyoutz]

They do... we all pay a high rate and if you aren't on top of it you're cancelled...

Very hard to get insurance now and much harder if cancelled... and the companies know it.

Fire rating based on build is almost non existent...

Spending money on a clay tile roof, now exterior exposed wood, triple pane windows, full inside and out fire sprinklers plus we'll cleared with a fire hydrant in front with 180 psi and a fire station a 1/4 mile away means nothing...

What counts is how close to park and open space!

What should count most is the forest density, brush, and other fuels around the structure. That directly relates to how defensible the structure is to wildfire.

 

[jyoutz]

"Insurance companies should do risk rating of homes located in flammable forest locations and assign a high rate for properties where the owners haven’t reduced hazards by thinning trees and brush, and reduce rates for those who have reduced their hazards."

I've done that, but everyone else around me has not. Its a weird situation. I have reminded neighbors to get their forest fire loads down. And they don't care at all.

Your house will be the one that fire teams defend during wildfires.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Shoestring potatoes. Not an order, but they were in every grocery store.

 

[ultrarunner]

What should count most is the forest density, brush, and other fuels around the structure. That directly relates to how defensible the structure is to wildfire.

I think you would find property owners very proactive here and in much of Northern CA as in wine country but even vineyards burned with no dense forest.

Private dozer operators saved many but also came under attack by regulators for blazing trails in sensitive wetlands and on public lands.

It takes a permit with public comment to remove most trees and permit is several hundred dollars… just saying.

When all said and done it was 2k for me to have a single backyard walnut tree taken down…

Embers can travel many miles and high wind with low humidity is akin to a tinderbox situation leaving only structural hardening…

 

[Diggin It]

Used to offer some pretty strange stuff too. Always had one of their catalogs on the top of the toilet tank in the bathroom for 'relaxing reading'.

Sometimes it was fun picking out the interesting stuff from the silly junk. They used to have remote trunk release conversion kits ... a solenoid and a steel cable with a lever that wedged into the lock slot. Sometimes it worked.

Another one was AutoWorld. All sorts of model car kits and accessories. Fantasy stuff for kids into hobbies. I see it's still out there too as a shadow of the former company.

Insurance companies should do risk rating of homes located in flammable forest locations and assign a high rate for properties where the owners haven’t reduced hazards by thinning trees and brush, and reduce rates for those who have reduced their hazards.

They should do that everywhere. I cleared everything taller than the eaves so nothing could fall onto the roof. But most of my neighbors have 50' trees 20' from the house for 'shade'. Storms with 60+ MPH winds are not uncommon here.

Shoestring potatoes. Not an order, but they were in every grocery store.

Maybe different definitions, but I see them in most stores these days.

 

[Hay Dude]

I remember driving to HS with my shotgun sitting in the rack in my back truck window during bird seasons, and it was replaced by a rifle during deer and elk seasons. I have carried a pocket knife since grade school and still do. None of the guns or knives were considered unusual, and frequently we would go to the parking lot during lunch break to compare each other’s guns.

We used to deer hunt before school, school all day, then football practice.
Just tired thinking about those days.
You can’t even bring a water pistol to a school now.

 

[ultrarunner]

We used to deer hunt before school, school all day, then football practice.
Just tired thinking about those days.
You can’t even bring a water pistol to a school now.

You can’t even use your thumb and index finger and say bang…