Back in the sixties.

[DRG]

Back in the sixties, early sixties, when I built model cars they cost $1.03 each. Of course there was paint and glue and even body putty for some. But the expense stopped there. Mom's sewing basket provided the plug wires, battery cable wires and so forth. Old socks provided the carpet.

Now here we are 50 years later and I can purchase disc brake rotors, calipers, pre wired distributors and so forth. I can even purchase a resin body of a model that never was.

I look through the different forums here and see, not model cars, but works of art. Hand made parts. Air brushed designs. And let's not forget the workbenches. Some of the workbenches look like something out of a manufacturing plant as opposed to someones home.

To say I am impressed is putting it lightly.

[High octane]

Don,

Back in 1960 an AMT kit sold for $1.39 plus tax so you must have got a discount. Those days were a lot different than today as far as model building goes. The changes made have been incredible! However the times were a lot better than today's times are, in my book snyway.

[DRG]

The models I purchased were from Ontario's stores. A long gone, as are many things, discount store.

That was in Cincinnati, Ohio

[Jairus]

Yup, we grew up!

[Harry P.]

Back in 1960 everything was simpler and cheaper.

[Dr. Cranky]

LOL, I'm beginning to get melancholy over the 80s!!!

[Eshaver]

I don't care , whenever I see either a built , restored or even an unbuilt Jo- Han , Revell, or the S M P / A M T annuals , I remminess. Yes, I go back to a time when I carried the newspaper , mowed yards , moved brush , shoot did what ever I could to earn enough to buy another kit . Yep, A M T really Blew it when the destroyed, sold , destroyed , and scraped a lot of their old tools ........... Ed Shaver

[Agent G]

We'd collect bottles to turn in at the grocery store. Once we had accumulated $1.50 we went to the drugstore and bought a kit. Talk about "Group Builds" the whole darn neighborhood was in on them.

Misty eyed now.......

G

[sjordan2]

Back in 1960 everything was simpler and cheaper.

I know I was.

[Greg Cullinan]

The good old days, I was pre-embryo so it was a lot simpler for me

I am fascinated now with the kits from those long ago days.

I'm able to live the childhood I never had through these kits.

[Foxer]

I don't miss making plug wires out of waxed sewing thread ...

but, what if model makers reinvented something called Annual Kits? .. trouble is, cars don't change like they used to back then.

[Harry P.]

Bring back JoHan!

For real... not the Okey version of "JoHan"...

[Danno]

Wow!

Who could follow Mark Taylor's post? But what he said ~~~ all of it ~~~ is true.

I just miss the adventure of the sixties when you could go into just about any retail drugstore, "dime" store, hardware store, department store, or grocery store and find a rack, counter, or display of the latest offerings from all the model kit manufacturers. And even better ~~~ in a special way ~~~ was the fact that you never knew what new model kit may have just arrived, what new model kit may be sitting on the self that wasn['t there the day before ... you never knew what was coming out when, so every visit to every store was a fresh adventure full of anticipation; all because there was no internet to alert you to the coming of something you wouldn't actually be able to hold and buy for months and months to come.

And you didn't have the internet to aggravate you because somebody else already has that new kit in their hands because it was released in their part of the country before you saw it in yours!

I miss going to the rare hobby shop to learn directly from the knowledgeable hobbyist owner what was happening in the model building world; the things he heard from his various customers and shared with his various other customers or the things he learned from the hobby's sales reps who traveled around from hobby shop to hobby shop sharing the regional or national hobby news. Archaic? Yes, but there was a degree of discovery and socialization you don't get from firing up your computer in the middle of the night and solitarily checking bulletin boards and websites.

I miss Corvairs and flat-roof Chevies, Oldsmobubbles, Ponchos, Burricks and Caddys!

And speaking of adventures, I miss the scheduled, incredibly hyped, and big-time exciting pageants that every car manufacturer and dealer produced for every year's introductions of the new cars! The crescendo of anticipation. I miss seeing the covered forms sitting on the showroom floor for a couple of weeks ~~~ you could get a general impression of the size, shape and contours of the new Impala but you could not see or discern the exact lines or features or details or color of the sample selected for display. And there weren't any "spy shots" in magazines, newspapers, on TV or on the internet to ruin the experience or to have bored you with the upcoming new cars before you even got to see the covers lifted in the showrooms at the appointed hour on the appointed date! And everybody's new cars were unveiled around the same time every year ... not willy-nilly throughout the year.

And, yep, of course I miss being given an acetate or styrene promo model by the eager salesman on introduction night to help my dad decide which new car will come home with us this year!

What I don't miss is the air-raid drills, practicing sitting with my head between my knees, and the absence of computers and the internet!

[Danno]

Oh, yeah. One other important (to me) thing about the sixties: I miss the thrill of the first several times you heard the new Beach Boys record on the radio! Nothing like that adrenal rush.

[Steve Keck]

I'm just surprised Danno remembers.

[sjordan2]

Back in the early 60s when I started to build, aerosol paint cans were virtually unheard of, or extremely limited in selection (everything I built was brush-painted) and airbrushes were something that only school art classes or professionals could afford. Few kits had chrome-plated parts, though that caught on quickly. Jo-Han kits that are prized today were seen as way too simplified, with proportions that were inferior to AMT who immediately set a new standard; Revell was still king, though their multipiece bodies were a bear to deal with. And finding 1:1 reference was difficult, especially if the car was somewhat exotic. A simpler time for modeling, of course, because we couldn't even imagine that the kind of resources we have today would ever develop.

Also simpler: A choice of 4 TV channels (if you lived in a place with educational TV and UHF). 8-track car stereo hadn't been invented, or any kind of portable music except for taking your LPs or 45s over to a friend's house. Americans: Good / Russians: Bad.

Little did we White, middle-class Americans know that we were soon going to have to leave the perceived comfort of the Eisenhower era and grow up to deal with a far more complex world than we realized. Yes, the challenges were always there, but it didn't hit us at the time. Especially if we were kids.

[Danno]

I'm just surprised Danno remembers.

Maybe so, but at least I still have hair!

[Danno]

My goal is to make at least three more posts this afternoon.

[Danno]

My goal is to make at least two more posts this afternoon.

[Danno]

My goal is to make at least one more post this afternoon.

[Danno]

There! Met my goal. Anything else that happens is "Exceeds Expectations!"

[Eshaver]

Dan , now that you made the posts what else is there to do In Phoenix these days ? Ed Shaver

[sjordan2]

Quotes:

Dan , now that you made the posts what else is there to do In Phoenix these days ? Ed Shaver

Danno Icon

Posted Today, 03:50 PM

There! Met my goal. Anything else that happens is "Exceeds Expectations!"

Danno Icon

Posted Today, 03:49 PM

My goal is to make at least one more post this afternoon.

Danno Icon

Posted Today, 03:47 PM

My goal is to make at least two more posts this afternoon.

Danno Icon

Posted Today, 03:46 PM

My goal is to make at least three more posts this afternoon.

Guys, it strikes me that this is the kind of post that needs more thoughtful responses. This is the sort of thing that Art Anderson could address with real authority. No offense meant, but it's interesting to note how much things have changed, and the above seems like an example of thread hijacking that is not at all interesting, humorous or advisable.

Edited July 8, 2010 by sjordan2

[Steve Keck]

Maybe so, but at least I still have hair!

I'm confortable in my hairlessness. And, you may address me as such in the future.

[Danno]

Useless comment.