Does anyone remember:
When postal trucks, street collection boxes, and pickup boxes that use to sit on street corners, etc., were painted olive drab with yellow lettering? At times, it was difficult from a distance to distinguish between an army truck and a postal truck.
When the post man delivered mail to the front door? If he had a truck, the mailman parked it in the neighborhood and using a side pouch delivered mail on foot.
When eight sided stop signs were painted yellow with black lettering? The changeover was 1954. Sometimes the stop signs had glass beads embedded in the lettering.
When most high school boys on a date did not want to be caught dead driving a four door sedan? The only thing worse was a station wagon. A two door sedan, hardtop, or convertible was the preferred car.
When the Army wore olive drab uniforms? In 1954 the Army switched to green over a period of several years. Now the Army is in the process of switching from green to blue uniforms with a target year completion in 2015. The troops will now look like, more or less, the cavalry depicted in the movies. When I first went in to the army, one could wear a khaki summer uniform with shorts and a tan pith helmet as an option. Khakis were tossed in the 70s and greens were worn year around. The pith helmet and the shorts did not go over very well.
When the military used flame throwers, as shown in a lot of old movies? These were tossed by the Army in 1978, or so.
When cars had 6 volt batteries? My 53 and 54 fords had 6 volt batteries. In 1956, Ford switched to a 12 volt battery. The reason given was that there were so many accessories on "modern" cars that more electrical power was needed. I have often wondered why cars have not gone to 18 or 24 volts since then, although my uncle had an eighties Pontiac diesel sedan that had two batteries under the hood.
Little League, high school, and college teams used wood bats? Now I have heard there may be a trend back to wood.
When a night at the movies included a bloc of filmed commercials, a newsreel from the movie studio’s news department, a cartoon, and perhaps an educational short subject?
