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Old 09-04-2010, 07:34 PM
 
Location: Victoria TX
42,618 posts, read 86,565,652 times
Reputation: 36637

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This is for the old timers, who can remember the plethora of oddments that could be added to cars around the 50s, some useful, some just decorative, and some plain stupid, like the raccoon tail on the antenna.

Okie Strips were fake white walls, that could be mounted on the rim along with a cheaper black wall tire, to give the appearance of an affluent driver who could afford white walls.

There was the ubiquitous steering wheel knob, in the days before power steering, to help get in and out of parallel spaces. Usually depicted a girl in a bathing suit, but my dad's just had a mallard. Some people also had a white fur steering wheel cover..

The exterior sun-visor actually significantly cut down on snow and sleet accumulations on the windshields of parked cars, and shielded the afternoon sun in your eyes, but was murder on the aerodynamics.

My favorite was the transparent plastic bug-guard. It sat up on the hood, and made the car look like it was driving down the road reading a book. It's purpose was to deflect bugs out past and over the windshield. There were a lot more bugs in those days---I wonder what happened to them all. DDT, I guess, pre Rachel Carson.

On one trip, my dad drove all night, and there were so many mayflies they made the road slippery, and there was blizzard-like visibility--- he had to keep getting out and scraping them off the windshield and headlights. At daylight, we got to some Mississippi River town in Iowa, maybe Muscatine, and there were foot-deep shoals of dead bugs under every street light standard. Very impressive. I saw bugs like that for the last time in Maine in 1962. Now you never see it anymore.

Last edited by jtur88; 09-04-2010 at 07:50 PM..
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Old 09-04-2010, 08:15 PM
 
3,189 posts, read 4,961,633 times
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This was later, but remember when Esso gas stations gave away the tiger tails (a Tiger in the tank) that hung out of your trunk lid?
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Old 09-04-2010, 10:13 PM
 
Location: Vermont / NEK
5,794 posts, read 13,883,492 times
Reputation: 7292
Whatever happened to curb feelers? Not that I really care. Well, wait... Maybe my wife's car might be able to use a set.
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