Remember when this was legal?

[big mike71]

Originally Posted by Mr-Jack

my kid and i wear our belts now, but it was a differant time growing up in the 70's and 80's we never wore belts until the 90's and we're all still here.

i also remember a time riding in the back of my ole' mans ferd pickup driving thru yes thru a tree...i think it was either in alaska or arizona or something, but it was so cool as a kid doing that. i can still picture driving thru that to this day...just wish i knew where it was so i could take my kiddo to that place

It's in Sequoia National Park in NoCal.

[big mike71]

I used to love sittin on my dads lap driving his old 50 chevy. Remember when your folks would leave you in the car while they went into the store. Now you would get arrested for that.

[Mr-Jack]

Originally Posted by big mike71

It's in Sequoia National Park in NoCal.

you sir are correct...prolly looked like this too!

[1969K10]

Dad had buckets from a camaro in our truck, with a wood box between the seats. I sat on that box 90% of the time we were in the truck. He rolled his own cigarettes those days, and when he wanted a smoke, i drove while he rolled! I learned to drive like that. The treat was when I got to ride in the back, we had a shell on the truck in those days.

[Rob H.]

Originally Posted by Mr-Jack

my kid and i wear our belts now, but it was a differant time growing up in the 70's and 80's we never wore belts until the 90's and we're all still here.

i also remember a time riding in the back of my ole' mans ferd pickup driving thru yes thru a tree...i think it was either in alaska or arizona or something, but it was so cool as a kid doing that. i can still picture driving thru that to this day...just wish i knew where it was so i could take my kiddo to that place

I know there used to be a tree in the Redwood Forest in California. I was thinking that one went down in 68 or so. But seems I remember going through one somewhere too and I was born in 68 so I know it wasn't that one.
On the seatbelts, I don't remember ever wearing one till the late 80's when I lived in Tn. and was made to wear them. I remember sitting on Mom and Dad's lap when I was little holding the wheel going down the road in that 68 F100 and also in a 66 Fairlane ragtop. Ain't it amazing, judging by all the laws we have today to protect us from ourselves that we survived at all. I mean no seat belts, no bicycle helmets, no air bags, metal dashes and leaded gas!

[67_C-30]

Originally Posted by Rob H.

Ain't it amazing, judging by all the laws we have today to protect us from ourselves that we survived at all. I mean no seat belts, no bicycle helmets, no air bags, metal dashes and leaded gas!

Its even more amazing that a lot of people out there think that the laws are acyually in place to protect us. Surely the millions and millions of dollars in fines taken in each year have nothing to do with it!

(BTW, this wasn't directed at you, just the subject in general)

[Rob H.]

Originally Posted by 67_C-30

(BTW, this wasn't directed at you, just the subject in general)

Don't worry I didn't think it was, I was actually trying to be sarcastic about that protection.

[67_C-30]

Originally Posted by Rob H.

Don't worry I didn't think it was, I was actually trying to be sarcastic about that protection.

Yeah, I thought you were!

[beebster]

Sure do remember when my dad would smoke with his elbow resting on that door frame and me jumping around that front seat, once in a while he'd let me and my brother ride in the bed and as a kid it was the best feeling.
I live on a dead end street and my grandkids ride in the back (no one is allowed to stand) while i just drive up and down the street at a whopping 5 mph.The smiles on their faces are the same as the ones i remember having.
thanks oldskool for letting me know i'm not the only one who thinks this is priceless!

[CG]

I was born in 59 so like a lot of these threads most drivers and passengers in cars in my growing up years didnt wear seat belts. Kids pretty much had the run of the cars, or the back of a pick up. Most of us managed to survive with just a few bumps and bruises now and then.

But now days Im not comfortable in a car without a belt. I wouldn't even consider driving a car with any of my passengers unbuckled. Just too many people out there on the roads, and too many of em just not paying attention. I think for an adult it should be a personal choice, but I don't think kids should get a choice ... buckle em up. I'm pretty sure that's the way the majority of people feel these days.

It has gotten real crazy with government trying to protect us from ourselves I have to admit. And there is a whole generation of parents out there now that are way over protective. Some lessons need to be learned the ouch way =)

We were watching HGTV the other day and a family decided to buy a home in France. They had a couple of young kids. One place they looked at had a couple of flights of stairs...they couldnt have that...to dangerous for the kids. Another place they looked at had windows that could open wide in the childrens room. The mom was in shock, she asked the real estate guy how do parents in France protect their children from a danger like that? The agent looked at her kind of funny and said...We tell the kids not to hang out the windows...it was pretty funny.

[mr48chev]

They didn't have near as many idiots driving back in those days either.

No teenagers texting and not watching where they were going.
No sports moms wheeling a mini van with an elbow while they talk on the cell phone with one hand and slap a kid with the other. Heck when I was young and riding in the back of my stepfathers 53 Half ton when the whole family went up in the hills cell phones hadn't been invented.

I had two different kids in mini cars buzz past me in a truck stop parking lot yesterday. One was cutting around a building doing a short cut and the other flew by me as I was turning into a parking spot not paying a bit of attention to what other drivers were doing in the lot or who was walking across it. That was instead of slowing down to see what the old guy in the pickup full of junk was going to do. That was me in the truck.

My wife did fall out the door of the 48 backwards when she was sitting in the seat with her back against the door instead of sitting in the seat right 31 years ago. I turned the corner and out she went. Luckily we were going pretty slow. No seat belts in the truck then and bad door latches on it.

[Diablo de la Noche]

I remember when the only time you even saw the seatbelts was when you were looking for something you dropped and it fell behind between the seats. They were always covered in gunk and the mechanisms were stuck. I used to pull them out and lay them neatly on the seats, but my parents would stuff them back down.

Ash trays were used for ashes, the cup holder was your legs, when you changed a tire, you left the spare on and put the new one under the bed, and if you broke down, you walked to the nearest house and they would gladly help you out.

[Jblackie47803]

Aah, the good ole days. Back when people just concentrated on not having wrecks instead of worrying so damned much about what was going to happen when you had one.

[68Stepbed]

I'm loving this thread. It's bringing back some good memories. I remember riding in the back of my dad's 53 Chevy truck. We always had blankets to sit on and cover up with when cold. My sister and I used to lay down in the back and try to judge where we were at by the turns Dad would make. When it rained, we just piled in front. Usually one of us would ride in the middle and the other on Mom's lap. Whoever sat in the middle just had to watch for Dad's elbow when shifting the three-on-the-tree.

This was the best part of it though: Dad's 53 has a 235 6-cylinder with three speed. It has a set of Clifford long tube split headers with dual exhaust. It has Flowmasters now, but it glasspacks when he first had it done. It was really loud and the glasspacks really popped when you backed off the throttle and let the compression slow it down. We used to go through the tunnel between Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg and Dad would make her talk through there.

With a wife and 2 sons, I get very agitated sometimes that we can't just jump in the truck and go for a ride anymore. I've thought about trading or selling to get something like a Chevelle, but the wife said I can't sell it now. Oh well.

[Keith Seymore]

We used to vacation like that; pullin the 5th wheel travel trailer from Michigan to Arizona and back.

Four of us in the cab of the truck; black truck (no air).... plus the dog!

By the time we'd get back Dad's left arm would be sunburned and my right arm would be sunburned.

[StingRay]

In high school I once had 7 in the cab of my 69 GMC.

[Eddie H.]

I remember the first car we ever had with seat belts was a 62 Chevy. We played with the buckles, but never wore them. I grew up on a farm and spent most of my childhood riding in the back of pickups, trailers, or sitting on the fender of a tractor bouncing through the field with my dad. Heck, I chewed the lead paint off of my crib, played with liquid mercury from a broken thermometer, took the powder out of shotgun shells and made some big firecrackers, hunted and fired numerous types of firearms before the age of 7, jumped off the barn trying to imitate superman, rolled down hills inside of old rusty 55 gallon drums, slept on a mattress that had the warning labels removed, rode my bike without a helment, ran with sissors, swung from trees like Tarzan, had sword fights with wooden swords, walked around on homemade stilts, swam naked in unsanitary creeks, rivers, stock ponds, played sports without pads, had many good rock fights, fist fights, and wrestling matches, ate a bug ( forced by my big brother, I had 3 older brothers), and many other fond memories that I could write a book with. I was just a normal country boy. Times have changed. I'd be in jail if I had let my kids do some of the things I did.
I enjoyed your picture with the smiling faces. Take care of those kids, you're a wealthy man.

[CE20934]

Originally Posted by Eddie H.

I remember the first car we ever had with seat belts was a 62 Chevy. We played with the buckles, but never wore them. I grew up on a farm and spent most of my childhood riding in the back of pickups, trailers, or sitting on the fender of a tractor bouncing through the field with my dad. Heck, I chewed the lead paint off of my crib, played with liquid mercury from a broken thermometer, took the powder out of shotgun shells and made some big firecrackers, hunted and fired numerous types of firearms before the age of 7, jumped off the barn trying to imitate superman, rolled down hills inside of old rusty 55 gallon drums, slept on a mattress that had the warning labels removed, rode my bike without a helment, ran with sissors, swung from trees like Tarzan, had sword fights with wooden swords, walked around on homemade stilts, swam naked in unsanitary creeks, rivers, stock ponds, played sports without pads, had many good rock fights, fist fights, and wrestling matches, ate a bug ( forced by my big brother, I had 3 older brothers), and many other fond memories that I could write a book with. I was just a normal country boy. Times have changed. I'd be in jail if I had let my kids do some of the things I did.
I enjoyed your picture with the smiling faces. Take care of those kids, you're a wealthy man.

Especially for sleeping on an unlabeled mattress!

[Mr-Jack]

Originally Posted by CE20934

Especially for sleeping on an unlabeled mattress!

I read that whole post and got to that part about the matress label and about lost it HAHAHA! shoot my brothers and i had bb gun wars where we shot at each other now that would probably be attempted murder

[Diablo de la Noche]

We nearly lost the neighbor kid when he was riding in the bed. We were coming home from the lake (Cheney Reservoir) and he was sitting on an inner tube when my mom hit a big bump on one of the back roads heading home. All we saw were his feet in the back window! He sat on the floor the rest of the trip!

I also remember my dad putting a topper on the F100 with a pass through window. We took a trip from Kansas to Yellowstone and slept in the bed most nights. A couple nights we rented a cabin in Wyoming near a river. Cody, I think it was. My brother and I saved all our pennies for the trip and I blew it all in the first store we went into. Got hit by a hailstorm and the topper got all dinged up but the truck didn't get any damage. I got my first bow and arrow on that trip. Almost killed myself when I wanted to see how high the arrow would go.
Even though we had a F**d when I was a little one, these trucks bring back great memories! Now my dad has an '84 Chevy with a lift on the back. He helps me out a bunch with technical advice when I need it.