Term I haven't heard in a long time - car humor

[Peter Gariepy]

I came across this phrase in a book yesterday "FENDER SKIRTS". A term I haven't heard in a long time and thinking about "fender skirts" started me thinking about other words that quietly disappear from our language with hardly a notice.

Like "curb feelers" and "steering knobs." Since I'd been thinking of cars, my mind naturally went that direction first. Any kids will probably have to find some elderly person over 50 to explain some of these terms to you

Remember "Continental kits?" They were rear bumper extenders and spare tire covers that were supposed to make any car as cool as a Lincoln Continental.

When did we quit calling them "emergency brakes?" At some point "parking brake" became the proper term. But I miss the hint of drama that went with "emergency brake."

I'm sad, too, that almost all the old folks are gone who would call the accelerator the "foot feed"

Didn't you ever wait at the street for your daddy to come home, so you could ride the "running board" up to the house?

Here's a phrase I heard all the time in my youth but never anymore - "store-bought." Of course, just about everything is store-bought these days. But once it was bragging material to have a store-bought dress or a store-bought bag of candy.

"Coast to coast" is a phrase that once held all sorts of excitement and now means almost nothing. Now we take the term "world wide" for granted. This floors me.

On a smaller scale, "wall-to-wall" was once a magical term in our homes. In the '50s, everyone covered his or her hardwood floors with, wow, wall-to-wall carpeting! Today, everyone replaces their wall-to-wall carpeting with hardwood floors. Go figure.

When's the last time you heard the quaint phrase "in a family way?" It's hard to imagine that the word "pregnant" was once considered a little too graphic, a little too clinical for use in polite company. So we had all that talk about stork visits and "being in a family way" or simply"expecting."

Apparently "brassiere" is a word no longer in usage. I said it the other day and my daughter cracked up. I guess it's just "bra" now "Unmentionables" probably wouldn't be understood at all.

I always loved going to the "picture show," but I considered "movie" an affectation.

Most of these words go back to the '50s, but here's a pure-'60s word I came across the other day - "rat fink." Ooh, what a nasty put-down!

Here's a word I miss - "percolator." That was just a fun word to say. And what was it replaced with? "Coffee maker." How dull. Mr. Coffee, I blame you for this.

I miss those made-up marketing words that were meant to sound so modern and now sound so retro. Words like "DynaFlow" and "Electrolux." Introducing the 1963 Admiral TV, now with "SpectraVision!"

Food for thought - Was there a telethon that wiped out lumbago? Nobody complains of that anymore. Maybe that's what castor oil cured, because I never hear mothers threatening kids with castor oil anymore.

Some words aren't gone, but are definitely on the endangered list. The one that grieves me most "supper." Now everybody says "dinner." Save a great word. Invite someone to supper. Discuss fender skirts.

[Guest De Soto Frank]

Pete,

Actually, I've been feeling a little "grippey", of late...

More archaic auto-jargon...

"running-board"

"cowl-lamps"

"ditch light"

And some general forgotten items:

"privvy"

"spring house" (where we country folk kept our milk & eggs cold before the REA )

"vacuum-tube"

"coal-scuttle"

"stove-lid"

"piano-roll" (NOT an event in the World's Strongest Man competition!)

"gas mantle"

"gas key"

"light key"

(Someone else's turn now... )

[R W Burgess]

Peter, We still have supper in Virginia! <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

The rugs in my youth were scatter rugs, couldn't afford a wall to wall carpet. Before that it was just a leniolium(SIC) covering over most floors with still a lot of wood showing...perish the thought! <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

My family used to "roll up the rugs" to put on the weekly "hoedown", actually rock and roll victorola for music. We still have all of the 45's, but the covers have been long gone. My family had many friends that rotated the weekly dances, where I found my love for rock and roll. Now, my son, Mike and I do the Karaoke thing. People are amazed he knows all of those early songs. We'll probably sing a couple on Awards night before the regular musical group shows up. <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> Mike plays a mean piano.

Fender skirts are still around, especially on 50's Fords and Chevy. My good friend Paul Stosch has them on his red '63 SS Chevy with A/C.

Never had to use the emergency brake for an emergency. Actually the "racers" of today tie back the foot mounted emergency brakes so they can swing the rear of the car out to make a fast turn, ever tried that? Ask my daughter, she knows someone who does/has. <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Wayne

[Rick Hoover]

Electrolux? Buy a Hoover!

[Guest leadsled1953]

one phrases i dont miss is outhouse carwise i miss things like glasspacks fenderskirts ,and wolf whistle not showing up in normal conversation.

[R Walling]

My Father always spoke of his machine when he refered to our car.

We also used out "lap robe" and viewed it as a normal part of driveing.

[Guest stude8]

How many remember the late Jean Shepard and his radio stories of going to the summer cottage "Ollie Hopnoodles Haven of Bliss" in dads old Pontiac. The itch of the stiff mohair on your legs... Stude8

[Guest BillP]

port-o-walls

cutouts

duals

honest charlie

spinners, flippers

moon discs

lake pipes

tri-power

cheater slicks

reversed wheels

spider caps

nosed, decked

frenched

tuck & roll

weiand say why-and

duntov

holman & moody

ak miller

harry miller

jim hall

phil hill

graham hill

mark donahue

colin chapman

summers brothers

mickey thompson

malcolm campbell

dan gurney

eric broadley, lola

and on, and on...

finding a car in a barn for under a hundred bucks.

[Bhigdog]

Peter, Funny you should mention "percolater". I just bought a 50's era GE percolater coffee pot at a yard sale for $2. It was love at first sight. Beautiful round curves, bakelite handle and base, and chrome so deep it looks like you could reach your arm into it. It reminded me of my 55 Buick. It works perfectly.......Bob

[Gman]

Supper is still popular, as mentioned, in Virginia; at least, here in the Valley. When I lived in Fairfax County (outside DC) you never heard the term, but, then again, that place is considered "yankee" by most of the state.

"Dinner" out here is the lunch meal.

[Aanderson44]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Peter, Funny you should mention "percolater". I just bought a 50's era GE percolater coffee pot at a yard sale for $2. It was love at first sight. Beautiful round curves, bakelite handle and base, and chrome so deep it looks like you could reach your arm into it. It reminded me of my 55 Buick. It works perfectly.......Bob </div></div>

Well, what about the vacuum coffee-makers? Looked kinda like a space-aged double boiler (oh, there's another bygone item, huh?) with a glass rod down the denter to allow the coffee to be drawn back into the lower part, while holding back (supposed to, anyway) the coffee grounds in the upper part. Remember when everyone, everywhere, seemed to keep stuff cold in the Fridgidaire (no matter that it might be some other brand!)/

Oxymoronic brand name appliances like Hotpoint refrigerators,and Coldspot stoves? A wife of a loyal Farmall or McCormick tractor farmer wouldn't dare have a refrigerator, freezer, airconditioner or even a TV that didn't bear the IH logo. Oh, and such marvelous inventions as the Bendix Rubber-Tub automatic washer (it had a rubber washing tub, and a rubber seal around the lid, so that when the pump started, sucking out the water, the sides of the rubber tub were supposed to collapse inward, squeezing all the water out of the laundry--but never did work quite that way! Electric ironers--now those were great! Just sit down, use your knee to actuate the on-off switch, which make the padded, covered roller propel your sheets, even the collars of dress shirts, through the thing, against a curved heated iron?

Csr-wise, what about those aftermarket windshield visors, ugly as sin, to keep the sun out? Oh, and then the little periscope units you had to have with them, so you could see an overhead stoplight? What about the little rubber-bladed fans some people screwed onto dashboards, one at each end, to defrost the windshield? Of course, Moo-horns, and Wolf-whistles! (the latter would probably land you in court to answer to a sex-harassment suit today) And, Chrysler Corporation's curious, large center mounted brake lights, the original HMSL's?

And, before Port-a-Walls, how about the metal (and plastic!) white beauty rings, so popular on Chrysler Corporation cars in 46-47, as a way of getting around the next-to-unobtainium white sidewall tires.

Anyone remember the silly litte cargo trailers that Sears, Wards, and JC Whitney sold, that clamped on to your rear bumper, hinged up and down, with a single, castering rear tire? Plaid woven vinyl seat covers, in absolutely hideous colors, or those hot, sticky (but colder than a welldiggers belt buckle in winter) clear vinyl seat covers??? Oh, and the one present that every boy's dad got, somewhere along the way of his kid's growing up? The dashboard compass!

Out front, what about chrome headlight visors, or even those very questionable half-headlight covers, chrome of course! Mudflaps (or Kentucky Go-Fasters) in white, with big red glass jewel reflectors in the middle of them. Venetian blinds for the back window of your car usually denoted some elderly driver, as did stainless steel window shades on the side windows. And for the absolutely fastidious, GM's vacuum ashtray!

Free maps, and free air at every gas station--and gas stations seemingly at every street corner, often one on each corner of an intersection. Coming home from a vacation trip with a dozen or more garish bumper stickers on your car, from such scenic places as Rock City.

Car games played on long trips, to keep the kids busy: Alphabet games, find all letters of the alphabet from billboards and road signs--of course, the verified sighting of a cat in a window, or a cemetary directly across the road from a junkyard were absolutely trump--guarranteed that the kid who first spotted them (verified by Mom, of course) won the game. On a long trip, when you spotted another car bearing a license plate from your hometown, you honked your horn and waved, particularly if you were several states away from home.

Vacuum cleaners? Hoover, if your folks were practical, Electrolux or Filter Queen if you could convince them that Buck Rogers really was real, and the ultimate, the absolute armored car of all of them, the classic Kirby--which guarranteed aerobic exercise with every housecleaning. The ultimate torture for any kid unfortunate enough to get roped into spring cleaning--the curtain stretcher--you know, that rickety collapsible wooden frame, studded liberally with sharp pointed nails, over which you helped your mother stretch and impale the fine curtains from the living room after they'd been washed, so they'd dry wrinkle free (hopefully with no blood spots from young fingers impaled on all those little nails!)

How about the pleasure of Mom daubing, liberally, your skinned knee with dayglo red Tincture of Merthyolate--as you tried manfully not to scream your head off (damn! That stuff, and Iodine, stung like blazes!)

Brands? Philco, Admiral, Ipana, Maltomeal, Milnot, Lifebuoy, Kix, Kellogg's Pep, Kodak Brownie, Smith Corona, Underwood, US Royal, New Departure bicycle brakes, Armstrong Tires that Gripped the Road, with an ounce of prevention every inch of the tread, Standard Red Crown, Gold Crown and White Crown gasoline, Texaco Fire Chief gasoline, Marfak Lubrication, Good Gulf gasoline, D-X Gasoline, and Clark Super 100 Gasoline served up by Fisbee and the Chief in TV commercials.

One game we kids all played back in the 50's, with our bikes: Stealing Mom's best spring closepins, and her best Canasta deck, then clipping the playing cards to the fender brackets of our Schwinns, to make that cool motor sound when we rode.

Ahh, those were the days, huh?

Art

[Guest South_paw]

I got a few long gone terms from the Auto body industry

Carriage shop

Body and fender shop

Red lead

Bink's model 7 spray gun

A dozer(frame straightener)

Duco paint

Dulux paint

Ditzler paint

R-M paint

Lead

A jitter bug sander

And the most popular long gone term "liquid ebony"

Here's some other car terms almost gone

Carburetor shop

Chrome bumper shop

A choke

Bumper guards

Curb feelers

Gas station maps

[Guest leadsled1953]

go to http://www.ephemeranow.com/ .this site will jog your memory .it has 40s/50s car art.it also has decor art....man i remember those bathroom colors. .check out the station wagon ad art work.

[Guest leadsled1953]

i guess the retro crowd has a lot to learn language wise

[Peter J.Heizmann]

<img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> This may be an extremely local, forgotten phrase: "Puff the engine".

It was my late Grandfather's terminology for "Revving the engine".

I have not heard it since his passing, nor, from anyone else when he was with us.

Peter J. <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

[Guest leadsled1953]

i think along with the words and phrases we are losing the stories that went along with the old cars.my Dad told me about a open touring maxwell his family had when he was a kid.he told me about a trip to the Chicago worlds Fair in a 29 ford sedan.i miss the stories.my Mom learned to drive in a model a with my uncle running along side telling her what to do.the cars today have no soul.they are just machines.they like toasters will not have stories.

[kensams]

hmmm well i live in south carolina and they have a funny term called

cranking the engine...

i do it all the time to my maxwell.

what about the mill dont cars have a mill anymore

where did the revolving license plate in the trunk go?

but they still have the whiskey tanks in the trunk down here.

and what the heck is a hose pipe?

and i just found out that a bush hog is not related to a ground hog.

and here is one for you...egg preserve...if you have herad of this i need to talk to you, it was made by a pharmasist here and i need some desperatily...has nothing to do with eggs....

or the"choke"

what about the headlight detectors that would dim your lights when an on comming car was comming?

and dont forget the spare tire...gone for ever.

or the spark advance.

or the vacuum wipers

or the manual wipers

or the float in the oilpan

and have you ever jacked your car up and held it up with a wooden block while you spun the rear wheel with your hands to start the car then run to the drivers door and pushed the car off the blocks and jumped in?

and what ever happened to the guy that would vacuum out your car while you were waiting for HIM to fill the gas tank? (fuel cell)

where is the bubble maching in the music videos now?

lawrence who?

and what ever happened to elke summers.

and rochester & jack

and i always thought a greas gun was a machine gun that was used by the untouchables.

and what about the external air conditioner that chevy had that hung on the outside of the passengers window.

and what about the hollywood stop?

or peeling out?

hey what about rear wheel drive?...a thing of the past

and i have never used my mind to steer with i always use manual steering.

and always brake manually.

or the high bean switch on the floor...the new switch on the turn signal switch has caused a lot of accidents in the south with people getting there foot caught in the steering wheel trying to dim there lights.

and now we have congolieum instead of lenolium.

down here people cook in the house and go to the bathroom outside...up north we cook outside and go to the bathroom inside....

and we never had a sears catalogue

and what is corn pone?

and brand new...never heard of that brand

and what ever happened to hitchhikers?

and burma shave signs?

and hitching posts?

and the really needed watering troughs...you need one of those if you drive a maxwell....

and what happened to barbershops and butcher shops?

now its a hair stylist and walmart deli...

and the 2 story moble home for the rich...

and last but not least why were they called wreckers?

[Shop Rat]

Double-clutching when you shifted gears.

4-60 Air Conditioning.

Chinese fire drills.

Making your friends chip in for gas when you gave them a ride since they didn't own a car.

Having to wash and vacuum the car once a week to get to drive it.

And on a non-car note, remember when a skate key was a valuable thing to have?

[1937hd45]

Just think what images come to mind when you read these numbers. 1932,1903,1909,392,327,289,97,554,6-71,3,14,999,1912,1929,1941,1945,911

[Aanderson44]

Peter,

Don't laugh! Rear wheel drive is alive and well! Ford Crown Victoria, Mercury Grand Marquis, Lincoln Town Car, EVERY Mustang ever built, Dodge Magnum & Charger, Chrysler 300C are all rear wheel drive.

Also, along the northern tier of counties in IN, from Elkhart east almost to the Ohio line, even McDonald's have hitching racks, for Amish buggies (also in a couple of counties in Southern IN. For the uninitiated visitor/tourist, there are even nice yellow "diamond" signs with a black silhouette of a horse & buggy.

Art

[Aanderson44]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">i think along with the words and phrases we are losing the stories that went along with the old cars.my Dad told me about a open touring maxwell his family had when he was a kid.he told me about a trip to the Chicago worlds Fair in a 29 ford sedan.i miss the stories.my Mom learned to drive in a model a with my uncle running along side telling her what to do.the cars today have no soul.they are just machines.they like toasters will not have stories. </div></div>

On a CD (transferred from a magnetic tape) I have Dad's recounting of a trip from Chase, IN to Rantoul IL (Chanute Field) in 1918 for an airshow--the first time any of them had ever seen an airplane, BTW. The trip home was in torrential rains, Grandpa blowing out the headlights on the Model T by overreving the engine, continuing on in pitch black darkness on muddy dirt roads, all the while with 6 kids and 4 adults huddled in the car, top up, side curtains up--Grandpa cussing in Swedish under his breath. Funny, funny story!

Art

[Aanderson44]

More faded terms!

Sanforized (meaning pre-shrunk, as in clothing)

Drip-dry (didn't we kids do that an awful lot back in the day?)

Seersucker (remember that fabric in shirts,kids' playclothes, Dad's summer suits?)

Hat Blocking

Gum-dipped cord in Firestone tires?

Inner tubes

Bumper Jacks

D-A haircuts

Flattops

"Pegged" pants

White Bucks

Going to the hardware store for "stove bolts" (1/4-28 bolts with slotted heads)

Ten-penny nails

Whitewash (lime-based white paint)

Cadillac Blue Coral Wax

Butchwax (how do you think we youngsters made our flattops stand up straight?)

Brylcreem

Wildroot Kreme-Oil

Tooth Powder

Shaving Brush

Razor Strop

Straight Razor

Weekly trip to the barber shop?

Wallpaper cleaner (you know, that modeling clay-like stuff you rubbed over the wallpaper to get the grunge from the furnace off of it?)

Furnace stoker

Ash pit

Jerkwater town (where steam locomotives stopped to fill up the tender with water)

Coal chute

Coal bin

Wash tub

Wash boiler

Sad iron

Cooking with gas

Coal Oil

Back porch

Skate key

"Church key"

Bottle opener

Interurban

Flare pots

Cream separator

Milk cans

Butter Molds

Console radios

Darning eggs and needles

Laundry starch

Fording a creek (or stream or river)

Shucking pegs (for hand-shucking corn)

Binder twine

Lotta things have gone by the wayside over the years, huh?

Art

[Guest tin knocker]

My dad referred to the trunk of our car as the "turtle", a holdover from his days of the Model T.

[Guest De Soto Frank]

Hey Kensams...

That egg-preservative you mentioned: it was known as "water-glass" (sodium-silicate), and if you can't get it from your local druggist, try a plumbing & heating supplier - the stuff is still used to cement refractory blankets to the insides of oil-fired boilers and furnaces.

More forgotten words:

Vulcanizing kit

Hot patch (see above)

Tire Iron

Jiffy Curtains (before we had roll-down windows in our cars)

Coal gas

Carbide lamps

Monkey-Wrench

Wash boiler

Clothes Mangle

Wash day

Plug Fuse

Benjamin Cluster

Drop cord

Cistern

[R W Burgess]

That's hilarious Art, Sure wish that could be put on the web site some way. I'd love to hear that story.

Wayne

[Guest leadsled1953]

Art,that is great that you have that.it sounds like it was a real adventure[something lacking in todays world].its a nice thing to hand down to the kids.

[Guest imported_MrEarl]

What about

<span style="font-weight: bold">BLACK AND WHITE</span>

You could hardly see for all the snow,

Spread the rabbit ears as far as they go.

Pull a chair up to the TV set,

"Good Night, David. Good Night, Chet."

Depending on the channel you tuned,

You got Rob and Laura - or Ward and June.

It felt so good. It felt so right.

Life looked better in black and white.

I Love Lucy, The Real McCoys,

Dennis the Menace, the Cleaver boys,

Rawhide, Gunsmoke, Wagon Train,

Superman, Jimmy and Lois Lane.

Father Knows Best, Patty Duke,

Rin Tin Tin and Lassie too,

Donna Reed on Thursday night! --

Life looked better in black and white.

I wanna go back to black and white.

Everything always turned out right.

Simple people, simple lives...

Good guys always won the fights.

Now nothing is the way it seems,

In living color on the TV screen.

Too many murders, too many fights,

I wanna go back to black and white.

In God they trusted, alone in bed, they slept,

A promise made was a promise kept.

They never cussed or broke their vows.

They'd never make the network now.

But if I could, I'd rather be

In a TV town in '53.

It felt so good. It felt so right.

Life looked better in black and white.

I'd trade all the channels on the satellite,

If I could just turn back the clock tonight

To when everybody knew wrong from right.

<span style="font-weight: bold">Life was better in black and white!</span>

[Oxnard Montalvo]

How about good old <span style="font-weight: bold">PLEASE</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold">THANK YOU</span> .

[Guest leadsled1953]

and if you didnt say Please and Thank you you got your backside tanned.and for you younger readers that has nothing to do with a sun lamp

[Shop Rat]

I have two little friends that I watch when their parents go out. One is four and one will be four in March. BOTH are very polite and say please and thank you and sometimes they remember you're welcome in response to hearing thank you.

Two little gentlemen.

[Guest leadsled1953]

for you jene Shepard fans[you'll shoot your eye out kid] http://www.achristmasstoryhouse.com/index.shtml the pic with the olsmobile in the drive is a nice pic.

[Guest HeyPop]

Ah yes! Remember when the service station attendant ask you "Check the oil? Do your windows?" instead of sitting behind a bulletproof window and waiting for you to slide your credit card or GOD FORBID -CASH! under the little slot? How about being the new kid pumping gas after school and all the cars started to come in with their gas caps hidden behind tail lights and license plates? Remember when we actually had to get up off the sofa to turn down the sound or change channels...click, click, click. "Tenna-rotor", "Door to Door", House calls, Radiola, Excuse me, You first, Top off the tank, Take it for a spin, Sunday drive (not to be confused with a 'Sunday Driver'), Sock Hop, Sadie Hawkin's Dance, field trips, and on and on and on. Boy did you folks open up a box of memories!!!

[Guest leadsled1953]

ashtrays and cup holders.both my new chevys have no ashtrays or cigarettee lighters.but they have half a dozen cup holders.my desoto and chryslers have ashtrays [the 66 had 2 for the front]and lighters.no cup holders.i tell people that if you wanted a cup of java back then you would stop at a diner ,sit down and drink it.

[Guest SASSYSUE]

i had to laugh when you mentioned fender skirts on cars as a matter of fact my 75 caprice has them and they are original. you dont see that on cars anymore. maybe its a good thing as its hard to keep the tires and the wire wheel covers clean.