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.
10 Clues That You Might Be a Car Guy
Baby Boomer Cars
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