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I have to believe this is way before everyones time
The wipers on Dad's '64 Thunderbird ran off the power steering pump. We didn't know that until the power steering went bye-bye and we had to drive 175 miles home in a rainstorm! Learned real quick!
It's raining today, and as I was driving it brought back memories in days of yore of the old style windshield wipers that ran off a vacumn from the engine. And sometimes you had to reach out the window and work the wipers by hand.
Anyone remember those days.
We were a Depression Era family and didn't have a car. Then during WWII there was no gasoline or tires for cars. We rode the bus everywhere.
I have to believe this is way before everyones time
I believe electric wipers became widely used around 1960. I know my 56 Chevy had vac wipers. They were almost useless if you installed a cam with some overlap and lost vacuum.
I remember back in the day, 3 little girls, all of us about 9 or 10, could walk into town with a quarter, and not be bothered by some perv on the streets, and that quarter would last us all day, we had to be back by dark but it was about a mile walk from the house. These days you cant even have a 9 yr old play in her front yard without some armed guard to help keep an eye on her.
I remember back in the day, 3 little girls, all of us about 9 or 10, could walk into town with a quarter, and not be bothered by some perv on the streets, and that quarter would last us all day, we had to be back by dark but it was about a mile walk from the house. These days you cant even have a 9 yr old play in her front yard without some armed guard to help keep an eye on her.
At 7 and 9 my sister and I used to walk about 1 1/2 miles to a Saturday morning movie. We each had a quarter. It cost us 9 cents to get into the movie and with the rest of the money we would buy popcorn, candy, a soft drink and gum. Our parents didn't have to worry about us being out on our own. Today this same section of the city we lived in has deteriorated so badly, it is hardly safe to venture there even in broad daylight.
Although we never did, after a boxer won Best In Show in 1951, many families acoss America rushed to bring one of these puppies home. The breeders almost ruined this dog by breeding for narrow hindquarters, which prevented natural birth in many cases.
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And sometimes you had to reach out the window and work the wipers by hand.
And sometimes you just drove with your head hanging out of the window.
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At 7 and 9 my sister and I used to walk about 1 1/2 miles to a Saturday morning movie. We each had a quarter. It cost us 9 cents to get into the movie and with the rest of the money we would buy popcorn, candy, a soft drink and gum.
Our theater charged 10 cents, but it was worth the extra penny to see the live swans in the pool in the lobby.
I also remember many a time walking to school by myself or with one of the neighbour kids. In kindergarten. At the age of 5! My mom would pack my lunch in my favourite red lunch box, steel, with the original steel and glass thermos. Who lets their kids walk to school alone these days, even (and especially!) high school girls!
We can still buy Blackjack, Clove and Teaberry gum at our local grocery stores.
If all you remember are telephone numbers with an alpha prefix you're still young. Our first phone number was 60849. The little girl down the street that was my age and I had a massive crush on had the number 60489.
One year before I was 12 (we moved that year) the family down the street were the first to get the latest fad in clothes for their boys. Lime green, bright yellow, and bright orange shirts and pants. The shirts were patterned with wide stripes of white. Ugly as sin.
I remember the last place in town you could still get a 5 cent coke out of a machine. It was in the hallway inside the door of the original Ruan truck company building. They never minded us all coming in after school to buy one.
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I have to believe this is way before everyones time 
