How many of you remember when...

driving a stick wasn't a novelty?
When you had to turn on your headlights?
When turning on/off the brights required stepping on a button with your left foot and had to roll down your window with a crank?
Was looking at a Jeep today and my daughter asked if it was "one of the old ones where you have to learn to drive a different way."
What have we done?

I remember it well....

Some plowed mules.

Yep, I'm that old.

Dad knew how to turn an engine over with a crank, and had a couple of antique cars with a crank hole right underneath the radiator to prove it. I never got the knack. Somethin' about "do it wrong and it'll break your arm" might have had something to do with it.

And tractors without an AC cab.

I'm 29 and my first pick up had all of the above. It wasn't that long ago.

To be fair, I dated a girl from Peru in 2003 that complained about having "to learn" to drive an automatic.

Did I ever tell you about my first John Deer tractor and the Memphis girl in a mini skirt wearing bekini panties?

I remember having to adjust the antennas (rabbit ears) on the TV, and they had foil on them.
And then you had to get up and turn the knob on the TV to try the one other channel, and then turn the outer knob to tune it better.

Don’t forget the push button presets on the radio.

Who remembers the starter button on the floor board?

Remember it all well. My friend had his nephew in his 65 chev and he was looking for the electric switch to roll the window down.

Had one

Remember my daddy starting the old Poppin Johnny with the flywheel.

Sadly , I remember using all of those things. Except maybe the flywheel.

Dangit, I must be getting old.

I do....
My first car...1947 Dodge...…
My, how I wish, I still had it.....

I remember all that stuff.

That came after the many trips to Eckerds with dad to test tubes and select the right replacement from the drawers and box underneath.

I have a '69 Bug that I still have to do all that in....

My daughter wanted a car with a stick so that she would learn how to dive one. It turned out to be a blessing because she's the only one that drove her car none of her friends could drive a stick.

Both vehicles we own are stick shift. One has daytime running lights but neither have lights that automatically come on when it’s dark.

Three on the tree.

My truck is a 2017 and it is a stick and does not have automatic headlights. Toyota is still a bit different

Three on the tree led to a lot of dropped transmissions hitting the ground looking for reverse

yep, remember them well ...

Good old days, I remember them well.

Yep, I'm that old.

Cursive and stick shifts would scramble the brain of a snowflake

I’d LOVE to have my dimmer on the floor back. Ol Sierra, the one I gave away.

And regular math! WTH is up with the math they teach these days????

Vacuum windshield wipers.

I could start one today. First you have to turn the fuel selector to gas, next you have to open the peacocks, then pull the choke up and give it a crank.

My wife bought a 2017 Jeep Wrangler, just the very basic model. It has crank up windows, no power mirrors, no power door locks or key fob and you have to manually turn the lights on and off.
Sure does make taking the top and doors off. The only thing wiring to disconnect is the rear windshield washer and wiper.

My '54 Chevy has vacuum wipers.

Remember them all!!! I'm that old!

Me too. Also there was a crank on the dash board that rolled the windshield up and out. Talk about a road hunting machine...

Still have a 1939 Allis Chalmers WC that has a crank to start. Uh and no cab.

Yep, I learned how to drive in an International pick up w/ 3 on tree. I drove manual transmission vehicles for many years and had to teach my wife to drive a stick when we first got married so we could switch out vehicles on occasion. Not sure she still knows how - will have to ask. For sure my kids can't.

The thing I miss most with newer vehicles is the lack of a wing window. It was great to be able to direct the breeze while tooling down the road.

You made that up!

Nope. Neighbor had an old chevy , think 49 that had um. They never worked.

I've never heard of that. Maybe I'm not as close to approaching geezerhood as I thought I was.

Ours was at Safeway grocery store.

Nuts. Bad old days to me.

Gas cap/tank behind the license plate, 4/40 A/C = 40 mph with 4 windows down, gas $ 0.23.9 a gallon.
Filler up with regular or Ethyl (premium) and the joke; raped in the gas station by who pumped Ethyl

Ours was at the 7-Eleven - which by the way meant that they opened at 7 a.m. and closed at 11 p.m.

They were on all but high end models until late 50's early 60's, accelerate or go up hill they would just about stop, go down hill or coast they would speed up so you thought they would break off.

Good ones seem to run forever.
Here's ours......





built in 1968

Had them on the ‘55 Chevy. I swapped them out for the upgrade electric. Got a junkyard motor. Easy swap, good fix.

The older Internationals were called Farmalls.

Guess I am old s well, remember them all.

First dozer I ran, had a pony motor to start it, and a clutch to change gears.
Some of y'all are really old!

Learned to drive and back a boat up in a 1969 El Camino with a 307 cu in v-8 making a whopping 175 hp and 3 on the tree.

Then the newer version is called case....

The garden tractor for years was a 1952 I think Farmall Super A, only way I ever remember it cranked was with the hand crank. We 2 of them for a while, one with a belly mower became the lawn mower. The one we had the longest had a cracked block which they were known for, Run a couple hours and add water and repeat.

yessir.
It's a Farmall 856.

thats called a mail jeep

i tell ya, we have a die off there wont be anyone left on here

How many of you remember that all the upscale houses had one of these in the 70s? How many of you know what it is?

It's a whole house intercom with am / fm radio.

Very popular back then.

"Jimmy, dinner is ready, c'mon down."
"I'm on my way, Mom."
"Leave that Zeppelin song on until I get down there."

Pretty much, but it sure is light and maneuvers good in the woods. It is her "TOY" and makes a good spare vehicle.

Yep. Good Times..

Don’t forget propane conversions,

Crazy how things have change in just last 40 years, even more so just the last 5.

Combines arent just combines anymore, they are command centers remote controlling other tractors hauling grain carts. Your cell phone controls every pivot sprinkler with real time data and historical usage, overlayed with weather data

I know I’m telling Noah about the flood especially since you know communications so well, and it has had even more changes. Crazy stuff but always interesting

Why did they move brights off the floor, still think that’s best place for them

Spent a lot of time taking those out of the wall in my house built on 1944.

Had one just like it, plus a 560 on propane, MM ZA, and a Ford 801

Yeah, the fad didn't last long and then they became a symbol of an out-dated house. My parents just hollered for each other, and us.

Hand Signals, auto did not have turn signals.

Tail gates with chains that would rattle driving across the mesquite lands of New Mexico. One stop light with the built in license plate, cop cars with the "bubble gum" machine on it, roof mounted spotlight for rabbit hunting at night.....

Black & White TV with antenna and one on the roof.

Mmmmm, no. How about this one?

Anyone remember driving a stick that was on the steering column rather than the floor?

When I was a kid, the cheapest family car had a stick. And if you wanted to learn to drive, that was always the one you had to start with.

Yes sir. The first and only car (went to trucks and never looked back) I have ever owned was a '67 Dodge Dart with three on the tree.

I suspect that today, only one kid in a million could identify the meaning of "three on the tree".

Do kids even know where:

"Roll up that window"
"hang up that phone"

Came from?

Probably about 21,557...

My '54 had a three speed Powerglide on the column before I swapped it for a TH350

Old Aggie joke, letter to the car manufactures after moving the dimmer switch off the floor board to the steering column that Aggies were involved in more fatal car crashes with their feet caught in the steering wheel while trying to dim the lightst

I bet you're right.

Yours is older, mine is better! A.J for the win

My first ride was a 56 chevy pick up that had one.
It was a real fun deal when I had to stop on an uphill at a red light.
Try to take off, bog it down and kill the engine.
let's see if I can remember the steps....
Pull out the hand brake with left hand, right hand on the steering wheel.
Clutch down with left foot and make make sure i had it in low gear.
Heel of right foot on the gas pedal toe of right foot on the floor starter.
push the starter and pat the foot feet aka gas pedal. Get it running.
rev it up to a pretty good RPM, start letting out the clutch while simultaneously easing off the hand brake with left hand and giving it more gas all at the same time.

Oh, and mine had the vacuum operated wipers too! In a good hard rain, they were intermittent wipers all the way back then!! If you were out on the highway going good, you had to let off the gas pedal to make the wipers go fast. Wait for a cycle of the wipers then back on the gas till you couldn't see and let off the gas again.
Once i got used to all that it didn't seem like any problem. Sure wish I still had that old truck.

The old 3 on the tree was also problematic about locking up between gears. You had to coast to the side and stop, raise the hood, get a tire tool or something else to pry around with, and wedge it between the linkages to free it up.

Somebody mentioned the propane conversions. That was mostly on trucks. But I knew a guy that had it in a car. The propane tank was in the trunk.

He went out one blizzard cold morning to warm it up. He didn't smell propane. He turned the key and boom. He was lucky it didn't kill him. It didn't even continue to burn. It was a flash blast that actually blew a tail light off the car. I think he had about the equivalent of a sunburn from it. The car didn't fare so well.

Remember it?..I still own a 1969 Z/28 all original Camaro....everything is manual..including the steering.

I'm 76 and remember all of that stuff including a lot more.

Here's some of the types of stuff that "used to be".

I still remove my hat or cap when I come indoors. They weren't decorations.
Rolled our own cigarettes. Cheaper than ready mades.
I still have a 1949 Ford 8N that I need to work on and get going again.
About 50 years ago my BIL and I were trying to start a neighbors old D8 dozer with a hand crank. He was on the seat and I was up front on the crank. I got frustrated and put all my power into it pushing down on the crank instead of pulling up. It backfired and shattered my right wrist. Lesson learned.
Prior to getting electricity we had butane space heaters, a windmill and oil lamps. Lyndon Johnson was responsible for enacting the Rural Electric Association that brought light bulbs to rural areas.
No matter how cold it was, stock had to be fed and eggs gathered. Butchered our own beef and hogs.
Gleaner Baldwin combine was pulled by a Farmall tractor.
Polio
Learning to speed shift without tearing out a transmission or blowing a clutch.
At 14 YOA, 3 of us hopped a box car in Clovis to go to Lubbock for some dang reason. It didn't stop until Abilene. Thumbed our way back to Muleshoe and then caught a ride home.
Nearest Doctor was in Clovis.
Marijuana smokers were called drug fiends. They were mostly musicians. Truckers took bennies to stay awake.
Local girl got pregnant and named a local cowboy as the father. He denied it. Judge told him he had to marry her. He refused and spent 3 years in Huntsville. She later admitted that he didn't do it.

Buying gas based on odd or even days (70's)! Turned some of us into criminals by using swapped out plates! Riding my bike to the store at 13/14 to buy my uncles cigarettes, no questions asked. Picking up soda bottles as a kid and selling them to buy fishing minnows!

My ‘68 Bronco still has 3 on the tree. I have a C4 auto in the garage for a swap.

Speaking of wing vent glass, reminded me my 52 Chevy had a cable operated ducted fresh air system with the inlet above the headlight.

If you a couple of bucks you add water cooled air.

^^^^ My folks had one if those coolers on their '53 Pontiac when I was a kid. Only used it when we went to California to visit my sister.