For old guys only

[model 25]

Can you think of the way guns have changed too Tacticly speaking of course ? I borrowed this from E-mail


Subject: Fender skirts, curb feelers, etc.




What the Heck is a Fender Skirt?

I came across this phrase in a book 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." 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's a phrase I heard all the time in my youth but never
anymore - "store-bought." Of course, just about everything is
store-bought these days. But once it was bragging material to
have a store-bought dress or a store-bought bag of candy.

"Coast to coast" is a phrase that once held all sorts of
excitement and now means almost nothing. Now we take the term
"world wide" for granted. This floors me.

On a smaller scale, "wall-to-wall" was once a magical term in
our homes. In the '50s, everyone covered his or her hardwood
floors with, wow, wall-to-wall carpeting! Today, everyone
replaces their wall-to-wall carpeting with hardwood floors. Go
figure.

When's the last time you heard the quaint phrase "in a family
way?" It's hard to imagine that the word "pregnant" was once
considered a little too graphic, a little too clinical for use
in polite company. So we had all that talk about stork visits
and "being in a family way" or simply "expecting."

Apparently "brassiere" is a word no longer in usage. I said it
the other day and my daughter cracked up. I guess it's just
"bra" now. "Unmentionables" probably wouldn't be understood at
all.

I always loved going to the "picture show," but I considered
"movie" an affectation.

Most of these words go back to the '50s, but here's a pure-'60s
word I came across the other day - "rat fink." Ooh, what a
nasty put-down!

Here's a word I miss - "percolator." That was just a fun word
to say. And what was it replaced with? "Coffee maker." How
dull. Mr. Coffee, I blame you for this.

I miss those made-up marketing words that were meant to sound
so modern and now sound so retro. Words like "DynaFlow" and
"Electrolux." Introducing the 1963 Admiral TV, now with
"SpectraVision!"

Food for thought - Was there a telethon that wiped out
lumbago? Nobody complains of that anymore. Maybe that's what
castor oil cured, because I never hear mothers threatening kids
with castor oil anymore.

Some words aren't gone, but are definitely on the endangered
list. The one that grieves me most- "supper." Now everybody
says "dinner." Save a great word. Invite someone to supper.
Discuss fender skirts.

I thought some of us of a "certain age" would remember most of
these.


25

[Daniel964]

I guess I'm not as old as I thought I was since I only know about 3/4 of those words.

[Average Joe]

Well, I don't have to use flints anymore, so I guess that good.

[Steve499]

I am in my geezerhood too, I guess. Not long ago I got into a discussion with a twenty-something kid about the whole dinner-supper thing. He actually expected me to concede that the term dinner was incorrect when used to refer to the noon meal. "That's lunch" he said. I told him the noon meal had always been called dinner, as in Sunday Dinner, and the evening meal had always been called supper. He wasn't convinced until I reminded him that Michealangelo did not name his famous painting THE LAST DINNER! He may still not have been convinced but he gave up, anyway.

As far as guns changing, it seems like everything today has to have the obligatory assault weapon look. Black everywhere. Lots of stuff hanging all over the place. Don't get me wrong, I like them all, but I can fall in LOVE with an honest to goodness rifle, like a Savage 99 or, how about a Mannlicher-Schoenauer? I fantasize about drillings. I must need counseling, isn't that how it's done now? Used to, you just got to reap what you had sown. Ah, progress.

Steve

[TimRB]

Leonardo

Tim

[Capt Charlie]

Pushin' 60 here, and I think there's a big difference, especially in American made firearms. At 16, I worked in the sporting goods section of our Montgomery Ward. Back then I could quote you the stats (and price) on darned near everything out there. Today I'm more interested in shooting them than I am memorizing their weight, length, muzzle velocity, etc. Hell, today I'm lucky I can remember my name . Anyhow, It seems to me that today's guns don't have the fine, finishing touches that the older guns did. I remember Ward's getting a Weatherby Mk V in stock, and opening and closing the bolt was like opening and closing the door on a Rolls Royce. Absolute precision! The finishes were richer and smoother, stocks were better fitted, and the tooling and checkering were better. I think gun makers then took more pride in their craft than they do today. Today's guns may be engineered better, but most of 'em lack that craftsman's touch .

[hivel37]

Where can you find coal oil to soak a stubbed toe in anymore?
Oh yeah, kids don't go barefooted these days.

The tactical look loses me, too. If it ain't wood (well, maybe laminate) it wont be found in my safe.

[stratus]

Originally Posted by model 25

Subject: Fender skirts, curb feelers, etc.

Skirt? Feeler? Hmm... I'm gonna go see what my girlfriend's up to.

[Geoff Timm]

Stratus commented, "
Quote:
Originally Posted by model 25
Subject: Fender skirts, curb feelers, etc.
Skirt? Feeler? Hmm... I'm gonna go see what my girlfriend's up to."

Don't forget about the necker's knob.

Geoff
Who also remembers Landau tops.

[johnbt]

Me, me.

Suicide knobs, fender skirts, curb feelers and... what were those static discharging straps called that hung down under the car?

I remember my grandparents' kerosene table lamp. I just did a quick search on coal oil remedies and came up with this...read the last paragraph.
_______________

Coal oil
was useful all-purpose home remedy
by Delbert Trew

Recently, while browsing through a stack of books at a garage sale, I found a modern day medical encyclopedia. Priced at $1, the book was a bargain, so I took it home to read.

I was amazed at the number of diseases and maladies listed I had never heard of before.

I was equally amazed at the remedies and cures offered and thought how useful the information would have been during my childhood. Everyone was poor, had little money for medicines or doctors and used home remedies on all but serious illnesses.

For headache, lie down with a cold washrag on your forehead. For binding intestinal problems, mineral oil or castor oil usually provided relief. For internal problems of the opposite nature, take a few spoons full of flour paste.

For croup, coughs, or pneumonia you were treated with Vicks, Mentholatum or camphor. If the problems persisted, add a dash of coal oil to the cough syrup and another dash to the hot cloth being applied to your chest or throat. All surface wounds of any type were soaked in coal oil daily to prevent infection.

My big toe, wounded over 50 years ago by a wayward post hole digger, rested in coal oil each day for weeks. Today, when I trim the toenail, I can still smell a hint of coal oil in the air.

Aunt Ida, who as a little girl in Oklahoma Territory, jumped off the porch onto a rusty nail in a piece of firewood and nearly lost a foot in the process. The doctor finally gave up and told her to go home and soak the wound in coal oil twice a day and pray for healing. The remedy worked.

As I suspected, a detailed search of the book did not show coal oil as a recommended remedy for any malady. I now believe use of the concoction was for purely psychological reasons. The taste and smell was so terrible no one complained again after being dosed.

The story is told of a Dust Bowl-era employee with a drinking problem. When he caught the whooping cough, Grandma Trew cured his cough and his drinking problem with a combination of whiskey, lemon and coal oil, warmed slightly. Again, psychology and the horrible taste might have had significant influence on the cure.

I recall one time after Grandma Trew treated me with a generous dose of coal oil and castor oil, Grandpa Trew mischievously whispered a warning not to pass gas while standing against a hot wood stove.


© Delbert Trew

[model 25]

In guns today the buzzwords are CNC machined and MEM parts because the handfit gun is long gone. I have some old Smith&Wessons and you can hardly tell where two sufaces meet because the fit is so good. Wood was common and very good wood it is. Blueing was deep ,dark and rich. Guns were made by craftsmen for a people that desired good quality for their money.

Today most guns are machined to close enough tolerances that they can throw them together with fewer people than before. You get charged just as much but the gun is just a lump of steel and plastic sold only for the utillity of it.

Oh but you say they are engineered better and have better finishes that resist weather. Well alot of truth in this but after ten years you have a gun that cost six hundred and is worth $300 because there isn't any value in the quality of the product, just the utillity.

25

[rellik74]

dont forget soda pop

Lake pipes

And as far as new gun's the wood finish'sare not as clear as they used to be

[model 25]

Spent alot of time on those "tuck and Roll" seats

25

[Oldphart]

I'm 71 and I still remember my maternal grandma who grew up in the cowtowns of Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas and, judging by her language, probably on the wrong side of the tracks too. During the war (WWII) all those who could went off to war and the rest worked in the shipyards. Grandma got saddled with watching 7 or 8 grandkids every day after school. On rainy days we'd sit around her rocking chair while she told stories about her life as a young girl.
Occasionally her story would wander off onto a tangent and she's start telling us her views on everything from the war ("oughta kill ALL them damned NAZIS!) to her old '28 Nash that she still drove to and from the store ("it ain't got enough power to pull a sick whore off her ****-pot but it gets me there and back.") When asked about Kansas she described it as "flatter'n a platter of ****." There were lots more of her salty sayings but I guess I'm getting too old to remember them.
When the weather dried out so she could send us all ouside, she showed us a spot we could dig all we wanted to. We kids loved to dig holes ("foxholes") and build forts and she'd stop by from time to time and suggest ways to make our foxhole better. In time we found out that what we had really been digging was a new pit for her outhouse!
Occasionally she'd have fried chicken for our dinner. She'd walk out in the back-yard with a handful of chicken feed and sprinkle it around her feet. Then when the chickens clustered around to eat she's grab one and wring its neck. When the headless chicken stopped flopping around, she'd pick it, singeing the pin-feathers off, then clean it and cut it up and fry it. Total time from back-yard to dinner table: About an hour.
She's been gone now for 54 years. Funny, I still miss her.

[USP45usp]

*not an old person but I had to comment*

Oldphart,

I loved your post, reminds me of the stories of my Great Grandmother that the family tells.

We have a picture of my Great Grandmother that is on my Mom's wall. She's all dressed up in her working best, has the hat on, looking at the camera like "what the heck did pa bring home now" (My Great Grandfather was into camera's when they first came out, and used his job's camera to take the picture ).

The thing is, if you really look at the picture, she had a pistol sticking out of her aporan(sp) pocket. I guess that I come from an entire genetic stock of gun nuts .

Wayne

[r.w. schrack]

Fender skirt: Was a cover that went oover the opening of the rear fender to make it look like it was one piece usaly the same paint as body color. Curb Feeler: Attached to right side of car on fender well with a clamp, was a 12" spring with a ball on end it made a funky sound when it hit a curb. Gear Shift Knob: Still used today on Aircraft such as a C-5, and other large jets with steering wheel. it attachs to the steering wheel and allowed operator to use one hand in turning, the down side was with cars withour power steerin when coming out of turn would kill your hand if you got in the way of spinning steering wheel thus coining the term of Suicide knobs, alot of state deemed them illegal. You forgot about coon and squreill tails on the antenea's. Another forgotten item was the Head light dimmer switch on the floor in upper left corner. Reggie

[49hudson]

A few other car features of the pre-fiftys:
Choke
Retarder
Starter button, sometimes on the floor, some were on the dashboard.
mechanical brakes. Air vent-usually located below the center of the windshield;there was a lever under the dash, push it forward and
vent opened. pull lever back and vent closed. This was the air conditioner of the day.

[Pointer]

We put a dishpan (remember those?) with block of ice in it...
on the floor under the vent... that was our air-conditioner and it worked really too well...

Remember "DumDum" .38's?

Chrome-plated revolvers?

.22 Shorts?

Brass shotgun shells?

Damascus barrels?

and

of course the Flexi-flyer?

[Hal]

Obscured origin/out of date terms:

Frizzen
Lock stock and barrel
"whole nine yards"

(tryin' real hard here guys to keep this forum friendly )

Occasionally her story would wander off onto a tangent and she's start telling us her views on everything from the war ("oughta kill ALL them damned NAZIS!)

LOL! - 1960 Pres. election my paternal ( veeeerrrryyyy Mo. Synod Lutheran) grandma speaking of a Roman Catholic JFK ( 'oughta kill ALL them damned MICKS!)

[Buzzard]

49hudson ya forgot the hand throttle , I used to have one on a 49 ford pick up I had , loved it.
and what about "granny gear"...used to put the ford in granny gear, pull the throttle out just a little and you could ride along and look for deer tracks on the back roads, get out look at one them get in again and never had to stop the truck...man I miss them days

[jcims]

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?

Vindication!!! My 8y.o. baby girl was standing on the running boards of our truck in the church parking lot, talking to me. She's quite adventurous, so i took her for a SLOW little spin around the lot.

She LOVED it...whooping and grinning the whole way. When i got back, i got lectured by about 8 different people about how they couldn't believe i did that and how dangerous it was.

w00!

[mtn. man]

No contest on gun quality my old mdl31 Rem. is still my favorite shotgun.
The new'er ones feel like the action was cut out with a blowtorch next to the 31.
A good gun not only fills your needs' with decent care' it may just do the same for your gr. grandkids.
I cant help but wonder just how many guns made this year will be around 50 or 60 years from now and still functional.

[Marky]

I couldnt imagine some of the commercials playing now back in the 50's & early 60's,, birth control i.e. condoms and patches and the like. I just couldnt imagine the ol'e family sitting in the ''parlor'' or T.V. room watching ''Father knows best'' and a commercial comes on about say, for instance femmie products, the sprays and stuff ( thats as graphic as i'll get for now), i can just see the mommy rushing to cover-up little Junior's ears! I have always thought about that. see ya

[BlueTrain]

Oh, my. This brings back lots of things, among them iceboxes, before we got the electric one. The first one used real ice and we kept it on the back porch (remember back porches--and swings on the front porch).

I don't think guns were so common then, at least not around where I lived, though most people had one. Nobody had lots. There were some collectors, all doctors, I think, who had some nice old guns, which at that time meant flintlocks. The times were such that they were often displayed in store windows when the merchants had "old fashioned bargain days."

The policemen all looked like Barney Fife and wore white shirts. No combat boots and black fatigues back then. Revolvers in swivel holsters (you might have to look that up). The police station, which shared the same building with the fire station, had roll up garage doors in front so you could see the gun cabinet from the street. They actually had at least one sub-machine gun.

Fathers who went overseas in the war had souveniers, sometimes. A neighbor had a Jap bolt action that he allow the kids to play with. The old S&W and Colt pistols may have been finely fitted but I never saw one in a store, anywhere. Rifles and shotguns, yes, but never until the late '60's did I see one. Of course, I may have just overlooked them. That's one reason you will have a hard time finding most older S&W's and Colts. There weren't as many as you think.

No one would have ever thought of going overseas for a vacation. Florida or Myrtle Beach, maybe, but a camping trip was more like it. Swimming in the river.

Felt hats. A man wouldn't go outside without a hat. My father wore his suit all day Sunday. The rest of the week he drove a truck. He didn't own a gun until he moved to the country when he bought a .22 H&R 9-shot, I believe it was. Since before the war he never owned a rifle or shotgun, yet in the only outdoor photo of him from before the war, he is holding a .22 rifle.

Our 1950 Chevrolet Deluxe (which was the plain model), had fender skirts at the back but no curb feelers and definately no knob on the steering wheel. Also no radio or air conditioning. It was black. We later had a 1957 Chevy wagon. I had a 1965 Land-Rover that had a hand-throttle.

I had an uncle who only acquired his first firearm after moving to the country, a bolt action shotgun.

[mete]

Capt Charlie, when I was a kid it was Monkey Ward and Sears Rowboat !! And my grandfather called it Rolls Joyce ! We were thrilled to get a ride in the 'rumble seat' of the car owned by Grandpa's friend. And a 100 mile ride in the '38 Ford often meant changing a tire ! We had a life , we didn't need computer games or cell phones . Communication was two tin cans connected by a string !