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Car Guy
The Golden Years
Missing the 1980s, big time.
(Page 3 of 3)
David Lee Roth may have worn skintight yellow leotards, but cyclists generally did not. The “live strong” cult — and its lurid ball-hugging/package-displaying accouterments — were still a few years yet to come.
If you rode a bike back then, you probably wore cut-off shorts and T-shirt.
And no one insisted — at gunpoint — that you wear a helmet.
Photo: UPI
About the Author
Eric Peters is an automotive columnist and author of Automotive Atrocities: The Cars You Love to Hate (Motor Books International) and a new book, Road Hogs.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (39) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Eric Peters
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Appleby| 3.21.13 @ 6:52AM
Considering the fact that 90% of the people behind the wheel are not paying any attention to the road or the other cars on it -- their heads being buried in that two inch screen welded to their hands -- it's a miracle that even with all those enumerated rules, that more people aren't dying in smoking ruins on every highway in North America. And by the way, earlier this week a guy was caught doing burnouts in a strip mall parking lot after he had lost control of his car and smashed up FIVE stores. Yep, we want more of that all right.
SUBVET| 3.21.13 @ 9:42AM
Apple queen.......your off your Zoloft
alice921| 3.21.13 @ 3:50PM
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Bob K| 3.21.13 @ 7:12AM
Right!
We need more rules!
Everyone must wear mittens while driving!
Sean| 3.21.13 @ 7:28AM
You are right on. I remember always riding in the back of pick ups. No one was forced to wear seat belts a whole trip. as kids driving cross country we could move around in my parents van. As a kid you could sit in the front seat.
California back then had less gun laws than Texas does now. People use to open carry all the time.
John Navratil| 3.21.13 @ 8:01AM
Ah, yes! That was when men were men and women were sex objects!
R Martin| 3.21.13 @ 8:54AM
The good old days.
SUBVET| 3.21.13 @ 9:43AM
Yes......the drive-in movie
Bob Grant| 3.21.13 @ 11:57AM
Yes, yes...the drive-in movie.
EVERYTHING happened at the drive-in movie I frequented as a high schooler/twentysomething.
The girls; the fights; the petty larceny and associated run-ins with the law; the drinking; the showing off of one's prized possession(s): the girlfriend, the vehicle, the stereo, etc; the cheap concession food that somehow tasted great after drinking a six pack of Baby Bulls; the B-rate movies; etc.
My youth in a nutshell.It was exactly like the movie American Graffiti, and relatively innocent compared to today's standards.
What happened to drive-ins? Were they banned? Did Bloomberg do away with them?
JD| 3.21.13 @ 12:22PM
Nowadays, the men are getting taxpayer-subsidized operations to become women who will marry other women.
Pecos Pete| 3.21.13 @ 8:21AM
Mr. Peters: Why didn't you mention bicycles and tricycles? And playground toys for the wee ones. Even professional football where the nannies are starting to rule.
I get a laugh regularly watching dudes riding horses on western saddles wearing helmets. John Wayne, where are you when we need you?
Maxwell| 3.21.13 @ 8:22AM
I remember walking into my first Harley shop. the year was '55 & it did not did not look like Bloomies with all the clothes, t-shirts, chrome, & display signs. It was a HARLEY shop. The shop floor was oak with all the oil droppings to give it that rich patina. The smell was like perfume to my nose & the sound was music to my ears. Electric start, real men kicked started their Harley's. Boots & jackets were heavy & black. It was functional not a fashion statement.
R Martin| 3.21.13 @ 8:58AM
I watched a news report last night on the expanded use of drones and how they are becoming miniaturized. As I saw the hummingbird sized examples I wondered how long it will be before they are flying above our roads looking for nanny state transgressors.
SUBVET| 3.21.13 @ 9:51AM
Eric...........the last time I checked a 71 GTX was going for 60k if it was a Hemi try 90-100k. In 1968 I paid 3260.00 for a 1968 GTX new, one of many fast cars I have owned.
Carlos McDuck| 3.21.13 @ 10:16AM
Hey now, Peters! Just because you're too fat to wear regular cycling clothing doesn't mean the rest of us have to adopt your sloppy garb.
aquanomics| 3.21.13 @ 10:40AM
If you inflate 1980 gas by the cpi, you get $3.17/gallon. And it's much cleaner, better gas today. Your 5700/2700 inflation is off by 25% according to cpi. Most 21st century cars will run circles around xx-era muscle cars while being much safer to boot. And quieter. And more long lasting and reliable.
But the GTX still makes my heart skip a beat.
John Navratil| 3.21.13 @ 4:22PM
aquanomics,
And if you inflate 1999 gasoline prices, you get $1.50.
http://inflationdata.com/Infla.....lation.asp
Joe D.| 3.21.13 @ 10:52AM
I understand your points. The Socialist Nanny states and feds have ruin alot of America and its wonderful freedoms.
Who Knows?| 3.21.13 @ 10:54AM
Lots of people hate war, but as is noted, war may like them.
Just so for ANY change. You may hate it, but it loves you.
Change is constant!
Proof? Memories both bless and curse.
I remember dissing the parents of a friend in the 50’s, for basking in nostalgia, via worshiping old photos held in their old hands. “I’ll never be like them, when I’m their age!”
Hah!
The thing about old cars is they never age, physically, essentially, IF you spend the time to maintain them---they are machines.
But “old” women, who were once nubile and irresistible when you were young? Uh uh.
I just finally saw “Sunset Boulevard”, the classic from 1950, with an “old” Gloria Swanson—age 50---playing an irrelevant, aging silent screen star. What a hoot, for this 70 year old—c’est moi.
She looked pretty good, to me, NOW!
Me---I wax for the ‘50s, especially 1955. That was THE YEAR when cars really broke out of the “old” mold.
Petronius| 3.21.13 @ 11:03AM
Such is life in the Weenie States of Amerika. Mom always told me, "be glad you lived when you have." Today, we are no longer living. And soon, those who own this great old iron from the days when NASCAR ran unlimited will not be able to fuel or insure them; legally. When the premium they run on now gets the E 85 treatment, the pistons will burn and the last great drive will come to a halt. This country needs an enema. And with the damned black boxes recording how we drive I'm tempted to buy my next car at FastLane. If the doc tells me my cancer is malignant, so mote it be. I doubt there's a 67 Charger 383 deuce out there with my name on it, but I can still dream. The Weenies can't get into my head; yet!
Darthloki| 3.21.13 @ 11:32AM
In the movie Ferris Buellers day off they borrowed Camerons dads Ferrari and took it for a joy ride without wearing helmets. The fact that they borrowed a Ferrari and not a prius is telling.
R Martin| 3.21.13 @ 11:59AM
"Prius" should always be pronunced with a long "i" (Pry.us) a la Jeremy Clarkson as a word of derision.
JD| 3.21.13 @ 12:23PM
I prefer the South Park version - drop the R.
Bob Grant| 3.21.13 @ 11:36AM
I mean really, who would want to spend time rebuilding a muscle car when you can spend countless hours playing Grand Theft Auto 21?
The under 35 (male) crowd does not miss what it never had a chance of having anyway.
Really now, did Barry Obama Sotero (God/hero of the U35 crowd) have any idea (or cared) what was under the the hood of the Choom Wagon?
To the people of that era, just enjoy what you had and experienced. Today's youth have no interest in it as evidence by how they voted in the last election. They had a chance to self correct their '08 mistake but chose less freedom.
Let 'em choke on Grand Theft Auto 53 as their life passes them by!
SUBVET| 3.21.13 @ 9:54PM
Yes......my senior year in HS ... cruising Van Nuys Blvd. heading to Bob's big Boy looking for a race on the way. At the corner of Victory and VN blvd. this guy pulls up along side and blips the gas. I pretend I don't hear it or notice him. The light turns green I am gone. As I come to a stop at the next light I look over and it's a 61 Ford skyliner 427. This time we both know it's on. Just as the light is ready to turn green 2 lapd motor officers turn in front of us. Later on that night we both ran into one another again. This time we move to a side street and run. I have been beat before but not that night. All I did in HS in my spare time was build my ride......if I got beat add one more thing to make it faster. I have had many fast cars but my 56 Chevy 210 post was quick light to light. It had a 301 cu in. dual quad engine, 4 speed, 512 posi rr gears, w/cheater slicks top speed was about 105 but very quick.
My 68 GTX ran through the lights at San Fernando drags with a 106 mph/1280 et.
Those were the days........
nathan| 3.21.13 @ 11:46AM
Drinking. Any number of studies show that on closed courses start one drink will impact performance. More drinks impacts performance more. People do not have the right to indulge vices, phones/drinking whatever and endanger others. NO. Last year drinking killed as many people on the highway as guns did (murder victims). Kids under 12 are far more at risk going to school because of drunk drivers than AT school. We do 3 9/11's every year on the highway because people drink and drive. One solution: Drink/drive/hurt somebody, go to jail (due process of course) and NEVER get out again. Get caught drinking and driving lose your license for five years. If one shooting can trigger all that gun control (which I don't support) well drinking and driving which is TOTALLY indefensible needs to be taken VERY seriously. I'm tired of being a target on the highway. You want to drink, fine, do it at home, or get a designated driver. The Founders believed in freedom but not license. Freedom but responsibility.
R Martin| 3.21.13 @ 11:56AM
Mayor Bloomberg has just provided his two cents.
nathan| 3.21.13 @ 12:42PM
I'm sorry Mr. Martin do I take it you consider drinking and driving to be acceptable behavior? I mean you had to love it didn't you, the Cleveland Browns player that drank, crossed the center line, did he spend ANY time in jail? We can make convincing cases for firearms, 2.5 million times a year they're used in self defense right? How many lives do they save? But what value does drinking and driving produce for us? Care to name one? Just one? I'm sorry but freedom demands responsibility. The Founders never supported license in any manner. Find a quote that said they did from Madison (my favorite) or any other Founder. You can't. I'm in favor of legalizing drugs for that matter but if you use and hurt someone, then pay the price. Because no one has a RIGHT to harm other people in pursuit of their vices. NO ONE.
John Navratil| 3.21.13 @ 4:31PM
nathan,
Let's work a little puzzle here. There are drunk driving laws and open container laws. When you get stopped with an open container, what crime are you charged with? Well, it depends on whether or not you are intoxicated, doesn't it. The open container law criminalizes the driver who is, by definition, not drunk doesn't it?
There are lots of impacts on performance. Lack or sleep among the most dangerous, emotional upset, work stress, allergy meds. The BAC is the legal definition of what sufficient impairment is to be charged with a crime.
Your statement that freedom demands responsibility is complete and total rubbish. The two are unrelated; more specifically you have confused liberty and license - not an uncommon failing of the liberal mind. Responsibility demands control, not freedom. Freedom is, in fact, the ability to make mistakes.
nathan| 3.22.13 @ 7:00AM
I agree lots of things impact performance, including prescription drugs which carry warning labels. And again, based on the studies involving drivers on open courses, one drink at a time, I can make a VERY convincing case that .8 is too high. Let's go to .5 maybe.
What you didn't do is make a compelling case for why people should EVER get behind the wheel with even one drink in them. Name a benefit to society here. I can make a case for the Second Amendment, and routine do, make an equal case for driving after throwing a few back. go ahead . . .
I notice in your last paragragh no quote from the Founders to support you. Couldn't find one? They made it clear over and over again, your rights end where mine begin. People in the exercise of their rights do not have the right to endanger others and that means even with guns that you are responsible where that bullet goes when you pull the trigger. Y0u have an obligation to be get training. "The ability to make mistakes"? When that means drinking four beers, crossing the center line and killing four children? Keep telling yourself that. Until that beer drinker takes out someone YOU care about. Then come back here and tell me you still believe what you just wrote.
Again, I agree with legalization, but get caught drinking and driving, and lose your license for like forever. Hurt someone, life imprisonment.
Moe Blotz| 3.22.13 @ 8:59AM
If your BAC were .8, you would be dead. Most states are moving to .08 BAC, down from .1 and is unrealistic. You could get busted for having drunk too much cough syrup. Car and Driver did a test where their columnists selected a favourite tipple to embibe and then drove through an obstacle course. One bloke drank whisky, one drank a red wine, one chose beer. After driving the course sober, each driver had one drink and waited for the beverage to enter his system. The second timed drive around the course showed an improvement in ET. After each drive, another drink was consumed by the drivers. After the second drink, ETs became slower and the vehicles were hitting pylons. Eventually the drivers were going completely off course and laughing about it. What baffled the research was the actual improvement in negotiating the driving course after one drink. The phenomenon was explained by a psychologist the editorial staff contacted: the drivers were relaxed after one drink and less worried about hitting pylons. One or two drinks does not make one drunk, except in states with unrealistically low BAC rules. The problem drivers are the ones who sit at the bar for a few hours pounding drinks.
John Navratil| 3.22.13 @ 1:53PM
Moe Blotz,
Precisely. Nathan thinks one is too many which is ridiculous. The carnage accidents making the news are people blowing .2 or more. Even if having a third glass of wine with dinner is an actual impediment to driving - which I acknowledge - where is the carnage?
NHTSA has estimated that talking on the cell phone impairs the driver as much as .08 BAC does. The nannies want to ban the cell phones.
When Texas reduced the BAC from .1 to .08 the argument was that SOME people couldn't handle .1. But they retained the law which maintains exceeding the BAC limit is an irrebuttable presumption of guilt.
John Navratil| 3.22.13 @ 1:44PM
"Name a benefit to society here"
Freedom!
John Navratil| 3.22.13 @ 2:10PM
nathan,
As regards your statement that my rights end were yours begin, I agree. But pushed to the extreme that means I can drive as drunk as Cooter Brown so long as I don't hit you. Back to that liberty/license thing. The BAC laws have nothing to do with your rights and freedom. They are the license granted by the state as a privilege to drive.
Take your zero tolerance, which means total intolerance and put it where it will do you the most good.
WhiteBikerTrash| 3.21.13 @ 1:46PM
Ah, you bring back memories.
Late 70s I traded a 66 Mustang 289 4 speed for a 67 Fairlane GTA 390 C-6 trans then I built a bored and stroked Ford 427 cross bolt to throw in it. Low 12s in street trim I also picked up a Yamaha RZ 350 in 1984 put aftermarket expansion chambers on it and rode the hell out of it.
Now I drive a Lincoln Town Car, ride Harleys and own 4X4s.
4X4s and Harleys are the only things I can modify any more.
DAM| 3.21.13 @ 2:14PM
About that Spandex; I'd be happy if it just remained with the bikers who insist on its superior aerodynamics. But it is now considered acceptable casual wear (even business casual) by many women. I am SO tired of seeing cellulite and camel toe with micron-thick material stretched over them.
John Navratil| 3.21.13 @ 4:38PM
DAM,
I'm with you on the cellulite ;)
Tafuna| 3.21.13 @ 7:48PM
Back in the early 80s I was stationed in Texas, and there was a commercial that ran on TV for Lone Star beer (the "national beer of Texas" it called itself). A couple was shown driving down a lonely west Texas highway. They're pulled over by a state cop, and the scene shifts to the inside of their vehicle with a six pack of open Lone Star beer between the pair. Is the cop going to ticket them for having an open container? No, of course not. This is (or was) Texas, and there was no law against having an open beer in the car. No, what the state cop wanted to do was to warn the couple that there was "a giant armadillo on the road up ahead, and he's stealing Lone Star beer."
Moe Blotz| 3.22.13 @ 9:01AM
Texas was one of the last states to enact an open container banning law. The US DOT threatened the state with holding back their highway "trust fund" money if they did not comply.