I miss the 1970's.

This thread makes me nostalgic, too. It was a simpler time.

In the summers we had stereo wars when our parents weren't home. Played badmitton, croquet, cards. Drank coke from a bottle and return the bottles for refunds. Chased down the ice cream man.

Got my drivers license - cruised certain streets - went to Dairy Queen, Pizza Hut, TPed houses of friends. Loved high school football and crisp fall evenings.

My first job was working in a Mom & Pop grocery store. I did everything - stocked shelves, rang up and bagged groceries. Delivered groceries for seniors or busy career people.

To this day Brut cologne makes me think of my first boyfriends. Being female, I wore Love's Baby Soft and Love's Lemon.
 
Me too. I was born in the early 70's but I sure do miss the isolated little town Cordova in Alaska where I spent my elementary school years. No roads in or out. Boats and planes were the only way around. Complete and total freedom to run and explorer almost at will. I sure wish I could go back there sometime.
 
One good thing about 2008 is all that 70's audio gear is now affordable. I graduated high school in 71 and the local stereo store (David Beatty's in KC) had Maggies, ESS, Macs and Naks that I used to dream about owning. It took over 30 years but they're not dreams anymore. I can finally afford them. Nice thread, thanks.
 
.....Great opening post, Dave/Dread31....it surely promoted a good thread that I suspect is not nearly done yet.....

.....I see TenToze is back to the avatar we all like the best....
 
Great thread everyone.
I was born in 1960 so the 70's were right in the middle of my most memorable years. Everything "important" that could happen to a guy happened to me between 1970 and 1979. I still fondly recall:
>Getting my first shortwave radio and discovering the world (what the hell ever happened to interval signals?)
>My first girlfriend (first kiss, for that matter)
>Making the rounds of all the trash cans in all the neighborhood parks early on the morning of July 5th and collecting all the dud fireworks, then taking them all apart and making my OWN fireworks (yeah, I was a pyro)
>Getting my license and cruising the town (Albuquerque, NM) in Mom's 1973 VW Bus loaded with all my buddies.
>My brother and I and our gang heading out to the "mesa" (actually, just an undeveloped lot near the house) to chase lizards...(and occasionally finding Playboy magazines dumped out there)
>The smell of rosin-core solder while tinkering on one project or another
>Listening to really great non-corporate selected music on KRST 92.3FM
>Camping with the family (longest trip was a whole 14 days long!) at Fenton Lake or the forests north of Taos or the Jemez campgrounds.
>Spontaneous one day trips to the Sandia Mountains at Doc Long or Cole Springs picnic area
>The as-regular-as-clockwork summertime desert thunderstorms during the monsoon season.
>Getting home from school and watching the syndicated reruns. For years, it was the same lineup:
I Love Lucy
Get Smart
Gilligan's Island
Star Trek
Mission Impossible
NBC network news
Local news on CBS affiliate KGGM 13 (where my dad was the anchorman)
>Picking up "black sand" from the bottom of the flood-control ditches with magnets.
>Staying up all hours of seemingly endless summer nights with a cheap Sears telescope.
>Constantly adjusting, tinkering or building new "improved" antenna systems for my SW receivers. I had as much fun building antennae as I did using them on my ever-growing collection of receivers.

As nostalgic as I am about those times, I can honestly say that now, today, I am more content with my life than I have ever been - "good old days" notwithstanding. And not to rub it in, but I:
Can still see my feet (in fact, I still weigh what I did 25 years ago - 160)
Still have all my hair - and a lot of it, like some 30 inches long. (My wife likes it long and for that matter, so do I: It's my little way of rebelling against the "system")
Still occasionally indulge in burning material other than tobacco:smoke: and have pretty much given alcohol up completely.
 
Just to keep things in perspective...

Polyester
The 1977 Pontiac Grand Am
Opera Windows

I do miss my 1970s set of wheels though...

bronchusspiffed.jpg


I took this photo in June of 1976... but it wasn't developed and printed until the summer of 2008. No idea why it was never developed.

This 1974 Bronco is still roadworthy and, though no longer mine nor in my family, it belongs to a family friend in MD who is restoring it.
 
Don't miss the '72 Pinto I drove to college in the mid 70's. What a piece of junk, my brother and I went through the same morning ritual, spraying alcohol down the carborator trying not to get burned by the tower of flames, most days to get it started on very cold mornings in upstate NY.

I really do miss the LP's and the big album jackets. I know I can still get vinyl, I still have a significant sized collection, but I am too lazy to do the required maintenance and then keep getting up to turn the LP over every 20 minutes. I like the convenience of the CD's but with these damn bi-focals I cant read the liner notes anymore or find all of the naked women in the art work.

The quality of the artists and variety of musical styles was amazing in the 70's. Way better then the crap on the radio today or the stuff from the 80's and 90's. Have you noticed the lack of live albums by todays "artists"? Most cannot even play and sing without the producer's post processing. In the 70's some of the best LP's were live versions. Even my kids can see it when one of them trys to perform live on TV.

The 70's were the best era, my three kids just don't have the same kind of fun with the video games, Intenet, and the iPods.

Martin
 
I think a lot of the motivation for us now in our 50's getting back into vintage gear and records is to kick-start great memories of the 70's when we had a lot of independence and none of the responsibilities of adults.

The 70's was a time of great music, movies, food, beer, tv shows, sports teams, and politics.

Cheers, Snade
 
I miss the days of: $40 New Balance shoes (US made to boot), Heathkits, Dynaco kits and real HH Scott gear. $5.98 vinyl, Walking to the record shop and to my job at WATO/WUUU in Oak Ridge. The Music Box which was our hi-fi emporium. Yard sales in Oak Ridge which got me cheap hi-fi and vinyl. No car payments, the carefree life. Few responsibilities. A nice town which was fitness friendly. Real cokes with cane sugar cheap.
 
1974-My dad got me a new Gremlin. Angel Modulation radidio, auto, power brakes, that was it. He soon traded it on a Gremlin X that had Levi's seats, AM/FM STEREO radio, A/C-AMC called it "Weather Eye", & I remember the 17000 pieces of ill-fitting plastic that made up the dash-and they ALL squeaked & rattled if you hit a chughole. But it was WHEELS, & beat my best bud Tom's Mustang 2, 'cause mine was a 6 & his was a 4...People wouldn't put up w/ghastly cars like that nowadays...Yet we thought they were fine. Then I got a '76 Olds Cutlass Supreme Brougham, w/the "Loose Pillow" "Whore's Drawers"-style fabric upholstery...Tom promptly dropped a lit cigar on the front seat one night when we were tomcattin' around in it...I coulda killed him...(grin)
 
I wish I had my ol' Cotton Picker back...Couldn't ride the damthing anymore, but still...W/the springs, you could ride over the biggest chughole in town & not feel it too bad...My dad traded it on a very expensive 10-speed Schwinn..I HATED it...The seat hurt, you had to ride it all hunched over, it rode HARD, I had more wrecks on it than I ever did w/the Cotton Picker...Seems like I was forevermore fixin' flats on it, too...
 
Sandy G said:
I wish I had my ol' Cotton Picker back...Couldn't ride the damthing anymore, but still...W/the springs, you could ride over the biggest chughole in town & not feel it too bad...My dad traded it on a very expensive 10-speed Schwinn..I HATED it...The seat hurt, you had to ride it all hunched over, it rode HARD, I had more wrecks on it than I ever did w/the Cotton Picker...Seems like I was forevermore fixin' flats on it, too...
Click to expand...

70cotton.jpg
 
I had the "Lemon Peeler". Mine didn't have a front fender though or maybe it did and I took it off. Those were the days when you rode your bike EVERYWHERE!
 
I had a Ross Apollo (3-speed). A few years back, I picked up an Apollo 5-speed from a neighborhood garage sale for $12. It's not pristine, but it is functional. I can still ride it, although in my hilly neighborhood, it's not fun for me so to do.

Not as pretty as the bronze one I had as a kid, though.
 
In 7th grade, I purchased a G&S deck with Rad Pads, ACS 651 trucks, and Orange 60mm (w/ raised letters) Kryptonics wheels.

In my Adidas Superstars, red Levis cords, wide-ass belt w/ three prongs, long hair parted down the middle, and Hang Ten T-shirt, I was irresistible to the ladies.
 
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