A lot of you have some years on me. But this is a great thread. Dad used to go cheap on lighter fluid and used the used motor oil to light charcoal, for our hamburgers.
(That may have explained a few health problems over the years, I’m not kidding.)
Vacuum-powered wiper motor in our old Chevy needed a capful of brake fluid yearly to keep the leather seals pliable.
I’d leave on a bicycle. Home by sundown. As I got older, home by 9. Since I was good about calling mom if location with friends changed so she was in the know, I could stay out on the bike to curfew, which in high school was midnight. Always had change in my backpack to call home from a pay phone if my plans changed. As long as they knew she was cool about it.
It was ok to walk home from school, even if it was close to an hours distance.
Car seats were vinyl, and we stood up in them. The seat belt was mom or dad’s arm.
Road trips in the wagon involved “big trunk”
In a 600 sq foot house, the furnace was inside a small door off the living room. It needed a belt every so often.
Mom said at sundown I couldn’t come back in until I cleaned up the cat food I’d knocked over. I refused to pick it up. As a 3 year old, she locked me out of the house for hours. 10pm and I haven’t picked it up. Neighbor’s kid sneaks over from across the street and gives me the blanket off his own bed. He was maybe 5. I kept that blanket scrap for YEARS.