When America Was Different

Some people would actually leave the keys in the ignition.

I never heard of anyone doing that, including my dad who was a WWII veteran.

1) that sounds like a fantasy, 2) how lame of a driver are you to need to push another man's car just for a few feet extra. If it were bumper to bumper, then it wouldn't be possible so its not an issue of space.

3) call that America for what it is, because not every American back then had that luxury.

Ygbsm, rev. On 50's cars with manual xmission, the procedure after shutting down was to leave/put the car in gear, and set parking brake. (Column shift often left "up" in 2nd gear, or, I guess, up and towards you in reverse. There was a while where automatic xmission cars didn't have "Park" (P) gear. The procedure in those cars after shutting down in neutral was to put the car in reverse (R) and set parking brake. (That position was full down on column shift)

Anyway, some dumbshit parked uphill from the sandbox I was playing in, selecting "neutral", and setting the parking brake. Needless to say, the parking brake didn't hold. The car rolled downhill, smashing through a wooden fence, which slowed cars momentum so that it stopped just a few feet from where I was playing. (Playground was on level ground, which helps). Turns out this was owners' 1st automatic xmission car. He reverted to old habit of putting shift column up, which put "new" car in neutral vs prior car 2nd gear.

^Column shift - buddy of mine in high school had a 1960s Chevelle wagon with the 3 on the tree column shift. That thing was weird but fun to drive. Glad you survived the sandbox incident

1st car I drove was a 50 Chevy; learned to drive on a frozen Minnesota lake, probably 11 years old.

We never had a key. Ignition had a position to lock switch with key, but wouldn't turn that far without it.

I taught water skiing at a camp way upstate in New York for a summer during college in the early 90s. The camp vehicle was a 1950s pick up truck with "three on the tree" manual shift. Very fun to drive down narrow, twisty unpaved roads with the windows down.

Great dream to go back in time like you did. I have
Many, but usually forget them. It gives you good thoughts for the morning.

1st driving experience -- 5 years old, sitting on my 12 year old brother's lap steering pickup truck. push button starter, probably column shift.

In the Phoenix area there has been several high profile arrests of parents leaving there kids unattended in hot cars or even restaurants etc..

When I was a kid most of us were raised free range. No one would think twice seeing kids running around on their own even at a very young age.

I'm truly don't know if it is better now or not.

Merica

This brought back the weird memory of my first car: 1967 Dodge Coronet wagon, no power steering or power brakes. We used to do time trials 2.8 miles down this narrow twisty country road, famous for the 4 s curves. I ran it in my wrx a year or so ago and did it in 3 1/2 minutes and then realized that in my wagon I had one drunken evening done it in 2:48.

Boy has America changed

Times have changed. Seems every part of the country has changed. I doubt it has changed for the better.

Cars have changed too. Again, I’m not sure if they have changed for the better either.

I learned to drive on a Silver Pontiac Lemans - with a red vinyl roof and red vinyl seats. The engine was a beast - and you could watch the gas gauge go down as the speedometer went up. Sadly, that car was stolen parked in front of our house.

I know my dad felt like he had nothing to worry about growing in Georgia in the 50s and 60s. I contrast to how nervous my mother was and how heavily supervised I was 25 years later. He talks about his childhood and it sounded like Mayberry. Things change.

As to cars though I never heard any stories like that although it may have happened. I don’t think parking was a huge issue in small towns.