Show Your Age!

wing_zealot wrote:
I was just thinking about this the other day, not a car thing but it is "showing your age". When I was a kid you use to hear the sonic boom from jets breaking the sound barrier all the time. I probably haven't heard that in 50 years. I'm sure in some locales, due to special circumstances, folks may still hear it from time to time. But when I was a kid it was pretty common.

When I was young, I used to see the Navy Blimps from Lakehurst, NJ, headed out on Submarine Patrol and returning later on. We used to wave to the crews!

I lived on Staten Island at the time.... oh yeah, I remember the Searchlights searching the sky for enemy planes every night.

They did a sonic boom experiment in the 60's in Oklahoma City. The subjected the town to 8 booms a day for 3 months. It was part of the XB-70 mach 3 bomber project when they thought the plane would become the US version of the Concorde. They actually had a schedule when the booms were to occur.

At first everyone was cool, but before the 3 months was up residents were calling their congressmen and the military was getting heat from senators to stop the tests.

Gads.
Car history:
'61 Dodge Lancer 4 door - pea green. Bought it for a hundred bucks in the back lot of the Rambler dealer. Someone monkeyed in a floor shifter to replace the 3 on the tree - no boot - was fun getting the girlfriends wet driving through puddles. Lost girlfriends.

'57 Chev 210 2 door post, 283 V8 4bbl with bashed front-end. Bought replacement front clip for $35 that was nearly the same color - Chevy Orange with a white roof. Tough metal in those cars... Someone installed a Mystic-shifter on the floor to replace the 3-on-the-tree - it was a sweet shifter but it eventually took a tooth off the idler for 1st and reverse. Had replacement tranny in trunk but didn't have the ability & tools to swap it. Begrudgingly sold the '57 for $250 that same year. Wish I still had that car.

Very similar to my friend's '57:


'63 Chev Impala 4 door, 2 speed Powerglide, 283 V8, deep blue-green metallic. Got lots of miles, only real problem was the 2-piece driveline had a center bearing bracket that was prone to breakage. This was still body-on-frame - but it was a X frame with full coil suspension. Went in navy, sold '63.

'63 Olds 98 2 door hardtop, metallic brown. 394 big block, 9mpg in town, 13 on the road unless I was doing 70+, then it got 17-18mpg. Dang fun car. Sold when gas hit 80 cents a gallon, we were restricted to odd/even plate numbers.

'70 Datsun 1200 fastback. Smoked like a chimney at startup - San Diego-ians hated that. 40mpg. Title had a lien on it from the prior owner - a shipmate - fought with United Finance for months before I got the title. Customized with spoilers and had a 1400 & 5 speed ready to install, but it never happened. Sold to a friend.



'72 1/2 Datsun pickup that was nearly totaled. Replaced front clip, rebuilt engine & tranny, customized.



My parents had a '54 GMC pickup that Dad bought in '56 as a farm & work truck. Floor starter, straight 6 with a granny-gear 4 on the floor. My brother had it restored a few years ago:



My Cars & trucks & etc page on PBase...

So many memories.

I think they put out regulations about Sonic Booms in the US. They tended to break a lot of windows. I have heard that the aerial stunt teams like to fly outside the US because they are not regulated and they can have more fun.

wing_zealot wrote:
When I was a kid you use to hear the sonic boom from jets breaking the sound barrier all the time. I probably haven't heard that in 50 years. I'm sure in some locales, due to special circumstances, folks may still hear it from time to time. But when I was a kid it was pretty common.

Maybe some techies finally got together with the military-industrial-complex crowd and designed out sonic booms. Sonic booms probably interfer with today's young folks trying to concentrate on their iWhatevers. :B

I was just thinking about this the other day, not a car thing but it is "showing your age". When I was a kid you use to hear the sonic boom from jets breaking the sound barrier all the time. I probably haven't heard that in 50 years. I'm sure in some locales, due to special circumstances, folks may still hear it from time to time. But when I was a kid it was pretty common.

Johno02 wrote:
Isn't it amazing what us old Far-s know?? Especially those of us that have difficulty with a Smartphone!

:: high five ::

I no longer have a gap tool... and I ran over my smart phone yesterday. It still works, kind of. But I had to wrap it in clear packing tape.

Isn't it amazing what us old Far-s know?? Especially those of us that have difficulty with a Smartphone!

Johno02 wrote:
Actually we were talking about the vibrator cans in a car radio, but the ones on the model t coils do the same thing for the same reason. Anybody else know why??

The vibrator rapidly switches the input polarity, creating a pseudo AC current output that can be raised to a higher voltage using a transformer.

Actually we were talking about the vibrator cans in a car radio, but the ones on the model t coils do the same thing for the same reason. Anybody else know why??