@Sacto Mitch posted:I was 13 years old, and becoming a man of the world. We were required to know all of the GM, Ford, and Chrysler products just from the tail light configuration.
At night, and from a distance of 100 yards.
Mitch, you are showing your age - this is snippet is a relic of life in an America long gone.
"I was 13 years old, and becoming a man...". I'm struck by the fact that in today's America, 13 years old is about 1/3 of the way through a protracted childhood. I went to school with a farm kid who's dad died when he was a sophomore in HS. Junior and Senior year, Kurt missed a week (or two) of school in the spring to plant the crop, and the same in the fall to get it out. This was not unusual.
I started digging ditches and soldering "drops" for my dad the summer of my 12th year. My friend went to work swinging a hammer for his dad, and my other friends all detasseled corn from 5 AM to noon all summer long. Nobody expected anything that wasn't worked for.
We knew cars by their taillights as well. At one time I could tell a big-block from a small-block with the car driving by at 30 mph. All any of us wanted was to be men, and to operate such a machine, and to have a pretty girl in the right seat.
My kids were raised the same way. They stride as giants among their peers.