Gathering info... Looking for BARs who launched between ~1969 to 1975

I have a story concept that takes place in 1975 about a kid (Caucasian, ~13 years old) who works to earn enough to buy a Cineroc. He buys, builds, and then gets to fly it. I'd love to film this story, and as such I'm hoping that the story would be period accurate (no glaring "videotape" type errors that you find in the University of Alabama scene in Forrest Gump).

While I was around in 1975, I was a little too young to be launching rockets (I took another 7 years before I built/launched my first). So, I'm looking for the kinds of things a kid in 1975 would have had. I'd especially like photos of bedrooms (with models hanging from the ceiling), lists of what models/rockets people would have had. What kind of bike you'd have been riding if you were a paperboy, things like that. Who knows, perhaps the kid can be a composite of what people actually remember.

Thanks!
Jim

I was 15 in 75. Road a schwinn 5 speed Fastback Stingray...everywhere. Shared a bedroom with my older sister.
Rockets included (what I can remember) Wizard, Big Bertha, Starship Vega, some centruy cardstock birds, couple mini engine rockets.
Made my own pad out of a piece of 2x12, 1/8" rod w/ no blast deflector, and a controler from a used door bell button and old extension cord. No clips or clamps.
The Estes book was my wish list. Rocket fever was fed by mowing yards.
Preferred the Summer Saturday late afternoon launches when it was just me and neighbor gal. It always took until dark to find that stupid rocket :wink:

Any particular reason it has to be a caucasian?

s6

stealth6 said:

Any particular reason it has to be a caucasian?

s6

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It's a nod to my professor, that by not marking the race, it's presumed to be (in this country at least) Caucasian. The story takes place in a reasonably affluent suburb in Michigan, thus the kid involved would have very likely been white.

Woody's Workshop said:

I was 15 in 75. Road a schwinn 5 speed Fastback Stingray...everywhere. Shared a bedroom with my older sister.
Rockets included (what I can remember) Wizard, Big Bertha, Starship Vega, some centruy cardstock birds, couple mini engine rockets.
Made my own pad out of a piece of 2x12, 1/8" rod w/ no blast deflector, and a controler from a used door bell button and old extension cord. No clips or clamps.
The Estes book was my wish list. Rocket fever was fed by mowing yards.
Preferred the Summer Saturday late afternoon launches when it was just me and neighbor gal. It always took until dark to find that stupid rocket :wink:

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I thought that would be how a kid would have been able to earn enough to buy rockets.

stealth6 said:

Any particular reason it has to be a caucasian?

s6

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Cause it's a raysis story... (there, fixed it for ya)

It's not about race relationships. The only thing I cannot tolerate is intolerance. The story pulls elements from my life too, and as a Caucasian myself, I'm writing from my knowledge base.

9 years old in '75. Shared a room with my younger brother --- bunk bed.

Toys included Legos, Lincoln Logs, Erector sets, Tonka trucks, toy guns of various kinds.

Rode a Schwinn Scrambler, which was a beefier stingray with BMX handlebars, but I probably got it in '76. Before that I had a used GIRLS Schwinn --- Ewwww! I'd say the typical bike was a stingray of some kind.

My rockets were all little ones like the Alpha. I was not into plastic models.

By the time I was 13, you could add things like a BB gun, portable record player, transistor radio, and a bigger rocket like the 3x18mm cluster Little Joe, referred to as "The Moon Rocket" (a little hazy on the true purpose of that rocket at the time).

George. George? GEORGE!!!

I presume tmacklin's referring to the Jeffersons.

Please folks, I'm trying to tell a story. To entertain. To create a demand for the Cineroc. I'm not looking to start riots, or get into arguments with anyone. I'm sorry if I offended anyone. Please don't make me wish I didn't dream this up.

K'Tesh. For reaonable aspects I grew up in the middle of lower Michigan on the Western side.
20 miles West of me is Baldwin and Idlewild. Known African American social citys.
Had Uncles that lived in Flint, Detroit and Clio. Huge population of African Americans.
I don't think it is racist to tell this story as I never new any personally until adulthood.
No reason that this person your story about can't have an African American buddy is there?
If you can give me an area where this person would have grown up I can better help perhaps.
If your talking about a Uper, that it would be best to talk to a Canadian.

BTW TB, I too trained on my old sisters girls bike. I wasn't going to admit to it first though :neener:
Also had those other toys and bunk beds, a thing of the time I think when houses were smaller.

Gee, I would have been 9 years old, as well in 1975. Ok, here's my story...I was born and raised in rural New Jersey (honest!).

I had plastic model ships, plastic model planes, tried starting to build some balsa model planes (it's weird to me you can't find models in most department stores, people seem to be into instant gratification)...my dad bought us a 40x telescope at one of those discount catalog stores that don't seem to exist anymore...I remember looking up at Jupiter and seeing the moons! Holy cow, the next logical step would be trying to launch a rocket! (I have vague memories of watch an Apollo launch...).

The other big thing in 1975 was gearing up for the Bicentennial, in '76. Oh yeah, Nixon had just resigned (I remember my parents sitting us down in front of the TV and telling us we wouldn't understand, but that history was being made), and the country "going down the toilet." Oh yeah, there was the OPEC Oil Embargo in '74 (?) with gas rationing back then.

I never had a BB gun ("you'll shoot your eye out"), but we used to play with cap guns and the like.

Just look at the pictures in the old Estes Catalogs. If you have a Father or Male Teacher character make sure he looks exactly like Vern Estes in the '75 Catalog with the Klingon Beard!

Rode my Fuji Gran Tourer on my paper route, 41 people in almost 12 miles of riding. 6 days a week, no sunday paper
Flew the alpha, skeeter, big birtha..never did get my farside to light all three stages.
A picture?? who wasted good film on a bedroom back then? The camera came out for holidays and vacations (if you could afford one) only!

Oh yeah, the paper route...I had one of those!

I was going to say, I also left out the other big influence on my youth...Mad Magazine!

And yes, pictures, and especially film were very rare those days...everything was posed, nothing was "spur of the moment" or "just act natural."

Re: how the older males should look, remember that video from 1975 I linked to, of the poor Omega/Cineroc crashing and burning? Bad hair, lots of it, with awful colors, polyester, and huge collars...

Graduated in 75 so those were my high school years. I was big into plastic models. Had about all the Monogram 1/48 kits--FW-190's, P-38's, Dauntless, Hell Diver--etc--Also all those nice Revell 1/32 kits !! Soph and Junior years I was already scratch building rockets--Nike Hercules, multi stagers-- I did have an Estes V-2. I think I had an Interceptor back then--not sure about that, maybe a couple years later. My launch controller was 30 ft of lamp cord with alligator clips and my 71 Formula 400 battery---just pull up --pop the hood and touch the wires. IMSA road racing was starting to catch on with the Camel GT series--Vette's. Porshe's, BMW's, Monza's,Camero's--you get the picture. The big thing was having automotive decals on your mirror--Holley-Edelbrock--Hooker-Carrera shocks--stuff like that. Radial tires were still new so we still had bias plys back then esp the fat tires. Lived in the Atlanta area so there was a lot of building going on back then and it was no problem to pull up to a construction sight on the weekend and launch rockets with no hassles. MY,MY how times have changed in 40 years !!

Bell bottom jeans faded into cuffed baggy pants that came and went and left warehouses full of them in CA ports.
The finned hand granade for caps from pewter or cast aluminum. One thing I wish I could still get!!!
That would be fun come down by parachute from a rocket!
I got a pick of my bed room, but I ain't a postin it. Pink walls (for my older sister), I was waring red pants and white w/ red print shirt.
Hair was inbetween the last cut and long hair. No way am I posting it!!!

I was 11 in '75.
Only stoners listened to FM.
It was still common to find reel-to-reels in the homes of audiophiles.
NASM in DC still sold rockets in the gift shop.
When Enterprise arrived there, the copper sensor dish was gone and a sad replacement was there. The nacelle lights were gone and alternating flashing lights took their place.
A friend told me his mother wouldn't let him watch 'Six Million Dollar Man' because "it could never happen". She didn't mind him watching 'Planet of the Apes' though...
Star Trek was a cool animated series and, in some markets, you could watch *two* syndicated episodes of the 'real' series every day.
Lincoln Enterprises was the only place to get Trek stuff.
Lee Majors did a guest appearances at malls all over the country.
Farrah was Holly in Logan's Run. (I guess that was actually '76)
Gathering up the neighbor's newspapers and getting your parents to throw them into the Olds was a good means of quick cash - you'd drive onto the scales, get your weight recorded, unload then reweighed. I think we got 50-60¢ per pound - not sure.
10¢ refund on 16oz soda bottles, 5¢ for 12oz...

Thanks for all the replies guys!

Woody, to answer your question, It's intended as next to one of the golf courses near Rochester.

My next related questions are related to income. If I was 13(ish) and I was tossing newspapers back then, how much would I be earning? Mowing lawns? Washing cars? Hawking golf balls on the golf course? Allowances? Birthday cash? In other words... If a kid had a passion to buy a Cineroc/Omega combo, how long would it take a go-getter to earn the bread needed to buy things like their own bike, perhaps a transistor radio, a couple dozen rockets/models, etc.?

Again, I've got my own memories of that age, but I was nearly a decade later (and I never threw papers).

For a little more on "the kid" he's got an older brother who was launching with him since maybe 1968. Brother is off in college, or active duty (read: out of picture). So he could have some older (and nicer) rockets (as well as more of them), than a kid his age would normally have. I'm thinking that he would have some pretty advanced skills building having had a brother to show him how.

Thanks!
Jim

I was still launching in that time frame but in 1969 I was 20, working 55 hrs. a week and living with my parents.

I had a brand new car and gave my parents $25 a week to help out and still had more than enough money to buy any rockets that I wanted.

My first stint in rocketry was 1968 until 1974 - ages 12 to 19

I lived in a working class neighborhood in a reasonable sized city. In my younger years, I made money mowing lawns. Gas was 25 cents a gallon. It took a gallon to mow most lawns, for which I earned a dollar. Pretty much all the money I earned went to paying for motors. The only time I got kits was for Christmas and birthdays. My earliest fleet consisted of: Scout, Spaceman, Two-staged Delta (Camroc) booster with payload section, Mars Snooper, Starlight, and X-Ray. Everything else were scratch builds I made from the blue engine mailing tubes, other tubes I scrounged, or rolled my own from notebook paper. Everything was brush painted with Aeroglass dope.

Two of my buddies from Jr. High school also did rockets. The high point of the week was the 5 mile walk to Science Hobbies where we could oogle at all the rocket parts and spend all our earnings and allowance on motors and the parts we could not make ourselves. We survived boring classes by sketching new (and usually impractical) designs along the margins of our spiral-bound composition books. Convening at lunch or in home room, we debuted our new designs and then decided which ones were good enough to go into our collections of drawings in paper report binders (the kind with the 3 brass brads that you bent to hold the paper in)

Launched my first rocket I the mid 70's. I could barely afford the rocket and some motors, so I made the launch pad out of a coffee can and a length of brass brazing rod. My 'contoller' was a 'borrowed' 6v lantern battery. I only had one friend that flew with me.

2 paper routes, about 120 papers every morning before school. If I remember right I netted about $.02 for each paper I threw, if I collected from the customers. If they didn't pay, I was out of pocket, not the newspaper. There was no 'allowance' from the family, as money was tight.

Almost forgot the transistor radio. I put one on layaway at Thrifty Drug. I think it took me several months to pay for it. A friend later gave me a 40's vintage Hallicrafter's ham receiver. I used to lay awake on late summer nights listening to 'Voice of America' bouncing from other continents. Kinda cool now that I think about it.

Wait, not Bloomfield Hills, Grosse Pointe, nor Franklin?

I was slightly young to be flying rockets in 1975 but they would've been the smaller variety displayed at the side of my room:

• Centuri Micron, Moonraker, MX-774, Evel Knievel Sky Cycle
• Estes Alpha, Alpha III, Cloud Hopper, Farside, Gyroc, Honest John, Mosquito, WAC Corporal
• Powr-pad, Porta-pad + Solar Launch controller

I remember things like watching Star Trek, Space:1999, & Twilight Zone. 2 yrs pre-Star Wars. Don't remember my bike nor having to wear a helmet.
Have poorly built, sloppily painted models of the Enterprise & Klingon D-7 on the desk or hanging from the ceiling, and well-worn Estes & Centuri catalogs around. Add math & science books (space & rocket) and maybe the original Dungeons & Dragons game as well.

Continuity tip: Do not, repeat, DO NOT display any foreign cars. They ALL have to be Ford, GM, or Chrysler or you will definitely blow your period piece.

Would be interested to see how this goes!

Can't help with that area, sorry. That's North of Detroit.
My Uncle lived in Roseville. I thought maybe your person would be more in my area.
As for income, I made about 5 dollars a week with all you mentioned in the summer.
Didn't earn much in the winter when I had time to build.
One thing I did forget to mention, is I was EAC and had the Viper.
Had a T-shirt with iron ons to level 3 before I out grew it.
Typically I got about 2 or 3 rockets a year, mostly loosing them to trees.
Rest of what I had went engines and on occasion a plastic model or 2 a year.
Around 72 I got into NASCAR and listened to that on the Transistor hand held radio instead of baseball.
Which in summer prior to 73 was an every Saturday at noon event in the neighbor hood.
You know, this is making me remember things I have long forgotten.

When I was delivering papers in about 1961, the price of the daily paper (Mon - Sat) to customers was 45 cents per week, delivered. I paid the newspaper company 35 cents for a weeks worth of papers. So I had 50 customers and that got me $5 a week. A little less than half of those customers would give me 50 cents and let me keep the extra nickel which added about an extra dollar. I had a Sunday paper route also and got 5 cents per paper. The paper only cost a quarter so I didn't get any tips.

I had a couple of elderly ladies on the street that I mowed their lawn in the summer and shoveled snow off their sidewalk in the winter. I think I got $2 for those jobs.

Now I'm wondering, how old you had to be to be a paperboy back in the day? Oh, and presuming that you ordered something from Estes back then, how long did it take to get to you? My memory of things ordered through the mail back when I was a kid was "Please allow 8 to 10 weeks for product to arrive".

Sorry K'Tesh. You should know me well enough by now to appreciate my weird sense of humor.

I think you have a fine idea for a story and it is after all your intellectual creation to create it as you envision it, just as it was Ian Fleming's right to create the character "James Bond" as a white, male caucasion. I mean, who should have played Homer Hickam in October Skies, Denzel Washington?

I got 12.3 cents a customer for the week. Don't think that number will ever leave my mind, as I spent many hours on the bike trying to figure out how to cash in on the .3 cents.

tmacklin said:

Sorry K'Tesh. You should know me well enough by now to appreciate my weird sense of humor.

I think you have a fine idea for a story and it is after all your intellectual creation to create it as you envision it, just as it was Ian Fleming's right to create the character "James Bond" as a white, male caucasion. I mean, who should have played Homer Hickam in October Skies, Denzel Washington?

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Thanks t.

I don't know how many here know it or not but I'm on the autism spectrum. Knowing that should explain my weird sense of humor. Some things I get, and other's I don't.

Thanks for the support on the story. I just hope I can get to develop it. I won't however, be letting any untrained 13 year old kid around a real (unbuilt) Cineroc/Omega. He can build a clone like the rest of us. :wink:

BTW, I got a nice message from stealth6.

Thanks guys for understanding my reasons.

Peace
Jim

cbrarick said:

I got 12.3 cents a customer for the week. Don't think that number will ever leave my mind, as I spent many hours on the bike trying to figure out how to cash in on the .3 cents.

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I remember when I found a half penny in the windowsill of my barracks room in UH. I thought that was odd. $0.123/customer... What did they think you were? A gas station?