Get a SCHWINN in 1964

I never owned a Schwinn until I was in college. My first bike was a blue and white Huffy with training wheels. I imagine it was what was for sale at the base exchange. I did love that bike and still remember the time my dad took the training wheels off. I was terrified of falling, but he told me he'd hold onto the back of the bike to make sure that didn't happen. So off we went along the sidewalk (same sidewalk I'd run on to test my PF Flyers) only to discover my dad was not holding on at all. I was on my own. It was exciting. I rode my bike into the street doing circles in front of the house. My parents were proud and I'd discovered that sometimes you just have to take a chance.

Source: Jack and Jill, October 1964

When we moved to Hawaii the Navy shipped my bike with our household belongings. I can remember riding it through the military neighborhood to get down to the beach to watch the ships come in to Pearl Harbor. Eventually my folks bought me a larger bike and my mom used the Huffy. Actually, I think my next bike—which was green and white—was also a Huffy. When we moved back to the mainland Huffy #1 stayed in Hawaii; Huffy #2 came to California.

I didn't know that Schwinn had gone out of business. That's sad to hear. It seems Huffy hung onfor awhile until Walmart did them in. Geez I hate Walmart. I will not enter their store. I find better prices elsewhere with less damage done to local businesses.

The Schwinn Bicycle Company was founded by German-born mechanical engineer Ignaz Schwinn (1860–1945) in Chicago in 1895. It became the dominant manufacturer of American bicycles through most of the 20th century. After declaring bankruptcy in 1992, it has since been a sub-brand of Pacific Cycle, owned by the multi-national conglomerate, Dorel Industries. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

And then Huffy:

By the mid 1990s, Huffy was in deep financial trouble. The U.S. Bicycle industry had consolidated, sharply reducing the number of channels for selling bikes. High-volume retailers had claimed three fourths of the U.S. market, gaining tremendous leverage over bicycle makers. Wal Mart in particular was pressuring Huffy: it ordered 900,000 bikes at one time, but insisted that Huffy lower its prices significantly. To remain a major player in the bicycle market, the Ohio company had little choice but to agree. Even with Huffy's other non-unionized manufacturing plants, it could not make a profit selling bicycles at the prices Wal Mart, its biggest customer, was willing to pay. After requesting and getting a pay cut for its unionized workforce in Ohio, Huffy returned to profitability for two years only to again crumple under the pricing pressure applied by Wal Mart. This forced Huffy to close its Celina, Ohio plant and lay off all 935 employees. Their other two factories in Missouri and Mississippi soon fell to the same fate for the same reason. Even after subcontracting production to China, where plant workers earned only 25 to 41 cents per hour, it remained unable to operate at a profit. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 8 available at Amazon.

Get enough SUGAR FOR BREAKFAST?

I ate a lot of cereal as a kid. I was partial to Cheerios, Sugar Smacks, Rice Krispies, and Sugar Pops. I was partial to sugar. It's a wonder I could function.

I do remember in the 50s being one of those kids who would see a cereal ad on tv and then beg my mom for it. My poor dad was always the one who ended up eating my experiments. I remember especially wanting a box of Jets. My dad said that one was the worst of all of them. I ate one bite and refused to eat the rest. The saying in our house was, "Give it to dad, he'll eat anything." My family didn't have money to waste so indeed, dad ate the crap.

This ad comes from a 1964 Jack and Jill magazine I found at an estate sale. I was long past Jack and Jill by the time this ad ran and I don't remember this cereal. But, I'm sure I'd have begged my mom for a box.

Click on image to see it larger.

Now watch the commercial and imagine how much parents wanted to kill the creators of this targeted propaganda.

And just for old time sake...



Mind you, I also fell for the PF Flyers ad that said you could fly if you wore them. I used to run down the sidewalk, which went slightly downhill, picking up speed as I went, only to take a leap right before the final curb and the street. I was convinced I would eventually fly. I never did. I always stopped short of the street. However, the neighbors must have wondered about this kid running down the sidewalk full tilt only to take a little leap, land, turn around and walk back up the sidewalk only to do it again and again. So I'm pretty sure I was convinced Jets would have enable me to break the boundaries of gravity.

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Tattered and Lost volumes 1 to 8 available at Amazon.

Let's BUY A NEW CAR!

Time to go car shopping. Yeah, just the words "go car shopping" feels like fingernails on a blackboard. Have you ever been followed across a car lot by an obnoxious salesman who is yelling at you because he thinks he can harass you into buying from him? I hate shopping for cars and have my own personal stories of bad car dealerships. However, my last purchase couldn't have gone better. Very satisfied with everything. So I'll let you go shopping for a car because I intend to keep mine into my 70s.

For some reason people seem to like the silver gray car color. Individually I guess they look fine, but when I'm walking through a parking lot and see row after row of silver gray cars I feel like I'm surrounded by pod people. The cars all look alike even though they're from different manufacturers. There is a drabness to them. How does anyone find their silver gray drone when they go back to the lot? I'll admit that I'm a red car sort of person. Has nothing to do with wanting to be noticed which seems to be the cliche about red car owners. I just like the color. I especially like the color when it's shiny and pretty and stands out in a parking lot. I can easily find my car…unless there's another red one parked next to it. This happened not long after I purchased my car. Came out of Costco to find the exact same car parked next to mine. At that point it was so new I didn't yet have a license on it so I had to look inside to see if something looked familiar.

Anyway…let's go shopping…in 1954.

NASH…it's a car…it's an airplane…it's a bed! Who knew?


Click on image to see it larger. (SOURCE: National Geographic, June 1954)

Ambassador was the model name applied to the senior line of Nash automobiles from 1932 until 1957. From 1958 until the end of the 1974 model year, the Ambassador was the product of American Motors Corporation (AMC), which continued to use the Ambassador model name on its top-of-the-line models, making it "one of the longest-lived automobile nameplates in automotive history.

In 1954 the Nash Ambassador was the first American automobile to have a front-end, fully integrated heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning system. The heating and ventilation system system was called Weather Eye and now could equipped with Nash-Kelvinators' advanced Automobile air conditioning unit. While other manufacturers in America at the time offered A/C on some models, their air conditioning units were driven by a large and heavy, trunk mounted expander and heat exchanger that carried the air into the car via clear plastic tubes and out through ceiling mounted vents. Nash's unit was inexpensive, compact, fit under the hood, and could either circulate fresh or recycled air. With a single thermostatic control, the Nash passenger compartment air cooling option was described as "a good and remarkably inexpensive" system. The option was priced well below systems offered by other carmakers (in 1955, Nash offered it at USm$345, against $550 for Oldsmobile or $570 for Chrysler); other makers, such as Ford, did not even offer optional air conditioning. (At the time, even a heater was not always standard equipment.) (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

Want to see images of Nash cars in movies? Seriously, I'm not kidding. Click here. Kind of cool. You'll find the 1954 Nash was used in the classic Frank Sinatra movie written by Sterling Hayden called Suddenly. How about the old Superman series? Yup, Nash Ambassador. Then there's always Bride of the Monster. Yeah, no idea.

Click here to go to the website for the Nash Car Club of America.

BANKERS...men of integrity...???

I hate to say it, but at one time you could sort of trust your banker. I admit that growing up with parents who lived through the depression I was never fond of banks. I had images of the banker driving up to a dust bowl farm and evicting the family. So my distaste of bankers was not fully formed. It might have been a little irrational...back then. Now?

Try to imagine a bank running an ad like this today. Let's get the folks at Chase sitting around a table trying to convince us they're doing right by their customers and not just lining their Armani pockets.


SOURCE: Sunset, July 1969

Example...your bankers at work today.

Beans and bacon IN THE VOTING BOOTH

Generally I post only vintage ephemera, choosing to not deal with current printed material that at some point might be considered worthy of collecting. And then I saw this and realized that only now would it make sense; 10 years from now it will be irrelevant.

This ad was in the February 26th Parade supplement to the newspaper. Perhaps it’s just me, but is Campbell's Soup showing their political leanings? Was this a conscious decision to use this photo of a man who rather resembles someone running for president, including the gray streaks, with this caption below? And for a bean and bacon (ham) soup?

I’ll let you vote on it. I personally find the whole thing pretty odd and funny.