You know you are an old fart when...

[Verdinut]

You're an old fart when you had "Two push button" light bulb switches on walls in your house.

 

[highfigh]

You're an old fart when you had "Two push button" light bulb switches on walls in your house.

They make replacements for those and the top button is a dimmer. They're nice looking and in an old house, a better choice when keeping it more original.

 

[Midwesthonky]

You're an old fart when you had a car without power steering AND you had a button on the floor to dim the headlights!

 

[Midwesthonky]

and etch A sketch was your "tablet"
(in my case etch a sketch unlicensed clone)

I played with both! The liquid ones were fun until curiosity got to me and I'd find the fill hole and open it. Oops...no more water.

 

[Midwesthonky]

Sad times, but you are an old fart when not only were you allowed to play outside unsupervised, you were thrown out of the house and told not to come home until dinner time.

 

[KenM10759]

You're an old fart when you had a car without power steering AND you had a button on the floor to dim the headlights!

And most cars had FOUR pedals at your feet!

 

[KEW]

And most cars had FOUR pedals at your feet!

Okay, I'll bite!
What are you considering the 4th pedal?
I had a 1972 Fiat 128 sport coupe (trust me, it sounds much nicer than it was, although it was always fun to drive):

Aside from the way the wheels fit so perfectly in the fender wells, a unique (IME) feature was on the floorboard to the far left, it had a manual foot pump for the windshield washer! That is the closest thing to a 4th pedal I can think of.
Surprisingly, this pump was a nice feature as I could easily control how far up the windshield the stream hit. It just worked amazingly well and I considered it a better solution that the typical WW of that time (the new ones spray which is better).

 

[KenM10759]

On American cars, the 4th was the parking brake. Also known here by some as the "emergency brake."

It was the last thing you wanted to depend upon in an emergency!

 

[KEW]

On American cars, the 4th was the parking brake. Also known here by some as the "emergency brake."

It was the last thing you wanted to depend upon in an emergency!

DOH!
My first two cars had that (as does my current Explorer - but it is automatic).

 

[Alex2507]

On American cars, the 4th was the parking brake. Also known here by some as the "emergency brake."

It was the last thing you wanted to depend upon in an emergency!

A friend of mine made fun of me for using mine on flat ground. Oh the irony of seeing the security footage of his truck gently rolling away from the front of a job, straight into a tree. It looked like flat ground.

 

[Midwesthonky]

A friend of mine made fun of me for using mine on flat ground. Oh the irony of seeing the security footage of his truck gently rolling away from the front of a job, straight into a tree. It looked like flat ground.

Just got back from Glacier National Park. I wonder how many cars are damaged each year out there from people not using the parking brake and the car rolling away?

 

[lovinthehd]

On American cars, the 4th was the parking brake. Also known here by some as the "emergency brake."

It was the last thing you wanted to depend upon in an emergency!

Could be a fifth if you count the brights "pedal" in some cases I suppose....

 

[snakeeyes]

On American cars, the 4th was the parking brake. Also known here by some as the "emergency brake."

It was the last thing you wanted to depend upon in an emergency!

My 67 el Camino had a floor e brake.

 

[Verdinut]

You're an old fart when in the 1940's, you could witness an aircraft being started with a gunpowder starter:

Gunpowder starters work by exploding a small cordite charge inside a combustion chamber. This effectively pushes the piston in that cylinder down, which forces the other pistons to move as well. One of the other pistons is invariably pushed toward top dead center, at which point the air fuel mixture is ignited, and the engine starts to run under its own power.
These starters were commonly used through the 1940s in aircraft applications.

 

[Dan]

I learned to drive on a car without power steering and a button on the floor for brights. Still had vestigial tailfins. But even better, a pushbutton automatic tranny
1963 Diarrhea brown Dodge Dart. A chick magnet in 1978 if ever there was one

 

[snakeeyes]

I learned to drive on a car without power steering and a button on the floor for brights. Still had vestigial tailfins. But even better, a pushbutton automatic tranny
1963 Diarrhea brown Dodge Dart. A chick magnet in 1978 if ever there was one

The button on the floor for brights was fun on my 67 el Camino. Not sure why that went out of style. Maybe they can bring it back for the millennials.

 

[Dan]

This is pretty close except it was four doors and a hard top

 

[Swerd]

I learned to drive on a car without power steering and a button on the floor for brights. Still had vestigial tailfins. But even better, a pushbutton automatic tranny
1963 Diarrhea brown Dodge Dart. A chick magnet in 1978 if ever there was one

I learned to drive in that same car. In 1965 it was no more a chick magnet than it was for you in 1978 . We always called it the Dodge Fart. No one had to ask what you meant if you simply said, "the Fart".

The automatic transmission with push buttons on the dashboard was weird, but it worked OK. Move the lever down to set the parking lock.

 

[Alex2507]

Brother had a 75 bug he bought new and I got my first taste of standards there. Then real driving was learned in a Mustang II, another stick. My first car was a stick. My truck now is a stick. My last truck was a stick. I don't even like sticks!

 

[Swerd]

After starting with the automatic Dodge Fart, I later learned to drive a stick on a friend's VW beetle. I never went back. All my cars since then, except one, have had 4 or 5 speed sticks. I like sticks.

• 1972 Fiat 124 Spyder – bought in Italy & later shipped it home
• 1968 VW Squareback – bought used in Alaska, sold it when I left
• 1976 VW Rabbit – didn't buy it, married it's owner
• 1984 Toyota Camry
• 1988 Chevy Nova (½ Toyota Corolla & ½ Chevrolet, aka the Toyolet)
• 1996 Chrysler Concorde (the only Detroit car & the only automatic I've owned)
• 2000 Volvo S70 – bought used in 2003, still drive it now
• 2001 Volvo S60 – bought used in 2004, my wife's car (also an automatic, but I rarely drive it)

You know you're an old fart when you want to keep your old car because it has a stick and absolutely no computer display on the dash.