International Scout

I never heard anything bad about the International product--you just didn't see very many of them. I like this cartoon drawing of the Scout on its tippy-toes on top of the mountain.

Chinese Rail Road

As recently as 1980, the Chinese were rocking this locomotive in their system. Now, they are rocking the bullet trains. Although not without grief--corruption and graft marred the building process and three folks just got canned for not taking care of an electric train that had been laying dead on the tracks due to being struck by lightening, and was run into by another train, resulting in loss of life.

Photo is from National Geographic.

And Now For Something A Little More Practical

Oh you need room for a couple people and groceries? Datsun had you covered there too with these wagons. They certainly are not as pretty as a 280-Z . Wagons were still pretty common in 1980. Although it seems they've been around forever, the minivan was still just a germ of an idea that Lee Iaccoca had stashed away in the back of his head in 1980...

Luxury In the Fast Lane

280-Zs are just pretty cars! Every so often you will see one out and about but they've gotten kind of rare out on the streets. Let's face it, we love the roadster--two seater car, completely impractical, designed to look (and if you are lucky, be) fast, a little macho, a little edgy. From the Mercedes 190SL through the early T Birds; Corvettes, BMW 3 series, Mazda Miatas, MGs and the rest--even Dodge Vipers--the tradition is carried on much to the pleasure of those of us who enjoy a fine ride .

Film Development By Mail

Getting one's film developed when you lived in a very rural area was not a simple thing. Few towns had stores big enough to have one hour developing and many did not even have the connections to send film out. So you sent it yourself, from home to Kodak or another developer. You would send your 126 cassette, or 35 mm film and it would return to you all developed, your photos and negatives in tidy envelopes and sleeves. It was an exciting day to go to the post office and find your prints waiting for you!

It might be worth exploring sometime how some things today have fallen into our hands to do--in the age of digital, we make our own prints, either at home or at a place like Kinko's. Some other things we have passed on to others to do. What sort of quality and time use implications are in that?

Ad is from a National Geographic mid 1960s.

Ready When You Are

One airplane ad deserves another, right? Can you see any airline today talking about the qualifications of the flight crew? I believe this is another 1980s ad, although the wide collars look more like 1970s garb.

Ironically, both Delta and United are struggling to survive and have merged with other airlines--Delta with Northwest and United first with Continental and then US Airways.

Flying the Friendly Skies

This ad is half for an airline and half for a destination. It definitely makes me interested in going, but I am so aware that getting there will not be half the fun. The skies are decidedly less friendly now then in the mid 1980s time of this ad, and even then air travel was changing already in the less regulated business climate of the time.