You have to read the whole post. It's part of the deal. Remember, this is the post that never ends. It just goes on, and on, my friend. :D

Yep, we went to the drugstore and checked all those tubes. Try going in a drugstore today and asking where you can check your vacuum tubes for the TV! :roflmao:

Plastic models of cars and ships and planes!

http://showcase.netins.net/web/mopar...asticmodel.jpg

Now you all haven't lived until you get high smelling the purple ink they used to use on those drums for the mimeograph machine. Those were the days.

And I'm holding the AMC Gremlin in reserve.

Clackers. What fun that must have been for the adults that handed them to unsuspecting kids and said "Here, go play with these!"

clackaclackaclacka-thud-OW!-crunch-OOF! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAA...

Lucas Electrics

I keep telling my students about magic smoke. "If you let the magic smoke out the circuit will stop working!"

I'm gonna steal your picture for my classroom!

Here is the narative for the photo .....

Electrical Theory by Joseph Lucas

Positive ground depends upon proper circuit functioning, the transmission of negative ions by retention of the visible spectral manifestation known as "smoke". Smoke is the thing that makes electrical circuits work; we know this to be true because every time one lets the smoke out of the electrical system, it stops working. This can be verified repeatedly through empirical testing. When, for example, the smoke escapes from an electrical component (i.e., say, a Lucas voltage regulator), it will be observed that the component stops working. The function of the wire harness is to carry the smoke from one device to another; when the wire harness "springs a leak", and lets all the smoke out of the system, nothing works afterwards.

Starter motors were frowned upon in British Automobiles for some time,
largely because they consume large quantities of smoke, requiring very
large wires.

Here is presented for your perusal one Lucas Replacement Wiring Harness Smoke kit, P/N 530433, along with the very rare Churchill Tool 18G548BS adapter tube and metering valve. These kits were supplied surreptitiously to Lucas factory technicians as a trouble-shooting and repair aid for the rectification of chronic electrical problems on a plethora of British cars. The smoke is metered, through the fuse box, into the circuit which has released it's original smoke until the leak is located and repaired.

Unlike the cheap, far-eastern replacement DIYsmoke offered by the "usual suppliers", this kit includes a filter to ensure that all the smoke is of consistent size, It has been our experience in our shop that the reproduction Taiwanese smoke is often "lumpy", which will cause excessive resistance in our finely-engineered British harnesses and components. This is often the cause of failure in the repro electrical parts currently available, causing much consternation and misplaced cursing of the big three suppliers.

These kits have long been the secret weapon of the "Ultimate Authorities" in the trade, and this may be the last one available. Be forewarned, though, that it is not applicable to any British vehicle built after the discontinuing of bullet connectors, so you Range Rover types are still on your own.

:rolleyes:

I'll see your Gremlin and raise you a Vega and two Yugos.

I give you both...the Pacer:

http://wildwillsclassicmotors.com/ca...acer%20004.jpg

I fold.

I always wanted a stingray with a banana seat!

Then my best friend got a 3-speed English Racer!

The Pacer. I had completely forgotten about that cursed little car. Now I'm having an acid flashback.

Thanks. Thanks a lot.

I think the Pacer is the first known example of the greenhouse effect.

American Bricks kicked butt on either of them.

http://www.architoys.net/toys/images/AMBRICK8.JPG

Maybe I'm biased because my older brother lost many of the parts of the Erector Sets, so I couldn't do as much. But I spent hours and hours with American Bricks.

transistor radio

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...10-23-2004.jpg

How well could you draw on this little invention of the devil?

I had a professor at college who rigged it up with servos and connected it to a computer.

I also participated in World's Largest Etch A Sketch, shown here on YouTube. 3000 of the top computer graphics professionals can barely draw a straight line with one when controlling it communally with red and green popsicle sticks.

God those things hurt!!!!!

But it seemed like a few years that you couldn't hardly go anywhere without hearing them exactly as you describe.

Then if others were like me, even when we used to do ok, we would decide to do them super fast, knowing all the time what was in store.... smiling at our accomplishments and cringing at the same time.

:o

Bicycle turn signals... I got a set, and probably signalled with them about 10 times.

Riding my bike to the store to get a tube of Flicks.

Getting together with a couple of kids in the neighborhood, and letting mom know, "We're going on a bike hike."

Seeing Mount Ranier in the distance, never knowing how much I would miss it when I moved away.

There's more, but this thread will be here when they come back to mind. ;)

White Bucks

Sputnik Satelite.........October 1957

How many of you had one of these? Or lusted after one? I paid $75 for my first calculator, and it looked pretty much like this one:

http://www.ceap.wcu.edu/Houghton/EDE..._1datamath.jpg

Did you prefer Royal, Underwood, or.......