I had the same level of excitement when I opened the mailbox today as I did in 1966

I sent away for the secrect decoder ring in the back of a comic book, and ordered the x-ray glasses when I was a kid but they never showed up


Cal30

Oh yes. I had one and nearly wore it out looking through it. As I remember the paper had a distinctive odor that I suspect I'd still recognize. Mom cleaned it up while I was in the Army during Vietnam.

Jerry Liles

Did you ever order the case of "miracle salve" in the back of comic books when you were young?

Sell a measly ten cases (64 cans per case @50-cents per), pay the shipping and handling, and you got this nifty 2-stroke engine that bolted to the front sprocket of your bike. With the optional speedometer you could reach dizzying heights of speed. 15-16mph as I recall.

Rich

That was "Cloverine" salve, I believe.

I always wondered who would hold out for the accordion.

That was about 30,000 cans of salve, and maybe 50,000 cans less than the pony went for.

I remember there was a .22 rifle available.

Sell "Grit", too.

Buy a cardboard submarine.

Ah, yes, Cloverine Salve. It would cure cancer and syphilis I think the ads said...

Rich

quote:

Originally posted by tin can:
I had the same level of excitement when I opened the mailbox today as I did in 1966

I ordered my copy in 1962.
I still have it. It is the earliest purchase that I still own.

I thought this was going to be about those cardboard Polaris submarines, with the launching ICBM if I remember correctly.

Ohh, here- found it!

http://secretfunspot.blogspot....clear-sub-photo.html

If that's you, you were a pretty decent looking little kid!


The thoughts which also come to my mind looking at your submarine picture are all about how much PC has ruined our lives these days.

Look at that picture through modern eyes...things wrong include at least:

-The center of attention is a white, blond, male. No minorities or females visible anywhere. (Isn't the private use and control of land resources horrible when it acts to exclude other genders and/or races by preventing them from living there or using it at their option?)

- There is an open burn barrel on the right hand side of the yard. A clear contributor to air pollution (and breathing difficulties for the asthmatically challenged), as well as global warming.

- Consider all the trees which were killed to provide the wood for that back fence. Who knows how many Mexican Spotted Owls were disenfranchised and their habitat destroyed?

- How much was water was "wasted" by keeping that grass green? Did an environmental impact statement showing the effects on the "Weird Pickled and Spotted Chub" justify that use of water?

- What about the use of ethylene feedstock to make the plastics in the sub? (Contributes to the waste of fossil fuels...and our dependence on foreign governments - not to mention corporate oil executives.)

- How about the child abuse inherent in exposing that tiny body to harmful gamma radiation from the sun, thereby endangering his future health (skin cancer?) and taxing the resources of the treatment community?

Goes on and on these days, doesn't it? Meaningless bullshit from every busy-body do-gooder group in the world which wants to control everything except its own lust for power over other folks lives.

That's why they call them the "Good Ol' Days." Didn't have all that B.S.

yeah - just thinking back on things we did as kids. kinda makes you think how you lived through it

AC, no that wasn't me it is just a picture I found on the web.

I never had one of those. I do remember saving up for one but $7 was a lot of money and after I got about half saved I found something else to spend it on.

quote:

Originally posted by Mark:
AC, no that wasn't me it is just a picture I found on the web.

I never had one of those. I do remember saving up for one but $7 was a lot of money and after I got about half saved I found something else to spend it on.

Yeh, it was a heap of money for a kid. I hope everyone understands I was trying to be sarcastically humorous about today's times when I listed all the 'Bad" things in the picture.

Can you imagine that sub only being $7 though, despite the fortune in allowances it represented to kids? When I was 14 my allowance was still only 25 cents a week...any more I eaned than that I had to take home and give to my mom for my "room & board" and clothes.

Wonder what they'd charge for it today, if the PCs would let them sell a "war" toy like that at all?

Sad thing is, most likely you cannot get all the things listed it that Williams ctalog today.

The only things I sent off for when I was a "kid" were from the Herters catalogue...

Except for a few things from the Gil Hebard Catalogue, after the 9th grade when I became a bullseye pistol shooter.

Around 1976 I met Gil personally at the Nationals at Camp Perry and we became good friends. I still have some Dollar Bills that I won from him that he signed. He was a hoot to be around.

I got the "Sea Monkies"...picture sure looked good.....too bad they were just brine shrimp..

I did get the Nautilus that ran on baking soda and I still have my Whamo blow gun!
C.G.B.

Somewhere in my folks' home is a rocket propelled with vinegar and baking soda. I spent many an hour wasting my mother's cooking and cleaning materials shooting rockets into the air.

I should probably thank her for all of that while she is still here. I will do that tomorrow; she is asleep now...