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

[grsthegreat]

maybe my old $3500 f250 would only make it 100k miles then die....but i could buy 20 of them for the price of stupid truck nowadays........

 

[Jstpssng]

maybe my old $3500 f250 would only make it 100k miles then die....but i could buy 20 of them for the price of stupid truck nowadays........

How much money did you make then, and how much would it cost to get it too 100,000? 100K miles then was like 300K miles now.
You can buy a comparable truck today for a bit under $40K. It will ride better, haul and tow more, get better mileage, and the tires will last twice as long.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Bought a 1970 Chevy Nova brand new; I still remember writing the largest check I had ever written: $2330.00. It was a six cylinder, dark green, 2 door, three on the tree, radio but no AC.

 

[5030]

This is the car I road around in as a teen… it was owned by my uncles friend and Shelby GT350 number 1

And it was a daily driver for many years…

1966 SHELBY GT350 PROTOTYPE #001 - Barrett-Jackson Auction Company - World's Greatest Collector Car Auctions

Sold* at Scottsdale 2018 - Lot #1406 1966 SHELBY GT350 PROTOTYPE #001

www.barrett-jackson.com

350's were small blocks. 500 KR's were big block with dual quads. Of course the ideal one would be a Shelby Cobra Roadster, 2 seater with the bi block and side pipes.

In '67, my dad bought a 66 Vette, 427, 390 horse convertible and I instantly became the most sought after young lad in the neighborhood. All the gals wanted to go for a spin in it. Nice ride, wish I had it today. If I recollect, he paid around 4 grand for it back then.

 

[JethroB]

I am not sure if you could order it, but you could buy paregoric over the counter, my mother used it on my little brother to stop teething fussiness. If you don't know, it is opium and alcohol.

I used to buy blueing solutions in the 1980's that have been removed from the market. I haven't seen trichloraltrifloralethane sold as a degreaser in years.

My dad was a pharmacist. We sold bottles of paregoric to any adult that asked for it, but they had to sign a little ledger book. Great stuff for belly aches and the ‘trots’.

 

[5030]

Bought a 1970 Chevy Nova brand new; I still remember writing the largest check I had ever written: $2330.00. It was a six cylinder, dark green, 2 door, three on the tree, radio but no AC.

Ac was optional anyway. You had '55 air'. Flip the vent window around and all was good....

 

[JethroB]

They sold everything in their heyday. I have a JC Higgins .22 by Sears, as well as a Hercules 16 gauge shotgun by Montgomery Ward.
Both were my father's.

Sears had a separate catalog for Jeep accessories and parts as late as the late ‘70s. Bearings and seals to canvas tops to entire new bodies. WWII vintage and forward.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

And in the late sixties or early seventies I was earning 7-8% on that passbook account.

The real change was the job. Around here, every kid had a summer job picking crops in the field or irrigating. You could go picking unaccompanied at 12, and get a job irrigating as soon as you were big enough to move pipe. I had my first hourly job at 12, planting skips in strawberry rows, numbering rows with lath stakes, etc.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

My dad was a pharmacist. We sold bottles of paregoric to any adult that asked for it, but they had to sign a little ledger book. Great stuff for belly aches and the ‘trots’.

Paregoric is still legal in Canada, I think.

 

[JethroB]

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...)...

My dad bought a surplus Jeep from the army when he was discharged in December 1945. It was his daily driver until the mid 60’s. I have a few vague memories of it. Approximately 640,000 jeeps were made during WWII by Willys (2/3) and Ford (1/3). Most went overseas and never came back to the US.