I used to have a caddy in the 70's that I called "my pimp car." It had all kinds of extra chrome on it. A huge chrome front face, even a flying lady, beautiful hub caps and I used curb finders to keep my whitewalls from getting bumped or scratched.

There was only one place in town (that I knew of) that could take your tires and make them into white walls. It was a huge machine that took your tires and cut off the black carbon of the tires and went down to the whites of the tires. It made the structure of the tire weak, but I didn't care. It was the look that was important.

Of course, I had to have gangster white walls for my "pimp mobile". They matched my white leather seats.

I went all the way across country to Texas, with that car. I loved it.

I wore scarves, movie star sun glasses and rhinestones as much as I could when I drove it.

Thanks for the memories...
Sharon
~The Baby Boomer Queen~

My brother installed in my mom's car (the one he drove too) an "ah-oo-gah" horn. Very noisy, but we thought we were so cool!

Those wide whitewalls were the ultimate finishing touch on 50s cars. It was as if the car wore a tux! Both my uncles, a banker and a lawyer, were precision dressers who looked so neat posing in their fedoras beside their massive chrome-laden vehicles.

This pre-dates the Baby-Boomer era, but my Aunt Marie had an accessory, black and chrome, on the dash of her 1940 Pontiac. One press of an ivory button and a Chesterfield rolled down a chute and slid against a coiled wire which lit it for you!

By the way, for you film buffs, there's a shot of curb feelers in action on a Rolls in "Dead Ringer." (1964 -- starring Bette Davis)

You know, I never even heard of curb feelers. I feel enlightened ;-) My father was 30 when I was born. He was often older than other parents my age and as if that was not enough, He was brought up in the rurals of Nova Scotia where they were different and further back in time. So he loved white walls on tires. To be honest, even I think they’re pretty hot. I once had hub caps with spokes whereby I painted the spokes white. Totally hot! That was the early 90s.

I did not know the history of white walls. It is very interesting to know. I recall air fresheners hanging from mirrors as well as other stuff. Some dashboards had those Mary figures on them. Recall that front seats and even back seats had lots of leg room. The das was not right on top of you. Cars shrank over the years. I liked more room in front of me but what can you do.

How about the ball or flag on the radio antenna? My father did have a knob on the steering wheel in the 80s but it became illegal in Maine. Dangerous. Everything became illegal and dangerous in the 90s. Choice was out, totalitarianism was in. Good bye freedom and choice. That’s the great hallmark of life in the 90s onward.

I recall custom tape decks in the early 70s, 8 tracks first and cassettes right behind them. Speakers in the back window and CB radios as well. Remember CW Mac Call’s “Convoy?” That’s on this site, isn’t it? Also, vans with pictures painted on the sides became a fad. Remember Sammy John’s “Chevy Van”? It had great 12 string acoustic guitars. It was a good sound though the lyrics were silly. I still listen to it. Love the old music.

We had a 51 Mercury as the family car throughout the 60s, when everyone else had moved to 60s cars. We really stood out. We sold it in 71. The bumpers were much bigger and more effective than the 60s cars. Much more rounded and less sharp edges than 60s cars. The 80s would sort of return to a more rounded look.

I had a shiny Ford Wagon. It was my pride. One day in the carshop I saw a roof console. That was really something. With interior-lights and switches. Years later we saw it on KIT the Knight Rider. Well, I bought it an mounted it on the roof inside the car. Wow, I was really glad with it. I stepped out of the car to clean up my tools and I saw three screws pointing out of the roof. Haha, the ones I used were too long. I was too exited to think about that. I hated myself for a long time.

Before i comment, just want to say that scott irv should have his own site...fantastic observations on your comments, scott!...okay, that being said,remember when the digital wave swept through in the late 70's, including car dashes?
Seemed for a time we would never get the classic analog look back on anything, per watches, dashes, clocks, etc....thank god, that was a passing phase, and we have the old fashioned "needles" again on our indicators(and oh they look so cool still lit up at night)....my grandfather had a caddy in the mid-80's with a "voice" prodding him to make every move(Door Ajar, Fuel Low, etc.) The poor guy had no idea how to disable the voice. Made him half-crazy....and now, 25 years later, we have GPS's "talking" to you..Some things never change!

I can't say my dad had any of those accessories. W just had our 1965 Ford Fairlane. It wouldn't be until the mid seventies whn dad got a Mach one Mustang with was loaded! To Cool! CB Radio too! Curb feelers I only saw on what we called pimp cars. Lincolns and other big cars. In my line of work, I get to drive some nice Cadillacs that have an electric sensor that beeps whn you geet to close to an object! I remember those stylin cars with feelers, fans on the headlights and whitewalls! But in our littl suburban world, we were just plain I guess!