Cars With Running Boards And Other Things

[GeorgiaGlockMan]

@Redbow neat story about the Japanese rifle and different times. I collect ww2 rifles and that is one of the few long guns I do not have.

Guns in school.....I brought a 10/22 to HS woodshop class to work out the details on a stock I was making. When I sighted it in for the first time, I shot it inside at the rotc range. It wasn't weird at all then, but a kid just drawing a picture of a gun on paper or chewing out a pistol shape with a pop-tart would be guaranteed to be expelled......it makes my head hurt.

 

[Hillbilly stalker]

Lots of folks back home had them “Jap rifles”. I never knew the caliber. They all got them the hard way. After WWII the military started prohibiting bringing any weapon back as a souvenir.

 

[Redbow]

Lots of folks back home had them “Jap rifles”. I never knew the caliber. They all got them the hard way. After WWII the military started prohibiting bringing any weapon back as a souvenir.

Some of the guys I was in Nam with brought back some bolt action 7.62 x 54 caliber russian rifles that were captured from the VC and NVA. Many AK-47 rifles were captured as well but being fully automatic they could not be taken out of country. In 1968 a large cache of enemy rifles was uncovered in a search and destroy mission in South Viet-Nam. The commanding officer of that mission saw that every man who participated in that operation got one of those bolt action rifles if they wanted one. Lots of the weapons were still in cosmoline brand new and yet to be used against US forces.

Where I was stationed at Camp Evans up in I Corps the northern part of Nam several trucks showed up at our camp one day loaded with captured enemy rifles, hand grenades, mines, rpg's, a russian truck was following behind our trucks loaded with weapons and ammo also. The russian truck was towing a 37mm anti-aircraft gun. There were thousands of small arms rounds in the mix as well.

We were not allowed to keep any of the rifles in that cache, all of the war materials they captured were chinese made except the russian truck and artillery piece. The russian truck was as primitive a vehicle as I have ever seen, looked like it came from ww2 or before. The EOD (explosive ordnance disposal ) was called in to dispose of all the ammunition and they did so with several big explosions about a mile or so outside our camp.

Roses dime store used to sell some of the 7.7 Jap rifles a couple of my friends had them at our rifle range few times. I had some of the old military guns from Roses also. One a 30-06 Argentine Mauser German design. A couple of British .303 rifles made in Canada a friend of mine found one in Roses made by Savage in mint condition. I also had 3 rifles from Roses all military service rifles in .308. I still have an old Soviet 7.62 x 54 with the hammer and sickle stamped on the receiver, serial number 100. Several millions of those rifles were made, some by Remington.

Roses also sold the M1 Carbine, I never found one in good enough condition that I wanted to buy. Most of those old military guns sold from 100 bucks each down to 30 dollars or so depending on condition of the weapon. Ammo for those old guns was dirt cheap back then some of the cartridges from ww2. Several of my friends and I used to be members of Wildlife Action of SC. We had a rifle and skeet range so we gave the old military guns some pretty good work outs. Most shot well and surprisingly were pretty accurate. I saw some russian .22 training rifles bolt action one day when I was gun hunting, wish now I had bought one. A friend of mine bought one of those guns and it was well made and very accurate, fed by a magazine from the bottom of the gun.

 

[zedex]

My father was always a Ford fan and he several F100 trucks. When he opened the vents, dirt, dust and rust would blow out. Many times, my eyes were pelted with the stuff. They sting just thinking about it...

I noticed no one mentioned a common feature of the old cars..... rear chrome metal.
Those solid and shiny bumpers that would support the weight of the vehicle. Bumper jacks, thumb push door handles, chromed window trim, chrome metal emblems and engine identifiers, chrome grilles, 150mph speedometers, round headlights and.... the most important and best features were between the fenders----- a simple engine with enough working space that you could host a beer party with 6 of your buddies...


Today's cars are void of all of this and theres enough working space under the hood for three squirrel toes and maybe, if you are lucky, joe bidens brain air

 

[JustUs4All]

I can attest to the fact that 2 grown fellows can hide (carefully) in the engine compartment of a 48 chevy panel truck with the hood down.

 

[Railroader]

All this is such good stuff, I'm enjoying the thread a lot...

Into the 1980's, we chewed tobacco, carried knives, and worked on guns in shop class at the schools in South Georgia...

I drove a '70 F-100, No air, a 302, three on the tree, and a pair of 10-15 Ground Hawgs on the back. Had a Rebel Flag for a headliner, back window gun rack, and a Sparkomatic radio/cassette player.

That truck was named The Axe, for some unremembered reason..

 

[Redbow]

The first car I owned was a 1960 Ford Sunliner used but a good car for a high school kid. Lots of girls liked the car because it was a convertible but I grew to hate that car in winter it was so cold riding in it. The old 352 engine was tough it had an automatic tranny. The junk yard back in the early sixties still had quite a few of the older cars with the big hoods. My friends and I spent quite a few nights fishing behind the Holt's Lake dam near Smithfield NC during our teen years. Two of the boys were twins and they got the bright idea to go to the junk yard and buy two of the biggest hoods they could find off the old vehicles still parked there. They took both of those hoods, had them welded together and re-enforced for sturdiness and made a boat for us out of them. It worked well and was quite light and easy to handle. My friends had an old pick up truck they transported the "hood boat" from their home to the creek behind the dam, tying it down so the thing wouldn't blow out of the truck onto the road. Those old cars were made out of good metal. I have never seen another boat made out of car hoods. But when you don't have much money and none of us boys could afford any kind of boat back in those days you do what you can to get by and have fun.

Many of the sixties cars were pretty big vehicles. One night waiting in line to get into the drive in movie in front of me and some friends was a Chevy Impala. Two guys were in the car. The guy collecting the money told the driver of the Chevy to stop his engine and open the trunk. The kid was reluctant to do so but finally he bailed out and opened his trunk. Two other boys came rolling out of the trunk of the Chevy and bolted for the woods as fast as they could run. The money guy gave the other two boys a good scolding and told them they best not do that ever again. The kids in the Chevy turned around and drove down 301 highway and picked up their buddies who were waiting beside the road for them.

Yeah lots of cars in the 50's and 60's had lots of chrome on them and a different hood ornament on every vehicle. Chrysler cars and Cadillac's had fins a revolutionary design that many folks liked but many others thought the fins were ugly. We had a '58 Plymouth 4 door back in those days with the push button drive. I got my drivers license behind the wheel of that old Car. The three on the tree gear shifters were very popular back during those times and many people even preferred them. A friend of mine had a '61 Ford his Dad bought it new with the 390 engine and 3 on the tree, the 390 power plant was new to Ford that year. My friend used to wind that 390 up in low shift to second and squeal the back tires of that '61 Ford. Us boys thought that was a very cool thing to do, riding along with big smiles on our faces and looking out for the Cops.