<VV> Wanna Feel Old?

[Steven J. Serenska]

  VVers:

In researching a question asked by a high school friend of mine a few 
moments ago, I Googled and came up with the answer I was looking for in 
a scan of a February, 1967 newspaper.  The paper used to be published in 
the next town over from where I grew up.  I used to deliver 49 of these 
suckers a day to make money, starting when I was about 11.

After I found the info I was looking for, I did the obligatory search 
for for the word "Corvair" within the text.  The first one was a 
comparison chart in an American Motors ad touting the superiority of the 
'67 Rambler over the '67 Corvair.

The second one is the gem: It's on Page 18 of the PDF at this link:

     http://209.212.22.88/data/rbr/1960-1969/1967/1967.02.22.pdf

You can either hit Page Down 18 times, put a little 18 in the page no. 
field, or just do a search on the word 'Corvair'.

On Page 18, there is a completely CHEESEY picture of a used car salesman 
named TED CONWAY who ..... FINANCES HIS OWN CARS(!).  If you wanted to 
buy a used '64 500 Coupe in 1967 from Ted, you only had to pay $4.90 per 
week!  If I'm doing the math right, that's about $255 per year.

The killer, though, is that the ad never mentions how many weeks you 
have to pay.

I always used to wonder why, in my house, when I came across some hot, 
steaming deal like this (I would have been 7 at the time), I would run 
to my parents and say, "Mom!  Dad!  I can get a Corvair for $4.90 a 
week!  I make that much delivering papers and cutting lawns!"  They 
would inevitably respond to my excitement by first looking at the ad -- 
with all due deliberation -- for about 5 seconds.  Then they'd reply, 
"It doesn't say anywhere how many weeks you have to pay the $4.90."  
Then they'd look at me.  And wait.  I'd think about it for another 2 
seconds, and I'd say "Well, can we call and find out?"  And then, seeing 
I wasn't going to be dissuaded, they'd think for another *half* second 
and reply with a firm "No."

Another extremely amusing artifact of the era is on the other side of 
the classified ads page.  Please note that the Employment ads are 
subcategorized into "Help Wanted - Female" and "Help Wanted - Male".  I 
had completely forgotten that it used to be legal to do that.  The 
female ads are looking for sewing operators, RNs, and typists.  The male 
ads that follow are looking for tool room foremen and car washers.

It all seems like about a million years ago.

Steven "typically spends more than $4.90 at lunch" Serenska

'65 Monza Convertible, 110/4
'66 Corsa Coupe, 140/4