Yeah, and I can drive a stick shift, too!

[Davwingman]

I have one of those hanging on the wall in my shop, and it works fine! I have one problem with it, I can't figure out how to "Press one for English, Press two for Spanish"! Well, maybe that isn't a problem after all, I can't speak Spanish anyway!
jcelect

Ain't no 11 on that dial, might be tough in an emergency !!

 

[Arik]

We had a rotary phone in the 90s. I hated that thing! Lol! All that waiting for it to go ALL the way back with every turn.

 

[gtk]

My dad took my daughter to run an errand a while back. Its brutally hot outside.. She hops in the passenger seat, and he tells her to roll down the window till it cools off.. She fumbles around, and looked at him with a "lost look" in her eye.. Seems she has never been in a vehicle with manual windows, and didn't know how to roll down windows without a button Also, she had never seen a truck with the little "vent" window either.

 

[BearBio]

Try showing anyone under twenty-five a manual typewriter or adding machine. Or a slide rule.

Except for Physics grad students. When I was in grad school
('96-'98), all the grad students still had pocket protectors and slide rules (along with "Afros" and ponytails!).

 

[Krell1]

I remember "party lines" where, if you really wanted to save money, you could have as many as three others using the same phone line as yours. You could politely ask them to cut their conversation when you really needed to make a call. Some people had a distinctive ring as well. Two rings meant the call was yours, one ring might be for the other person on your line.. The original cords were also NOT coiled and stretchy like the one in the picture. When they went to the coiled cords, you could get an extra long cord so you could actually move away from the phone if you had to. The cords would also get all kinked up to the point where they could not be fixed any more. Another little known fact was that you could actually "dial" the phone by using the push buttons under the headset. Some phones had a lock placed on the dial so it couldn't be turned. There was one place I saw this and, for a small fee, they would remove the lock so you could make a call. If you wanted to cheat and make a free call all you really had to do was "dial" the number by quickly pressing the button down the right number of times.

 

[BearBio]

My dad took my daughter to run an errand a while back. Its brutally hot outside.. She hops in the passenger seat, and he tells her to roll down the window till it cools off.. She fumbles around, and looked at him with a "lost look" in her eye.. Seems she has never been in a vehicle with manual windows, and didn't know how to roll down windows without a button Also, she had never seen a truck with the little "vent" window either.

Bought a Landcruiser (last year the "real" ones were brought in==1983). Ex-wife asked how to open the vent. Told her you just kick it! It's the little window/door on the wall near the floor.

 

[dcxplant]

I was exploring Oahu with a colleague, and on the opposite side of the is. where the shrimp farms are, there was an antique shop.

There were two 1940's Bakelite rotary phones, one in pretty poor condition and one in fair condition.

I was so excited because my grandparents, from Admire KS (a tiny water station for the old steam trains which is now even more tiny since the trains went to that new-fangled diesel and diesel-electric) carried with them a couple of phones like these when they moved to MD when grandpa got a job at the Wall St. Journal's Washington bureau.

I grew up weekends dialing home on that phone, and talking to my great grandmother back in Admire on it.

So, I was keen to get the one in the store that was in decent shape. I held it up and asked "how much" to the owner. He said "$200", I about dropped the phone!

I suppose he hadn't heard of the inner-webs and EBay..... I whipped out my phone and showed him several to be had just like his, in better shape, from 80-100 bucks.

He goes "200 bucks".

So I got one online. I dig it.

 

[labworm]

I not only collect phones, I use them every day in my home. I've got all authentic vintage phones including a Candle Stick from 1905, a Cradle Phone from 1934, and a bunch from between 1950 and 1970 that still amaze the kids that visit and try them.

The ONLY portable phone I have is the one that I take outside by the pool and all the rest are hard wired. At last count I had 15 phone hooked up...........

And YES I can still drive a stick shift automobile. Still have a few Typewriters, and collect (and use ) many GE vintage fans even though our home has Central Air.

Vintage radio collector checking in.

Just want to say "I am proud of you".

 

[zzzippper]

A friend's daughter found his LP collection in the basement and said "Gee dad, these are the biggest CDs I've ever seen!"

My own dad laughed at me when I asked in the '60s what the tin box was hanging on the wall above the wood burning stove in our river clubhouse.

 

[Krell1]

As far as cars go, I can't remember when the little vent windows in the front were discontinued. You could just push them open and they would suck the hot air, cigarette smoke or whatever, right out of the car. Of course, back then, air conditioning was more a luxury and many cars didn't even offer it as an option. Remember the high beam switch on the floor? If you wanted to go real cheap, you could buy a car with a stick shift on the column, no carpeting, no radio, no extras at all. To lock cars you had to make sure all the buttons were manually pushed down and then you usually had to hold the outside handle while you shut the door. I guess that was to make you think about whether or not you left your keys inside.

 

[snubbyfan]

Yup, time marches on.
As far as I'm concerned there's too much technology being integrated into everyday devices.
I miss the days before power steering, brakes, windows, door locks and computer controlled electronic everything.
My truck's a base model 2009 4wd Tacoma with a manual transmission, door locks and windows. It has a little dial on the dash to shift the transfer case instead of a proper shift lever, not too fond of that but that's how they do it now.

My first car was a '75 Toyota Corolla SR5. Manual transmission, steering and brakes. Carburetor and dual point distributor. I never use A/C so I just had it removed. I miss that car.
I've always had manual transmissions. My wife can drive a stick but she's happy with her little dinky '08 Toyota Yaris. It has an automatic transmission and still gets up to 40mpg.

 

[Comrad]

How about named exchanges in the number. We were Edison 8-then the four digit number when I was growing up and it was a party line. Heavy black boat anchor of a phone, no springy coiled cord either.

 

[P&R Fan]

My house is a 105 year old acreage. On the wall in the basement is a rotary phone that is still hooked up and works fine. I took all three of my kids down and asked them to make a call on it. None of 'em could. When I showed them how, my son wanted to dial the area code first, since that's what he has to do on his cell phone.

And yeah, I can drive a stick. Don't have a (running) one right now, but my next purchase is gonna have a clutch.
Jim

 

[smokey04]

As an Army contract Helicopter Instructor, I actually had a young Lt.ask me where the clock was on the instrument panel. He looked real puzzled and said he didn't know how to use it.He had only ever used a digital clock and couldn't tell time on a regular clock.I wouldn't embarrass a New England School for Boys on the Hudson by saying where this young man graduated with from, with honors! Nick

 

[PALADIN85020]

As an Army contract Helicopter Instructor, I actually had a young Lt.ask me where the clock was on the instrument panel. He looked real puzzled and said he didn't know how to use it.He had only ever used a digital clock and couldn't tell time on a regular clock.I wouldn't embarrass a New England School for Boys on the Hudson by saying where this young man graduated with from, with honors! Nick

Show him a REAL analog watch and tell him that when Mickey's little hand is on the 4, his big hand is on the 12, and the sun is in the sky, it's 1600 hours.

John

 

[rwsmith]

Yeah, if you had a number....

We had a rotary phone in the 90s. I hated that thing! Lol! All that waiting for it to go ALL the way back with every turn.

If you dialed a phone number with a lot of 8s, 9s and 0s you had to be a little patient. I remember a few times 'helping' the dial return to its start position.

 

[rwsmith]

Digital watches.......Yuk

As an Army contract Helicopter Instructor, I actually had a young Lt.ask me where the clock was on the instrument panel. He looked real puzzled and said he didn't know how to use it.He had only ever used a digital clock and couldn't tell time on a regular clock.I wouldn't embarrass a New England School for Boys on the Hudson by saying where this young man graduated with from, with honors! Nick

After the novelty wore off digital watches I loath them. You read one and you have a number like 9:47 and I have to think, ok that's 13 minutes til 10:00. With analog hands I don't have to do that second step because I can see right away how time there is until 10:00.

 

[Grayfox]

Not only do I remember rotary phones, I have two of 'em in the house.
Not only can I drive a stick shift, I can drive anything from a "three on the tree" to a 13 speed Road Ranger with Deep Reduction.
I still have some LPs, cassette tapes and 8-Tracks around here. Watched a movie on VHS a few days ago too.

But to be honest, these new smart phones confuse the hell outta me.

 

[Bkreutz]

Even people who know how to drive a stick do a "double take" when seeing this. (my 1947 Jeep)

 

[Mike McLellan]

So, what's that ringing noise it keeps making? By the time I find the key, and open the box, it stops.