Remember when __ was __? (1 roadgeek + 1 non-)

[Takumi]

Remember when manual transmissions in cars were 4- and 5-speeds, and automatic transmissions were 3- and 4-speeds?

I grew up in the 90s, so almost every manual was a 5-speed by then, and 6-speeds were only seen in a handful of sports cars. Most automatics were 4-speed, with some companies (Toyota, GM) keeping 3-speeds around until 2001.

My first car, a 1977 Ford Granada, had what in practical terms was a four on the floor, but the gears were marked as three speeds plus an "overdrive" gear. For all realistic purposes, it was a 4-speed manual. Every car I've had since then has been either a 5- or 6-speed.

I can do you one better. I remember reading an article about the C5 Corvette that came out in 1983, but as an '84 model, and it had what was called a "4+3" transmission. It was named that not because it had 7 speeds despite the designation suggesting otherwise, but there was an overdrive for the last three gears. Even I was confused by the name until I sat in one equipped with such, and looked down at the shifter. I think it was late in the same generation that the Corvette would get a 6-speed (and probably become the first American car ever to have one), because it also received a facelift around that time.

1989 is when the Corvette started using the 6-speed, which was built by German firm ZF. Not many cars had a 6-speed at all before then, mostly exotics. In the 90s a lot of flagship cars got one: the BMW 8-series got one in 1990, while the Acura Legend, Mitsubishi 3000GT, and Toyota Supra got one in 1993.

[Max Rockatansky]

Does the wrath of Wallethubism even extend as far as Michigan?  I thought that was religious movement solely targeted against Wisconsin?

This is anti-several states, but Michigan is listed:

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=30421.msg2749157#msg2749157

Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on June 22, 2022, 03:13:03 PM
Since Wallethub is irrefutable, this is not up for debate. 2022's Best & Worst States for Summer Road Trips

2. Minnesota

15. Iowa
16. Michigan
18. Wisconsin

32. Illinois

Sorry. Wallethub has spoken. Illinois is not a premier road trip destination, and Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa are all better. And Illinois is still flat too.

Looks like the costs metric really impacted the overall ranking. If you sort it by activities or even safety...IL beats those other states.

(credit to WolframAlpha for Unix time conversions to get the time right for the quotes, since the thread is locked)

Thank you, I found use for this on a certain Anti-Wisconsinite's page off forum.

[zachary_amaryllis]

1.  Remember when FYAs were something everyone, including on this forum, hated?

Now it seems like most people are in favor of them.  The hatred has shifted from the FYA to the HAWK instead.

As a night-time delivery driver, I started finding more possibilites to.. more or less turn left on red, thus speeding my zipping about town.

I went through the stages.
1. Hated them because I didn't understand them.
2. Started to understand them.
3. Embraced them.
4. Crave them.

[kirbykart]

Remember when the Thruway had tollbooths?

Yes it only happened a couple years ago, but I remember finally taking a road trip in 2021 after the worst of the pandemic, and I was like "Where are the toll booths?" right around where the ones near Exit 50 used to be.

Remember when Maxemillian de Robespierre was executed in 1790s France?

Neither do I.

[CtrlAltDel]

Remember when the Thruway had tollbooths?

Yes it only happened a couple years ago, but I remember finally taking a road trip in 2021 after the worst of the pandemic, and I was like "Where are the toll booths?" right around where the ones near Exit 50 used to be.

Remember when Maxemillian de Robespierre was executed in 1790s France?

Neither do I.

I don't know. It was in all the papers. . . .

[index]

Because I'm only 20 what I have to say won't be nearly as interesting for most people on the forum, but here goes:

Remember when North Carolina still had tons of freeways with original or very old concrete pavement?

As a child, shortly after moving to NC, I remember tons of freeways on drives I took part in still having the original or really old pavement. I fell asleep on many drives with my parents to the continuous thunking of the concrete segments. Since, most of them have been replaced, I assume due to the state's population boom which happened shortly after I arrived.

Remember when you had to turn your tube TV to channel 2 or 3 to hook up a video game or a DVD player?

And if there was nothing hooked up, it'd just be a big blue screen of nothing. I had a Magnavox CRT TV made in 1996 up until 2014 or so in my bedroom at my parents' house. My father had built a big ass table just to support the thing. It's nostalgic, but man did it suck having those take up so much space.

I remember playing with the static/always getting shocked as a kid. One thing I'd like to do was gather a bunch of dust on my fingers and watch it fly back and forth between my fingers and the glass or just jump all over the place. Many memories were made playing games on the PS2 with my friends when I wasn't much younger than 6 or 7. There was a time when those TVs were considered junk and you couldn't even sell them to someone for a dollar. Now they're fetching 200 bucks on eBay for being "vintage".

[Scott5114]

Remember when you had to turn your tube TV to channel 2 or 3 to hook up a video game or a DVD player?

And if there was nothing hooked up, it'd just be a big blue screen of nothing.

Heh, our TV displayed static on channels 2 and 3 since it was analog. Some markets actually had broadcasts on 2 or 3, but OKC's lowest channel is 4.

[Max Rockatansky]

Remember when video game console A/V inputs had to be screwed into the back your TV and had a tendency to spark?

[Scott5114]

Remember when video game console A/V inputs had to be screwed into the back your TV and had a tendency to spark?

I didn't have a console in those days, so I'll answer with what equivalent was for me–remember when you had to exit Windows to play a video game?

[Max Rockatansky]

Remember when video game console A/V inputs had to be screwed into the back your TV and had a tendency to spark?

I didn't have a console in those days, so I'll answer with what equivalent was for me–remember when you had to exit Windows to play a video game?

Remember when you had to look up keywords in the instruction books to text adventure games to get them to launch?

[jeffandnicole]

Remember when you had to turn your tube TV to channel 2 or 3 to hook up a video game or a DVD player?

And if there was nothing hooked up, it'd just be a big blue screen of nothing.

Heh, our TV displayed static on channels 2 and 3 since it was analog. Some markets actually had broadcasts on 2 or 3, but OKC's lowest channel is 4.

Actually,  I think it was channels 3 or 4 that could be used.

Philly had a Channel 3. So I had to hook it in to Channel 4.

Several ciites had a Channel 2, such as Baltimore.

[Big John]

Several ciites had a Channel 2, such as Baltimore.

As in many major cities including New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

[epzik8]

Remember when North Carolina still had tons of freeways with original or very old concrete pavement?

Yes, I remember that thunking sound on I-95 on our way to Myrtle Beach as a child. I'm 27, for the record.

[SSOWorld]

Do you remember when US-60 freeway ended in Mesa and not in Apache Jct?

Do you remember severe thunderstorms and tornadoes (which are severe thunderstorms) were the only weather phenomena tagged for warnings by the NWS? (Of course, without internet, no idea about tropical cyclones)

[Scott5114]

Remember when video game console A/V inputs had to be screwed into the back your TV and had a tendency to spark?

I didn't have a console in those days, so I'll answer with what equivalent was for me–remember when you had to exit Windows to play a video game?

Remember when you had to look up keywords in the instruction books to text adventure games to get them to launch?

Heh. Lemmings (which is my favorite old-school game) didn't have a save system. It just gave you a ten-letter code after every level, so when you were done for the day you would just write down the code. The next time you played you'd type in the code and it'd jump you to where you left off.

That game reminds me of another thing–remember when you couldn't just look up how to do parts of video games if you didn't know how to beat it? I got stuck on the 49th level (out of 120) of Lemmings for something like five years when I was a kid. I finally figured it out...only to make it to level 53 and get stuck again. 

[Max Rockatansky]

Remember when video game console A/V inputs had to be screwed into the back your TV and had a tendency to spark?

I didn't have a console in those days, so I'll answer with what equivalent was for me–remember when you had to exit Windows to play a video game?

Remember when you had to look up keywords in the instruction books to text adventure games to get them to launch?

Heh. Lemmings (which is my favorite old-school game) didn't have a save system. It just gave you a ten-letter code after every level, so when you were done for the day you would just write down the code. The next time you played you'd type in the code and it'd jump you to where you left off.

That game reminds me of another thing–remember when you couldn't just look up how to do parts of video games if you didn't know how to beat it? I got stuck on the 49th level (out of 120) of Lemmings for something like five years when I was a kid. I finally figured it out...only to make it to level 53 and get stuck again.

Try the Kings Quest puzzle involving somehow getting Ifnkovhgroghprm out of Rumplestiltskin.  I have no idea to this day how the hell anyone was supposed to figure that out on their own with the clues provided in game.  I want to say a friend at school told me what puzzle answer was and later versions of Kings Quest dumbed it down to something that could be solved.  The solution as I understand it was to reverse the alphabet and figuring out what the name of Rumplestiltskin would be:

https://kingsquest.fandom.com/wiki/Rumplestiltskin

https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/5sy9v5/til_the_original_kings_quest_in_one_of_the_most/

[hbelkins]

1.  Remember when FYAs were something everyone, including on this forum, hated?

Now it seems like most people are in favor of them.  The hatred has shifted from the FYA to the HAWK instead.

As a night-time delivery driver, I started finding more possibilites to.. more or less turn left on red, thus speeding my zipping about town.

I went through the stages.
1. Hated them because I didn't understand them.
2. Started to understand them.
3. Embraced them.
4. Crave them.

I still prefer doghouses with green arrows and green balls to FYAs.

[AABattery]

Where I live, I remember when Exit 6 on US 460 (the Bypass) where I am was just a traffic light instead of a diverging diamond interchange. The other road then, Southgate Drive, also just went strait and had no roundabouts back then, and now it has two of 'em.

I also remember when my school was on the other side of town from where it is now. They moved it a few years ago because the old building's roof collapsed after we got a bunch of snow one storm.

[74/171FAN]

I also remember when my school was on the other side of town from where it is now. They moved it a few years ago because the old building's roof collapsed after we got a bunch of snow one storm.

Yeah, I heard all about that in my VT days.

[Bruce]

Remember when we had reversible lanes on the I-90 bridge?

It's now been over 5 years since the reversible express lanes on I-90 between Seattle and Bellevue were closed to traffic.

[zachary_amaryllis]

1.  Remember when FYAs were something everyone, including on this forum, hated?

Now it seems like most people are in favor of them.  The hatred has shifted from the FYA to the HAWK instead.

As a night-time delivery driver, I started finding more possibilites to.. more or less turn left on red, thus speeding my zipping about town.

I went through the stages.
1. Hated them because I didn't understand them.
2. Started to understand them.
3. Embraced them.
4. Crave them.

I still prefer doghouses with green arrows and green balls to FYAs.

Different experiences, different feelings. We're all cool.

[1995hoo]

The thing that has gotten me to like the flashing yellow arrow is that, at least as they're implemented around here, they give more opportunities to turn than the doghouse signals did. At the light leaving my neighborhood, for example, if someone was coming from the other direction and tripped the light, but nobody was coming from my neighborhood's side, the other side would get both a green arrow and a green ball, but my side would stay fully red–if I drove up a few seconds late and wanted to go left, I'd have to wait for the next light cycle. Now, in that same situation but with a flashing yellow arrow, my side gets a flashing yellow arrow even if nobody's coming from my direction to have tripped the light. So that improves my chances of getting to turn left sooner if I don't get to the light at just the right moment.

[TheGrassGuy]

Remember when NJ-18 was the way it was prior to its overhaul?

Remember when house prices weren't explosive?

[mgk920]

Remember when you had to turn your tube TV to channel 2 or 3 to hook up a video game or a DVD player?

And if there was nothing hooked up, it'd just be a big blue screen of nothing.

Heh, our TV displayed static on channels 2 and 3 since it was analog. Some markets actually had broadcasts on 2 or 3, but OKC's lowest channel is 4.

There was a Dilbert comic strip many years ago where the evil character Dogbert registered a USA federal copyright on the 'snow' that appeared on analog TVs when they were tuned to vacant channels.

Mike

[kurumi]

Remember when you had to turn your tube TV to channel 2 or 3 to hook up a video game or a DVD player?

And if there was nothing hooked up, it'd just be a big blue screen of nothing.

Heh, our TV displayed static on channels 2 and 3 since it was analog. Some markets actually had broadcasts on 2 or 3, but OKC's lowest channel is 4.

There was a Dilbert comic strip many years ago where the evil character Dogbert registered a USA federal copyright on the 'snow' that appeared on analog TVs when they were tuned to vacant channels.

Mike

The opening line of Gibson's Neuromancer, 1984:

"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel."

Back then: gray static.

20 years later, that would mean a deep blue with "HDMI 1" in the upper right corner.

Now, it would probably mean an ad courtesy of your Samsung TV.