• Cars

    From George Pope@1:153/757 to Joe Mackey on Mon Jul 11 16:43:26 2022
    WV was one of the first states to prohibit the sell of alcohol in 1914.
    (It went national in 1920).
    When Prohibition was repealed in 1933 WV only allowed near beer, I think three per cent. This lasted until the '80s or '90s.
    Nor could an establishment be called a "saloon". A local place here went
    to court about that in the late '80s and won.

    This was your childhood era/location?

    In my hometown (now officially a city) they had no Sunday shopping laws in place until a semi-local billionaire took the city to cou8rt on religious rights basis & won. (He refused to close his grocery stores on Sundays, then refused to pay the fines given to him each time the cops showed up)

    I had no skin in that one -- mattered nought to me. If the stores were closed any day, I got what I needed another day.

    I grew up in the era where if you didn't withdraw enough money by 3pm Friday, you had no cash to use on Tuesday! & withdrawals had to take place at the counter!

    I was a young teen when Chargex first appeared in my town, & I watched it evolve into Visa. I also saw lottery games brought in -- they insisted it would benefit schools, , & kids' sports -- guess which three groups get gutted the worst each year, in spite of gaming revenues being HUGE?

    Liquor by the drink was limited to only "clubs" and not until the 1950s.
    Each bar was a "club" and membership was like 50 cents a year and had to
    show a club card whenever one ordered. If known to the bartender/owner they didn't have to show it, but have

    We have this for the Legion & A.N.A.F. (Army, Navy, Air Force Veterans clubs); only members allowed in, to drink the cheaper beer & eat the better priced quality food. You're either a full member (veteran) or Auxiliary (child of a veteran--that was my status -- my dad was too far away to get him to sign me in, so the bartender just assigned one of his staff to sign with him(needed two to sponsor/recommend), recommending my acceptance.)

    The one ANAF club didn't have too strict a membership policy, as they liked having the college kids from across the street coming in & spending money daily.

    I got the membership anyhow, to support it with my dues. & I liked being a card carrying member of the old "Bucket of Blood"(its nickname from the days where it was a big fighting spot); it was shortened to just "The Bucket" by the time I discovered the place. I'm no fighter, but I liked beer being half the price of my local pub & a roast beef dinner, with everything, for only $5 on Fridays. . . & free snooker on a proper 5X10 slate table, sometimes shuffleboard, which I learned there.

    Then I moved to a neighboring suburb, & hadn't made it there for ten years, & now it's gone & their space is now a dance studio for kids.

    'twas a wee pain, as I had to go in the main door, at the top of a 6-step stairwell, & hollerfor the bartender to get two guys to haul out the ramp & let me in the back doors (big enough to drive a vehicle through), as I was in a wheelchair by this point.


    you don't drink beer to get drunk; you drink beer because you like/want/need
    to pee;
    Or like the old saying: You don't buy beer, you only rent it.

    Exactly. Coffee's the same.

    get drunk you drink whiskey
    I was the opposite.
    I could drink liquor and didn't faze me, but a few beers put me under
    the table.

    My first drunkenness was guzzling about 32 ounces of straight Canadian Club rye whiskey like it was ginger ale, then asking for more, as it tasted good, but luckily my friend knew what was coming (&, yup,. hit me in about 40 minutes -- BOOM!!! 11 years old & I was 'faced, barely able to stand, but I had to travel
    about 4 miles home within a half hour, & not get caught for having been drinking (I just knew it would get me in trouble); I made it home okay (hitchhiked 2.5 of the miles & jogged the rest); It kind of immunized me against hard liquor -- I could drink lots asa teen & no real effect. But beer/wine were the same --even less of any buzz (I could get a buzz from liquor, or a full high from weed--this was years before it was officially legal up here; some places the cops only stop you to ask to share a joint with you.

    I was 14yo & had occasion to share my joint with a cop, while he drove us up to a park outside the downtown area, as our drinking & toking could only make him look bad, as he was assigned the main drag. I had respect for him.

    '69 Cougar (w/ the wrap-around tail lights)
    '67 Mustang (w/original leather buckets)
    I remember when I sold cars in the mid '70s and those were just "old
    used cars" on the lot.

    Yup, pre-Classic or is it Vintage now, at 55 years old? Then so am I!

    Something that's strange to me about Bugs are at one time they were all
    over the place, then suddenly, almost over night, they just disappeared.
    Hmm, I hadn't noticed, but yeah, even though they're brand new, I'm only seeing the newer, flattr type -- I don't like them; I prefer the traditional car, as Hitler designed it for the people (das wagen for das volks)

    The old bugs attracted much creativity in their owners. . .

    --- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-6
    * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)
  • From JOE MACKEY@1:135/392 to GEORGE POPE on Wed Jul 13 08:17:52 2022
    CP wrote --

    Nor could an establishment be called a "saloon". A local place here went to court about that in the late '80s and won.

    This was your childhood era/location?

    This was here in town.
    AFAIK there no places called a saloon otherwise in WV. And that place
    went of business years ago.

    In my hometown (now officially a city) they had no Sunday shopping laws

    WV had blue laws until around the '50s or '60s.

    I had no skin in that one -- mattered nought to me. If the stores were closed any day, I got what I needed another day.

    Concur.
    At one time liquor and beer laws prohibited selling on Sunday. I always thought why not just buy it ahead of time? Or are you planning on drinking
    all those bottles and need more?
    In the late '70s I drove a cab and liquor blue laws were still in effect. (Beer was allowed by then). After a short time I knew where all the bootleggers were in town from someone wanting booze either after the state stores*
    closed or a Sunday.
    I knew knew where the houses of ill-repute where.
    I have no idea where they are today or if they even exist.
    I also knew many of the hookers, who for the most part were as ugly as a
    mud fence. I always thought their johns must been awfully hard up to go
    with one of them.
    I do remember one beautiful woman, like a model, whom I discovered after
    a few rides was a call girl, at $100 an hour (over $385 today). She was a secretary by day. Looking at her one would have never suspected.
    (* Until the 1990s the state of WV sold liquor and could only legally
    buy from the state.)

    I grew up in the era where if you didn't withdraw enough money by 3pm Friday, you had no cash to use on Tuesday! & withdrawals had to take place at the counter!

    Yep.

    I remember when I sold cars in the mid '70s and those were just "old
    used cars" on the lot.

    Yup, pre-Classic or is it Vintage now, at 55 years old? Then so am I!

    I wonder what look-alike SUV's and such today will someday be
    "classics"? Darn sight few I imagine.
    I an watching videos of classic cars (started with ones from the 1890ss
    and up to 1960 now)*. They either people and their cars today, commercials from the era, dealer sales film strips/films (usually how wonderful their
    car is compared to others of the l
    I love how cars were all the same size, it was mostly just a trim/engine difference. Along with things like standard or automatic, etc.
    I constantly sigh and shake my head when some young person is talking
    about a car then rags how it doesn't have this, that and the other that are in modern cars. ("This car has no seat belts!" "This car has no GPS" etc when talking about a 1950s or '60s
    One had a some kid in his 20s trying to figure out how to shift a
    standard column.
    (*At first it was whatever some YT channel host had. Then I started
    putting them in order, being a bit OCD, with bookmarks for 1950, 1951, etc. And I go from make and model starting with the lower priced to the top of the line, and by model.
    For example, take 1960.
    I will start with Ford, Chevy and Plymouth. Then up to Mercury, then Pontiac-Olds-Buick. Then DeoSoto, Dodge, etc. Up to Cadillac, Lincoln, Chrysler. Also Studebaker, AMC, etc.)
    Joe
    --- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
    * Origin: Fidonet Since 1991 www.doccyber.org bbs.docsplace.org (1:135/392)
  • From Daryl Stout@1:2320/33 to JOE MACKEY on Wed Jul 13 12:00:00 2022
    Joe,

    WV had blue laws until around the '50s or '60s.

    They still have them in Arkansas...you can't buy alcoholic beverages
    (beer, wine, liquor) on Sunday.

    At one time liquor and beer laws prohibited selling on Sunday. I
    always thought why not just buy it ahead of time? Or are you planning
    on drinking all those bottles and need more?

    99 bottles of beer on the wall...right next to the bathroom (as it is a diuretic).

    I knew knew where the houses of ill-repute where.

    Does that make you a knew-dissed by avoiding them? <g,d,r>

    I also knew many of the hookers, who for the most part were as ugly
    as a mud fence. I always thought their johns must been awfully hard up
    to go with one of them.

    Some square dance moves, mainly at the higher levels, are where the
    dancers hook arms, and they're known as the hookers. <G>

    I do remember one beautiful woman, like a model, whom I discovered
    after a few rides was a call girl, at $100 an hour (over $385 today).
    She was a secretary by day. Looking at her one would have never suspected.

    Maybe she was akin to Jessica Rabbit playing patty-cake with Marvin Acme
    in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" (I loved Christopher Lloyd as Judge Doom in
    that movie). And, all the animation was done by hand.

    One had a some kid in his 20s trying to figure out how to shift a standard column.

    One thug in central Arkansas carjacked this driver...but he only made it
    1/4 mile when he couldn't figure out how to use the stick-shift, so he abandoned it. After the original owner called the police with a description
    of the thug, and the police dusted the car for fingerprints, they let the original owner get back in, and drive off.

    Daryl

    ... Of course I'm on topic!! What conference is this??!!
    === MultiMail/Win v0.52
    --- SBBSecho 3.15-Win32
    * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, Arkansas (1:2320/33)
  • From JOE MACKEY@1:135/392 to DARYL STOUT on Thu Jul 14 05:31:52 2022
    Daryl wrote --

    One thug in central Arkansas carjacked this driver...but he only made it 1/4 mile when he couldn't figure out how to use the stick-shift

    I've heard of that happening in other places as well.
    One thing about some of these videos are people going up to 30 and 40 mph before they shift into second! Then flooring a classic car and going close
    t0 80 in them. Sheesh.
    Joe
    --- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
    * Origin: Fidonet Since 1991 www.doccyber.org bbs.docsplace.org (1:135/392)
  • From Mike Powell@1:2320/105 to DARYL STOUT on Thu Jul 14 15:57:00 2022
    They still have them in Arkansas...you can't buy alcoholic beverages
    (beer, wine, liquor) on Sunday.

    You could not buy beer in the grocery store in KY on Sunday, either, until
    just very recently. Gatorade is on the same aisle. It must have changed during COVID because the plastic "drapes" that used to go over the side of the aisle where the beer is are gone now, and the lights are on in the coolers.

    Mike

    * SLMR 2.1a * Why is the word abbreviation so long?
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: capitolcityonline.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/HTTP (1:2320/105)
  • From Daryl Stout@1:2320/33 to JOE MACKEY on Thu Jul 14 13:11:00 2022
    Joe,

    One thing about some of these videos are people going up to 30 and 40 mph before they shift into second! Then flooring a classic car and
    going close t0 80 in them. Sheesh.

    Sounds like a great way to burn out the transmission and the engine.

    In short, DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!! Otherwise, you'll have a very expensive repair bill!!

    Daryl

    ... Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery??
    === MultiMail/Win v0.52
    --- SBBSecho 3.15-Win32
    * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, Arkansas (1:2320/33)
  • From JOE MACKEY@1:135/392 to DARYL STOUT on Fri Jul 15 06:55:26 2022
    Daryl wrote --

    One thing about some of these videos are people going up to 30 and 40 mph before they shift into second! Then flooring a classic car and going close t0 80 in them. Sheesh.

    Sounds like a great way to burn out the transmission and the engine.

    Yep.

    In short, DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!! Otherwise, you'll have a very expensive repair bill!!

    And you have some people of the hot rod mindset who treat an older car
    like its a new off the showroom sports car.
    Way too many things to go wrong, even with a frame off restorations.
    Such as metal fatti-gue. Fifty plus year old steel isn't generally as strong as new steel.
    One guy learned the hard way.
    There was a vid of a guy in a hopped up '60 Comet who was showing off
    and crashed into a truck, totaling the car. The car survived 60 years until some fool got behind the wheel...
    Joe

    --- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
    * Origin: Fidonet Since 1991 www.doccyber.org bbs.docsplace.org (1:135/392)
  • From Daryl Stout@1:2320/33 to JOE MACKEY on Fri Jul 15 14:01:00 2022
    Joe,


    Way too many things to go wrong, even with a frame off restorations. Such as metal fatti-gue. Fifty plus year old steel isn't generally as strong as new steel.

    The law of entropy affects everyone and everything.

    There was a vid of a guy in a hopped up '60 Comet who was showing
    off and crashed into a truck, totaling the car. The car survived 60
    years until some fool got behind the wheel...

    So now, we should ban the cars because they cause wrecks??

    Daryl

    ... Virus Scan Done: No Virus Detected. ARGH!! I've Got The No Virus!!
    === MultiMail/Win v0.52
    --- SBBSecho 3.15-Win32
    * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, Arkansas (1:2320/33)
  • From JOE MACKEY@1:135/392 to DARYL STOUT on Sat Jul 16 08:10:52 2022
    Daryl wrote --

    So now, we should ban the cars because they cause wrecks??

    No, no, no. There's too much money made from cars.
    There are taxes on them, taxes on gas, personal injury lawyers, etc. :)
    Joe




    --- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
    * Origin: Fidonet Since 1991 www.doccyber.org bbs.docsplace.org (1:135/392)
  • From Kurt Weiske@1:218/700 to Daryl Stout on Sat Jul 16 10:57:00 2022
    Daryl Stout wrote to JOE MACKEY <=-

    Joe,


    Way too many things to go wrong, even with a frame off restorations. Such as metal fatti-gue. Fifty plus year old steel isn't generally as strong as new steel.

    The law of entropy affects everyone and everything.

    I thought the same thing at Fleet Week in San Francisco, watching a Mig-15
    do aerobatics over the bay.

    Beautiful airplane, those Migs.


    ... No appropriate tagline.
    --- MultiMail/DOS v0.52
    * Origin: http://realitycheckbbs.org | tomorrow's retro tech (1:218/700)
  • From George Pope@1:153/757 to Joe Mackey on Tue Jul 26 10:30:16 2022
    CP wrote --
    Nor could an establishment be called a "saloon". A local place here went
    to court about that in the late '80s and won.

    This was your childhood era/location?
    This was here in town.
    AFAIK there no places called a saloon otherwise in WV. And that place
    went of business years ago.

    I've only known of "saloon" as the American term for a bar/pub. There's a few across the border here.

    We used to pop in there on our monthly tobacco run in Sumas, have a couple pitchers before heading home. . .

    In my hometown (now officially a city) they had no Sunday shopping laws
    WV had blue laws until around the '50s or '60s.
    I had no skin in that one -- mattered nought to me. If the stores were
    closed any day, I got what I needed another day.
    Concur.
    At one time liquor and beer laws prohibited selling on Sunday. I always thought why not just buy it ahead of time? Or are you planning on drinking all those bottles and need more?

    Yup? No biggie, but a local millionaire(presumably not religious in the Christian/Sunday sense) wanted customers to be able to shop on both common weekend days off at his grocery stores, so he began quietly staying open. Prolly some old lady who didn't really care deeply(more on "principle"), made a phone call to the constabulary or her friend on the police force.

    Personally I don't care, but principly, I believe if we're to define ourselves as freedom to act/speak/worship as one wishes, then you can't have blue laws. If community standards were truly against it, then nobody'd shop no Sundays & eventually the guy would keep it closed. If staff wanted Sundays off for their own worship -- it's already established in law that they must be granted their religious freedom & the day off (not with pay, of course); the position has to be advertised as including Sundays & holidays, then one presumes those applying are fine with such.

    Then you get some guy who took a job that was to include scheduling on any days, per the boss' needs. & he later converted to some obscure religion that had certain days off, & sued, as the boss, when asked for those days to be blocked off, essentially said, "I hired you to fill any shifts without blocked off times," sadly, the courts ruled against the employer, & he had to pay back pay plus interest for those days worked against his newfound religion.

    I don't agree with this -- I'd expect two weeks notice of any changes, including quitting or starting a new religion with certain rights. Not that
    the courts would support me, even if the contract they signed said this.

    In the late '70s I drove a cab and liquor blue laws were still in effect. (Beer was allowed by then). After a short time I knew where all the bootleggers were in town from someone wanting booze either after the state stores*
    closed or a Sunday.
    I knew knew where the houses of ill-repute where.

    Typical for cabbies,. I understand, especially in smaller towns, or tourist destinations. My landlord/employer(PT Casual Dispatcher) back east when I was 17, owned the block, including the only local taxi company. He used to keep a hooker in the back room, until his wife forced him to stop, & they had the basic boozes people requested(beer, whiskey. vodka) stocked up in a different back room. Nobody ever asked for anything besides a ride when I was answering the phone(most days, as he had a line run to my pool hall), but, yeah, locals are going to talk to the driver directly, not to a stranger(non-local, to boot) on the phone. Most trips were shopping trips or drunks going home who lived too far from the hotel bar to walk in the -40 & 2' of snow.

    The main trip for this was 30 miles up out of town, & the cabbies typically required payment up-front, from the welfare drunks.

    I have no idea where they are today or if they even exist.

    Likely do, but with different staff providing the fitness classes to customers.

    I also knew many of the hookers, who for the most part were as ugly as a
    mud fence. I always thought their johns must been awfully hard up to go
    with one of them.

    I've seen my share of both ends of the quality continuum. Only as an outsider - - not my thing. . . I was offered a freebie from a Calgary pimp because he had a brother who lived in Vancouver & I was from there. I was a 16yo virgin, & wasn't about to have my first experience with a hooker, plus I was scared they'd beat me & rob me. . . (I've read a lot of stories with this as a scene)

    I do remember one beautiful woman, like a model, whom I discovered after
    a few rides was a call girl, at $100 an hour (over $385 today). She was a secretary by day. Looking at her one would have never suspected.

    I was approached by one, years ago,. a downtown street girl, who struck up a conversation because I'd, civilly wished a good evening.

    She asked if I had a girlfriend (no); then asked if I liked to party (occasionally, thinking she meant literally, involving music & drinking), then asked if I'd like to party with her; I said, "I'm pretty sure I can't afford you" (to let her know I was onto what was going on here, that I wasn't a country bumpkin) & she said, quick as a cobra, "$100, anything you want." so I said, "Yup, I was right; can't afford you - you have a good night, now. . ."

    (* Until the 1990s the state of WV sold liquor and could only legally
    buy from the state.)

    It was so here until only about ten years ago, when they legalized private stores, but with severe restrictions. Any sales/discounts given were to be matched by an equal surtax on the customer. Bars only two years ago, could have happy hour, but only about a 30% discount & had to be a minimum price for the discounted drinks, so the bars just increased their overall prices to provide the full 30% off. When drinking in the next province over at age 16, I was in a strip club that had happy hour that night, each drink ordered & paid for at the usual price resulted in two being delivered. I got 'faced pretty quickly.


    I wonder what look-alike SUV's and such today will someday be
    "classics"? Darn sight few I imagine.

    I doubt many could survive long -- a buddy had a '67 Mustang body he bought from a fire -- it was burned right out -- he restored it to mint factory condition (all original parts, he found, worldwide, one by one); today's cars, there'd be only the odd bolt surviving a big fire. I call them "styrofoam cars" (the ones made of composites or fiberglass)

    I picture a Ford Focus in a fire like a to-go coffee cup in a campfire.

    I an watching videos of classic cars (started with ones from the 1890ss
    and up to 1960 now)*. They either people and their cars today, commercials from the era, dealer sales film strips/films (usually how wonderful their
    car is compared to others of the l
    I love how cars were all the same size, it was mostly just a trim/engine difference. Along with things like standard or automatic, etc.

    Yup, you could go back, do comparative studies on gasoline mileage between brands and years, as I was trying to do -- I wanted to prove that we're being deliberately screwed on mileage. The companiers say "oh, modern cars have a lot more going on, so use more power(e./g. AC), so I was comparing like engines & car sizes/models in barebones factory models.

    I constantly sigh and shake my head when some young person is talking
    about a car then rags how it doesn't have this, that and the other that are in
    modern cars. ("This car has no seat belts!" "This car has no GPS" etc when talking about a 1950s or '60s
    One had a some kid in his 20s trying to figure out how to shift a
    standard column.

    *LOL* Sounds like a YouTube channel I like: "Kids react to..."

    (*At first it was whatever some YT channel host had. Then I started
    putting them in order, being a bit OCD, with bookmarks for 1950, 1951, etc. And I go from make and model starting with the lower priced to the top of the line, and by model.
    For example, take 1960.
    I will start with Ford, Chevy and Plymouth. Then up to Mercury, then Pontiac-Olds-Buick. Then Desoto, Dodge, etc. Up to Cadillac, Lincoln, Chrysler. Also Studebaker, AMC, etc.)

    A fun, inexpensive hobby, not requiring gas or money or even clean laundry!

    My hobbies are all like that now. . .

    Collecting/making memes, collecting/sharing jokes, influencing governments(all Cdn so far,. 3 levels to work with), plus working here & there in between (my choice of days & hours); I wrote the Indian PM to suggest how he could help Ukraine & gain global respect/business, if he wasn't too deeply married to Putin. . .

    --- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-6
    * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)