Things you don't see any more

shugz

Have no idea why but stumbled on this guy's YT channel. If you like old munters in a state of disrepair then he's the man. Seems a nice chap and car daft. I learned in an old Bluebird and my Dad had one too so the various vids on that brought a tear to the eye. There's a few French cars there too.




H

Chalky

shugz said:

Have no idea why but stumbled on this guy's YT channel. If you like old munters in a state of disrepair then he's the man. Seems a nice chap and car daft. I learned in an old Bluebird and my Dad had one too so the various vids on that brought a tear to the eye. There's a few French cars there too.




H

Ah HubNut - a real nostalgia trip for those of us that owned these cars.  One thing that it highlights is how many of those 70s cars had random switches stuck almost anywhere to perform the functions that are pretty much all on stalks or the steering wheel nowadays.

shugz

I'm currently losing hours of my life to HubNut just now

Just fabulous in a kinda eccentric Geography teacher clever good guy type way.

Cheers
Hugh

EricTheWeary

Antimaccassars.

Although they tend to be referenced as something from Victorian times they were common ( along with matching arm covers) throughout my childhood. 

Snags

Antimacassars? Seen every time we visit the in-laws.

jdgm

ICBM said:

Citroën BXs - or most of the other hydraulic-suspension models.

I had a BX less than 20 years ago, and although they were getting rarer then there were still quite a few about. Now you don't seem to see them at all - the long-term prospects were not good for all that hydraulic tubing, which corroded away. Although you could get stainless steel replacements, it was cost-prohibitive to do the whole car.

One of the 2, no 3 worst cars I ever had. A total pile of s**t and a complete money pit. That bloody suspension.......

Cols

jdgm said:

ICBM said:

Citroën BXs - or most of the other hydraulic-suspension models.

I had a BX less than 20 years ago, and although they were getting rarer then there were still quite a few about. Now you don't seem to see them at all - the long-term prospects were not good for all that hydraulic tubing, which corroded away. Although you could get stainless steel replacements, it was cost-prohibitive to do the whole car.

One of the 2, no 3 worst cars I ever had. A total pile of s**t and a complete money pit. That bloody suspension.......

My father had one.  Towards the end of its life the car getting up to the correct ride height was like an elderly arthritic Labrador getting up from the hearth.

Cols

Coca Cola yoyos.  Top Deck.

fandango

ICBM said:

Citroën BXs - or most of the other hydraulic-suspension models.

I had a BX less than 20 years ago, and although they were getting rarer then there were still quite a few about. Now you don't seem to see them at all - the long-term prospects were not good for all that hydraulic tubing, which corroded away. Although you could get stainless steel replacements, it was cost-prohibitive to do the whole car.

You don't even see many Xantias, which was the following model - mine went for scrap nearly ten years ago, although it was the engine management controller which killed it, not the hydraulics.

Still a fair few BXs an Xantias. Way more than all the remaining Morris Itals, Princesses and Ambassadors put together ... www.howmanyleft.com

Chalky

Manual chokes on cars.
Distributor caps - cleaning them out in damp weather and twisting them to advance or retard your ignition depending on which grade of petrol you'd put in it.
Garages served you petrol, and you had a choice of four grades of petrol, 2* 3* 4* and 5*.
Crossply tires.
Bench front seats in cars.
Bubble cars.
3 speed manual gearboxes.
4 speed manual gearboxes where the manufacturer recommended first gear was only needed for hillstarts.
Vehicles with no heaters.
Doing 70 in a Hillman Hunter or a Ford Zephyr and knowing that, especially on crossplys in the wet, you could twiddle the steering and nothing would happen for half a second.
Remembering to save up money over the winter because you knew by March your car would suffer severe rusting.
Pressing the brake pedal, nothing happening, and then pumping it to build hydraulic pressure.
Learning how to drive a car where the clutch cable had failed, how to do clutchless changes, and how to start the car moving using the starter motor.

peteri

TV Adverts against the dangers of mixing crossply and radial tyres - there's a blast from the past!

TV adverts against putting fireworks in your pockets

4 speed gearboxes with a switchable overdrive on top (Triumph mainly I think)

Something I remember from my school in the 70's, there was a kid in every class who had quite a nasty scar from a domestic burn, normally an electric fire - glad that's gone

Children's playgrounds which were more dangerous than some war zones, there'd always be someone with significant facial bruising/cuts from one of the activities offered (remember at primary school a poor kid died on the school climbing frame - then they shut it for a whole afternoon before re-opening it unchanged).

Toy cigarettes and chewing tobacco

JerkMoans

‘Charlie says’ Public health warnings.

JerkMoans

richardhomer said:

guitars4you said:

Fountain Pens and those ink pots + blotting paper - no you can still buy them but can't recall last time I saw one in use

I write all the cards I send and all gift tags on presents with a fountain pen - a Montblanc I bought in Harrod’s nearly 30 years ago.

I’m probably a walking anachronism....

Ditto on almost all points save my Montblanc was a gift from the fair Frau Moans c.20 yrs ago.

crunchman

Has anyone mentioned dodgy Kay guitars where the neck warped after you had it for a few months?

munckee

I had both a citroen bx and a nissan bluebird as two of my first cars when I was younger, my mates thought they were unbelievably old manish but I was the only one who had central locking, electric sunroofs, electric windows in the back etc.  My BX died when I hit a telegraph pole head on after swerving to avoid an old man who tried to turn right as I was coming along a road in normal daytime road consitions.  He claimed I was in his blind spot but decided to quit driving on the spot.

The BX made people feel sick in the back though as it 'floated'.  The nissan was a 1.8 petrol in a car which weighed the same as a battle ship so was not very quick but like driving a lounge.

west

Lolly Gobble Choc Bomb ....