Non-motoring > They don't make 'em like they used to Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Crankcase Replies: 20

 They don't make 'em like they used to - Crankcase
It is with deep regret I have to inform you of the demise of my favourite tee shirt. It was looking shaky over the the last couple of washes - it finally fell into more holes than cloth yesterday.

It was a free promotional tee shirt that came with the release of Meatloaf's Bat Out Of Hell. I bought the album in Cambridge at the now long defunct Andy's Records, and it had their logo on the back. I wore it a lot.

It was made in America. Wikipedia tells me the album was released in 1977. I suspect the British release was a little after that, but in any event, the shirt lasted about 40 years. I'd imagine a new tee shirt today would last forty weeks.

So, do you have anything that's lasted and still in use for a comparable time?
 They don't make 'em like they used to - Timeonmyhands
Just replaced the Grundfos pump on my central heating. Installed in 1981.
 They don't make 'em like they used to - smokie
I have a Rolling Stones t shirt from a once-off they did at Brixton Academy on July 19 1995. It was one of a "small club" venues they played during the Voodoo Lounge world tour. It was announced two mornings before on Capital FM and you had to queue at the HMV store with £25 cash for your ticket - you could only get one - and they put on a wristband which you had to keep on till the concert.

I had a customer meeting in the City that afternoon so drove across and parked at the customer site then tubed back to Oxford St and got in line. They came along counting with a clicker and I was only just inside the 2000 (??) allowed.

I got there early on the Wednesday and saw quite a few celebs arriving while queueing outside, incl I think Marianne Faithful. Once inside ( - it's a converted cinema) you just milled around and even during their set I was able to wander right up to the stage.

I bought the t shirt, which was specific to the event (Voodoo Lounge style on the front and an arm patch with the date and place) and wore it for a few years after, but eventually got too big for it. I noticed just the other week it's still in my cupboard. Not sure it really has much value.

Here's one tinyurl.com/2p88xpv9
 They don't make 'em like they used to - Zero
I have, and still use, a chisel I made in in my apprenticeship in 1971.
 They don't make 'em like they used to - Crankcase
I was forced to do metalwork at school. I made a poker in my first term. It took me ten weeks and the first time my mum used it the handle broke and it fell in the fire, pinging a burning coal onto the carpet.

So that went well.

They swapped me to woodwork. I made a bedside table but got the measurements wrong so when it was finished I had to tell the teacher it was a stool.
 They don't make 'em like they used to - bathtub tom
I still have lots of my BT tools. I inherited them from a retiree around '68, so many of them pre-date that. Most are stamped GPO and date.
Last edited by: bathtub tom on Wed 16 Mar 22 at 15:07
 They don't make 'em like they used to - legacylad
My oldest t shirt, in reasonably regular use down the gym, is July 1995. It’s still a deep blue colour, never faded despite innumerable washes, heavy duty cotton, and the boat it depicts, and on which I travelled, has probably long since been broken up.
 They don't make 'em like they used to - Duncan
I've got my Gran's bible, given to her by her father on her eighteenth birthday in 1886.
 They don't make 'em like they used to - Dog
I have a WW2 flying jacket bought for me in the '80s. It's a replica, but an exact replica.

It's very, very warm and in excellent condition, mainly because I rarely wear it, although I did wear it last year.

I also have a Pink Floyd 'Dark Side of the Moon' sweatshirt, I rarely wear that either :)

I had a nice MG owners club cream and brown sweatshirt back in the '70s, dunno what happened to that, shame.

 They don't make 'em like they used to - CGNorwich
I have a Neolithic flint axe head found in a Suffolk field which I use as a paperweight. Around 4000 years old
 They don't make 'em like they used to - Zero
>> which I use
>> as a paperweight.

Isn't that a phrase for something that is useless for its original purpose?
 They don't make 'em like they used to - CGNorwich
>> >> which I use
>> >> as a paperweight.
>>
>> Isn't that a phrase for something that is useless for its original purpose?
>>

I guess so. That’s why the bloke threw it away in the first place and got one of those new fangled bronze jobbies.
 They don't make 'em like they used to - Crankcase

>> I guess so. That’s why the bloke threw it away in the first place and
>> got one of those new fangled bronze jobbies.

He had a bit of a wait with his weight before paper came along. Wonder how he explained its purpose to his wife.
 They don't make 'em like they used to - Zero

>> He had a bit of a wait with his weight before paper came along. Wonder
>> how he explained its purpose to his wife.

She axed him about it so he threw it at her.
 They don't make 'em like they used to - Dog
I'll see your Neolithic axehead with my finely worked early Neolithic leaf arrowhead.
 They don't make 'em like they used to - CGNorwich
>> I'll see your Neolithic axehead with my finely worked early Neolithic leaf arrowhead.
OK but no doubt there’s a Neanderthal on here with something older
 They don't make 'em like they used to - Dog
I also have some Bronze Commodus Sestertius [177-192AD ] coins which I dug up on a Bronze age burial mound.

It intrigues me to wonder what the Romans were doing atop said mound? Probably waiting for a number 11 chariot.
 They don't make 'em like they used to - smokie
Maybe there was a bar with a fruit machine which has since withered away.
 They don't make 'em like they used to - Lygonos
Still use a stove-top kettle that is at least as old as me (50) - the wee spring that held the lid down pinged a few years ago so it now tends to flap/clap on boiling rather than whistle.
 They don't make 'em like they used to - tyrednemotional
..my Mountfield rotary mower, which was bought 36 years ago when we moved here, is still going strong. It has been loaned out to several neighbours whose own units packed in at not much more than a couple of years of age.

It is rather battle-scarred, though, and blotted its copy-book yesterday at the first cut of the year.
On attempting to start, it deposited petrol everywhere (and I mean everywhere) such that it wasn't obvious from whence it came. Then it exhibited all the signs of "hydraulic lock". Removed the spark plug, turned it over a few times (with petrol coming out of the plug hole!), and continued to do so until it dried itself up. Left it for a bit to evaporate, replaced the plug and pull-started, and away it went (a bit lumpy at first but then fine). Mowed the front lawn without further hesitation! I might consider changing the oil again, (or oil/petrol mix) though it was done back-end.

I can't help thinking it's not long for this world, though.
 They don't make 'em like they used to - Ted

I still have and use the motor car wot I bought in 1972 when it was 20 yrs old. 70 this June. I also have a pair of spectacules owned by the Tyrant Queen's Great Grandma who croaked in the 1920s. They are quite a good prescription and a good bird puller making me look like Cosmo Smallpiece !

Ted
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