The post war 40's were interesting times for a kid, the world was restricted to how far you could walk and too the sanitized history taught in grade school. Most had "a" radio which was in the living room and off limits to all kids, TV didn't exist in most houses and radio/TV stations were scarce. Life was grand.
The 50's were pretty good times for a teen, I entered at 8 and left at 18. Granted the Korean War came and went, but since very few had TV the war created few ripples. By the mid 50's people were getting very nervous watch their new TV display nuclear bomb tests, McCarthyism and having to teach their kids where to hide when the air raid sirens sounded. This, I believe, was a trigger for today's paranoia. I do however well remember the car races, the Chev, Ford and early hemi Mopar. Everybody had a 4 speed Hurst floor shift and spent endless hours running around the neighborhood practicing power shifting up and down the gears. I can still "hear" the sound of a big block being power shifted. An interesting thing happened around 1957 or so, the Mopar hemi with an automatic started to cleanup and within a couple of years the 4 speed Hurst became a thing of the past. Except for a few die hard souls that still figure they can out shift an automatic.
All in all I had a blast in the 50's. Literally I guess since a bought a 57 Ford with a three on the tree straight 6 which I soon modified. I shoe horned in a 430 Lincoln V8 with 2 4bbls. Unfortunately I didn't (still don't) do transmissions, so I was stuck with three on the tree. That car was scary fast in a straight line, but pure terror on corners. I guess I should have beefed up the suspension, shocks and brakes.
The 60's began with people terrified of nuclear winter and the birth of the hippy generation with free love, drugs and demonstrations. The end of the 60's were bad days, Vietnam, disabled vets on the streets begging for help, hippies parading the streets bitching about everything. The average person was confused and people started to distrust everything. People on the street no longer smiled and kept their eyes on the sidewalk. The free and loose drag racing of the 50's were gone, the police got things like speed traps, speed guns and patrol cars with big V8's. Races shifted to the rural roads and abandoned air strips. Cars were getting too specialized for the average guy who simply couldn't afford all the go fast toys. By the end of the 60's, the bulk of road racing had disappeared. The fuel shortages didn't help.
To have an Empire means conquering other countries. Which ones have the US conquered?
