The following list is for "a mature audience" names of devices long ago. Do you remember them. Post one reply per person por favor unless responses run out of steam. Explain what each phrase or name meant:PORTA WALLSLAKES PIPESAPPLETONSNO VIBRATOR, NO......? (get cute and vulgar and you'll get a flat)(?) AUTOMOBILES ALWAYS USED POSITIVE GROUNDU.S. ROYAL MASTERS INTRODUCED THE FIRST OF THESETHE NAME OF THE TUBE THAT HUNG DOWN BESIDE THE OIL PANWHICH AUTOMATIC TRANS CARS COULD BE PUSH STARTEDVIBRASONICFeel free to add more. This is part of auto tech history

Seista Walls (in Western Canada) AKA Portawalls, also known as, "white wall inserts", slap-ons, Mickies, fake white walls, etc etc etc

Had a '64 Dodge automatic I could push start. Push button shift, too.

Lake Pipes were popular "hot rod" add-ons. In the lower slung cars (Corvettes in particular) adding headers made the exhaust too low, so they brought the pipe out the side of the fender and ran the pipes down the side of the car under the front door."she purrs like a kitten till the lake pipes roar"

Old English cars tended to use the positive "earth".

The starter was a push button switch that was on the floor well left of the clutch.OrWhen the running boards disappeared and we little kids could not be part of the picture when dad talked to the neighbour what just stopped in the middle of the road to chat.

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westend
Explorer
Feb 04, 2015
My 47 Dodge had a manual throttle knob on the dash. I had a few of these late 40's Dodges with the Slushomatic tranny (3 on the tree and you could shift or not as was your pleasure).
Positive ground ended in the 50's. It was always a knee slapper to see a guy hook up the battery backwards and watch the fan blades go backwards.

How about skirts? they were definitely a cosmetic enrichment. Continental kits, too.
MEXICOWANDERER
Explorer
Feb 04, 2015
Quirky hint:

Appletons were impossible not to spot even at a hundred feet. But only in daylight
They were worse than useless at night. Their glare at noon however was enough to cause a heache.
owenssailor
Explorer
Feb 04, 2015
Remember vacuum motor wiper blades. Try to accelerate and the wipers would stop.
pnichols
Explorer II
Feb 04, 2015
The car I used when I went to college had a crank start option ... and I had to stand out in the front and use it a few times when the battery was down.

Any others of you had that?
RoadXYZ
Explorer II
Feb 04, 2015
Thanx for the Memories of 60s ...
RLS7201
Explorer II
Feb 04, 2015
Dutch_12078 wrote:
MrWizard wrote:

as said english cars had positive ground, IF you know electrical theory it makes more sense than the American system of neg ground

Many US cars also had 6-volt positive ground systems in the 40's and early 50's. Chrysler and Ford brands both used it. If I recall correctly (never a given at my age!), both went to negative ground with the introduction of the OHC engines that replaced the venerable flatheads.

My 31 A model was 6 volt negative ground. So was my 1950 Chevy. I believe Chevy changed over from positive earth some where in the 40s.

Richard
Vixen21
Explorer
Feb 04, 2015
I had Dagmar bumpers on my 61 Impala hardtop
(not my car)
Cloud_Dancer
Explorer II
Feb 04, 2015
Frenched door handles, Appleton electric door latches.......???
MEXICOWANDERER
Explorer
Feb 04, 2015
Chromed objects. Purely for show. Almost mandatory for a chopped '50 Mercury. Probably a dead giveaway clue but Appletons had no handle.
Dutch_12078
Explorer II
Feb 04, 2015
MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
I am smiling big-time :)
But not one comment about APPLETONS

I guess we'll need a little more of a hint on the "APPLETONS", Mex. The only "Appletons" I know of is a cafe in Lake Mary, FL. I think there's an Appletons Museum as well, somewhere in Florida.

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