Fuzzy dice

[Leif in Calif]

You see a lot of 50's cars with fuzzy dice. Was this actually something that people did in the early 50's? 

I was born in '50 so my earliest car experiences are later 50's. I do remember my older sister's boy friend had bongo drums on the back shelf of his '55 Ford. 

[rocketraider]

JC Whitney/Warshawsky, Pep Boys, and even your FLAPS influenced a lot of "style" and "personalization" in the 1950s and 1960s. Fuzzy dice were one of the milder things that could be added to make your car your own. Never mind airboddy else had the same trinkety stuff on theirs.

 

I came along at a time when hanging your high school graduation tassel on the rearview mirror was the thing. Also putting a piece of colored cellophane inside the dome light lens to create "ambient lighting". 

 

About 30 years ago there were LIGHTED fuzzy dice. Plug it into yer lighter socket and hope you didn't forget to unplug it during daylight and come back to a weak or dead battery.

 

 

[Peter J.Heizmann]

17 minutes ago, rocketraider said:

JC Whitney/Warshawsky, Pep Boys, and even your FLAPS influenced a lot of "style" and "personalization" in the 1950s and 1960s. Fuzzy dice were one of the milder things that could be added to make your car your own. Never mind airboddy else had the same trinkety stuff on theirs.

 

I came along at a time when hanging your high school graduation tassel on the rearview mirror was the thing. Also putting a piece of colored cellophane inside the dome light lens to create "ambient lighting". 

 

About 30 years ago there were LIGHTED fuzzy dice. Plug it into yer lighter socket and hope you didn't forget to unplug it during daylight and come back to a weak or dead battery.

 

 

Hey, Glenn.  Don’t forget putting balls of aluminum foil between the hub cap and wheel hoping it would foul cop’s radar readings as the wheel spun.  (I can attest that it did not work…😳)

 

Ah, the ‘ol’ tassel hanging on the rear view mirror…I thought that was too impress the radar cop that I was somewhat intelligent…(this also did not work…😳)

 

[7th Son]

 

Faux shrunken heads were the "thing" back in my high school days...late '50's...west coast. 

 

 

 

 

[Leif in Calif]

56 minutes ago, 7th Son said:

 

Faux shrunken heads were the "thing" back in my high school days...late '50's...west coast. 

 

 

 

 

I do remember those! Also there fantastic amount of stuff available from J C Whitney! 

[60FlatTop]

I was born in 1948, got interested in the car hobby in the summer of 1959. I am in the backwoods of the east coast. A lot of the 1950s we didn't know about until American Graffiti showed up in movie houses nationwide.

 

There is a good chance a lot of today's Kodachrome memories came from the spare bedroom of a script writer's house on Long Island.

 

I had my graduation tassel hanging from my rear view mirror for a year until I enlisted. And I was driving to school for a year before that.

Edited Sunday at 12:46 AM by 60FlatTop (see edit history)

[Restorer32]

Many may not know that Roy Warshawski, owner of JC Whitney, was a collector of Classic era Lincolns.

[Crusty Trucker]

10 minutes ago, 60FlatTop said:

There is a good chance a lot of today's Kodachrome memories came from the spare bedroom of a script writer's house on Long Island.

 

Sounds like you were originally from Missouri**

 

You should have come out west 60 years or so ago and seen what how it really was.

 

**  "The Show Me State"

[CChinn]

I did a little research and this is what I found WRT the origin of fuzzy dice in '50s era cars.

"The use of fuzzy dice is believed to be traced back to American fighter pilots during WWII.  Pilots would hang dice above their instruments displaying 7 pips before a sortie mission for good luck.  It is also speculated that the dice represented a high degree of risk associated with the fighter sorties; hundreds of pilots were shot down each week.  Upon returning after the war, many airmen continued the tradition.  Another explanation for hanging these in a car has been proposed that "displaying the dice meant the driver was ready and willing to be 'dicing with death' in the dangerous and unregulated world of street racing."

There may be other explanations out there.  I would be interested in hearing from the forum members who lived and drove during the 50s or if there are few left to tell their story, does anyone here have a father or uncle who may have mentioned this to you to verify if any of this is true?

[Matt Harwood]

How to say, "The owner of this car is a Boomer" without saying, "The owner of this car is a Boomer."

[Steve_Mack_CT]

I am 100% in favor of making fuzzy dice an infraction with perhaps a $75 fine for the first offense, doubled if on a tri-five Chevy or Thunderbird of the same year span.

[TAKerry]

I had my graduation tassel hanging from my mirror as a youth, a couple of years ago I was cleaning some stuff in the shop and found it, so I put it back on the mirror of my Trans Am, complete with the Roxy Music button that I bought at Spencers back in the day.

[Reynard]

Shrunken heads were the "thing" back in my high school days. Replicas, of course, but still. 

[CChinn]

1 hour ago, Steve_Mack_CT said:

I am 100% in favor of making fuzzy dice an infraction with perhaps a $75 fine for the first offense, doubled if on a tri-five Chevy or Thunderbird of the same year span.

Steve, do I have to go to the penalty box because I have a hula girl on the dash of my ‘53 Packard?  She reminds me of my 2 Hawaii tours during my Navy time

[Matt Harwood]

No, hula girls aren't quite the hackneyed cliche that the fuzzy dice have become.

 

The only thing worse than fuzzy dice is this:

 

[28 Chrysler]

In the small  town were I lived in Minnesota (pop. 975).

Anything that was hanging from the rear view mirror or in the back window was an invitation to get pulled over for a obstructive vision ticket and a trunk beer investigation.

If you or anyone was under 21 any beer would be relocated to the trunk of the Police car and you were told to "get home" with out a ticket.

[Steve_Mack_CT]

4 hours ago, TAKerry said:

I had my graduation tassel hanging from my mirror as a youth, a couple of years ago I was cleaning some stuff in the shop and found it, so I put it back on the mirror of my Trans Am, complete with the Roxy Music button that I bought at Spencers back in the day.

Same - except instead of a Roxy Music button I had this cool black panther air freshener - would love to find one today! 😊  I did have a Doors bumper sticker on the back of my Camaro spoiler though.

[Steve_Mack_CT]

@CChinnNo sir.  I support hula girls on dashboards... 👍😁😁

 

@Matt Harwood Mrs. Mack always suggests she could get arrested for drop kicking one of those leaning dolls one of these days...

Edited Sunday at 01:10 AM by Steve_Mack_CT (see edit history)

[Amateroy23]

9 hours ago, 7th Son said:

 

Faux shrunken heads were the "thing" back in my high school days...late '50's...west coast. 

 

 

 

 

This is legendary 😂 

[wayne sheldon]

I had one of those fake shrunken heads! Probably about the eighth grade. It hung on a dresser handle, never did go into a car.

[KURTRUK]

5 hours ago, CChinn said:

Steve, do I have to go to the penalty box because I have a hula girl on the dash of my ‘53 Packard?  She reminds me of my 2 Hawaii tours during my Navy time

To the penalty box...only because it's SOLAR POWERED! 😬

[KURTRUK]

In high school from 1977-81, (same hometown as George Lucas) the guys hung garters from the rear view mirror. I don't know why.  I didn't have a car! 🤓

Edited Sunday at 03:39 AM by KURTRUK (see edit history)

[rocketraider]

5 hours ago, Matt Harwood said:

No, hula girls aren't quite the hackneyed cliche that the fuzzy dice have become.

 

The only thing worse than fuzzy dice is this:

 

Lord deliver us from those creepy crybaby dolls!😬

 

I don't know who first came up with them but that individual should be beat around his/her ears. Creepy!

[rocketraider]

6 hours ago, TAKerry said:

I had my graduation tassel hanging from my mirror as a youth, a couple of years ago I was cleaning some stuff in the shop and found it, so I put it back on the mirror of my Trans Am, complete with the Roxy Music button that I bought at Spencers back in the day.

 

Complete with Britcar starting and pulling away!

 

My graduation tassel finally faded from Blue Comet blue to white. No idea what happened to it...🙁

[BobinVirginia]

16 hours ago, Matt Harwood said:

No, hula girls aren't quite the hackneyed cliche that the fuzzy dice have become.

 

The only thing worse than fuzzy dice is this:

 

Even worse than the doll is the signage stating how antisocial the owner must be. The obnoxious wood sign (zoom in for the full belligerence)up by the hood latch is really classy with the wooden bumper. I don’t understand the disposition of people that do display such items. Is it narcissism or plain ignorance? Both? 

Edited Sunday at 02:03 PM by BobinVirginia (see edit history)

[rocketraider]

Bob, I think you answered your own question.

 

'Round here signage like that is often combined with Tasmanian Devil trinkets. One of the local Chevy-heads even named his son "Taz". The boy (now in his 30s) hates it... Even worse for the kid, his mama is a hairstylist who kept his hair cut in a mullet from age 2 till he was in high school and finally said no more. She also had his ears pierced when he was about 5. Mama was gonna make sure her boy was one of the cool kids!

 

People do horrible things to their children to satisfy their own dreams. But Taz got his revenge. He's a car guy, but his thing is tuner cars which his Chevy-guy dad can't stand.

[BobinVirginia]

4 minutes ago, rocketraider said:

Bob, I think you answered your own question.

 

'Round here signage like that is often combined with Tasmanian Devil trinkets. One of the local Chevy-heads even named his son "Taz". The boy (now in his 30s) hates it... Even worse for the kid, his mama is a hairstylist who kept his hair cut in a mullet from age 2 till he was in high school and finally said no more. She also had his ears pierced when he was about 5. Mama was gonna make sure her boy was one of the cool kids!

 

People do horrible things to their children to satisfy their own dreams. But Taz got his revenge. He's a car guy, but his thing is tuner cars which his Chevy-guy dad can't stand.

I’m thinking of Joe Dirt’s parents in the movie right now! lol 

 

 

[Jerriffic]

15 hours ago, KURTRUK said:

In high school from 1977-81, (same hometown as George Lucas) the guys hung garters from the rear view mirror. I don't know why.  I didn't have a car! 🤓

We did the same here. My 72 Chevelle keeping up with the tradition.

 

[JACK M]

Anybody remember the kitty on the package shelf with the eyes tied into the taillights?

[76 Caddy]

My grandmother had the dog with the bobbing head on the package shelf in her car.

 

Tim

[rocketraider]

My dad had a bobblehead dog on the rear shelf in a 1960 Chevrolet. My mama despised it...

[Ed Luddy]

Alway did and still do despise the fuzzy dice. When I bought my latest 63 Bonneville convertible it had a pair of "8 Balls" hanging from the mirror. I ripped them of the mirror and threw them back at my buddy who I bought it from.