Wednesday, January 21, 2009

WHAT GOES TOGETHER BETTER THAN CARS AND OLDIES? (answer: nuthin'!)

My friends sent me an email recently, maybe you've seen it, if you are of a certain (i.e. old fogey-ish baby boomer) age and your firends send you stuff like this, too. Anyway, I thought it was kind of cute so I'm posting it here. Besides, it gives me an excuse to play some summer put-the-top-down music by the Beach Boys. Never a bad idea!


I came across this phrase yesterday 'FENDER SKIRTS'.



A term I haven't heard in a long time and thinking about 'fender skirts' started me thinking about other words that quietly disappear from our language with hardly a notice like 'curb feelers'


And 'steering knobs.' (AKA) suicide knob


Since I'd been thinking of cars, my mind naturally went that direction first
Any kids will probably have to find some elderly person over 50 to explain some of these terms to you.

Remember 'Continental kits?'
They were rear bumper extenders and spare tire covers that were supposed to make any car as cool as a Lincoln Continental.


When did we quit calling them 'emergency brakes?'
At some point 'parking brake' became the proper term. But I miss the hint of drama that went with 'emergency brake.'

I'm sad, too, that almost all the old folks are gone who would call the accelerator the 'foot feed.'

Didn't you ever wait at the street for your daddy to come home, so you could ride the 'running board' up to the house?





Here they are, the Beach Boys, singing "I Get Around" Promise me you'll turn you speakers WAY up, okay? You get extra points if you open the windows, too, even if it's freezing cold!





All photos except for the bottom one came with the email, so I don't know who to credit. The running board car is used with permission of Wendimages.
Video by YT member whitegp2008

6 comments:

AphotoAday said...

Oh god do I ever feel old...
Yeah, when DID they stop calling them emergency brakes -- I really had never noticed that... Actually they don't work well at all in an emergency, so maybe that's why they stopped calling them that...

And curb feelers... Those should have never gone out of style... I keep grinding the front wheel of my Prius into the curb, so I really DO need those -- I bet they are still making them, but I could be wrong...

I remember that our family car, a yellow 1947 Pontiac (we had it until we bought a new 61 Chevrolet Bel Aire for $2600) had very narrow tapered running boards, but I'm sure my dad would have never let me stand on them while he drove...

Thanks for the trip down memory lane... I've got to go find my Geritol...

Deborah Godin said...

We had a '47 DeSoto. It was the first car I ever "drove" , i.e. sat on my mom's lap behind the wheel, on a completely deserted country road, steering while she let the car inch forward, (keeping one foot over the brakes, I'm sure). I steered for about 2 feet and gave up; that car was like a tank. And it was "gun-metal gray" not a cool yellow like you describe. Don't you wish you had that car now!

Anonymous said...

I noticed you on Kat's blog. I lost you. I had 2 blogs get eaten by Google. I just came back. I'm so happy to find you again.

Anonymous said...

You should definitely check out my band PAPA DOO RUN RUN. We also got our name from Jan & Dean's "New Girl In School". We were J&D's touring band in the 1970's. Still going today (without J&D). Check out www.papadoo.com.

Deborah Godin said...

@ Donnie Z
Thanks for stopping by! Back when I was first checking out book titles, I came across your band, but I somehow didn't loop back to you once I started up this blog - I just added you to the links in the margin. You have a really cool site, and you sound terrific!! Any plans to come to the Detroit/Windsor area?

Avid Reader said...

I like the yellow car.