The boys don’t look too pleased to be there. They look like they’d rather be with their friends at their house. The car, though, looks like a good practical car for either personal, or business purposes.
We’ve come a long way, baby. But sometimes I wonder if it’s progress. I spent many years riding in the back of station wagons as a kid, it was always my favorite place to be. I also rode all over town by myself on my bicycle (without a helmet, natch) and walked myself to school from the second grade on. This was NORMAL, folks. I pity todays children, who only get to experience the artificially “safe” version of the world around them, right until the time they grow old enough to be arrested for breaking some overzealous nanny law.
Yeah, people driving totally drunk used to be NORMAL too. Let’s just eliminate all those burdensome seat belt laws, MADD reforms, auto safety standards and other regulations that have saved tens of thousands of lives over the years. As a nation I would hope we have grown smarter over the years and realize the benefits sensible regulation and new technology affords us. Sometimes the good old days were not so good. If we had the same auto fatality rate today as we did in 1980 over 100,000 would die annually on our roadways, a carnage only the most obtuse libertine would accept as the price of freedom.
New technology like smartphones? At least you had to be plastered to wreck in spectacular fashion in the bad old days, here in the good new present people just do it sending out inane texts.
No, new technology like crumple zones, 3 point seat belts, air bags, etc., together with mandatory seatbelt and much tougher drunk driving laws. Distracted driving due to cell phones and the like is indeed a recent safety issue, but my point was that the auto fatality rate today is a third of what is was in the good old days of 1980, thanks in large part to all those “overzealous nanny laws”.
William Stopford
Posted March 14, 2016 at 5:17 AM
You are spot on, CPJ! I wouldn’t want to return to the “good old days” when it comes to car safety.
Here in the UK its socially unacceptable to drink n drive but ok to do drugs and drive among the youth set hence the current government campaign
“Dnt drive & do drugs”. Crazy.
We’ve made a lot of progress in auto safety, and it’s good. We don’t have that many multi-fatality crashes anymore. I remember a grisly example from my childhood. Two guys spent the afternoon drinking at a bar, then drove onto Pittsburgh’s Parkway East (an early freeway). The driver lost control of his ’56 Ford, crossed over the center divider (which was little more than a hump in the pavement — no guardrail or Jersey barrier) and slammed head-on into a ’56 Chevy wagon carrying a family of six. Seven of the 8 died at the scene and the 8th, a young boy, died at the hospital.
Don’t have many multi fatality cases nowadays? The hell we don’t. Just this morning in Dallas a multi passenger van ran into the back of a semi and split in half. Seven people inside.
I am so a Mr Wilson when it comes to “actual clothing” – and shaving. I generally embrace improvements in technology and society, but am very old fashioned when it comes to clothing. It has gotten so bad that grown ass men actually go out and about in worse than jeans and a t shirt these days, unshaven of course.
If you are a grown man, dress appropriate for what you are doing and either shave every day or grow a damn beard – make up your mind. Sweats and stubble used to mean “bum”(doesn’t work or travel), even hobos (travels and works) and tramps (travels and doesn’t work unless absolutely necessary) dressed like grown up men and carried shaving or beard trimming gear with them.
I don’t consider myself a stickler for dressing up, and I have a horrible sense of fashion, but for crying out loud make some sort of effort to present yourself as a functioning adult in public.
I`m old enough to remember when people took a train or a plane for whatever reason, they all looked nice and dressed well. Ladies wore a skirt or a dress and men wore a suit, a shirt and a tie. Just look at how most people dress while travelling today. Take a look inside any “Jet Blue” plane or any Amtrak train. As far as that unshaved “hipster” look is concerned, I hate it ! In my day, it made you look like a bum, but, hell, I`m just a grumpy middle aged guy.
Yikes. Those kids look stripped in, which isn’t surprising. Outside of a studio, I doubt you could keep them still long enough to take a clean shot. Especially without seatbelts.
Funny, three posts above you dismiss someone complaining about modern life. Is that not his choice?
Judging by modern parenting, which is slowly counting to an inconsequential three when they’re being obnoxious in public, with just 1 kid, I don’t have high hopes of having a peaceful trip to the store with that family present.
I asked if he had anything to say beyond complaints, which are a dime a dozen on the Internet. I didn’t explicitly “dismiss” anyone.
I wouldn’t want more than a few kids either, but if someone else does, I don’t see why I should be “FURYous”.
Are you addressing the argument being made, or the person making the argument?
guy ulrich
Posted March 13, 2016 at 1:09 PM
I don’t have a problem with people having as many kids as they can afford to provide for. Its when they have so many they then have to rely on a goverment assistance program for help that I have a problem with it. That’s why I have never had any. I knew I would not be able to properly provide for them and knew it wouldn’t be fair to them to put them in that situation.
XR7Matt
Posted March 13, 2016 at 3:37 PM
If you are sick of complaints then why respond? So you can point out that anyone preferring something old to new means they’re deluded and on some sort of nostalgia trip? If you’re looking for something positive about modernity just look at advertisements, plenty of those on the Internet too, and they have nothing but positive things to say about their current products.
Drzhivago138
Posted March 14, 2016 at 2:15 PM
Easy, friend. I didn’t say I was looking for positivity, just less negativity. It’s important to give voice to dissenting opinions so that an echo chamber doesn’t form.
Part of it was the convenient PUN. Fury. Plymouth Fury. Get it?
The other part is, 15,000,000,000 units is quite enough and it does affect my space personally. That said, this is a car blog and The Boss wouldn’t tolerate MY expounding on the topic, although you are free to try.
Is “15,000,000,000 units” a reference to something?
Frank Lee
Posted March 14, 2016 at 6:15 PM
Don’t bust your brain trying to figure it out.
Drzhivago138
Posted March 14, 2016 at 6:24 PM
Thank you for being helpful. :/ I’m asking a genuine question here.
Frank Lee
Posted March 14, 2016 at 7:40 PM
The Boss hasn’t censored me on this yet… there are nearly 15B people and the population clock ain’t running backwards yet. In my lifetime I’ve witnessed many, many rural areas in my State become subdivisions and many, many communities large and small sprawl out tremendously. Agricultural land and groves are now carpeted with roads and ugly housing “developments”. (I use quotation marks on “develop” because without them the word implies that developed land is somehow better than undeveloped land.) There really is nowhere to go if one wants to escape the sounds of mayhem, motorized or other; of course it’s in all communities but even more discouraging it’s out in “the boonies” as much or even moreso. Escape to a lake cabin? No way because constant boats dirt bikes open pipe pickups street bikes airplanes chain saws lawn mowers stereos. Escape to the folks’ farm which, BTW, has wildlife refuges on two sides? No way because semis commercial and general aviation loud herds of street bikes some with stereos target shooting chain saws dirt bikes loud pickups. At home: heavy equipment dump truck convoys boom cars auto alarms barking dogs… ah, you get the picture. Oh- here’s something car-related: doesn’t matter how late the hour or how far out in the boonies you are, high-beams are obsolete. They can’t be used for more than a few seconds before traffic forces low-beams. IT WASN’T ALWAYS LIKE THIS. Nobody can adequately explain why the Perpetual Growth Philosophy is a good or even sustainable thing. Nobody and yet that’s what all the govt, bidness, and religious “leaders” espouse and of course all the minions agree. As you can imagine all this Duggaring DOES impact me. And the best part is all the child-bearing SUBSIDY thrown at this madness, courtesy of the taxpayer with no dependents.
guy ulrich
Posted March 15, 2016 at 10:57 AM
+10
Frank Lee
Posted March 14, 2016 at 8:08 PM
Sorry, it’s “only” 7,400,000,000 and climbing now. 15B must have been a projection. I should have checked the data. Oh well, sure seems like 15B.
Drzhivago138
Posted March 15, 2016 at 7:35 AM
Thank you for the explanation!
Frank Lee
Posted March 15, 2016 at 1:16 PM
In a vain effort to mask disruptive (i.e. those that prevent/disrupt sleep and general R&R) outside noises while quietly laying in my own bed with all the windows clamped shut, I put a table fan about two feet away from my head. Now I have rather intense tinnitus, even though I gave up the fan years ago. :/
I put spongy foam bits on the backs of my wall-hanging pictures because passing heavy equipment caused them to rattle against the walls.
I no longer frequent the local Library; At city center, passing mud trucks literally rattle the windows. Redneck society considers this acceptable, if not wonderful.
My smallish town is “in the middle of nowhere”. When visiting in a metro area 350 miles away, I noticed it was no worse there, except when flights in/out of the international airport were routed directly overhead.
I had to chuckle at seeing this, My oldest son and I were were discussing his need for a larger vehicle as he has 4 children with one on the way, with the youngest two being twin boys who are less than two years old, and his wife thinks a Dodge Caravan isn’t going to cut it. I immediately thought of the wagon my dad had when I was a youngster, a ’64 Chrysler Newport wagon, and told him and my daughter in law thats what he needed, you could put the two older daughters in the 3rd seat and have 3 car seats across the second. His wife was not impressed. ;D
Those kids look depressed. Probably because they’re stuck eating apples and riding in the Plymouth with Jimmy’s mom instead of Sally’s mom and her loaded up 390-powered Country Squire. Sally’s mom is cool….she gives all the kids a freshly made cookie!
When I was like 5 or 6, my friend’s Mom picked up my sister and I, and put us into the back of a white ’64 Galaxie station wagon with her three kids, and off we went to somewhere or another. We approached an intersection and after stopping, proceeded to make our left turn when seemingly out of nowhere, a black and gold 1963 Ford Custom or Galaxie taxi cab ran its stop sign and t-boned the ‘way back’ as you guys like to call it. We were spun around 180 degrees or so and came to a stop with the way back up on the guard rail of a bridge over I-95. Of course being kids we were like, “Cool! You can see the cars running under the bridge below us!” Needless to say Miss Betty (the driver) was white as a ghost. Us kids? Yeah, to us it was like, “That was fun! Can we do it again?!?!?” Yeah, maybe we didn’t have car seats that are like strapping into a fighter plane back then, but we all survived. Those cars were tanks in those days. Not sure what happened to the cab that ran the stop sign, but Miss Betty had the wagon fixed and drove it for a few more years after that.
The most striking thing to me is how crudely the kids are pasted in there. With the exception of the girl sitting with her hands cupping her face, it looks like they used photos of kids who were standing up. The overall effect is just weird. They look a bit like ghostly apparitions…
I remember a few years ago seeing a 90s b-body wagon filled with kids in a similar fashion. Was quite shocking to see all these kids jumping about without seat belts on
Ad for the 1963 Chevrolet Corvair – children in those days were unencumbered by annoying seatbelts, as dad raced along a twisty mountain road in his convertible…
Yes, those old ads are a hoot showing everyone but the driver sitting (or kneeling) every which way other than facing forward!
Now car owner’s manuals tell you exactly how to sit — upright, belted, feet on floor, not too close to any airbag, etc. or you may be injured or killed in a crash!
Yes, they were all in one Accord. Moses liked English cars, for some strange reason (“…descended the mountain in his Triumph”, no word on whether it got up there under its own power). And Paul seemed to get stuck in weekend traffic jams in a latter-day K-car (“I was in the Spirit on the lord’s day when I heard a loud sound as of a trumpet behind me”).
The e-mail that circulated all the automotive puns is definitely funny, but I can’t seem to find any actual mention of some of them in any translation of the original text.
I think we can all agree that times were different 50 years ago; maybe it was better then, maybe it is better now. Like many people my age I’m amused by the efforts today’s parents put forth trying to protect their children from any possible harm. Far be it from me to criticize anyone else’s parenting decisions. However, I will gladly state for the record that I’m glad that I grew up when I did as opposed to growing up now. For the most part we grew up without direct adult supervision and, thus, learned the value of being able to think for ourselves.
Many families had more members than seatbelts in their cars then. Like 4 kids sitting on top of the engine cover in a VW Bus. I just missed riding in the packed bed of a pickup full of kids in 1970. They went up down a local highway several times. We were latch key or free range kids. Was an era of bias tires & drum brakes too.
Oh the memories of childhood trips to Crystal Beach. The pay one price amusement park on Lake Erie. Mom, dad and five kids seated throughout the wagon with the cooler and picnic blankets in the way back for the trip there. On the way back mom, dad and the empty cooler in the front seat. Rear seat folded flat and five kids sleeping off the sugar crash and the day’s activity under all the blankets.
How hard would it have been to get happy children? I’m thinking some well-placed bribes could have achieved wonders with their facial expressions – or was the back of a Fury wagon really that bad?
I don’t think it is to do with the wagon, but having your photo taken!
Re Johannes’ comment below, I’m sure there would be a market for such a sticker for wagons/MPV’s!
My childhood recollection is of riding in my grandfather’s 7-ton truck with my sisters and cousins, two on the passenger seat and 3-4 of us on the engine cover, right at windscreen height… I think the basis was it was only illegal if you got caught, and that was pretty unlikely.
But Doug, 8 people in an R4 is very dangerous !! Did you kids wear helmets ?? And knee- and elbow protection ?? Didn’t the Rijkspolitie pull you folks over for that kind of irresponsible behavior ?
I have been a Consumer Reports fan since I was in junior high,but I read it today,and it seems like they want you to be afraid of everything. There is a doofus about my age,
who rides his bicycle around the subdivision with a helmet DUH!
look,something is going to get you Should you be terrified of everything
Just asking by the way I actually drive a 93 Ranger pickup
with no airbag holy cow!
Most people who have biked for a fair amount of time know firsthand the value of a helmet. I’ve had two family members bust helmets riding on the street and I’ve personally put some dents in mine off road. I’m certainly not going to apologize for making my kids wear them.
I live on a public bike trail – where no cars are allowed – and over half of the riders wear helmets.
From my own experiences cycling, the worst injuries I’ve sustained were on a dedicated bike trail, at low speed – scrapes and bruises, but no injury to my helmeted head as it landed on the concrete. The way I look at it, I paid a small fortune for the education inside of my head, and like anything I’ve worked hard to pay for, I tend to protect it.
Besides, I’ve seen first-hand the effects of brain injuries. I’ll gladly look like a doofus, any day.
Ours was a ’62 Olds 88 in white with a gray/white interior. Mom and Dad in the front, my younger brother and I in the second seat and my sister and brother, several years younger, in the back on a blanket. I don’t remember whether Dad made us buckle up or not. He was a big believer in seat belts and had them installed at the dealer in all his cars, even company cars, as soon as he got them.
That’s the car I always associate with my folks in my memories. Dad owned it twice, buying it back for a second car four years after trading it in on a new ’66 Galaxie. Then rebuilding the engine and using it for years pulling a camper, hauling lumber, going on trips, and just enjoying it. That was always my Mom’s favorite car and she always talked about it fondly for the rest of her life.
It was a good time to grow up in the ’50’s and ’60’s. I know that cars are much safer now and have spared countless lives. We managed to survive and become adults despite all the skinned knees and bumps and bruises. Of course my parents weren’t hovering over us constantly to keep us safe. My Mom was not the type to go all to pieces if one of us came home with some injury. We were expected to learn to take care of ourselves and each other. Like I said, it was a great time.
Mustang Rick I don’t know how we got through it we played with fireworks hitchhiked,
used lawnmowers with no guards drove on 2 ply tires, and I not sure if you even
needed a helmet for a motorcycle in 1970 jikes
I even helped my uncle sometimes on the farm while riding on the fender of his Allis Chalmers WD with no cab or roll bar. Shudder!!! Or the times I rode in the back of a pickup truck! Then, later, riding in the back of a Deuce and a Half and playing with rockets once I got out of the truck. How did I survive?
A guy was killed near me this winter riding in the back of a pickup when they hit some rough stuff and he was thrown out. But his buddies survived, so I guess by your logic they would say it was probably a fine idea.
No, actually I did not say any such thing. I was merely making a comment on how things used to be. Even though I have ridden in the back of a truck many times in the past, I have always thought it was very risky and never have thought it was a good idea. I am a lot wiser now than I was in my 20’s.
Phil L
Posted March 15, 2016 at 7:32 AM
You certainly implied it. If you did not intend sarcasm with your “shudder” and “how did I survive” comments, I apologize.
Best packaging story I have is from a colleague, when newly licensed. 7 teenagers in an Alfa Montreal. They were all smiling as he tells it. Because these things cannot be taken for granted I should clearly state the car did run.
No, I don’t want to contemplate the implications of any impact.
One time, my mother picked me and about six other kids up at school to drive us all back to the neighborhood. I forget why now, but she was driving her ’65 Mustang coupe at the time. Boy, talk about a car crammed to the gills with kids! We were all about 7 or 8 at the time, so it was a squeeze even then.
Made it back safely to the ‘hood. No car seats, no seat belts, no drunk drivers were impeded on the way.
Ohh the irony at the end when they talk about the 5/50,000 warranty. “Yours only with cars quality engineered by Chrysler Corporation” as the screen transitions to an off-center pentastar logo…
I absolutely love that illustration. It shows a time when kids were kids. Parents didn’t worry about every little thing. Maybe I am getting old but I think today’s generation has become a bunch of worrywarts. EVERYTHING is an issue!! We rode in the back of our LTD wagons and PLAYED together. We rolled around in the dirt, played outside and actually got cuts and scrapes. We LIVED! Today, nearly everyone’s face is plastered to their i-phones or i-pads with earphones on, ignoring the world in front of them. Life is going by and no one is enjoying the NOW. Did anyone see in the news last week the little boy at the baseball game that nearly had a bat fly into his face because he was looking down at his cell phone instead of at the game? If it weren’t for the father’s quick reaction that child could have had a serious injury. Typical.
Hmmmm….that’s strange, because the articles I read said the kid was playing games on his phone and not watching the game. Whatever the case may be if you are at a game you should be watching the game.
That’s what it said in the article I read. But it really doesn’t matter. The reality is that most kids that age don’t have the attention span to watch a multi-hour baseball game, then or now. Possibly less so now. I didn’t back then…
Did you always do what your were supposed to be doing when you were six or so? 🙂
Tom C
Posted March 16, 2016 at 10:19 AM
True. Sometimes those games could carry on and get very looongg….
The boys don’t look too pleased to be there. They look like they’d rather be with their friends at their house. The car, though, looks like a good practical car for either personal, or business purposes.
We’ve come a long way, baby. But sometimes I wonder if it’s progress. I spent many years riding in the back of station wagons as a kid, it was always my favorite place to be. I also rode all over town by myself on my bicycle (without a helmet, natch) and walked myself to school from the second grade on. This was NORMAL, folks. I pity todays children, who only get to experience the artificially “safe” version of the world around them, right until the time they grow old enough to be arrested for breaking some overzealous nanny law.
+1
+2
+3
+4
+5
+6
+7
The very definition of survivorship bias.
+50
Yeah, people driving totally drunk used to be NORMAL too. Let’s just eliminate all those burdensome seat belt laws, MADD reforms, auto safety standards and other regulations that have saved tens of thousands of lives over the years. As a nation I would hope we have grown smarter over the years and realize the benefits sensible regulation and new technology affords us. Sometimes the good old days were not so good. If we had the same auto fatality rate today as we did in 1980 over 100,000 would die annually on our roadways, a carnage only the most obtuse libertine would accept as the price of freedom.
New technology like smartphones? At least you had to be plastered to wreck in spectacular fashion in the bad old days, here in the good new present people just do it sending out inane texts.
No, new technology like crumple zones, 3 point seat belts, air bags, etc., together with mandatory seatbelt and much tougher drunk driving laws. Distracted driving due to cell phones and the like is indeed a recent safety issue, but my point was that the auto fatality rate today is a third of what is was in the good old days of 1980, thanks in large part to all those “overzealous nanny laws”.
You are spot on, CPJ! I wouldn’t want to return to the “good old days” when it comes to car safety.
“Yeah, people driving totally drunk used to be NORMAL too.”
You might be shocked as to how many still think it is normal.
Or, how many still think it is normal when they do it THEMSELVES.
“I’m not drunk, ossifer, I only had two beers.”
What’s the real shock is how many get off lightly because courts don’t take drunk driving as the deadly threat that it is.
Or using those @$!&*+? cellphones, texting or the newest-taking selfies while they drive. Just as bad as DWI.
Here in the UK its socially unacceptable to drink n drive but ok to do drugs and drive among the youth set hence the current government campaign
“Dnt drive & do drugs”. Crazy.
Seat belts? What are those?
We’ve made a lot of progress in auto safety, and it’s good. We don’t have that many multi-fatality crashes anymore. I remember a grisly example from my childhood. Two guys spent the afternoon drinking at a bar, then drove onto Pittsburgh’s Parkway East (an early freeway). The driver lost control of his ’56 Ford, crossed over the center divider (which was little more than a hump in the pavement — no guardrail or Jersey barrier) and slammed head-on into a ’56 Chevy wagon carrying a family of six. Seven of the 8 died at the scene and the 8th, a young boy, died at the hospital.
Don’t have many multi fatality cases nowadays? The hell we don’t. Just this morning in Dallas a multi passenger van ran into the back of a semi and split in half. Seven people inside.
Percentage-wise, how many is that?
“You wouldn’t see this nowadays” on multiple levels, aside from the lack of safety restraints:
They’re in an actual station wagon. Not an SUV, CUV or other pseudo-utility vehicle.
The wagon’s interior is color-keyed to the exterior, and not a “goes with anything” grey or beige.
This family somehow manages to survive variations in weather conditions without the benefit (and expense) of all-wheel-drive or four-wheel-drive.
There’s a passel of kids in there. Having four or more children was not that unusual back then.
And finally, they’re all neatly dressed in actual clothing, instead of the sweats and pajama-like togs I see people wearing in public today.
I am so a Mr Wilson when it comes to “actual clothing” – and shaving. I generally embrace improvements in technology and society, but am very old fashioned when it comes to clothing. It has gotten so bad that grown ass men actually go out and about in worse than jeans and a t shirt these days, unshaven of course.
If you are a grown man, dress appropriate for what you are doing and either shave every day or grow a damn beard – make up your mind. Sweats and stubble used to mean “bum”(doesn’t work or travel), even hobos (travels and works) and tramps (travels and doesn’t work unless absolutely necessary) dressed like grown up men and carried shaving or beard trimming gear with them.
Where’s my Zoloft . . .
Didn’t Katharine Hepburn in the later years of her life say something about Americans “dressing like slobs”?
NYC seems to be the exception, for the people who live there, not the tourists. They actually have a sense of fashion and decor.
I don’t consider myself a stickler for dressing up, and I have a horrible sense of fashion, but for crying out loud make some sort of effort to present yourself as a functioning adult in public.
I`m old enough to remember when people took a train or a plane for whatever reason, they all looked nice and dressed well. Ladies wore a skirt or a dress and men wore a suit, a shirt and a tie. Just look at how most people dress while travelling today. Take a look inside any “Jet Blue” plane or any Amtrak train. As far as that unshaved “hipster” look is concerned, I hate it ! In my day, it made you look like a bum, but, hell, I`m just a grumpy middle aged guy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWdd6_ZxX8c
(Not that I care for the unshaven look either.)
Yikes. Those kids look stripped in, which isn’t surprising. Outside of a studio, I doubt you could keep them still long enough to take a clean shot. Especially without seatbelts.
back in those days you’d have 9 kids to ensure that at least one would survive the scourge of vehicular design of that time period.
I hope she’s running a daycare. People who birth that many DRIVE me FURYous.
I like the wagon though!
It makes you mad how someone else would choose to live their life?
Funny, three posts above you dismiss someone complaining about modern life. Is that not his choice?
Judging by modern parenting, which is slowly counting to an inconsequential three when they’re being obnoxious in public, with just 1 kid, I don’t have high hopes of having a peaceful trip to the store with that family present.
I asked if he had anything to say beyond complaints, which are a dime a dozen on the Internet. I didn’t explicitly “dismiss” anyone.
I wouldn’t want more than a few kids either, but if someone else does, I don’t see why I should be “FURYous”.
Are you addressing the argument being made, or the person making the argument?
I don’t have a problem with people having as many kids as they can afford to provide for. Its when they have so many they then have to rely on a goverment assistance program for help that I have a problem with it. That’s why I have never had any. I knew I would not be able to properly provide for them and knew it wouldn’t be fair to them to put them in that situation.
If you are sick of complaints then why respond? So you can point out that anyone preferring something old to new means they’re deluded and on some sort of nostalgia trip? If you’re looking for something positive about modernity just look at advertisements, plenty of those on the Internet too, and they have nothing but positive things to say about their current products.
Easy, friend. I didn’t say I was looking for positivity, just less negativity. It’s important to give voice to dissenting opinions so that an echo chamber doesn’t form.
Part of it was the convenient PUN. Fury. Plymouth Fury. Get it?
The other part is, 15,000,000,000 units is quite enough and it does affect my space personally. That said, this is a car blog and The Boss wouldn’t tolerate MY expounding on the topic, although you are free to try.
Is “15,000,000,000 units” a reference to something?
Don’t bust your brain trying to figure it out.
Thank you for being helpful. :/ I’m asking a genuine question here.
The Boss hasn’t censored me on this yet… there are nearly 15B people and the population clock ain’t running backwards yet. In my lifetime I’ve witnessed many, many rural areas in my State become subdivisions and many, many communities large and small sprawl out tremendously. Agricultural land and groves are now carpeted with roads and ugly housing “developments”. (I use quotation marks on “develop” because without them the word implies that developed land is somehow better than undeveloped land.) There really is nowhere to go if one wants to escape the sounds of mayhem, motorized or other; of course it’s in all communities but even more discouraging it’s out in “the boonies” as much or even moreso. Escape to a lake cabin? No way because constant boats dirt bikes open pipe pickups street bikes airplanes chain saws lawn mowers stereos. Escape to the folks’ farm which, BTW, has wildlife refuges on two sides? No way because semis commercial and general aviation loud herds of street bikes some with stereos target shooting chain saws dirt bikes loud pickups. At home: heavy equipment dump truck convoys boom cars auto alarms barking dogs… ah, you get the picture. Oh- here’s something car-related: doesn’t matter how late the hour or how far out in the boonies you are, high-beams are obsolete. They can’t be used for more than a few seconds before traffic forces low-beams. IT WASN’T ALWAYS LIKE THIS. Nobody can adequately explain why the Perpetual Growth Philosophy is a good or even sustainable thing. Nobody and yet that’s what all the govt, bidness, and religious “leaders” espouse and of course all the minions agree. As you can imagine all this Duggaring DOES impact me. And the best part is all the child-bearing SUBSIDY thrown at this madness, courtesy of the taxpayer with no dependents.
+10
Sorry, it’s “only” 7,400,000,000 and climbing now. 15B must have been a projection. I should have checked the data. Oh well, sure seems like 15B.
Thank you for the explanation!
In a vain effort to mask disruptive (i.e. those that prevent/disrupt sleep and general R&R) outside noises while quietly laying in my own bed with all the windows clamped shut, I put a table fan about two feet away from my head. Now I have rather intense tinnitus, even though I gave up the fan years ago. :/
I put spongy foam bits on the backs of my wall-hanging pictures because passing heavy equipment caused them to rattle against the walls.
I no longer frequent the local Library; At city center, passing mud trucks literally rattle the windows. Redneck society considers this acceptable, if not wonderful.
My smallish town is “in the middle of nowhere”. When visiting in a metro area 350 miles away, I noticed it was no worse there, except when flights in/out of the international airport were routed directly overhead.
Given the age distribution of the kids (or lack thereof), I think it’s being implied that it’s the driver’s day to do carpool.
It’s the Octomom driving her curbside classic.
I had to chuckle at seeing this, My oldest son and I were were discussing his need for a larger vehicle as he has 4 children with one on the way, with the youngest two being twin boys who are less than two years old, and his wife thinks a Dodge Caravan isn’t going to cut it. I immediately thought of the wagon my dad had when I was a youngster, a ’64 Chrysler Newport wagon, and told him and my daughter in law thats what he needed, you could put the two older daughters in the 3rd seat and have 3 car seats across the second. His wife was not impressed. ;D
d = Duggar?
Lol, good gosh no, I wish that gang would just fade away, also the big_d is just a play on words of my email addy.
0, 1, or 2. The math isn’t hard.
Those kids look depressed. Probably because they’re stuck eating apples and riding in the Plymouth with Jimmy’s mom instead of Sally’s mom and her loaded up 390-powered Country Squire. Sally’s mom is cool….she gives all the kids a freshly made cookie!
My mom had a ’68 390 Country Squire. It was cool with the side ward facing rear seats, it was my favorite place to sit.
Same here, family of six.
The way-back of a wagon was like a mobile play room back in the day@
When I was like 5 or 6, my friend’s Mom picked up my sister and I, and put us into the back of a white ’64 Galaxie station wagon with her three kids, and off we went to somewhere or another. We approached an intersection and after stopping, proceeded to make our left turn when seemingly out of nowhere, a black and gold 1963 Ford Custom or Galaxie taxi cab ran its stop sign and t-boned the ‘way back’ as you guys like to call it. We were spun around 180 degrees or so and came to a stop with the way back up on the guard rail of a bridge over I-95. Of course being kids we were like, “Cool! You can see the cars running under the bridge below us!” Needless to say Miss Betty (the driver) was white as a ghost. Us kids? Yeah, to us it was like, “That was fun! Can we do it again?!?!?” Yeah, maybe we didn’t have car seats that are like strapping into a fighter plane back then, but we all survived. Those cars were tanks in those days. Not sure what happened to the cab that ran the stop sign, but Miss Betty had the wagon fixed and drove it for a few more years after that.
The most striking thing to me is how crudely the kids are pasted in there. With the exception of the girl sitting with her hands cupping her face, it looks like they used photos of kids who were standing up. The overall effect is just weird. They look a bit like ghostly apparitions…
Children of the Corn.
No Photoshop. Heck, no COMPUTERS then.
Cut ’em out, paste ’em up, rephotograph.
Sure there were computers. They were just a bit more limited that what we’re used to today.
Definitely a cut-and-paste with possibly some airbrushing.
For the lady’s sanity, a limo style division window should be offered.
“Don’t make me come back there!”
I remember a few years ago seeing a 90s b-body wagon filled with kids in a similar fashion. Was quite shocking to see all these kids jumping about without seat belts on
Ad for the 1963 Chevrolet Corvair – children in those days were unencumbered by annoying seatbelts, as dad raced along a twisty mountain road in his convertible…
…with swing axles…
Yes, those old ads are a hoot showing everyone but the driver sitting (or kneeling) every which way other than facing forward!
Now car owner’s manuals tell you exactly how to sit — upright, belted, feet on floor, not too close to any airbag, etc. or you may be injured or killed in a crash!
Let’s show a little respect, please. We’re talking about the kind of car god has (“He drove them out in His Fury”).
The Apostles drove a Honda, of course!
Yes, they were all in one Accord. Moses liked English cars, for some strange reason (“…descended the mountain in his Triumph”, no word on whether it got up there under its own power). And Paul seemed to get stuck in weekend traffic jams in a latter-day K-car (“I was in the Spirit on the lord’s day when I heard a loud sound as of a trumpet behind me”).
That was John in the K-car. 🙂
Paul, John, Ringo, George, what difference does it really make?
The e-mail that circulated all the automotive puns is definitely funny, but I can’t seem to find any actual mention of some of them in any translation of the original text.
I think we can all agree that times were different 50 years ago; maybe it was better then, maybe it is better now. Like many people my age I’m amused by the efforts today’s parents put forth trying to protect their children from any possible harm. Far be it from me to criticize anyone else’s parenting decisions. However, I will gladly state for the record that I’m glad that I grew up when I did as opposed to growing up now. For the most part we grew up without direct adult supervision and, thus, learned the value of being able to think for ourselves.
Many families had more members than seatbelts in their cars then. Like 4 kids sitting on top of the engine cover in a VW Bus. I just missed riding in the packed bed of a pickup full of kids in 1970. They went up down a local highway several times. We were latch key or free range kids. Was an era of bias tires & drum brakes too.
To be honest I don’t think those kids are actually in there. They just took some generic shots of depressed kids at the window and cut & pasted.
Can you imagine the amount of elbow jabs and “he’s on my side of the seat” that would actually be happening?
Not to mention, the back of that wagon would be draggin’! 🙂
Much more so with today’s kids.
Oh the memories of childhood trips to Crystal Beach. The pay one price amusement park on Lake Erie. Mom, dad and five kids seated throughout the wagon with the cooler and picnic blankets in the way back for the trip there. On the way back mom, dad and the empty cooler in the front seat. Rear seat folded flat and five kids sleeping off the sugar crash and the day’s activity under all the blankets.
How hard would it have been to get happy children? I’m thinking some well-placed bribes could have achieved wonders with their facial expressions – or was the back of a Fury wagon really that bad?
I don’t think it is to do with the wagon, but having your photo taken!
Re Johannes’ comment below, I’m sure there would be a market for such a sticker for wagons/MPV’s!
My childhood recollection is of riding in my grandfather’s 7-ton truck with my sisters and cousins, two on the passenger seat and 3-4 of us on the engine cover, right at windscreen height… I think the basis was it was only illegal if you got caught, and that was pretty unlikely.
Those 6 kids in the back look like a big sticker or wrap. The green color doesn’t match with the pasture in the background.
Anyway, I remember we sat in a Simca 1100 with 7 persons in the mid seventies; 4 adults and 3 kids in a friggin’ compact Simca 1100 hatchback.
I’m tempted to get that wrap for my minivan 🙂
During my childhood trip to the Netherlands I think we had 8 people in a Renault 4 to get to the Efteling..
But Doug, 8 people in an R4 is very dangerous !! Did you kids wear helmets ?? And knee- and elbow protection ?? Didn’t the Rijkspolitie pull you folks over for that kind of irresponsible behavior ?
And I thought 8 in a 2nd-generation Camry was bad…though to be fair we were all college students, so more space was needed!
I have been a Consumer Reports fan since I was in junior high,but I read it today,and it seems like they want you to be afraid of everything. There is a doofus about my age,
who rides his bicycle around the subdivision with a helmet DUH!
look,something is going to get you Should you be terrified of everything
Just asking by the way I actually drive a 93 Ranger pickup
with no airbag holy cow!
Wait, are you criticizing someone for wearing a helmet when they ride a bicycle? I don’t think that makes them a doofus, that’s just good bike safety.
Now wearing knee pads on a bike, that’s a bit more “doofus-y”.
Most people who have biked for a fair amount of time know firsthand the value of a helmet. I’ve had two family members bust helmets riding on the street and I’ve personally put some dents in mine off road. I’m certainly not going to apologize for making my kids wear them.
I live on a public bike trail – where no cars are allowed – and over half of the riders wear helmets.
From my own experiences cycling, the worst injuries I’ve sustained were on a dedicated bike trail, at low speed – scrapes and bruises, but no injury to my helmeted head as it landed on the concrete. The way I look at it, I paid a small fortune for the education inside of my head, and like anything I’ve worked hard to pay for, I tend to protect it.
Besides, I’ve seen first-hand the effects of brain injuries. I’ll gladly look like a doofus, any day.
Ours was a ’62 Olds 88 in white with a gray/white interior. Mom and Dad in the front, my younger brother and I in the second seat and my sister and brother, several years younger, in the back on a blanket. I don’t remember whether Dad made us buckle up or not. He was a big believer in seat belts and had them installed at the dealer in all his cars, even company cars, as soon as he got them.
That’s the car I always associate with my folks in my memories. Dad owned it twice, buying it back for a second car four years after trading it in on a new ’66 Galaxie. Then rebuilding the engine and using it for years pulling a camper, hauling lumber, going on trips, and just enjoying it. That was always my Mom’s favorite car and she always talked about it fondly for the rest of her life.
It was a good time to grow up in the ’50’s and ’60’s. I know that cars are much safer now and have spared countless lives. We managed to survive and become adults despite all the skinned knees and bumps and bruises. Of course my parents weren’t hovering over us constantly to keep us safe. My Mom was not the type to go all to pieces if one of us came home with some injury. We were expected to learn to take care of ourselves and each other. Like I said, it was a great time.
Mustang Rick I don’t know how we got through it we played with fireworks hitchhiked,
used lawnmowers with no guards drove on 2 ply tires, and I not sure if you even
needed a helmet for a motorcycle in 1970 jikes
I even helped my uncle sometimes on the farm while riding on the fender of his Allis Chalmers WD with no cab or roll bar. Shudder!!! Or the times I rode in the back of a pickup truck! Then, later, riding in the back of a Deuce and a Half and playing with rockets once I got out of the truck. How did I survive?
A guy was killed near me this winter riding in the back of a pickup when they hit some rough stuff and he was thrown out. But his buddies survived, so I guess by your logic they would say it was probably a fine idea.
No, actually I did not say any such thing. I was merely making a comment on how things used to be. Even though I have ridden in the back of a truck many times in the past, I have always thought it was very risky and never have thought it was a good idea. I am a lot wiser now than I was in my 20’s.
You certainly implied it. If you did not intend sarcasm with your “shudder” and “how did I survive” comments, I apologize.
Best packaging story I have is from a colleague, when newly licensed. 7 teenagers in an Alfa Montreal. They were all smiling as he tells it. Because these things cannot be taken for granted I should clearly state the car did run.
No, I don’t want to contemplate the implications of any impact.
One time, my mother picked me and about six other kids up at school to drive us all back to the neighborhood. I forget why now, but she was driving her ’65 Mustang coupe at the time. Boy, talk about a car crammed to the gills with kids! We were all about 7 or 8 at the time, so it was a squeeze even then.
Made it back safely to the ‘hood. No car seats, no seat belts, no drunk drivers were impeded on the way.
All those kids on one side of the car and their long faces means only one thing: Susie’s mom is not stopping at the Dairy Queen that they are passing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSIAlTDMn9U
While we are vaguely on the topic of political correctness, this one is a doozy, (also apropos to the subject car)
Ohh the irony at the end when they talk about the 5/50,000 warranty. “Yours only with cars quality engineered by Chrysler Corporation” as the screen transitions to an off-center pentastar logo…
I absolutely love that illustration. It shows a time when kids were kids. Parents didn’t worry about every little thing. Maybe I am getting old but I think today’s generation has become a bunch of worrywarts. EVERYTHING is an issue!! We rode in the back of our LTD wagons and PLAYED together. We rolled around in the dirt, played outside and actually got cuts and scrapes. We LIVED! Today, nearly everyone’s face is plastered to their i-phones or i-pads with earphones on, ignoring the world in front of them. Life is going by and no one is enjoying the NOW. Did anyone see in the news last week the little boy at the baseball game that nearly had a bat fly into his face because he was looking down at his cell phone instead of at the game? If it weren’t for the father’s quick reaction that child could have had a serious injury. Typical.
FWIW, the kid at the ball game was looking at his phone because he was sending his mom a picture from the game on his dads’ phone.
Truth be told, my attention span doesn’t always hold up at baseball games either!
Hmmmm….that’s strange, because the articles I read said the kid was playing games on his phone and not watching the game. Whatever the case may be if you are at a game you should be watching the game.
That’s what it said in the article I read. But it really doesn’t matter. The reality is that most kids that age don’t have the attention span to watch a multi-hour baseball game, then or now. Possibly less so now. I didn’t back then…
Did you always do what your were supposed to be doing when you were six or so? 🙂
True. Sometimes those games could carry on and get very looongg….
Sweet ! .
Pops didn’t like Station Wagons , Uncle Bill did though and let us ride on the open tailgate with our feet hanging down and brushing the dirt roads…..
Not everything now nor then was great or bad .
I don’t helicopter any of our Foster boys and they all seem to be doing O.K. , they’re aware and moving forward as we did decades ago .
Now : ALL YOU DANG WHIPPER-SNAPPERS GET THE HELL OFF MY LAWN ! .
-Nate