Get off my LAWN! "Grumpy Old Farts"

[BassmanPaul]

Are you on the G.O.F. list?

I think Steve is reticent about revealing his vintage! It might have something to do with living in the wrong London!!

 

[1bassplayinfool]

I think the first "real" job I had paid $1.65 an hour. I managed to by a car and an amp bringing home $55 a week.
The music store let me make payments... I financed the car a 1964 VW bug.

 

[FFTT]

Every gig, every rehearsal, we had to push start the guitar player's VW Bug, but he had a Marshall 50 Plexi.

 

[agedhorse]

I think the first "real" job I had paid $1.65 an hour.

My first job paid $1.75/hr and I was happy as hell to have it too!

 

[T_Bone_TL]

Every gig, every rehearsal, we had to push start the guitar player's VW Bug

Guy didn't learn to park on a hill? Or you lived in a very flat place...?

 

[T_Bone_TL]

My first job paid $1.75/hr and I was happy as hell to have it too!

Now express that in gallons of gasoline per hour, for the enlightenment of the youngsters.

 

[B-string]

Well, when I started driving there were still "gas price wars". The normal $0.189 per gallon of regular went down to $0.149.
You could fill up a VW for $1.00 and get change back.

 

[agedhorse]

The lowest I remember was $0.25/gal

 

[B-string]

The lowest I remember was $0.25/gal

Kids

We didn't pay that much for........blast from the past......Ethyl.

 

[1bassplayinfool]

Kids

We didn't pay that much for........blast from the past......Ethyl.

Hi-test

 

[1bassplayinfool]

 

[T_Bone_TL]

The lowest I remember was $0.25/gal

Lets call it 30 cents - ideally we'd manage price when you got your first job paying $1.75/hr, but hey. Prices have gone back up from the delightful dip down to $2.21 here, so lets call it $2.50, and we know darn well it will be back over 3 shortly.

You were making 5 or 6 gallons of gas an hour. Not too shabby in today's market, either... $14.50 or so an hour. While you can get different multipliers by looking at different items that have altered value differently, the general idea holds.

 

[1bassplayinfool]

VW people remember this:?

 

[steve_rolfeca]

VW people remember this:?

My second car was a '63 Beetle. Bought it in '71 or '72 for $275. That book saved my life on a number of occasions.

My favourite v-dub story: Went home from school early, the afternoon of my high-school prom. Pulled and dropped the motor, swapped out the clutch, buttoned it back up, and got cleaned up in time to take my girl to the prom.

All of this in my parents driveway, using a couple of pieces of wood and a borrowed trolley jack. Of course, it helped that most of the shrouds around the engine had bit the dust long before I got it.

Sadly, most of the heater function went south along with the shrouding- that thing was like an icebox in the winter...

 

[FFTT]

To celebrate good grades and getting my learner's permit, my dad brought home one of these.
Mine was dark green with a white top. '57 Caddy Coupe. He paid $250.00 for it with 80k miles.
All it needed was brakes and exhaust.

Like a good parent, he figured a new driver is going the wreck the first one, so he wanted me well protected.
I was hit by others, but still today, I have never once had a driver controllable accident.

 

[steve_rolfeca]

The lowest I remember was $0.25/gal

Got my first car on the road in '71, when I was 17. 1964 Renault R-10.

Imperial gallons are slightly bigger than US, and we've always paid more for gas up here. The only reason I remember the price back then, was that I got matching numbers on my first road trip- drove from Burlington, Ontario to Peterborough and back, averaged 35mpg and paid 35 cents a gallon.

IIRC, I was making minimum wage at McDonalds that summer- $1.13 an hour, or thereabouts?

Union scale for a 4-hour gig on the wedding circuit was $25. I usually got paid $30 to $35 playing with my dad, and earned $225 for my first recording date, a one-hour session. Not surprising I decided to become a musician!

Sadly, that recording date was my career high, rate-wise. Pretty sad when you peak in your teens. Maybe that's what makes me so grumpy?

 

[Ajapses]

VW people remember this:?

Still have it somewhere along with the Whole Earth Catalog. I liked the way the guy would have you sit down for a "smoke" break before things got real complicated.

 

[M.J.F.]

Hi All. I have a diddy here.A story of 3 bassplayers..I'm 16, and hangin with Pete Dowse, a good bass player that had a decent career.I buy a P bass off him, its an early, early 60s or late 50s? for $200.A bit of money back in the 60s.I t had an all maple neck, huge! Anyways, another bass player down the street has a semi rough-rusty, but cool 64 1/2 Mustang.Cherry bomb exhaust,3 on the floor standard, black pony interior.He offers a trade for the bass.I was I think not too saavy back then, perhaps a couple years younger, but he and his dad knew then what I had.We did the deal, he still has that bass!I have a newer Boss mustang now. I prefer Jazz basses.Anywho, l remember 38c per gallon.Allso, like to say hi to all the "shut-ins"back east.Thats brutal cold.Hang in there !May a thousand camels breath hot burps across your turf!

 

[Stank56]

Ah yes the price wars. Anyway my first car was.....wait for it....a 59 Rambler that I paid a buck for around '72. An old guy my Dad knew gave it to us but we gave him a buck to make it legal. Bright canary yellow, fold down seats, and a push button automatic. The interior was big enough to haul gear plus the added bonus of being a party on wheels.

 

[will33]

Making a list and checking it twice.

No Santa Agency