Datsun: Demonstrating Ruggedness

Datsun worked some 1970s color and fonts into this illustration of their vehicles working it in rally races in tough conditions to appeal to 1970 readers of Outdoor Life magazine. Remember in 1970, gas was a pittance and the emphasis was on horsepower and performance. Only VW had really been able to penetrate the US market with its smaller cars--Japanese cars had not made as strong an impact at that time.

A Technology Gone: The Typewriter

Again, at a thrift store. The only thing better for finding nostalgia items is an estate sale. Came across this strange instrument...

Not only is this a typewriter, it is a manual typewriter. This size is meant to be a portable--you could call it the first word processor. Touching the keys would cause some mechanical bits to move and make one of these arms, topped with a picture of the letter to hit the ribbon, thus transferring ink to the paper you had rolled it.

Unfortunately the cellphone doesn't quite have the resolution to show the little sculptures of "i/I" and "e/E" and "f/F" and the rest on these key arms.

Does any one use a typewriter any more? For awhile we needed them to fill out forms, but now with autofill, even that use is gone. However, if you were stuck in the jungle, this little machine might be pretty useful. It needs neither cord nor battery. Type to your heart's content, until your fingers tire, your ribbon is worn or you are out of White Out

Changes in Recording Music

Since Edison's invention of the phonograph, humanity has been trying to improve the quality and lifelikeness of the recording of voices and musical instruments. I was in a thrift store the other day and noticed this record:

On the back was a bit of a lesson on the spectrum of sound frequencies, as well as the demo's song list.
There's no date on the demonstrator, but I would think late 1950s/early 1960s. By the mid sixties, stereo 331/3 records--LPs, short for Long Playing--were the norm.

This cover story in Popular Science in 1985 heralded the next significant move in sound recording and reproduction--the digital age. This was the Compact Disc and digitally recorded music's time of introduction and it was a significant move. Other technologies had come along side the LP--8 track tapes and cassette tapes--with some improvement in sound and the introduction of portability but no significant change in the way recorded music was made.

Now, the CD is said to be endangered, with sales down every year. The digital revolution continues with downloads storing music in bytes and bits.

And so it goes.

Wordy Plymouth Ad

Ads back in the day seem like they were wordier--although that may have depended on the audience. It probably made a difference that this was in a National Geographic. NG readers would probably read it!

In The May 21, 1957 Kansas City Star

The major story was the Ruskin Heights tornado. There was still room for this advertisement for this chromed land yacht!

Checker Cars

Checker is probably most known for its iconic taxi cabs. I rode these while I lived in New York, both the larger version that had seats in the floor you could unfold and sit on, giving a capacity of six or more, and the smaller version. This ad, a column ad from a National Geographic shows that Checker tried to sell cars to the general public. I am not sure how successful they were as I can not recall seeing a Checker that wasn't a taxi.

Wagoneer: Faithful 4WD

Mid sixties ad for the Jeep Wagoneer--a vehicle that eventually became the cutting edge of the SUV revolution. I am not sure of the actual vintage of this ad--it would be early to mid 1960s as it was still Kaiser Jeep. The magazine is a National Geographic.

Interesting to note that Jeep is rendered in semi quotes--'Jeep'--I wonder why.

Yeah, I Need This Like Another Hole In My Head!

The problem is all us old Baby Boomers are starting to love on our old stuff. That even includes old advertisements. I love looking at older magazines and seeing the print ads. A friend and I were ooohing over a 1960s vintage outdoors magazine--with car ads, cigarette ads (remember those?) and all sorts of niftiness. So for someplace to put these little attacks of nostalgia, I've started--another BLOG. I thought about going FB on this, and I might later, but we'll start with the blog.

No nostalgia this post as I am at a public computer, without access to my photos. Just wait though!

Oh and videos from You Tube! Just wait until I post that Plymouth ad with Celine Dion. Wait, I have time, I'll see if I can find it!

(I found it, but stupid IE crashed when I tried to embed it.)