Things Ain't What They Used to Be.

[weepywall]

My dad was a TV repair man for Currys or whatever they were called back then, he had a firms Mini van and it only had a drivers seat any passengers had to sit on the floor !!!

[Open End Numb Legs]

2 minutes ago, Renaissance Williams said:

We were lucky to survive!

MOT?

My Dad used to travel to play football around Wilts and Glos with a team mate who was lucky enough to have a car. It was such a wreck though as both doors had broken latches, they could swing open when moving. They would set off with a piece of string stretched tight across them, attached to the inside of both doors, thus keeping them shut.

[phantom]

50 minutes ago, nebristolred said:

Honestly I'd never heard of party line phones. Had no idea that was a thing.

I thought it was those numbers you'd call from your mates phone and get him in trouble with a massive bill

[phantom]

13 hours ago, Port Said Red said:

Circular dials on phones, which took an age to dial a number, and why, given that, was the emergency number 999 not 111?

Definitely made no sense, especially given it had to also wait for the nine clicks to register the actual number being dialled 

This gave me a flashback of the little lock my parents used to put in one of the holes so I couldn't use the phone 

[Erithacus]

Cars with headlight main beam switches on the floor. 'Deluxe' models that actually had a heater or motorised wipers. Doing the tappets every month, changing the oil every six months (before multigrade) and ripping out the points/condenser if it didn't run well - usually after every rainfall.

[stephenkibby.]

2 minutes ago, Erithacus said:

Cars with headlight main beam switches on the floor. 'Deluxe' models that actually had a heater or motorised wipers. Doing the tappets every month, changing the oil every six months (before multigrade) and ripping out the points/condenser if it didn't run well - usually after every rainfall.

Drove a Bedford flat back with no power stearing , with 2Ton of chippings on board maneuvering from a stop position was hard work!!!

[italian dave]

2 hours ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

Flip out indicators or, sticking your arm out the window for right and moving it in a circle for left.

When I took my test you had to demonstrate those hand signals as part of the test! Mind you, there was no parallel parking, and the theory test comprised one or two verbal questions at the end of the test! 

[italian dave]

25 minutes ago, Erithacus said:

Cars with headlight main beam switches on the floor. 'Deluxe' models that actually had a heater or motorised wipers. Doing the tappets every month, changing the oil every six months (before multigrade) and ripping out the points/condenser if it didn't run well - usually after every rainfall.

Greasing nipples was a thing, I seem to remember. 

[Port Said Red]

1 hour ago, nebristolred said:

Honestly I'd never heard of party line phones. Had no idea that was a thing.

I don't know how prevalent it was, I know there were at least a dozen other houses in our street that had them, I think it was because it made the line rental cheaper. I know we didn't have one at all when I was very young and my older sister used to moan about queuing at the telephone box outside the local Chinese in the cold.  

[Port Said Red]

54 minutes ago, phantom said:

I thought it was those numbers you'd call from your mates phone and get him in trouble with a massive bill

You have just reminded me of dialling a number where you could listen to the latest hit record being played down a tinny telephone receiver speaker!  160 I think it was, every parent's nightmare I am sure, why we couldn't just wait to hear it on the radio I don't know. 

Just found this.......

https://retroscoop.wordpress.com/2014/02/05/dial-a-disc/

Edited December 13, 2022 by Port Said Red

[italian dave]

12 minutes ago, Port Said Red said:

You have just reminded me of dialling a number where you could listen to the latest hit record being played down a tinny telephone receiver speaker!  160 I think it was, every parent's nightmare I am sure, why we couldn't just wait to hear it on the radio I don't know. 

Just found this.......

https://retroscoop.wordpress.com/2014/02/05/dial-a-disc/

Or, you could also go down to Boots and sit in a booth listening to the latest album while you decided whether you wanted to buy it!

[Robbored]

12 hours ago, Red-Robbo said:

Dad's Hillman Super-Imp still had a crank handle for difficult starts on cold mornings. 

Crank handles - I remember We had a family car an Austin 7 in the 60s and dad used a crank handle to start it. 

[exAtyeoMax]

3 hours ago, phantom said:

I thought it was those numbers you'd call from your mates phone and get him in trouble with a massive bill

We used to phone ‘talk about’ later ‘chat line’, my friend was on our phone for hours talking to random people, my mum wasn’t happy when she got the bill!

we did meet up with some strange people from there ?

[Southend Blue]

Were at school for every year of the 1980's, seems strange in retrospect although I often give it some thought.    Never again will there be such a diverse decade for as long as humanity exists.     Music, television, clothing, attitudes and technology for instance between say '81 and '89 were so far apart you can't even put a measure on it.

Had a home computer between those years, had to load a cassette where it'd take 30 - 45 minutes to load one single game.   Sometimes it would crash (usually towards the end of running time) and you'd have to start again.     Frustration wasn't the word, you'd have to have lived through it to understand.

It's different generation now, some of us in mid, late 40's may have trouble comprehending the world today, it's just worlds apart from when you were a kid.    It's when you realise Father Christmas or the Tooth Fairy doesn't exist or isn't real, only then you accept you've outgrown a certain age.      Can still remember half-pennies,  one pound notes, that sort of thing too.      Remember penny racers or something ?     You'd put a coin in the back and watch it run across the carpet ?         The Rediffusion dial / switch : Yes we had one of those too.  

 

 

 

 

[Mike Hunt-Hertz]

17 hours ago, stephenkibby. said:

My first car was a Ford Prefect and had to double de clutch when changing down, forth to third.

Something to do with no Synchro Mesh in the Gear Box.?

My '64 and '68 Triumph Heralds had no synchro on 1st gear, so would get a bit crunchy unless at a standstill. Even the early Spitfires had non-synchro 1st.

If you can't find 'em, grind 'em.

[Mike Hunt-Hertz]

16 hours ago, Ronnie Sinclair said:

My first car (a 1979 Ford Escort) had a manual choke, also had to be wedged to keep it out.  I also had an attachment on the keyring which was some heating device that would defrost the lock in winter (almost like a heated key).

Also car related, I remember my grandad was really into CB radio in the early 80s, he had the bendy aerial on the car, receiver in the glove box and a huge aerial in the garden

I had a Bristol City sunstrip and those little hands that stuck to the side window, with "Follow me to Ashton Gate" (I think!) 

[Mike Hunt-Hertz]

8 hours ago, Erithacus said:

Cars with headlight main beam switches on the floor. 'Deluxe' models that actually had a heater or motorised wipers. Doing the tappets every month, changing the oil every six months (before multigrade) and ripping out the points/condenser if it didn't run well - usually after every rainfall.

Our 1963 Mini 850 had floor mounted main beam, a pudding stirrer gearstick and a starter button between the seats. Whatever happened to WNJ 231?

[Mike Hunt-Hertz]

Just now, Mike Hunt-Hertz said:

Our 1963 Mini 850 had floor mounted main beam, a pudding stirrer gearstick and a starter button between the seats. Whatever happened to WNJ 231?

Also, no seatbelts front or rear, and my brothers, the dog, and me rattling around in the back, whilst our oldman screamed the knackers out of it!

[Offside]

I remember the crowds of people standing outside TV shops on Saturdays at 4.45 watching the football scores. 

[Port Said Red]

2 minutes ago, Offside said:

I remember the crowds of people standing outside TV shops on Saturdays at 4.45 watching the football scores. 

Oh the Teleprinter.

[Robbored]

57 minutes ago, Port Said Red said:

Oh the Teleprinter.

and ceefax! 

[Open End Numb Legs]

9 hours ago, phantom said:

Definitely made no sense, especially given it had to also wait for the nine clicks to register the actual number being dialled 

This gave me a flashback of the little lock my parents used to put in one of the holes so I couldn't use the phone 

About having 111 instead of 999 - the reason 111 wasn't used for emergencies was in early years of dialling it was done by a series of clicks on the line as the dial rotated, not the tones used today from the push buttons. If the line was a bit noisy or the phone connected to the line was a bit iffy that would generate similar clicks, therefore single clicks could become 1-1-1 which would cause a false call to the emergency operator. By using 999 it means only real emergency calls are answered.

[Open End Numb Legs]

Fairfax House - Sausage, chips and peas was a real treat there for lunch before the game. Mum went shopping, we went to AG. Met her outside Brentford Nylons afterwards.

[Port Said Red]

Other things that are difficult to explain or seem unbelievable today.

My mum worked part time for years in Wills Number 4 factory (now the Tobacco Factory and houses), and they would call the shift in by running the old air raid warning sirens! So much for PTSD for those who had lived through the war. 

She would also get paid part of her wages in boxes of 200 cigarettes at discount prices! Can you imagine the uproar if that was allowed today? 

[Northern Red]

52 minutes ago, Port Said Red said:

Other things that are difficult to explain or seem unbelievable today.

My mum worked part time for years in Wills Number 4 factory (now the Tobacco Factory and houses), and they would call the shift in by running the old air raid warning sirens! So much for PTSD for those who had lived through the war. 

She would also get paid part of her wages in boxes of 200 cigarettes at discount prices! Can you imagine the uproar if that was allowed today? 

My grandparents both worked there for a bit and had exactly the same!

[Red-Robbo]

1 hour ago, Robbored said:

and Ceefax! 

 

19 million viewers for its sports score service. Top that, Netflix!!!

[Port Said Red]

10 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

19 million viewers for its sports score service. Top that, Netflix!!!

Remember how the pages would change at their own pace, rather than being able to change it yourself? There was that tension that the score might be different next time the page came up.

[redsince1994]

12 hours ago, nebristolred said:

Honestly I'd never heard of party line phones. Had no idea that was a thing.

A "Party line" was always a number you'd ring to get directions to the rave for me 

Edited December 14, 2022 by redsince1994

[downendcity]

11 hours ago, italian dave said:

Greasing nipples was a thing, I seem to remember. 

Still is.!

[downendcity]

I'm old enough to remember cars that had these instead of flashing light indicators

Think they were called trafficators.