Things Old Geezers remember from 1955

[junqueyardjim]

That's only 55 years ago!

'I'll tell you one thing, if things keep going the way they are, it's going
to be impossible to buy a week's groceries for $10.00.

'Have you seen the new cars coming out next year? It won't be long before
$1, 000.00 will only buy a used one.

'If cigarettes keep going up in price, I'm going to quit. 20 cents a pack is
ridiculous...

'Did you hear the post office is thinking about charging 7 cents just to
mail a letter?

'If they raise the minimum wage to $1.00, nobody will be able to hire
outside help at the store.

'When I first started driving, who would have thought gas would someday cost
25 cents a gallon. Guess we'd be better off leaving the car in the garage.

'I'm afraid to send my kids to the movies any more Ever since they let Clark
Gable get by with saying DAMN in GONE WITH THE WIND, it seems every new
movie has either HELL or DAMN in it.

'I read the other day where some scientist thinks it's possible to put a man
on the moon by the end of the century. They even have some fellows they call
astronauts preparing for it down in Texas.

'Did you see where some baseball player just signed a contract for $50,000 a
year just to play ball? It wouldn't surprise me if someday they'll be making
more than the President..

'I never thought I'd see the day all our kitchen appliances would be
electric. They are even making electric typewriters now..

'It's too bad things are so tough nowadays. I see where a few married women
are having to work to make ends meet.

'It won't be long before young couples are going to have to hire someone to
watch their kids so they can both work.

'I'm afraid the Volkswagen car is going to open the door to a whole lot of
foreign business.

'Thank goodness I won't live to see the day when the Government takes half
our income in taxes.. I sometimes wonder if we are electing the best people
to government.

'The drive-in restaurant is convenient in nice weather, but I seriously
doubt they will ever catch on.

'There is no sense going on short trips anymore, with hotels now costing us
$2.00 per night!

'No one can afford to be sick anymore, at $15.00 a day in the hospital, it's
too rich for my blood.'

'If they think I'll pay 30 cents for a haircut, forget it.

[dynalow]

I remember the first time I saw a microwave. My college roomate's girlfriend's father worked for GE and for some reason we were at his home. He showed us this box that could boil water in a minute! He was sooo hyped up over it! This was in '69 or '70. I guess GE was in the market by then.

http://gadgets.softpedia.com/news/History-of-the-Microwave-Oven-042-01.html


In 1965 Raytheon acquired Amana, which introduced the first popular home model, the countertop Radarange in 1967 at a price of US$495, marking the beginning of the use of microwave ovens in home kitchens. Although sales were slow during the first few years, partially due to the oven’s relatively high price tag, the concept of quick microwave cooking had arrived.

In the 1960s, Litton bought Studebaker's Franklin Manufacturing assets, which had been manufacturing magnetrons and building and selling microwave ovens similar to the Radarange. Litton then developed a new configuration of the microwave, the short, wide shape that is now common. The magnetron feed was also unique.

This resulted in an oven that could survive a no-load condition indefinitely. The new oven was shown at a trade show in Chicago, and helped jumpstart a rapid growth of the market for home microwave ovens. Sales volumes of 40,000 units for the US industry in 1970 grew to one million by 1975. Market penetration in Japan, which had learned to build less expensive units by re-engineering a cheaper magnetron, was faster.

[dynalow]

When the Ford Crown Victoria actually had a crown !!!
A chrome crown across the roof.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1955_Ford_Crown_Victoria.jpg

[MS Fowler]

Originally Posted by dynalow

When the Ford Crown Victoria actually had a crown !!!
A chrome crown across the roof.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1955_Ford_Crown_Victoria.jpg

Sorry to be such a futst, but the crown was polished Stainless Steel. At least that is what I remember.

[dynalow]

Originally Posted by MS Fowler

Sorry to be such a futst, but the crown was polished Stainless Steel. At least that is what I remember.

You may be right! I may be crazy! I was a mere lad of 10 From the pic linked, it appears chrome, although it well could be a customized detail.
We had a Ford station wagon..a three seater. Nothing snazzy like a Crown Vic Coupe.

[MS Fowler]

Originally Posted by dynalow

You may be right! I may be crazy! I was a mere lad of 10 From the pic linked, it appears chrome, although it well could be a customized detail.
We had a Ford station wagon..a three seater. Nothing snazzy like a Crown Vic Coupe.

This is opening up a door on some old memories. My Dad had a '56 Fairlane, 4 dr sedan in two tone green. I seem to remember the thunderbird engine emblem on the front fender.
We took a family vacation trip one VERY HOT summer. After we arrived at the destination, my dad went in to get the key to our cabin. We were just sitting there in the car in the shade, and all of a sudden the back window exploded all over my brother and me. Dad came out and demanded to know what we had done. Fortunately, mom was there to tell him that we actually had done nothing.
The really neat thing about SS trim is that it buffs easily. I have tajen some very bent pieces, and used a body hammer and dolly, then then a rough file to get them into shape. Followed the file work with sandpaper, and then some time on the buffing wheel with various compounds. The results were amazing--not due to my skills, but due to the thickness of the SS trim. They don't build them like they used to.

[PaulC]

I remember when Marty McFly came by in that stupid silver car and smashed right through my barn door.

[Pooka]

This must have come from an e-mail because....

In my part of the world (Fort Worth) in 1955...

Gas cost .18 cents a gallon. Diesel was about .12 cents.

Minimum wage was .65 cents an hour.

Missions to outer space were not even considered until 1958 when the Russians put up Sputink.

The Federal Income Tax was as high as 96% around that time.

Hotels cost far more then $2. The last time I saw that price was in 1951 at the Hotel on Main which was near the Fort Worth Stockyards. The best rooms were $5, but that included the services of a, shall we say, Chambermaid (if you catch my drift). Ten dollars a night was more like it for a nice place, but you could get a room for $5 a night or $2 an hour at a hot-sheet tourist court.

One of the biggest burger joints in Texas was Sybil's in Dallas. They claim to have invented the 'Drive-In' with car-hops on roller skates.

I paid .65 or .75 cents for a haircut at the Barber shop located on the corner of Azle Ave. and Kerney Street.

Good wages for a working man then was $120 a week.

[rs899]

The first microwave oven I can remember seeing was at the New York World's Fair in 1964

[panZZer]

Before my time..... The chevy V8 came out in 55, it had to wait a couple yrs before it was made into 283 cubes and worth a damn.

[tbomachines]

Back when hills were only up, no matter which way you were headed--compounded by endless snow

[PaulC]

Originally Posted by tbomachines

Back when hills were only up, no matter which way you were headed--compounded by endless snow

You could also leave your doors unlocked all the time and your silverware on the front porch, confident that it would all be there when you got back from church.

[MTI]

Disneyland, the Happiest Place on Earth, opened in 1955

[barry123400]

A good older used car was 100.00 or less if you looked around. Auto insurance was less than 100 per year. A decent new house was perhaps 12,000 dollars in the area I grew up in. That house in fact might have been considered a little upscale. Building cost was perhaps about 12.00 a square foot. Today it is at least 150.00 a square foot depending where you live..

Even though I lived from that period to this it is kind of abstract now. Like another world in fact. In the fifties I believe inflation was pretty flat and wages were rising.

There is no reason that overall price of most commodities will not keep increasing. We have been warned to expect upward pressure on food prices this year for example. I believe a loaf of bread was perhaps .20c in 1955.

Public transportation was cheap as well in comparison. Every age group has a story. I doubt many could have guessed what the last fifty or so years would bring.

For the younger guys that may be around fifty years from now it is impossible to really know what things will be like. The only gaurantee is things will be different.

[rs899]

I believe a loaf of bread was perhaps .20c in 1955.

I distinctly remember stocking Marvel Bread priced at $.29 at the A&P I worked at in 1974.