In the 50's there were fuzzy dice hanging from the rear view mirrors and flames on the paint job. We are looking for things that the people did in the 60's and early 70's that people did to decorate their cars with novelty items. Some items were functional and some weren't. We will start off the first item that isn't functional. These were very popular in the 60's and early 70's. Do you remember the Union 76 antenna balls?

I had a 76 antenna ball on mine for a few years. Sinclair had their version too. This one has ridden in my glovebox for over 35 years.


Another popular mirror decoration was a garter.

My friend's dad worked for Unocal, and had a big box of those balls. I wish I still had one.

Oh yea! I had a few of these hangin' from the rear view. Isn't the old proverb that if you catch one you should be the next bachelor to get married? Never did it work for me.

The correct quote is " Lack of money is the root of all evil" (George Bernard Shaw)! That changes the meaning completely!

Up until 3 years ago, I had a Motorola FM converter mounted under the dash to provide FM reception for the radio. Lots of people commented on that thing. That's what was done in the 60s to get FM music cheap and quick.

In Sweden in the late 50`s ,early sixties , coon tails or fox tails were popular on the antennas.....

and Philips came out with an under the dash mounted 45 rpm vinyl player! It was great when cruising in town ,but not on bumps!LOL but it kind of looked like todays CD players , a slot you tuck the 45 into...personally never could afford one....

but front bumper mounted fog lights were a "must"...

stick on bullet holes were also popular...

You beat me to that one Bjorn

Also on motorcycles, the fox-tail was a winner!

Tall leaf shackles were common back in the day.

I have one of those 76 balls I bought from a guy I know for $1.00 he has alot more of them if anyone is int. I can get some.
Won't be until late sept. or next may though.

yeah and big rear tires and small fronts...guys looked like they were haning over the steering wheel in their seat belts....lol

LOL, you remember those too, huh?

2 things from my youth that I recall:

Barefoot-shaped gas pedals
Thrush smokin' woodpecker decals

Don't forget there was one for the dimmer switch too.

Roach clip on a leather string. Cough cough

LMAO

Anyone remember curb feelers?

I grew up in Flint used to see them all the time.

AAA bumper stickers. I think just about every car that went through the '60s had one at some point.

What about fog lights ?

I have a pic of my bird from the 70's with fog lights on the iside of the frt. bumper.

Oh, and Baby Moons and suicide knobs (aka steering wheel spinners)?

Chrome reverse rims with the Baby Moons.

Cut-outs and side pipes.

Tuner kids must think us oldtimers are weird...

Just think what they'll be telling their kids: "I remember back when we would hang stainless steel coffee cans on our exhaust pipes and make droning noises with our underpowered 4 cylinder economy cars".

Or "I won the loudest stereo contest with my car. Once I broke one of my own windows!"

Or "I was the first guy in my town to get 22's with 35's on them. When I drove over tar strips my multi-screen PSP compatible Blu-Ray player would skip twice!".



Doesn't compare well with "I had headers and glasspacks on my 400 hp V-8, it was soo loud it would attract cops from miles around - fortunately they couldn't find me in the cloud of tire smoke from the 70 series bias ply redlines."

Remember these?

How about the little dog in the back window with the eyes that were wired to the signal and brake lights? They were outlawed (because they were distracting) about ten years before third brake lights were required equipment?

Eight tracks, radar detectors, CB radios, tachs hose clamped to the steering column, angel's hair on the headliner, laced-on fake leather steering wheel covers or foam/chrome mini steering wheels, shag carpet "floor mats", fake superchargers bolted to stock Chevette engines, white or yellow painted diffs ('cause with the rear end jacked 'way up you could see it!) - and we still have the spruce tree air fresheners!

Heck, my '68 has a tack hose clamped to the steering column right now! (until I can get the hood tach).

Jerry

Sorry Doug , already "taken" on page 1...

Guess I need to bring out my fuzzy dice from the garage, use on next cruise???LOL

But there were some "real" good ideas in the 40`s that disappeared...useful stuff , like under the front door light (so in the dark you`d see were you stepped), was that on Hudsons? ..but I know Hudsons had that chrome drop shaped search light at the center on top over the front wind shield.....how about those "eye lids" , sun shades...at front..
and stainiless stl side windows 'eye lids', shades...

and in the 50`s , window "turbin" looking "a/c" , that blew the wind in....

I remember the 50 Caddys with a/c in the trunk and scoops on thetrunklid..

and chrome valve covers and aluumumun manifolds and hedders,duel quad set ups

What about fake fog lights??


-Big 'kc' smilies -only the yellow plastic cover..


-Or here in Scandinavia it was 'Hella' plastic covers...


-Some cars looked like they had 6 fog lights!! (4 extras) -And actually some Swedes, Fins and Norwegians DID have them on in the winter..


-Also 'melodic horns' -a sure classic..

LOL, LOTS of cars had 6 or more...it was sometimes VERY HARD to see the road as you met these guys 2 'normal light', then 2 fog lights , 4 search lights..= long beam......blinding...

How about the bouncy head dog on the rear package tray? Had to have an Esso trash bag on the radio knob as well.

As far as the rest you said... I saw that car (all of it) at last years car show.

I wanted to get the Piaa 2100 PI yellow. But their getting $150 + for lamps, relay and switch. So I settled for the $30 kit from Auto Zone.

how about the thrush and the hush thrush mufflers?

Ummm, when I took my bird down for resto last summer, I removed the Hush Thrush mufflers

And the oddball "custom" shift knobs, mudflaps (can't believe those weren't mentioned), CB antennas in the '70s...