1970's favorite memories!

[RavensGryf]

I don't know what lawn darts are. It sounds like I was lucky I didn't get to play with them!

 

[ToMang07]

I don't know what lawn darts are. It sounds like I was lucky I didn't get to play with them!

Lawn darts was basically horseshoes....with giant darts. I actually still have a set around somewhere.

[ame="https://youtu.be/NE6415eqzWI"]Lawn Darts - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Birdman666]

Hey, skateboarding was MY LIFE growing up... we were the ones who modernized and innovated that sport.

And I was on the periphery of that whole Z-boy, empty swimming pool, go big or go home thing... THAT WAS my generation! We lived for that stuff, and surfing...

And the sport of snowboarding would not exist BUT FOR skateboarding...

I STILL have a longboard in the closet that I occasionally take out and carve down hills.

 

[Birdman666]

Respect, Mark! I never had the urge to jump out of a plane, I like to watch though, I've seen a few amazing air shows, I saw the Blue Angels when I was about nine. Coolest plane I've ever had a ride in was a gorgeous little GeeBee, that was the eighties though.

The Blue Angels perform in San Francisco every year for Fleet Week. You see them practicing for about a week, and they do things like buzz the high rises...

One year my Jet Ski club had a race around the bay as part of the fleet week festivities. Bridge, to Bridge, to Bridge starting at the Golden Gate, all the way down to the San Rafael Bridge, and then back to the Bay Bridge. (I came in 4th.)

We watched the Blue Angels from the water that year, and I was sitting on my ski between two tall ships. I swear, the pilot used me as a reference point. He went down on the deck, and flew sideways between the masts of the two ships, about 25 feet above me. The wake turbulance was enough to knock me off my ski into the water... it was a special moment for an airplane nut like me!

 

[ToMang07]

The Blue Angels perform in San Francisco every year for Fleet Week. You see them practicing for about a week, and they do things like buzz the high rises...

One year my Jet Ski club had a race around the bay as part of the fleet week festivities. Bridge, to Bridge, to Bridge starting at the Golden Gate, all the way down to the San Rafael Bridge, and then back to the Bay Bridge. (I came in 4th.)

We watched the Blue Angels from the water that year, and I was sitting on my ski between two tall ships. I swear, the pilot used me as a reference point. He went down on the deck, and flew sideways between the masts of the two ships, about 25 feet above me. The wake turbulance was enough to knock me off my ski into the water... it was a special moment for an airplane nut like me!

That's awesome!

 

[Scott]

Allee: I'll bet if you sat in a C-150 it would all come rushing back within an hour of instruction! The physicality of flying is akin to that of a bicycle; once you learn the basics it never really departs! Hats off for packing a potato chip for global distribution! Given all the movements and conveyances involved, that is a skill more rare than flying. Seriously! Vaguely remember clackers!

Mimsy01: It was a far more innocent time when kids could be mostly left to their own devices and survived the decade. Horror movies indeed, IIRC most of the "teen slasher" flicks had their roots in the 70s.

Mark: Skydiving from a 150? Amazing that aluminum kite didn't perform aerobatics when you hung from the wing strut! Didn't have much talent for skating, but did have a board with Bahne wheels.

Julie and Tom: Played a bit with lawn darts but never tossed them at a living creature. Tom, that was a great flick - looks like a classic Super 8 movie.

"Lawn Dart" has a special place in aviation lexicon. It is one of the many names for the Fairchild Metroliner, a skinny tube-like regional airliner popular in the 80s and 90s. If you ever flew in one it probably erased a bit of your hearing!

 

[Birdman666]

Respect, Mark! I never had the urge to jump out of a plane, I like to watch though, I've seen a few amazing air shows...

I came very close to being IN an air show... well, tried to talk my way in...

My daughter was in Young Eagles. One of her instructors was performing at Rio Vista. I was fresh off my Wing Walk jump and wanted to do it again (legally this time.) I managed to talk my friend into floating the idea of a wing walk act that finished with a loop. At the top of the loop, I release the safety harness and free fall... [Audience Gasps! Did he just fall off? Is that supposed to happen?!]

He finishes the loop underneath me while I'm in free fall...

When the plane clears, open the chute. Put it hard over, do some aerobatics, and land... Sounded like a rockin' good time to me...

BUT I didn't have an EXHIBITION RATING, and couldn't get one in time for the air show, and the promoters couldn't get insurance for the act. So the answer was NO...

But I've dreamed about that ever since.

They do something similar at the freefall convention every year. They have a Stearman Biplane with a single bicycle handlebar attached to the passenger side. Pilot does a loop. Before he starts the loop, you take off your seat belt, and hold onto the handle bar with both hands.

At the top of the loop, you quite literally fall out of your seat and are hanging from the handlebar. At that point, you let go. He finishes the loop underneath you. You get to watch the plane come around in fairly close proximity in free fall.

Still on my bucket list. That one is legal. You can log it. You can video it. Pictures of that one are a must!

 

[Birdman666]

Mark: Skydiving from a 150? Amazing that aluminum kite didn't perform aerobatics when you hung from the wing strut!

NAH. The pilot compensated for the weight shift. We wobbled a bit climbing out, but after that it was golden. The biggest thing was it felt like it took an hour to get to 9,000 feet. (I was going to go from 10,000, but the plane didn't like it... so I said, just let me out here.) The joke was: "Do you want me to get out and push?!"

Didn't have much talent for skating, but did have a board with Bahne wheels.

I used to race downhill. I Rode a Bahne way back in the day, before I switched to a specialty four foot downhill board.
Knew their team riders. Dennis Schufelt and Tom Sims (before Sims came out with his own board line) were the stars. I was just the hot rat kid.
I was actually more comfortable on a board, than I was walking. I LIVED on my board.

There was a HUGE downhill race in La Costa every year. That was a happening scene in the 70's!!!

 

[Birdman666]

"lawn dart" has a special place in aviation lexicon. It is one of the many names for the fairchild metroliner, a skinny tube-like regional airliner popular in the 80s and 90s. If you ever flew in one it probably erased a bit of your hearing!

i love the cargo door on that thing!

And actually, now that I really look at it, it has high horizontal stabilizers, so even though the door is right on the tail, you CAN safely take toys out of it...

When pilots call a plane a lawn dart.. hmmm... I take it this thing was a tad unstable at slow speeds?!

 

[ruffledfeathers]

I was born in 71 too. My memories are those of the dorky little sister, watching the 'cool older kids' and trying to just hang and 'be cool' too. I have memories of playing in the basement while listening to Aerosmith on 8 track. (I still think "Back in the Saddle" should be playing as background music when I enter a room, like life is a movie.)


I spent a lot of my time listening to music with my brother (Pink Floyd, Rush, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin) and eating junk food in a room full of black light posters.


As a quiet geek myself, I played early video games a lot (Pong) and thought roller skating was totally cool. When not at the rink I was skating around my neighborhood.


And I also had those clackers things. I was pretty darn good at it, I add.


My sister was more into the teen idol thing, with people like Parker Stevenson on the bedroom wall, Andy Gibb, etc. I thought that was painful!!

 

[Birdman666]

Respect, Mark! I never had the urge to jump out of a plane, I like to watch though, I've seen a few amazing air shows.

I STRONGLY URGE ANYONE WHO IS EVEN REMOTELY ADVENTUROUS TO TRY IT... BECAUSE IT'S ABOUT AS FUN AS FUN GETS!



VERTICAL INVERTED SPIN ON TWO AXIS (SIDE TO SIDE AND FRONT TO BACK) SIMULTANEOUSLY, WHILE IN FREEFALL AT AROUND 200 MPH, AND SINGING THE "RUBBER DUCKY" SONG... (doesn't get any more surreal than that!)



"BOAT LAUNCH" (TERMS THAT MEAN SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TO A SKYDIVER.)



"COSTUME PARTY"



UNFORTUNATELY, WE POPPED THE GATER GOING OUT THE DOOR. THE EXPRESSION ON MY FACE IS PRICELESS... UH OH! THAT'S NOT GOOD! (If you look closely just behind my front leg, you can see the seams exploding!)

 

[Birdman666]

I don't know what lawn darts are. It sounds like I was lucky I didn't get to play with them!

NEVER PLAY LAWN DARTS WITH A HOT HEAD!

Bad things are just bound to happen....

It's literally a two foot long dart, with what is essentially an ice pick on the end, that you throw and try to get to land in a circle. You throw in one direction, and your buddy throws at the other circle.

Intelligent people know better than to stand next to the circle, but people aren't always paying attention, NOR are people always terribly coordinated about where they throw those things, getting less so as they drink...

TRUST ME, THE MANUFACTURER GOT SUED A FEW TIMES... In fact, I think I even worked on one or two of these early on in my career.

 

[Birdman666]

And Twister... some things should stay in the past!

Actually...

Twister still has it's usefulness. Just not as a kid's game. :11:

Not going into any more details than that...

 

[Terry57]

Scott, I so thank you for starting this thread! It has brought back so many great memories!
Your story about your Grandmother had me literally rolling on the floor!

I had Clackers, but they were glass. They were soon recalled because of the chips flying and injuring eyes, I believe and my Mom took mine away.
I also had friends with nunchucks and almost killed myself trying to be cool.

This shows what a pack rat I am. I STILL have my pet rock (, mood ring and 8 tracks! I have Foghat and BTO on 8 tracks..lol.

I also listened to Bread, wore out Billy Joel's Piano Man album, and memorized every word to Tommy and Jesus Christ Superstar.
Nothing compared to Free Bird, We are the Champions and Turn the Page.

Also loved loved loved Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Dawn of the Dead and Halloween!
Guilty pleasure? Saturday Night Fever

And the Drive in? Anyone else hide in the trunk with a bunch of people to keep from paying $2 each?

 

[RavensGryf]

And the Drive in? Anyone else hide in the trunk with a bunch of people to keep from paying $2 each?

HAHAHAHA! That's hilarious Terry. No, I sat in the front all proper with my parents . By the mid 80's was when we were driving and doing the crazy stuff.

 

[Birdman666]

I'd always go over to the case to look at these fascinating objects and ask my mom what they were. I forgot what she said. Every time I would tell my mom to buy one. She never did. Hm, apparently they were marketed for smoking ahem... 'tobacco'. I can't believe they sold those at a mainstream record store.

Actually, I had - ahem - one or two of those "tobacco" products...

We actually smoked a fair amount of "tobacco" products in the late 70's... which is perhaps why some of my memories of the 70's are perhaps a bit hazy... (other memories are things that are just too embarrassing to remember... )

Any one else wear a puka shell necklace... I mean, that will admit to wearing it? HEY, THOSE WERE UNISEX... AND A SYMBOL OF THE ULTIMATE WANNA BE HAWAIIAN LAID BACK COOLNESS...

You're still laughing aren't you?!

But you wore a mullet didn't you?!

Oh yeah, my hair was longer than my sisters in those days... down to about my elbows... WHY?! DON'T ASK ME WHY... I LOOK TERRIBLE WITH LONG HAIR... and it constantly got in the way.

SHOULD WE MOVE INTO 80'S FADS?

HOW MANY OF Y'ALL HAD SHORT HAIR, WITH A TAIL?!

I ACTUALLY LIKED MY TAIL...

 

[Terry57]

I think I started early, Julie
I completely forgot to mention, my first car was a '69 Mustang coupe. I saved for 2 years to get a 'stang. Her name was Ruffian and she was dark green. Jacked way up in the back with super wide tires that were 2 inches wider than the fender wells. Cragar rims, 351 Windsor...man, I so loved that car. I had a picture somewhere but haven't seen it in years.

 

[Terry57]

Puka shells!?! I loved those, in fact bought a bunch of those in Hawaii about 10 years ago. They looked awesome while I was in Hawaii, when I got home, not so much.
Shame we didn't live close in the 70s, Mark, since we were the same age. I bet we would have had a blast.

 

[RavensGryf]

I had a puka necklace!

Mark, why don't you start an 80's thread

Terry, wow cool car... dude magnet eh? By the time my friends and I were able to drive, we just used our parents' "boats". If they only knew the things we did in them, they'd have not let us drive again!

 

[RavensGryf]

Mark, we know what you look like with short hair, but we NEED to see you with long hair in the 70's! Dig out those pics!