The 70's Were A Magic Decade

[SWAdude]

Some cool cars here.

Although not a 70's car but just thankful @Loyal sold me his first new car that is sitting in my garage as we speak.

Thanks Loyal.

 

[RamFan503]

Who can name what that round thing on the floorboard is ???


View attachment 58939

Depends. On my old 71 Capris they were for quick windshield wiper hits. The brights we're on the stick. Worked out great when we were rally racing the Capris. You could go through mud and water without taking your hands off the wheel.

Fun times!

 

[RamFan503]

My Dad had a Ford Maverick (early 70s) that he bought brand new before we moved to Hawaii. He had it shipped over and and shipped back to the Mainland when we returned in the 80s. He loved that damn car. He made me wash and wax that damn thing once a week from like 3rd grade until I was HS age and he finally sold it. That's where I remember the High/Low beam foot switch. I knew every inch of that thing... I can even remember the smell of it's interior... I had to vacuum it with our old Electrolux canister vacuum that became the garage vacuum at some point. My Pops would inspect my work on the Maverick each time before I was released back into semi freedom.

That car was in unbelievable shape when he sold it. It was like his pet car not his daily drive car... he really didn't drive it much at all when we returned from the 808. He and I joke around about that car to this day. He wishes he would have kept it... I'm glad I will never have to spit shine it or even see it again.

OK... so 2 connections to that car and your story.

My wife's dad's cousin's son (WTF is THAT in relation?) had this thing for ripping off those cars along with his buddies - or so I later found out. I have no idea why.

So when we first moved to Portland, OR, he invited me to go to a strip club with some of his buddies. Well... It was considered a juice bar as they had lost their liquor license for serving underage. So from time to time, we were going out to the parking lot to have a few swigs. At one point, one of the guys comes swinging around the parking lot in a shiny orange Maverick and tells us to hop in. M'okay.

Welp... As we're heading down I-5, he tells us he had just hot wired it in the parking lot.

Nope. Wasn't drunk enough for that. I head locked him from the back seat and told him he could either pass out and crash or let me out on the side of I-5. I wasn't going to jail for this douche.

I walked about 2 miles to a pay phone and had Becky pick me up.

About a week later I simply cold cocked the idiot when he had the audacity to come by joking about it.

The other is way simpler. I grew up with that Electrolux canister vacuum and even took it with me when I went to college. Let me guess. Grey, weener dog looking thing that you flipped open to retrieve the bag. Best damned vacuum I've ever owned to this day.

 

[RamFan503]

I also remember having to watch Speed Racer on a UHF channel IIRC (or was it VHF) and it was all fuzzy and could hardly see it

#metoo

Wait. Not what that hashtag was for?

 

[Loyal]

#metoo

Wait. Not what that hashtag was for?

For harassing Trixie....

 

[RamFan503]

How in the hell did I miss this thread until today? Well... Some catching up to do.

My Rams fandom began with one of those catalogs. In the section where they sold those cheesy football uniforms, they had an action shot of Merlin Olsen (in the classic blue/whites). Saw the horns on the helmet and thought it was the coolest thing ever. That was 1972, and been a Rams fan ever since.

My dad bought me one of those cheesy uniforms when I was 5. I used to "Ram" the helmet against our stucko wall to make it look like our feersome four.

Old bastid!

I wore out two of these I drove it so much, lol.

Only two?

Jeez - it only got hot in LA for one week in August (unless you lived in the valley or riverside)

Valley here. Corner of Corbin and Parthenia in Canoga Park. It got hot there.

I don't know where you lived, but it was VERY hot In Whittier. Multiple days in the 100's, 3rd stage smog alerts....No humidity like in Houston (lived there for a couple of years), but it was hot.

You had to love the smog alerts back in the day. You couldn't go out at all for recess or lunch but at least you could duck and cover under your desk for drills. And they would encourage parents to pick up their kids as there was no busses until they tried to bus kids around to other districts.

How many "Member's Only" jackets did you own?

Three. My favorite was the peach colored one. #imnotgay

I know I am going to be in trouble with the Beiberites but have you actually heard him sing live

I had the grammies in the background and heard this screeching

I said to myself - who the fuck is singing this song and why do people think he can sing

Turns out it was Beiber

Live Beiber and radio Beiber are two completely different voices.

Yeah... One is more awful than the other.

me and a friend started taking bets on the football % horseracing 1n 1977, the year Seattle Slew won the Triple Crown.
train

Train trying to out old everybody.

Only other sticker I remember seeing on cars more often were the Zog's Sex Wax bumper-stickers.

You don't remember Mod Rods?

 

[Selassie I]

OK... so 2 connections to that car and your story.

My wife's dad's cousin's son (WTF is THAT in relation?) had this thing for ripping off those cars along with his buddies - or so I later found out. I have no idea why.

So when we first moved to Portland, OR, he invited me to go to a strip club with some of his buddies. Well... It was considered a juice bar as they had lost their liquor license for serving underage. So from time to time, we were going out to the parking lot to have a few swigs. At one point, one of the guys comes swinging around the parking lot in a shiny orange Maverick and tells us to hop in. M'okay.

Welp... As we're heading down I-5, he tells us he had just hot wired it in the parking lot.

Nope. Wasn't drunk enough for that. I head locked him from the back seat and told him he could either pass out and crash or let me out on the side of I-5. I wasn't going to jail for this douche.

I walked about 2 miles to a pay phone and had Becky pick me up.

About a week later I simply cold cocked the idiot when he had the audacity to come by joking about it.

The other is way simpler. I grew up with that Electrolux canister vacuum and even took it with me when I went to college. Let me guess. Grey, weener dog looking thing that you flipped open to retrieve the bag. Best damned vacuum I've ever owned to this day.

The Maverick. LOL. That's crazy.

My Dad's was white with black interior. I honestly think that he had all the replacement parts for anything under it's hood neatly organized in the garage. He may have had them in doubles. But that thing had a very basic engine. No wonder your wife's dad's cousin's son (I believe that's called your sister in West Virginia but not sure either) could steal them easily. My Pop's mav never had any mechanical problems though... but he was fucking fully prepared for anything.

Now that vacuum... YESSSSSSSSS it was the same one. The damn thing had amazing suction power. One of my girlfriends from way back claimed that she could suck a golf ball through a 100 foot garden hose which closed the deal for me to start seeing her (I'm serious... that is how she hooked me). I was completely mesmerized with finding out the truth. Well... I'm not going to share anymore about her... but I am sure that the old ass Electrolux could have also completed her claim. The rug and floor mats in the Maverick didn't have a single speck of dirt or anything else once that vacuum was unleashed. Those things were seriously amazing. By that I mean the Electrolux and that crazy girlfriend.

 

[Loyal]

One place that was important to me in the late 70's was Tower of Records and Tower of Books in Sacramento. I was born in LA and lived there until 6th grade, but I went to High School in the Sacramento area. I know we have the internet now with Google searches and you can find almost anything online, but the magic is gone. I was a library nerd when younger and could get lost in a library for hours, searching through a card catalogue for anything I could think of....religion, science, witchcraft, aliens, history.; but it was always limited.

Tower of Books on Watt avenue seemed to focus on all that freaky shyte that I loved to find out about. Anarchist Cookbook? Yeah, it was there. Carlos Castenada, Edgar Cayce. Stephen King, Andre Norton? Yep. And the atmosphere was great with the smell of books and neon signs. I also got off finding 45 records that interested me, because it was a combination book and record location. I think it's different holding an actual book or album in your hands....examining the cover art and reading the synopsis on the back of a book or looking for favorite songs. I am sure younger folks who grew up with the internet are getting bored with this nostalgia of mine (sorry). Tower of Books was my favorite bookstore of all time, until I found Powell Books in Portland, OR., but that's a different story.

Check out this video about Tower of Records and Tower of Books.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH-Y3WiwUXQ&t=1697s

 

[IowaRam]

 

[IowaRam]

did anyone ever go bean walking , when they were a kid , or picking rocks ?

 

[Loyal]

did anyone ever go bean walking , when they were a kid , or picking rocks ?

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You had all the fun...

 

[RamFan503]

did anyone ever go bean walking , when they were a kid , or picking rocks ?

View attachment 58965

Is that what the kids called it back then?

 

[Selassie I]

View: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CpasPpXglp6/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

 

[Tano]

View: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CpasPpXglp6/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

I think that was @Loyal who came in 3rd

 

[RamFan503]

View: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CpasPpXglp6/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Jamming your feet into the pedals and pulling on the hand break until all your wheels were flat spotted. Good times.

 

[Loyal]

Jamming your feet into the pedals and pulling on the hand break until all your wheels were flat spotted. Good times.

So funny reading grown assed men talking so fondly about this toy, and I am right there with ya...lol

 

[IowaRam]

Meanwhile , in 1978


View: https://youtu.be/02CPVxekEvo

 

[Loyal]

No one has mentioned The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

I never even saw it because I was too young and it was midnight feature at the mall near where I lived. I did see the slightly older kids, cruising in a loop from the Tower of Records onto Sunrise Blvd and through the Mall parking lot, and back again, which culminated in most stopping to watch the movie It seemed that Rocky Horror played for years at midnight and to a lesser degree Tommy (The Who). I only know what I know about it from the 70's culture

Rocky Horror was an interactive movie .When a character proposed a toast, people in the movie audience threw slices of toast at the screen, for instance. I look back at that time and wonder about that weird shyte! I bet @RamFan503 participated in this!


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_k8xXC-xB4

 

[RamFan503]

I bet @RamFan503 participated in this!

I went to the midnight movies a fair amount. They had them every Friday and Saturday night at the Freemont theater in San Luis Obispo. We'd get stoned to the gills and go watch a really bad movie. It was the only time that talking and being raucous in a theater was not only tolerated but encouraged.

RHPS was the standard. I never did bring toast though. There were several movies that only gained fame through becoming Midnight cult classics. Night of the Living Dead, Eraser Head, El Topo, Kentucky Fried Movie, Warriors, Heavy Metal, Refer Madness, to name a few.

Ah... Fun times.

 

[VegasRam]

@RamFan503

Yes they were.
Saw Easy Rider at the Fremont in 1969.
Actually lived above the Cigar Factory for a year.
Was it still there when you hung out in Slotown?