You are too old if you remember.......

[agentsteel53]

We definitely still have "pump, then pay" available many places. I guess we're a trusting group here. I always pay with a card, but some pumps indicate that you can pay afterward.

speaking of that sort of thing, the following is starting to get to the "you are too old..." phase: does anyone remember, until the mid-2000s or so, the gas pumps which had a sticker that said "we prosecute pump-and-run violators!", accompanied by a photo of the meanest-looking state police officer they could find a picture of.

those stickers on the gas pumps are getting more and more rare.  maybe I haven't recently been to states that used them a lot (Tennessee comes to mind) but I don't think I've seen one in about 3 years.

[1995hoo]

I've seen those stickers fairly recently in Virginia, though I don't recall their exact wording. They also had a picture of a Virginia driver's license because the threat was that you could have your license suspended for that violation. The gas station I usually patronize has red stickers reading something like, "Due to an increase in drive-offs, PLEASE PAY FIRST" (the admonition is longer than that, but I never really pay attention to it because I pay at the pump with a card anyway).

[vtk]

We definitely still have "pump, then pay" available many places. I guess we're a trusting group here. I always pay with a card, but some pumps indicate that you can pay afterward.

speaking of that sort of thing, the following is starting to get to the "you are too old..." phase: does anyone remember, until the mid-2000s or so, the gas pumps which had a sticker that said "we prosecute pump-and-run violators!", accompanied by a photo of the meanest-looking state police officer they could find a picture of.

Still quite common in Ohio, though many of them are fading a little.

[hbelkins]

Those stickers are all over Kentucky, too.

[route56]

• Gas stations had dial pumps instead of electronic pumps, and you could first pump and then pay instead of the other way around
  

There's at least one station that still uses mechanical pumps, the Midland Farm Store at Midland junction north of Lawrence.

There's also at least one station that still let's you post-pay... a BreakTime/MFA station in Higginsville, Mo. It is also one of the few stations that does not have a pay at pump option.

[1995hoo]

The last time I saw a mechanical pump that worked was in July 2007 in Louisbourg, Nova Scotia. The station, which was the only one in the area, sold only 87-octane fuel, so I splashed in $10 worth so as to get me to Sydney the following afternoon, as I figured I'd find 93-octane there (and I did).

[PHLBOS]

Speaking of stickers, you are too old if you remember....

Twice a year auto inspections in MA conducted March 1 - April 15 and September 1 - October 15.  Garages and service stations would be jammed every April & October 15th with last-minute motorists renewing their stickers.  The twice-a-year at the same time was dropped for the current annual inspection in 1983.

When MA used to place two stickers on the windshield: the inspection sticker on the lower passenger's side (which remains to this day) and the number plate validation sticker placed just below the rearview mirror.  1969 was the final year for such.



As a kid, I remember seeing older cars with either this blue sticker remaining or traces of it below the rearview mirrors.

Or the old-style inspection Rejection stickers aka the baseball; used until 1983.

[roadman]

I remember when the news aired at 6 o clock and not 5, and the national news (Cronkite, Chancellor, or Harry Reasoner (used to be on ABC) aired at 7 PM.

this change must be sufficiently late because I had no idea the news is on at 5. 

I remember the 11 o'clock news being moved forward to 10 o'clock in more and more places, starting in the late 90s or so.

Growing up in the 70s, the local news came on at 6 and the national news came on at 6:30.  And it was very rare for a national story to be covered on the local broadcast, unless it happened in the broadcast area of the local station.

[roadman]

Speaking of stickers, you are too old if you remember....

Twice a year auto inspections in MA conducted March 1 - April 15 and September 1 - October 15.  Garages and service stations would be jammed every April & October 15th with last-minute motorists renewing their stickers.  The twice-a-year at the same time was dropped for the current annual inspection in 1983.

When MA used to place two stickers on the windshield: the inspection sticker on the lower passenger's side (which remains to this day) and the number plate validation sticker placed just below the rearview mirror.  1969 was the final year for such.



As a kid, I remember seeing older cars with either this blue sticker remaining or traces of it below the rearview mirrors.

I remember twice a year Mass inspections very well.  Starting at the age of twelve, my job was to "pre-flight" my parent's two cars before they went in for inspection.  Got a bit of experience over the years in changing turn signal bulbs and the like.  When I got my driver's license at age sixteen and a half, my job expanded to both "pre-flighting" and taking both my parent's cars in for the semi-annual inspections.

To this day, I do the following to prepare for an inspection:

"Pre flight" the car  (test all lights, wipers, parking brake, etc.).  Sounds like plain common sense, but you'd be surprised how many people don't bother to do this.

Wash the car and clean out the interior (no bottles, gum wrappers, etc.).  Presentation does make a difference.

If possible, drive the car for at least 20 to 30 miles on the highway beforehand.  Less important in states like Massachusetts that have eliminated the "tailpipe probe" test, but still a good preventative measure.

[PHLBOS]

To this day, I do the following to prepare for an inspection:

"Pre flight" the car  (test all lights, wipers, parking brake, etc.).  Sounds like plain common sense, but you'd be surprised how many people don't bother to do this.

I do the same with my vehicles as well; both back then when I lived in MA and today for the PA inspections.

If possible, drive the car for at least 20 to 30 miles on the highway beforehand.  Less important in states like Massachusetts that have eliminated the "tailpipe probe" test, but still a good preventative measure.

In parts of PA where the emission tests are conducted (it's not 100% statewide); cars from '77(?) through '96 are still subject ot the tail-pipe treadmill test.  '97 and later, the highway cleanout that you described is no longer needed.

[roadman]

@PHILBOS As you may recall, the MA tailpipe test was not a treadmill test, they just stuck a probe into the tailpipe while the engine was idling.  As for highway cleanout, I agree it's not necessary for cars newer than 96.  Guess I'm just a creature of habit.  Plus, my favorite inspection place (the owner is a fellow Ham operator) is most easily accessed by getting up onto I-95 (128) for a short leg.  Any excuse to run on the highway a bit, and - until recently - check out progress of sign work, is a good one in my book.

[The High Plains Traveler]

I remember when the news aired at 6 o clock and not 5, and the national news (Cronkite, Chancellor, or Harry Reasoner (used to be on ABC) aired at 7 PM.

this change must be sufficiently late because I had no idea the news is on at 5. 

I remember the 11 o'clock news being moved forward to 10 o'clock in more and more places, starting in the late 90s or so.

Network programming is one hour earlier in the Central AND the forgotten Mountain Time Zone. Thus local news on network stations is at 10:00. It's typically 9:00 on local Fox affiliates.

We definitely still have "pump, then pay" available many places. I guess we're a trusting group here. I always pay with a card, but some pumps indicate that you can pay afterward.

speaking of that sort of thing, the following is starting to get to the "you are too old..." phase: does anyone remember, until the mid-2000s or so, the gas pumps which had a sticker that said "we prosecute pump-and-run violators!", accompanied by a photo of the meanest-looking state police officer they could find a picture of.

those stickers on the gas pumps are getting more and more rare.  maybe I haven't recently been to states that used them a lot (Tennessee comes to mind) but I don't think I've seen one in about 3 years.

Used in Montana. I saw them at multiple locations last month. The Montana signs indicated you will have your drivers license suspended for pump and run.

[agentsteel53]

speaking of Massachusetts stickers... I remember the publicly-owned vehicles (light blue plates with white text) apparently stopped needing registration renewal in 1975, because well into the 1990s there were old trucks with 1975 stickers on the plates; nothing older, nothing newer.  these vanished slowly as the vehicles were aged out of service.

[kkt]

remember when AT&T and MCI used to try to win customers over tenths-of-a-cent difference in the per-minute long distance land line rates?

Also 1-800-Collect, 10-10-321, and other such collect call services.

When there were no 800 numbers, but there were Enterprise numbers.

When all North American ('World Zone 1') telephone area codes had only '0' or '1' as their second digit.



Mike

How about when all of NYC was 212 in area code, and many states had only one or two.  Heck I remember when Orlando and Key West both were in the same area code in Florida, and Jacksonville, Pensacola, and the entire I-10 corridor was 904.

Plus, you were able to dial only 7 digits in all places for intra area code calls.  I imagine that some still let you do that, but here in Florida you must dial the area code even if you are in the same code.

When I moved to Washington, everyplace west of the Cascades was 206 and everything east of the Cascades was 509.

[thenetwork]

Speaking of stickers, you are too old if you remember....

Twice a year auto inspections in MA conducted March 1 - April 15 and September 1 - October 15.  Garages and service stations would be jammed every April & October 15th with last-minute motorists renewing their stickers.  The twice-a-year at the same time was dropped for the current annual inspection in 1983.

When MA used to place two stickers on the windshield: the inspection sticker on the lower passenger's side (which remains to this day) and the number plate validation sticker placed just below the rearview mirror.  1969 was the final year for such.

Back in the day in Ohio, when the State Highway Patrol wasn't so busy with catching drug transporters, or looking for cellphone users or non-seatbelt users,  they would set up roadside safety checks and you'd either pass or fail.  If you passed, you got a sticker you had to place inside of your front windshield which let you be exempt until the next colored sticker came out.  If you failed, you had to go down to your local Highway Patrol post within a week or so to show the problem was resolved.

When I was little, nearly every car outside of high-populated areas had at least one, by the late 80's they were getting rarer & rarer to find -- just like the older pre-1980s vehicles that seemed to collect the most stickers.

Here is a sample: 

[hbelkins]

I think we need a "You're too young if you don't remember..." thread.

[Mapmikey]

I've seen those stickers fairly recently in Virginia, though I don't recall their exact wording. They also had a picture of a Virginia driver's license because the threat was that you could have your license suspended for that violation. The gas station I usually patronize has red stickers reading something like, "Due to an increase in drive-offs, PLEASE PAY FIRST" (the admonition is longer than that, but I never really pay attention to it because I pay at the pump with a card anyway).

North Carolina still uses these stickers extensively.  I thought it was neat that in the background behind the picture they have of a stern-looking state cop, they had an early 1960s Rand McN map of central NC.

Then this summer I saw one in Laurinburg that had a 1923 NC Official Map as the background (this is the earliest state official I know of with the highway numbers shown)...

Mapmikey

[PHLBOS]

Back in the day in Ohio, when the State Highway Patrol wasn't so busy with catching drug transporters, or looking for cellphone users or non-seatbelt users,  they would set up roadside safety checks and you'd either pass or fail.  If you passed, you got a sticker you had to place inside of your front windshield which let you be exempt until the next colored sticker came out.  If you failed, you had to go down to your local Highway Patrol post within a week or so to show the problem was resolved.

Affter I moved out of MA, my brother told me about some random inspection checkpoints set-up by the then-Registry of Motor Vehicles Police (aka Registry cops which was later consolidated into the State Police).  They would conduct an on-the-spot safety inspection and your car failed; they would scrape off your current sticker (even if it was a new one) and place a REJECTION sticker on it.

I think we need a "You're too young if you don't remember..." thread.

Just copy this thread and use the above-title. 

@PHILBOS As you may recall, the MA tailpipe test was not a treadmill test, they just stuck a probe into the tailpipe while the engine was idling.

To clarify, I was referring to the PA tests.  For PA (in certain counties), the tailpipe probes were conducted on gasoline-powered cars from 1975 through 1996.  The treadmill test was done on gasoline-powered cars from 1977 through 1996.  I know this because the '76 LTD I owned from 1993-2010 only received the tail-pipe probe for the emissions test.  The first few years of my owning my current '97 Crown Vic; it underwent the treadmill test until the new system was set-up & established in PA.

[elsmere241]

When I moved to Washington, everyplace west of the Cascades was 206 and everything east of the Cascades was 509.

Everything east of the Cascades (more or less) is still 509.

[PHLBOS]

When MassDPW used to sign towns like North Reading or South Attleboro as NO. READING and SO. ATTLEBORO; today, the single letter initial for North (N.) & South (S.) are used.

When I first saw NO. READING on a sign (might've been a state bookleaf type at the town border) as a young kid; my initial thought was, "Why would there be a town called (intentional phonetic pronounciation & spelling here) NO REEDING?  Don't they like books?[/i]".

Similarly, on a Monopoly board; I originally pronounced the Reading Railroad property as the Reeding Railroad.
 

[SidS1045]

After I moved out of MA, my brother told me about some random inspection checkpoints set-up by the then-Registry of Motor Vehicles Police (aka Registry cops which was later consolidated into the State Police).  They would conduct an on-the-spot safety inspection and your car failed; they would scrape off your current sticker (even if it was a new one) and place a REJECTION sticker on it.

If I had to venture a guess, I'd say that was done because of the widespread reports of licensed inspection stations not actually doing inspections, but taking some amount of cash under the table to slap a sticker on.  "Need a sticka?  No problem - I know a guy who can getcha one."

[SidS1045]

When I first saw NO. READING on a sign (might've been a state bookleaf type at the town border) as a young kid; my initial thought was, "Why would there be a town called (intentional phonetic pronounciation & spelling here) NO REEDING?  Don't they like books?[/i]".

One of my dad's favorite jokes:  "OK, we're entering 'No Reading'...put the books away..."

[1995hoo]

When MassDPW used to sign towns like North Reading or South Attleboro as NO. READING and SO. ATTLEBORO; today, the single letter initial for North (N.) & South (S.) are used.

When I first saw NO. READING on a sign (might've been a state bookleaf type at the town border) as a young kid; my initial thought was, "Why would there be a town called (intentional phonetic pronounciation & spelling here) NO REEDING?  Don't they like books?[/i]".

Similarly, on a Monopoly board; I originally pronounced the Reading Railroad property as the Reeding Railroad.
 

I originally said "Reading Railroad" too. I sounded out the word, just like we were taught to do in school.

My grandfather* always read the highway signs out loud exactly as they looked in order to make us laugh when we were kids, although he had something of a motivation in terms of making us remember that the word "island" contains an "s." So, for example, on the Belt Parkway we'd pass a sign for "Ocean Pickway," "Coney Is [pronounced like the word 'Is'] Av [pronounced like a Cockney 'have' where the 'h' is silent]," and "Shell Rid." My brother, my cousin James, and I quickly picked up on this and for several years on trips from Bay Ridge to Breezy Point, or vice-versa, we always yelled out all the road signs in that manner. I'm sure my parents and my aunt wanted to smack us silly.

*I only knew one grandfather growing up because my father's father died long before I was born.

[PHLBOS]

If I had to venture a guess, I'd say that was done because of the widespread reports of licensed inspection stations not actually doing inspections, but taking some amount of cash under the table to slap a sticker on.  "Need a sticka?  No problem - I know a guy who can getcha one."

No doubt, that was likely the reasoning.

[vtk]

When MassDPW used to sign towns like North Reading or South Attleboro as NO. READING and SO. ATTLEBORO; today, the single letter initial for North (N.) & South (S.) are used.

When I first saw NO. READING on a sign (might've been a state bookleaf type at the town border) as a young kid; my initial thought was, "Why would there be a town called (intentional phonetic pronounciation & spelling here) NO REEDING?  Don't they like books?[/i]".

Similarly, on a Monopoly board; I originally pronounced the Reading Railroad property as the Reeding Railroad.
 

I originally said "Reading Railroad" too. I sounded out the word, just like we were taught to do in school.

So how's it supposed to be pronounced?  Like Redding?

Growing up in Ohio and having seen Reading Rainbow on TV, it would never cross my mind that Reading Railroad should be pronounced without an ee sound.