Remember When?

Share your memories of things that we once took for granted.  Despite the large amount of disparity in ages here in the TIA forums, please feel free to share what you remember, regardless of how young or old it may make you sound.  I’ll start with a few easy ones:

Remember when Craftsman hand tools were proudly “Made in the USA” and represented a level of quality that made them ubiquitous in garages and shops across the United States?

Remember when incandescent bulbs were our primary means of lighting, and we were just fine with using them?

Remember when we had two buying options: in person at the retailer or mail order?

Remember when a payphone call cost a quarter, as immortalized by Travis Tritt, only to have the price raised months after the song?

Remember when we had to find a quarter for the payphone after we received an urgent text on our pager?

Remember when a car could get 35+ mpg without hybrid technology or complex monitoring systems?

Remember when computers had mere kilobytes of RAM yet cost thousands of dollars?

Things change, often for the better, but there are times I long for those days when everything seemed simpler and less hectic.  I realize that this feeling comes with age, and that older folks might consider my own fond memories as examples of complicated times while younger ones may think I’m archaic, but there is something relaxing about remembering what was once the norm.  We’ll never get it back but we can reflect and relive those times when everyone was immortal and things would never change. 

What sucks is having to buy up incandescent bulbs because you can only find them at Ace and we(Electronics technicians) use them as “lamps” to check for excess current draw on something we’re repairing.

Remember when cell phones were getting smaller?

Remember when Kobalt tools were made by Williams and all really good?

Remember when battery powered tools were supposed to be small and easy to use? Now they make batteries that weigh as much as a generator to power a corded tool.

remember when computers had a disc drive.

remember when internet used the phone line.

remember when phones were indestructible.

remember when compact pickup trucks were a thing.

remember when tools didn’t use lithium ion batteries.

remember when tools were all metal and weighed a ton.

remember when airplanes didn’t have tv screens on every chair.

remember when movies were on vhs.

remember when tvs weren’t flat.

remember when your favorite snack had 2 maybe 3 different flavors and not 2 dozen

remember when you couldn’t order tools online. 

remember when houses had ugly shag carpet.

remember when you had to get out of the vehicle to open the garage.

Remember when…

…restaurants had smoking areas?

…cars didn’t have airbags?

…video game systems were marketed by bits (8-bit, 16-bit, etc)?

…the national speed limit was 55 mph?

…movies relied on special effects and not CGI?

…cable gave us  whopping 40 channels?

Remember when tools didn’t have all those safety warnings and you could tell how experienced a craftsman was by counting their fingers?

Remember when things had schematics available and you could repair everything instead of throw it away?

Remember when…

…”$5 on pump 1″ was a common thing to say at the gas station?

…we tuned up our cars with PCV valves, rotors and distributor caps, plugs and wires (or if you go way back, by filing the points in the cap)?

…(most) celebrities didn’t consider themselves any more worthy of commenting on political, social, or economic topics than the average citizen?

…most of us considered cordless tools to be big drills, smaller drills, and maybe hammer drills, but little or nothing else?

…people greeted each other and were aware of their surroundings instead of having their head perpetually buried in a smart phone?

fm2176 wrote:

On 1/6/2018 at 8:23 PM, fm2176 said:

Share your memories of things that we once took for granted.  Despite the large amount of disparity in ages here in the TIA forums, please feel free to share what you remember, regardless of how young or old it may make you sound.  I’ll start with a few easy ones:

 

Remember when Craftsman hand tools were proudly “Made in the USA” and represented a level of quality that made them ubiquitous in garages and shops across the United States?

 

Remember when incandescent bulbs were our primary means of lighting, and we were just fine with using them?

 

Remember when we had two buying options: in person at the retailer or mail order?

 

Remember when a payphone call cost a quarter, as immortalized by Travis Tritt, only to have the price raised months after the song?

 

Remember when we had to find a quarter for the payphone after we received an urgent text on our pager?

 

Remember when a car could get 35+ mpg without hybrid technology or complex monitoring systems?

 

Remember when computers had mere kilobytes of RAM yet cost thousands of dollars?

 

 

Things change, often for the better, but there are times I long for those days when everything seemed simpler and less hectic.  I realize that this feeling comes with age, and that older folks might consider my own fond memories as examples of complicated times while younger ones may think I’m archaic, but there is something relaxing about remembering what was once the norm.  We’ll never get it back but we can reflect and relive those times when everyone was immortal and things would never change. 

 

Can’t remember many cars getting 35 mpg back in the day. Not in my day anyway. 

Nordraw wrote:

2 hours ago, Nordraw said:

Can’t remember many cars getting 35 mpg back in the day. Not in my day anyway. 

I was thinking of the 1980s era Hondas and I confirmed it before posting about it: https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/bymodel/1986_Honda_Civic.shtml

EPA combined estimate of 46 mpg for an ’86 Civic?  That matches the 2018 Prius c according to the above site.  The regular Prius is rated at 56 mpg, though.

I Remember when Gas was $.25 and we hard the gas shortage and it went all the way up to $.50 and you would have thought the world was coming to and end.

I Remember when TV was just black and white

I Remember when your parents arm was the only seat belt in the car

I Remember when you could go to McDonald’s and get a burger, fry’s and a shake for $.50

I remember being able to talk to someone without the fear of never talking to them again because you might offend them…..

fm2176 wrote:

On 1/12/2018 at 7:28 PM, fm2176 said:

 

I was thinking of the 1980s era Hondas and I confirmed it before posting about it: https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/bymodel/1986_Honda_Civic.shtml

 

EPA combined estimate of 46 mpg for an ’86 Civic?  That matches the 2018 Prius c according to the above site.  The regular Prius is rated at 56 mpg, though.

Have you ever seen what happens to an ’80’s era Civic in an accident?

Sure, they got 46 mpg, but they were rolling death traps if you ever hit anything.

That’s one thing people forget car’s are wayy safer now

regopit wrote:

On 1/15/2018 at 1:33 AM, regopit said:

I Remember when Gas was $.25 and we hard the gas shortage and it went all the way up to $.50 and you would have thought the world was coming to and end.

 

I Remember when TV was just black and white

 

I Remember when your parents arm was the only seat belt in the car

 

I Remember when you could go to McDonald’s and get a burger, fry’s and a shake for $.50

 

  

I don’t remember that but I remember paying .97 a gallon when I first started working rescue. I was driving a ‘74 VW Super beetle, semi automatic transmission back then….

That crash is insane. Amazing the designs


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