What the heck is a fender skirt?

[280plus]

I'm happy to admit that I only knew a few of these and actually have seen even fewer...

>>I CAME ACROSS THIS PHRASE IN A BOOK YESTERDAY "FENDER SKIRTS." A TERM I HAVEN'T HEARD IN A LONG TIME AND THINKING ABOUT "FENDER
>>SKIRTS" STARTED ME THINKING ABOUT OTHER WORDS THAT QUIETLY
>>DISAPPEAR FROM OUR LANGUAGE WITH HARDLY A NOTICE.
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>>LIKE " CURB FEELERS" AND "STEERING KNOBS." SINCE I'D BEEN THINKING OF CARS, MY MIND NATURALLY WENT THAT DIRECTION FIRST. ANY KIDS WILL PROBABLY HAVE TO FIND SOME ELDERLY PERSON OVER 50 TO EXPLAIN SOME OF THESE TERMS TO YOU.
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>>REMEMBER " CONTINENTAL KITS?" THEY WERE REAR BUMPER EXTENDERS AND SPARE TIRE COVERS THAT WERE SUPPOSED TO MAKE ANY CAR AS COOL AS A LINCOLN CONTINENTAL.
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>>WHEN DID WE QUIT CALLING THEM "EMERGENCY BRAKES?" AT SOME POINT "PARKING BRAKE" BECAME THE PROPER TERM. BUT I MISS THE HINT OF DRAMA THAT WENT WITH "EMERGENCY BRAKE".
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>>I'M SAD TOO, THAT ALMOST ALL THE OLD FOLKS ARE GONE WHO WOULD CALL THE ACCELERATOR THE "FOOT FEED".
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>>DIDN'T YOU EVER WAIT AT THE STREET FOR YOUR DADDY TO COME HOME, SO YOU COULD RIDE THE "RUNNING BOARD"UP TO THE HOUSE?
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>>HERE'S A PHRASE I HEARD ALL THE TIME IN MY YOUTH BUT NEVER HEAR ANYMORE- "STORE-BOUGHT." OF COURSE, JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING IS STORE-BOUGHT THESE DAYS. BUT ONCE IT WAS BRAGGING MATERIAL TO HAVE A STORE-BOUGHT DRESS OR A STORE-BOUGHT BAG OF CANDY.
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>>"COAST TO COAST" IS A PHRASE THAT ONCE HELD ALL SORTS OF EXCITEMENT AND NOW MEANS ALMOST NOTHING. NOW WE TAKE THE TERM "WORLD WIDE" FOR GRANTED. THIS FLOORS ME.
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>>ON A SMALLER SCALE, WALL-TO-WALL WAS ONCE A MAGICAL TERM IN OUR HOMES. IN THE '50s, EVERYONE COVERED HIS OR HER HARDWOOD FLOORS WITH, WOW, WALL-TO-WALL CARPETING! TODAY, EVERYONE REPLACES THEIR WALL-TO-WALL CARPETING WITH HARDWOOD FLOORS. GO FIGURE!
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>>WHEN'S THE LAST TIME YOU HEARD THE QUAINT PHRASE "IN A FAMILY WAY?"
>>IT'S HARD TO IMAGINE THAT THE WORD "PREGNANT" WAS ONCE CONSIDERED A LITTLE TOO GRAPHIC, A LITTLE TOO CLINICAL FOR USE IN POLITE COMPANY. SO WE HAD ALL THAT TALK ABOUT STORK VISITS AND "BEING IN THE FAMILY WAY" OR SIMPLY "EXPECTING"
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>>APPARENTLY "BRASSIERE" IS A WORD NO LONGER IN USAGE. I SAID IT THE OTHER DAY AND MY DAUGHTER CRACKED UP, I GUESS IT'S JUST "BRA" NOW "UNMENTIONALS" PROBABLY WOULDN'T BE UNDERSTOOD AT ALL.
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>>I ALWAYS LOVED GOING TO THE "PICTURE SHOW", BUT I CONSIDERED
>>"MOVIE" AN AFFECTATION."
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>>MOST OF THESE WORDS GO BACK TO THE '50s, BUT HERE'S A PURE- '60's WORD I CAME ACROSS THE OTHER DAY- "RAT FINK". OOH, WHAT A NASTY PUT-DOWN!
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>>HERE'S A WORD I MISS -"PERCOLATOR". THAT WAS JUST A FUN WORD TO SAY. AND WHAT WAS IT REPLACED WITH? "COFFEE MAKER". HOW
>>DULL. MR.COFFEE, I BLAME YOU FOR THIS.
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>>I MISS THOSE MADE-UP MARKETING WORDS T! HAT WERE MEANT TO SOUND SO MODERN AND NOW SOUND SO RETRO. WORDS LIKE "DYNAFLOW" AND "ELECTROLUX." INTRODUCING THE 1963 ADMIRAL TV, NOW WITH "SPECTRAVISION!"
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>>FOOD FOR THOUGHT- WAS THERE A TELETHON THAT WIPED OUT LUMBAGO? NOBODY COMPLAINS OF THAT ANYMORE. MAYBE THAT'S WHAT CASTOR OIL CURED, BECAUSE I NEVER HEAR MOTHERS THREATENING KIDS WITH CASTOR OIL ANYMORE.
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>>SOME WORDS AREN'T GONE, BUT ARE DEFINITELY ON THE ENDANGERED LIST.
>>THE ONE THAT GRIEVES ME MOST IS "SUPPER". NOW EVERYBODY SAYS "DINNER."
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>>SAVE A GREAT WORD. INVITE SOMEONE TO SUPPER. DISCUSS FENDER SKIRTS.

[Guest]

Well need to check my "folding money", because I don't have enough "hard-dollars" to get a "cup of Joe".

Damn! Art?   Let me bum a "hard-roll" - left mine in the truck.

So with the change of seasons, you like the "palette" of color Mother Nature does with "hardwoods" or "softwoods" better?

Gotta remember to pick up some "saltines" and "cocoa" when I make a "market run".

[garrettwc]

Youngsters.

In the picture you'll notice that the rear wheels are partially covered by a body panel. That panel is removeable and is commonly known as a fender skirt. Oh, and by the way, the extended bumper and spare tire carrier are the 'Continental Kit' referred to in the original post.

And yes, I can remember each one of these, although running boards were mostly gone by the time I was old enough

[mtnbkr]

ON A SMALLER SCALE, WALL-TO-WALL WAS ONCE A MAGICAL TERM IN OUR HOMES. IN THE '50s, EVERYONE COVERED HIS OR HER HARDWOOD FLOORS WITH, WOW, WALL-TO-WALL CARPETING! TODAY, EVERYONE REPLACES THEIR WALL-TO-WALL CARPETING WITH HARDWOOD FLOORS. GO FIGURE!

My grandmother's house started out with hardwood floors, which she covered with carpet before I was born.  A few years ago, she removed the carpet and had someone refinish the original wood flooring.  It looks great.  I had no idea it was there.

Chris

[Brian Williams]

I worked on a house that we installed $45,000 of T&G Mahagony flooring and it required about $50,000 to sand it and finish it.  Then the lady had it covered with pissyellow shag wall2wall that cost $4000
I still call it Supper..
I still think the Continental kit and fender skirts were for Sissies and Grandma's.
Steering knobs are great, better known as "necker" knobs.

[mtnbkr]

I worked on a house that we installed $45,000 of T&G Mahagony flooring and it required about $50,000 to sand it and finish it.  Then the lady had it covered with pissyellow shag wall2wall that cost $4000

Was this a back to back operation or were there some years between the wood floor install and the carpet install?  I'm just trying to figure out how she'd justify the wood floor only to cover it with carpet.  

Chris

[Art Eatman]

One good thing about 1930s sedans, aside from running boards, was the headlights in nacelles atop the front fenders.  You could sit on the fender with your legs clamped around the nacelle.  Made driving across a pasture to shoot rabbits just a helluva lot easier.  Great night time sport.  My first-ever car was a 1933 Chevy roadster, with rumble seat.  Anybody remember rumble seats?  Great for dates.  Just slide on down until you had complete privacy.  Actually, 1/3 of a car.  Three of us went together to scrounge up the $35 to buy it.

(Bleep) hardwood floors.  My folks built a house in 1946 with 1x3 oak flooring.  First, the 1x6 underlayment at 45 degrees.  Then, 50-gazillion pounds of 6d finishing nails.  You know, the kind whose philosophy is, "I'll bend before I break."  My own house is 1" plywood under the wall-to-wall dirt-colored carpet.

Heck, before A/C in cars, you could buy a gizmo that fit into the almost-rolled-up window.  You put ice in it, and the wind blowing through the device and into the car was chilled.  Trouble was, the ice didn't last all that long in Texas summers.

Ah, the early auto-trannies:  "Slip and slide with Powerglide!"

Folks today sneer at a rotary dial phone.  Huh.  I remember the old hand-crank jobberdo, with a 12-party line.  You cranked and got the operator and gave her the number you wanted.  And when you received a call, everybody listened in.  Dunno why folks worry about Echelon.  Little old ladies knew more about what was going on than the NSA ever has.  (Still do, for that matter.)

Ah, the Necker's Knob.  She said to me, "Use both hands!"  I sez, "Darlin', I need one for driving."

, Art

[Gewehr98]

Fender skirts?  That's easy, and a classic blast from the past:

[Art Eatman]

With fender skirts, what you DON'T want is a flat tire on a rainy night.  It's beaucoup worse if you're on a dirt road.

, Art

[280plus]

I remember steering knobs were also called "suicide knobs" to go with your suicide doors and your suicide shift (wait, that last one was on old Harleys or Indians)

[Zundfolge]

they're making a comeback with the Eco-Commie set...

[Guest]

Hardwood Floors-
I had them growing up. Nothing wrong with Murphy's Oil Soap - but that Johnson's Paste Wax was so much better for sliding on after applied with wool socks. Then that new-fangled spray stuff for furntiure - Pledge - sure made "getting the floor slicker" a lot easier. Explains why there was a patch in the far wall, and a dent in upright furnance...

Not  as old as Art. I do recall learning on a '53 Chevy with "three on the tree". Sucker had grounbd clearance - and yeah for 'night sporting" that front bumper was handy.

We then got us a two tone green Dodge with the 'fins" - had 'push button" auto trannie and the rear view mirror on the metal dash. Always hated that car.

I liked the PowerGlide, on the floor of the  '63 Super Sport with a 4bbl 327 and 300 horses...ah...memories. No necker's knobs on the steering wheel, now that gear shift between the buckets could be interesting...

Don't have to go back too many years it seems.  I mentioned Delco and Philco 'radios' in cars, and the mention of under the dash 8 track tape players to classmates...I get the deer in the headlight look same as 'record players' and 'records'.

"Yeah my child listened to "Henry the Chickenhawk" - I have it on CD - so says a classmate...

Sigh...I played it on a Philco , green vinyl 45 RPM record...
Same color as Chet Atkins record...
Jimmy Dean was red, Tennesse Ernie Ford was black, Hank Williams Sr. was black, red, green, or why did they do one in yellow?  

"Dragging Main Street" - remember that?

Back when married and had a teenage stepson - we went to the big city to show the kid what "Dragging Main Street" was all about.  About 9pm one night. I'm driving and get pulled over. Young Officer asks why I was driving slow ( I was doing the 25mph limit mind you) and I had to explain 'dragging Main street".
He replied it sounded like "racing cars" - I informed him that was what the Airport Road and River Road was for ( wife just turned and cringed...lol).

Then we headed back to our small town...decided instead to visit the adjacent town. Had to show the boy what " Walking the Square" meant.  This time the older Sheriff officer  comes up and complimented me on knowing how to parallel park ( that blew the kid's mind btw) said we were gonna walk the square - he just grinned, and make us aware of some stuff we might want to take in.  All the statues, memorials, historical markers with lights  shining  on them...

....head to the Mom & Pop Stores in the square around the Courthouse ....

Wife and I  "Window Shopped"  kid was tripping over cracks in the sidewalk, got him home and told him he too had "Window Shopped"  once he figured how to walk on a sidewalk and manipulate curbs -...and if he didnt' behave we would   tell his best buds at school. lol

[280plus]

but that Johnson's Paste Wax was so much better for sliding on after applied with wool socks.

There's nothing more better than taking steel wool and Johnson's wax to an old hardwood floor and watch it come alive again!

I remember my Dad's 1953 Merc with the push button start. I actually owned a 1963 Belvedere with a push button tranny, it was definitely on it's last legs though. The old man's  '63 Ford Fairlane had some mighty nice tail wings. It had a "three on the tree" too. Talk about "Continental kits", anyone remember the kits to make you VW bug look like a pig? Or a Rolls Royce? There is still a pink VW pig in existence right down the road from me.

Oh, and then I recall that the parents told me they used to park down by the shore for a little "necking" and called it "watching the submarine races". This was a locality thing as they were pretty close to Groton.

[Harold Tuttle]

Swamp Cooler:

[grampster]

Guy pulled up the the restaurant on Saturday in one of those Dodge pickups that had a front end on it like the VW bus above and a truck bed.  I remember that jesse and always wanted one.  Haven't seen one in years.  This one is candy apple red and perfect conditioin.  *drool*  Imagine that VW bus with the white top off'n it behind the cab.  That's what that Dodge looks like.

[Larry Ashcraft]

Guy pulled up the the restaurant on Saturday in one of those Dodge pickups that had a front end on it like the VW bus above and a truck bed.  I remember that jesse and always wanted one.  Haven't seen one in years.  This one is candy apple red and perfect conditioin.  *drool*  Imagine that VW bus with the white top off'n it behind the cab.  That's what that Dodge looks like.

Anybody remember the "Little Red Wagon"?  It was a COE Dodge pickup like Grampster describes, but with a monster Hemi in the bed.  It would stand on its back wheels all the way down the dragstrip.  It spurned a whole new class of exhibition dragsters "Wheelstanders" including the Hemi Under Glass and the Backup Pickup (Ford COE going backwards).

BTW, I grew up in the era but I always hated the fender skirts, lakes pipes, spinners, spot lights, lowered crowd.

Real hot rods were so much cooler...

[JAlexander]

Talk about "Continental kits", anyone remember the kits to make you VW bug look like a pig? Or a Rolls Royce? There is still a pink VW pig in existence right down the road from me.

The guy who runs the lights for the show that my darling bride is doing right now has one of those, and drives it to the the opera house every night.  It's actually the first one I'd ever seen, since tricked-out Bugs weren't too popular in rural central Texas when I was a kid.  I can tell y'all all about beat up old Ford and Chevy pickups, though.

I used to hear steering wheel knobs called 'suicide knobs' and 'spinners' when I was a kid, although now spinners are something entirely different.  When I was a little kid, I used to see this one old black man driving around Bastrop, and thinking he was the coolest person ever.  He had a black Lincoln Continental, one of the early seventies models, and he used to cruise around smoking a cigar, steering with one hand on the suicide knob.  He always had his windows rolled down, and he always waved.  
I wish you could still use those things.

James

[Brad Johnson]

Was a time when having air conditioning in your car was something only the rich folks had. And it was "refridgerated air" and not "A/C".

You would coal-up the furnace, not just press the button on the digital thermostat.

They were called iceboxes, not just "the fridge".

"Playing football" on the playground meant you would come in with at least one knee skinned, a bloody nose, and the wind knocked out of you from a hard block. Touch football was for when you played in the church league and their were girls on the field.

You pressed a button to start your car. Only you did it with your foot. And you prayed that the 6-volt positive-ground electical system would get the job done so you didn't have to get out and use the hand crank.

Those new-fangled tubeless tires? They were just a fad. Split-rims were so much easier and safer to work on...

The whole family got dressed up and went to the pizza parlor instead of just picking up the phone and ordering the latest coupon special.

Of course, I had a lot less grey then. And I went to the barber and not a "male hairstyle specialist".

Brad

[280plus]

Yea, barbers are a dying breed, literally...

My grandfather had this old Rambler wagon that when he moved to Miami he installed an aftermarket air conditioner in. It would make the coldest air I've ever seen for a car a/c. I still remember that great big fan assembly hanging off the bottom of the dash with it's great big round rocket ship looking air outlets. I wonder what ever became of that car.

I have seen a few of those 1/2 VW x 1/2 pickup jobs. But it's been a while...

How about when a "rail" had the driver behind the motor and not in front?

I remember watching the Winter Nationals in Orange county Kalifornia and we were amazed by Shirley Muldowney's first ever all aluminum motor. (It blew) And how they were making 2500 HP which shook the ground when they took off. Now they produce 5000!

We had an old guy around here, I haven't seen him in a while, but he had a red 1924 Model A Pick up that he still drove. He was it's original owner! It wasn't in bad shape at all either.  

[grampster]

Larry, now that you mention it, I do remember it.  Had a big Hemi in it and puttin' out smoke as it went down the dragway on it's hind legs.  Seeing that truck that fired up my jealousy gene at the restaurant, I'd forgotten how Chrysler or somebody had gussied that critter up.

[K Frame]

The house I grew up in had, in my parent's bedroom, an air conditioner from the 1930s.

It was FRIGGING ENORMOUS, and no longer worked.

My Dad said that the window unit that replaced it had nearly twice the cooling power.

Anyone ever grow up in a house with a Butler's Window? Or a Butler's Pantry?

[Larry Ashcraft]

How about when a "rail" had the driver behind the motor and not in front?

I believe it was Don Prudhomme who lost part of his foot in a flywheel explosion that built a rear engined dragster (one of the 13 or so Swamp Rats).  I don't remember if he was the one or not, but since then, all Top Fuel dragsters have been rear-engined.

Anybody remember the old FX class (factory experimental)?  It evolved into the Funny Cars.  Some of those early FXs were pretty funny looking, hence the name.

[jefnvk]

Wow, y'all are old.

Most (now) out of place thing I had on a car was the bright lights dimmer on the floor.

[Guest]

Anyone ever grow up in a house with a Butler's Window? Or a Butler's Pantry?

I am familar with these .

Dumwaiters as well.

One of the places I worked as a kid of 12, Downtown had three Dumbwaiters. These were used a LOT. One went  to the Bookeepers upstairs, one to a general area upstairs to the shop,  the other one to the Boss's upstairs Private office.

 The Butler's Pantry , we had is where one K frame Revolver was kept.

We had some BGs come in and case us one day. Boss is looking out over the store ( office overlooked with one way glass) with a Lever Gun in 30-30, in hand, and the back-up shotguns were sent downstairs via the dumwaiters.  We had already sent some valuables "up" and had "locked down" the upstairs.

I have some friends that did new construction - Butler Pantry and Dumbwaiters were installed .

[garrettwc]

I believe it was Don Prudhomme who lost part of his foot in a flywheel explosion that built a rear engined dragster (one of the 13 or so Swamp Rats).

You got the first name right. That was "Big Daddy" Don Garlits. The father of drag racing.