Things you could order over 50 years ago that you can't order now !

[JasperFrank]

My grandfather was able to buy a decommissioned Sherman Tank with out the terrent as mil surplus. Some how he put a plow on it. So it was a cheap caterpillar tractor. I remember that this thing was so smoky, you had to know the wind direction or you would get asphyxiated.

 

[hosspuller]

Ammonium Nitrate in 50 pound bags.

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

A little more than 50-years ago, but you used to be able to buy, dynamite, caps and. Fuses, at the local lumberyard/farm and ranch supply.

 

[stuckmotor]

A little more than 50-years ago, but you used to be able to buy, dynamite, caps and. Fuses, at the local lumberyard/farm and ranch supply.

There was a hardware salesman in my mother's family. The story I heard was that the former kids play house in his yard was at one time used as a dynamite storeroom.

 

[lman]

A little more than 50-years ago, but you used to be able to buy, dynamite, caps and. Fuses, at the local lumberyard/farm and ranch supply.

My dad used to buy dynamite to blow stumps. They didn't always go the right way but nobody ever got hurt.

 

[ultrarunner]

I believe the part about being $50...but take that out of the equation and a lot of this story is a big myth...
There were lots of surplus jeeps sold after the war and individual vehicles rarely made it to US surplus auctions...most were sold to businesses or individuals that could buy stacked railroad cars or multiple railroad cars of the jeeps...it was those entities that then sold them individually at surplus auctions (not sanctioned my the US military and not for $50...)...

A friend had two surplus from the 1940's and both military that were offered and bought by a municipality.

His father bought them circa 1960 for the ranch... one had extra spring packs and originally set up as a hot shot fire fighting vehicle with small water tank, pump and hose...

Another friend is s collector and has all three "Jeeps" in mint authentic livery as they say... Bantam BRC, Ford and Willis...

I think.the Ford is most capable but Bantam invented the Jeep and the only manufacturer to deliver a prototype to the military on time for evaluation...

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

my granddad had half track. The bought it figuring it would handle the obsidian flats that cut the sidewalls out of the tires on the trucks. My memories of it, consist of it throwing the tracks a lot.

 

[ultrarunner]

Incandescent light bulbs in a plethora of sizes and cheap...

 

[dodge man]

I had a Heathkit when I was about 10 years old. It basically had a bunch of transistors, resistors and such mounted on a board. They were wired to a set of springs on each side. You could then take a bunch of wires and make different things. There were directions to make a intercom, radio, Morse code etc. Then take the wires loose and build something else. The pic isn’t the exact one I had but similar concept.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I'll never forget my old Erector set...do they still make these?