Inflation ? What Inflation ?

[GKL]

Using your imagination is what made all those toys we had back then so much fun. Nowadays kids (and a lot of adults) just have their faces glued to some kind of electronic device. They're turning into robots. I can't remember the last time I saw a kid sliding on a sled in the winter time and I rarely see kids riding a bicycle these days.

Hey, amazing the fun we had with big cardboard boxes left over from something like an appliance or furniture delivery, and the forts we made using scrap wood, very low tech but still lots of fun !

.....and treehouses we made in the woods, just pack a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and jar of kool-aid and go hiking in the woods !

We had times during summer vacation where neighborhood kids with their bikes would sometimes just happen to amass unplanned and before you'd know it we could have about 15 kids or so on bikes on a vacant area of a small shopping center parking lot or on the other side of the neighborhood there was a vacant dirt area with hills we'd ride up and down, many kids we didn't even know all riding together without a problem.

Hey even after I got out of the Navy and was in my early 20's I didn't have a car and would have a bicycle I rode back and forth to work from my apartment (this was years before i got married) it was good exercise

I still have the bike radio I used on that bike I rode in my early 20's and it still works (it's from the early 1970's) it had AM and CB reception and uses a 9volt battery, here are pics I just took:


I also remember having both a headlight and taillights with rear left/right arrow turning indicators

I also remember having some kind of siren/horn that had neat sound effects

Remember having a basket on the front and maybe the back too.

......and of course a speedometer, I might have gotten up to as fast as somewhere between 30-40 MPH when going downhill

(the other pics below I just found online as examples, though the left/right rear arrow lights do look exactly like the one I had)



Now all that was on my bike from when I was in my early 20's, I was a whole lot younger when I use to use a clothespin to put a baseball card in the spokes to make noise, of course I remember avoiding using cards from my hometown baseball team


Also, I remember having handlebars like these as a kid, think I got them from an old broken bike that had been trashed and put the handlebars on mine, also remember the banana seats

 

[diggin4clad]

We made forts to play in. We'd gather whatever scraps of wood, shingles, plastic or whatever else we could find and put it all together to make a fort. Then, after Christmas when people threw out their Christmas trees, we'd gather them up and make Christmas tree forts. When it snowed, we made snow forts and had snowball fights.
I had only two bikes.....my first one was a small Columbia with 20 inch wheels and training wheels which I used until I learned how to ride without falling over.
After I outgrew it, I told my mother I wanted a bigger 26 inch bike and she told me to start saving my money for one. It took me a long time but I finally saved enough money to buy the 26 incher. I wanted one of those fancy Schwinn bikes but they were around $70 at the time so I had to settle for an ordinary JC Higgins from Sears. I still loved that bike and I had everything imaginable on it at one time or another. First thing was a basket and a bell. Later came a headlight and tail light with directional signals like you mentioned. My favorite items for the bike were the Stewart-Warner speedometer which was advertised in comic books and I had to have one. Another was a siren that had a chain you pulled to make it sound off and the thing seemed as if it could be heard for miles when you got going really fast.
And like a lot of kids, I put baseball cards in the spokes, first just one, then eventually as many as I could fit all at once. I just hope I didn't ruin any Mickey Mantle cards like the one in your post.

 

[GKL]

We made forts to play in. We'd gather whatever scraps of wood, shingles, plastic or whatever else we could find and put it all together to make a fort. Then, after Christmas when people threw out their Christmas trees, we'd gather them up and make Christmas tree forts. When it snowed, we made snow forts and had snowball fights.
I had only two bikes.....my first one was a small Columbia with 20 inch wheels and training wheels which I used until I learned how to ride without falling over.
After I outgrew it, I told my mother I wanted a bigger 26 inch bike and she told me to start saving my money for one. It took me a long time but I finally saved enough money to buy the 26 incher. I wanted one of those fancy Schwinn bikes but they were around $70 at the time so I had to settle for an ordinary JC Higgins from Sears. I still loved that bike and I had everything imaginable on it at one time or another. First thing was a basket and a bell. Later came a headlight and tail light with directional signals like you mentioned. My favorite items for the bike were the Stewart-Warner speedometer which was advertised in comic books and I had to have one. Another was a siren that had a chain you pulled to make it sound off and the thing seemed as if it could be heard for miles when you got going really fast.
And like a lot of kids, I put baseball cards in the spokes, first just one, then eventually as many as I could fit all at once. I just hope I didn't ruin any Mickey Mantle cards like the one in your post.

I think I remember being careful to use baseball cards of players I never really heard of

Don't think we ever thought of making Christmas tree forts, too bad we didn't have internet back then us kids could have shared such neat ideas

I remember occasionally trying to build snow forts that were like igloos

One tree house we made back in the woods next to where our elementary school was at was a triple decker we made a first level floor, then another floor above that, then yet another floor above that !

I think the only bike I remember my parents buying new was a fancy tricycle with a crane in the back when I was really young. After that the next new bike was one I bought after moving away from home. In between I remember several really neat fun bikes where I used parts from various junk bikes being thrown away and made good bikes out of the parts, those were some really nice riding bikes too !

Thinking along the lines of goofy stuff we did as kids I just remembered a few of the pranks:

We grew up in the suburbs with row houses and streets that were not real long before cars had to stop at a stop sign, so sometimes in the winter we'd toss a snowball in a high arc so it would hit the top of a car when it got close to the stop sign but I was far away (in hindsight just glad I didn't cause any accidents)

Very occasionally in the summer when the ice cream trucks would come down the alley or street and I didn't have money to get an ice cream myself I'd holler "Wait a Minute !" (that common phrase us kids would hollar to get an ice cream truck to stop) then after waiting a few minutes an no one coming the truck would start to move again and again I'd hollar "Wait a Minute !", it was very funny at the time but in hindsight as an adult I'm thinking poor guy likely didn't earn much to begin with and I added some unneeded frustration to his day

During the summer very occasionally in the early evening some of us kids would do the classic "knock on someone's front door and run and hide"

I took that a step further once when I figured out that I could use a screwdriver to short of the doorbell connection on the transformer on the ceiling in our basement and it would make the front doorbell ring as if someone was at the front door, from the basement I would make the doorbell ring, then I could hear my mom walk across to the front door and say something like "there's no one here", then after hearing her walk back across the floor and sit down to watch the daytime game shows on tv I would make it ring again

There are other goofy pranks I can't think of right now, but one simple one that just came to mind was eating the chocolate of a Hershey bar and carefully putting the wrapper back to make it look uneaten, also think I did that with packs of Wrigley's stick chewing gum

Here is a pic of kinda what that tricycle looked like I mentioned earlier:
(the design was somewhat different and I remember the windshield being bigger)

 

[GKL]

new thread

NOTE: since we were having so much fun with talking about stuff from when we were kids I figured it would be good to start a thread with a title to get the attention of those who would like to read and/or post about such stuff.

So here is the new thread I just started:

Nostalgia ......remembering the fun stuff from when we were kids !

https://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=296605

....I figure that title should make it clear !

Thanks to diggin4clad for this thread which was the inspiration for the above thread !

(sometime later I need to repost the pics I included in this thread for the benefit of those who had not read this thread, but I have other pics to post first)

 

[diggin4clad]

NOTE: since we were having so much fun with talking about stuff from when we were kids I figured it would be good to start a thread with a title to get the attention of those who would like to read and/or post about such stuff.

So here is the new thread I just started:

Nostalgia ......remembering the fun stuff from when we were kids !













Thinking along the lines of goofy stuff we did as kids I just remembered a few of the pranks:

We grew up in the suburbs with row houses and streets that were not real long before cars had to stop at a stop sign, so sometimes in the winter we'd toss a snowball in a high arc so it would hit the top of a car when it got close to the stop sign but I was far away (in hindsight just glad I didn't cause any accidents)

Very occasionally in the summer when the ice cream trucks would come down the alley or street and I didn't have money to get an ice cream myself I'd holler "Wait a Minute !" (that common phrase us kids would hollar to get an ice cream truck to stop) then after waiting a few minutes an no one coming the truck would start to move again and again I'd hollar "Wait a Minute !", it was very funny at the time but in hindsight as an adult I'm thinking poor guy likely didn't earn much to begin with and I added some unneeded frustration to his day

During the summer very occasionally in the early evening some of us kids would do the classic "knock on someone's front door and run and hide"

I took that a step further once when I figured out that I could use a screwdriver to short of the doorbell connection on the transformer on the ceiling in our basement and it would make the front doorbell ring as if someone was at the front door, from the basement I would make the doorbell ring, then I could hear my mom walk across to the front door and say something like "there's no one here", then after hearing her walk back across the floor and sit down to watch the daytime game shows on tv I would make it ring again

There are other goofy pranks I can't think of right now, but one simple one that just came to mind was eating the chocolate of a Hershey bar and carefully putting the wrapper back to make it look uneaten, also think I did that with packs of Wrigley's stick chewing gum

Here is a pic of kinda what that tricycle looked like I mentioned earlier:
(the design was somewhat different and I remember the windshield being bigger)
View attachment 499403

We pulled a lot of pranks so I'll explain a few...some harmless, others questionable

Using the telephone was a common way to pull pranks for us......
One thing we did was call a taxi for the neighbor across the street and then watch to see what happens when the cab comes......The cab driver usually got a little "upset" to find that he wasted his time and there was no fare.

Calling the local pizza house and ordering a pizza or two and not picking them up.

One time we called people and made believe we were from the local newspaper and they were selected to play the "Lucky Louie Letter Game"
I have no idea where we came up with the name.
We'd tell the person we called that they had a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to the store of their choice if the could solve the puzzle over the phone. They had to unscramble letters to make a certain word.....
We'd give them three letters such as "cta" and of course they'd answer with CAT and we'd tell them they only had to get one more correct to win. Then we'd give three more letters such "dya" and of course they'd say DAY and we'd tell them they won. Then we'd ask for their name and address plus their favorite store and then tell them that they'll get their gift certificate in the mail.......They're probably still waiting for it to arrive

There was a drug store nearby and a woman worked there named Margaret who was of a very thin build. My friend called the drug store and asked for Margaret and when she came to the phone he said to her "You have a skinny "azz". We did this 3-4 times and finally one time we called and when my friend asked for Margaret the druggist said "No, you can't speak to Margaret"
so my friend being quick with an answer said to the druggist "Then YOU tell her she has a skinny "azz" Only there were no Z's in the word we used.
My friend was an altar boy at the local Catholic church. The church was always open and because he was an altar boy he had access to the church and occasionally had to go there for something. One time we went because he had to drop something off at the church office which was in the basement next to a kitchen. We went into the kitchen and in the fridge was a pitcher of grape Kool-Aid. In the cabinet was a five pound bag of sugar which he dumped into the Kool-Aid. We didn't see anyone drink it but I'll bet it was like syrup.
One time during the winter we made a huge pile of snowballs and whenever a truck would go buy we'd pelt it with snowballs. One time a Hostess truck went by and we got it good. The next thing we see is the truck turning around and it stopped right where we were. We figured we were in trouble but instead the guy driving asked us if we wanted any cupcakes. That was a relief and the cupcakes were nice and fresh.
Up the street from us was a pasture where a farmer had some cows grazing.
One night we went into the pasture, careful not to get tangled in the barbed wire fence and round up all the cow chips we could fit in a cardboard box we had. We then dumped all the chips onto the steps of a small mom and pop grocery store. The store was right across the street from our school so we both left earlier for school and watched from the schoolyard for when the lady opened the store. Needless to say she wasn't to happy about the surprise on the steps of her store.
We did the "ring the doorbell and run away trick" a lot.
My friend had an afternoon paper route that he did after school. One time it was during a snowstorm I walked the paper route with him and we started making a snowball as we walked along. The snowball got so big we could hardly push it and we were wondering what we'd do with it. We decided to push it up against someone's front door. It was dark out and with all our strength we pushed it right up against someone's front door. We always wondered how they managed to get out of their house the next morning and what the expression on their face was when they opened the door to find a giant snowball blocking the entrance.
We did a telephone prank on our parents from time to time. There was a number you could dial and it would make the phone ring. When our mother or father would be in the next room we'd quietly dial that number and when the phone rang we'd pick it up, make believe we were talking and then say "Mom, it's for you". When she took the phone there was no one on the line.
We did that one often and always with the same result. My mother would ask "Who was it" and we'd answer with "I don't know"

 

[GKL]

We pulled a lot of pranks so I'll explain a few...some harmless, others questionable

Using the telephone was a common way to pull pranks for us......
One thing we did was call a taxi for the neighbor across the street and then watch to see what happens when the cab comes......The cab driver usually got a little "upset" to find that he wasted his time and there was no fare.

Calling the local pizza house and ordering a pizza or two and not picking them up.

One time we called people and made believe we were from the local newspaper and they were selected to play the "Lucky Louie Letter Game"
I have no idea where we came up with the name.
We'd tell the person we called that they had a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to the store of their choice if the could solve the puzzle over the phone. They had to unscramble letters to make a certain word.....
We'd give them three letters such as "cta" and of course they'd answer with CAT and we'd tell them they only had to get one more correct to win. Then we'd give three more letters such "dya" and of course they'd say DAY and we'd tell them they won. Then we'd ask for their name and address plus their favorite store and then tell them that they'll get their gift certificate in the mail.......They're probably still waiting for it to arrive

There was a drug store nearby and a woman worked there named Margaret who was of a very thin build. My friend called the drug store and asked for Margaret and when she came to the phone he said to her "You have a skinny "azz". We did this 3-4 times and finally one time we called and when my friend asked for Margaret the druggist said "No, you can't speak to Margaret"
so my friend being quick with an answer said to the druggist "Then YOU tell her she has a skinny "azz" Only there were no Z's in the word we used.
My friend was an altar boy at the local Catholic church. The church was always open and because he was an altar boy he had access to the church and occasionally had to go there for something. One time we went because he had to drop something off at the church office which was in the basement next to a kitchen. We went into the kitchen and in the fridge was a pitcher of grape Kool-Aid. In the cabinet was a five pound bag of sugar which he dumped into the Kool-Aid. We didn't see anyone drink it but I'll bet it was like syrup.
One time during the winter we made a huge pile of snowballs and whenever a truck would go buy we'd pelt it with snowballs. One time a Hostess truck went by and we got it good. The next thing we see is the truck turning around and it stopped right where we were. We figured we were in trouble but instead the guy driving asked us if we wanted any cupcakes. That was a relief and the cupcakes were nice and fresh.
Up the street from us was a pasture where a farmer had some cows grazing.
One night we went into the pasture, careful not to get tangled in the barbed wire fence and round up all the cow chips we could fit in a cardboard box we had. We then dumped all the chips onto the steps of a small mom and pop grocery store. The store was right across the street from our school so we both left earlier for school and watched from the schoolyard for when the lady opened the store. Needless to say she wasn't to happy about the surprise on the steps of her store.
We did the "ring the doorbell and run away trick" a lot.
My friend had an afternoon paper route that he did after school. One time it was during a snowstorm I walked the paper route with him and we started making a snowball as we walked along. The snowball got so big we could hardly push it and we were wondering what we'd do with it. We decided to push it up against someone's front door. It was dark out and with all our strength we pushed it right up against someone's front door. We always wondered how they managed to get out of their house the next morning and what the expression on their face was when they opened the door to find a giant snowball blocking the entrance.
We did a telephone prank on our parents from time to time. There was a number you could dial and it would make the phone ring. When our mother or father would be in the next room we'd quietly dial that number and when the phone rang we'd pick it up, make believe we were talking and then say "Mom, it's for you". When she took the phone there was no one on the line.
We did that one often and always with the same result. My mother would ask "Who was it" and we'd answer with "I don't know"

Thinking again about the "ring the doorbell" (or knock) and run and hide trick I'm kinda amazed I don't remember ever going to knock on the door right when someone was getting ready to open it

I'm going to post some of the old vintage prank toys on that Nostalgia thread a little later on