You Might Be a Baby Boomer Car Guy If . . .

Tom had a great idea with his “You Might Be a Gen-X Car Guy” post, but that youngster had the misfortune of being born too late. The really interesting stuff came during the Baby Boomer years. So I created my own list based on my . . . uh . . . longer period of “experience.”

Baby Boomer Cars

You Might Be a Baby Boomer Car Guy If . . .

• You have at least one air-cooled Volkswagen in your past, and it had a name.
• You owned a muscle car. Of the original type.
• You owned a full-size van, and you weren’t a tradesman.
• You’ve driven a three-on-the-tree.
• Somewhere, in a dusty toolbox, you have a set of feeler gauges.
• You know what “dwell” is.
• You remember when tire designations started with a letter.
• You put radial tires on a car that originally came with bias plys.
• You can tell a Quadrajet from a Carter four-barrel just by looking down the throat.

Driving in the 21st Century: 10 Car Things Millennials Will Never Experience

• You have disabled the smog equipment on at least one car (I won’t tell the feds).
• You drove a car that had the shoulder belt folded up and clipped over the front window—where it remained the entire time you owned it.
• You know—possibly by finding out the hard way (as I did)—that the left-side lug nuts on some Chryslers were left-hand thread.
• You remember Fords that had the ignition switch on the left.
• You owned at least one car that had the gas cap behind the rear license plate.
• You remember “Ethyl.”
• You know of “redlines” that have nothing to do with tachometers.
• You know of a “slap stick” that has nothing to do with comedy.
• You know of a “cherry bomb” that wasn’t intended to explode.
• You had “a set of Hookers” that wouldn’t get you in trouble with the law. Or your wife.
• You have owned several cars that were not equipped with air conditioning.
• You have driven a car with a manual choke.
• You have driven a car with an automatic choke that you wish had a manual choke—or that you converted to one.
• You remember when power brakes felt “touchy.”
• You know what a “pump jockey” is. Bonus points if you were one.
  

Historically Helpful: Money-Saving Tips From 1959

Are You a Gen-X Car Guy?

10 Clues That You Might Be a Car Guy

Baby Boomer Cars