1980s American Cars, Guns, Gadgets and Consumer Goods [Atmosphere, look, minutiae]

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Icelander

2)
1)


So, while a pick-up truck might do for certain job-related things, he'll want to own at least one fancy car that can nevertheless get up to his brother's hunting cabin an hour northwest of Allagash, through some very rough terrain.

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I don't want to argue with you but you seem to me to be assuming the existence of things that did not at that time exist. On the other hand you also may be underestimating Americans procilivities to own multiple vehicles.

My family in this era was not rich at all but at least 2 vehicles was the norm.

That luxury off-road vehicle probably doesn't exist and even if it did he'd use multiple vehicles instead.

For example: I don't know how Maine is about salting its' roads but from the _many_ ex-Yankees I've known I will assume that Boston is faithful about it. All that salt on the roads leads to corrosion problems and the locals usually have separate cars for winter use. Probably a older one with limited re-sale value.

If the father is as rich as you think he is as his "primary" will be a Mercedes (and a big one at that) or possibly a Caddy (and their are only big ones) if he is adverse to foreign cars. His wife might have a car of her own too.

For going to hunting cabins he absolutely does not have to have a multi-purposing vehicle. He'll use a pick-up or a Blazer. Maybe a Suburban. He'll drive a pick up to that logging company. He has to pretend to be a manly man when in the area.

Drop the emphasis on handling (particularly in 1988). That's a European thing for all those roads that used to be goat paths. US roads have a much greater tendency to be straight. Particularly in logging territory they will have been carved through the wilderness with dynamite and bulldozers.

The son I would probably pick as a BMW kind of person but even for him that's his town car. He'll have a very new and fancy pick-up or similar vehicle for the back woods.

[weby]

A note on the computer:
I started my first computer job as university computer center a year later in 1989 and my work computer was a Toshiba T3100sx and it was not new.
Looking it up find that the T3100 was introduced in 1986, though the sx model was likely later.
It was not really portable in the way that a T1200 would be though.. but perfectly luggable and way much more computer..

As to what PC-computers were used for at that point:
Main use: swearing at the lack of memory: Seems like all kinds of drivers and such always took just too much memory so the program you wanted to start could not get enough to start... so then you swore and optimized..

But more generally: biggest real use("killer application")
Word processing: By that time my father had written two books using earlier computers (mostly cp/m based) and all the researchers wrote all their things on computers as it was so much easier. At that Uni peple used microsoft word(the dos version), though generally word perfect was more popular.

Other uses:
Terminal connections: With a terminal emulator program they worked as terminals though a modem or local network. (And because it was an university: also through internet)
Email: Yes, quite many enthusiasts/people working with computers used some sort of email messaging system, be it inside a single mainframe/BBS or though something like fidonet or like in our case the internet. A CS major might well have had a internet email account and still have access to it, as people tended to be able to keep their accounts for long time after leaving the university.. some of my accounts still worked 5 years after I left as example.
Access to information: Note that Compuserve and others existed at that point and had a lot of databases you could access for a fee. We had access to a lot of other databases at the university, though each required a different login..

Other less likely/useful uses:
Read usenet: alt.conspiracies should be specially good.. :)
Spread sheets: They allow a lot of calculations..
Coding: Basically as a CS major from 1980s you are fully willing likely to just sit down and write a program if you need to do something.

And so on, mostly you could do a lot with the computers, but it was CLUMSY compared to today and a lot more expensive in most cases.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

I don't want to argue with you but you seem to me to be assuming the existence of things that did not at that time exist. On the other hand you also may be underestimating Americans procilivities to own multiple vehicles.

My family in this era was not rich at all but at least 2 vehicles was the norm.

For example: I don't know how Maine is about salting its' roads but from the _many_ ex-Yankees I've known I will assume that Boston is faithful about it. All that salt on the roads leads to corrosion problems and the locals usually have separate cars for winter use. Probably a older one with limited re-sale value.

If the father is as rich as you think he is as his "primary" will be a Mercedes (and a big one at that) or possibly a Caddy (and their are only big ones) if he is adverse to foreign cars. His wife might have a car of her own too.

For going to hunting cabins he absolutely does not have to have a multi-purposing vehicle. He'll use a pick-up or a Blazer. Maybe a Suburban. He'll drive a pick up to that logging company. He has to pretend to be a manly man when in the area.

Drop the emphasis on handling (particularly in 1988). That's a European thing for all those roads that used to be goat paths. US roads have a much greater tendency to be straight. Particularly in logging territory they will have been carved through the wilderness with dynamite and bulldozers.

Oh, there will be multiple vehicles. Clayborn Allen owns more than one car and his company owns dozens. His wife also has a car for each home.

I figure Clayborn Allen owns several classic cars that are fun to drive, most of them probably kept in Boston, MA, Bridgeport, CT, Montréal, Quebec or one of the cities he often visits on business. I'd welcome suggestions for models for those, not that any of them are likely to come up as long as the game is set in Aroostook County, Maine.

Then there are company cars, which include a lot of pick-ups and heavier trucks. Among these will be a really high-quality pick-up for his personal use and one or more cars with a mobile office that is good for long drives within Maine (up to three hours, longer than that and he probably flies), between all the towns and cities that he visits within driving distance. That car could be a stretch Caddy.

What I'm wondering about is the cars he has in the heated wheelhouse as well as parked outside his 'mansion' in Dickey-Allagash, Aroostook County, Maine when the characters come to visit him.

And, most important for the adventure, which of these he'd choose to travel fifty miles over an unpaved road to his brother's isolated, but ultra-luxurious cabin in Northwest Aroostook, when the snow is deep enough to drown a full-sized hunting dog. The cabin is deliberately isolated and hard to get to, to the point that it's meant to be inaccessable to anyone not driving an unusually capable vehicle, but he'll have guests that expect luxury to take along, so a pick-up is inconvenient unless it can seat 4-5 in comfort.

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

That luxury off-road vehicle probably doesn't exist and even if it did he'd use multiple vehicles instead.

Was the 1992 Hummer an entirely new idea, unprecedent before it, or just the most iconic example?

Looking over suggestions others have made, as well as Googling further as those suggestions led me, I've found several nice alternatives that were available in the late 80s.

Ford Econline vans with an after-market luxury conversions seem to have been favoured among executives and rich campers, depending on the exact furnishings installed, and such vehicles seem ideal for use by the senior executives* of North Woods Logging Company.

The Jeep Grand Wagoneer also sounded good.

Which of these, or alternatively another type that I didn't mention, would suit Mr. Allen for the comfortable drive with his guests up to the deliberately-hard-to-get-to luxury cabin?

*I.e. Clayborn Allen, his family and his closest cronies.

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

The son I would probably pick as a BMW kind of person but even for him that's his town car. He'll have a very new and fancy pick-up or similar vehicle for the back woods.

He'll have a convertible at their place in Bridgeport, CT, a city car for use in Massachusetts and a work pickup truck that is owned by his father's company. That last will still be as flashy as possible and much too powerful for any reasonable need, so I'd love a suggestion from someone who knows the first thing about cars.

Finally, his new car, gotten on his 21st birthday, will be a 1988 Range Rover* Vogue SE.

*They come with automatic transmission for easier around-the-town driving, even. And an electrically powered sunroof.

[CoyoteGestalt]

One note on the computer side: remember that in rural areas at that time, telephone line signal strength and clarity could be dodgy, especially in foul weather. Even a high-end modem often would be running below 300bps, or be unable to make a connection at all sometimes.
This isn't likely to matter, really, but can lead to some amusement as they curse at the fancy hardware s....l...o...w...l...y...s...c...r...o...l...l...i ...n...g... and then cutting off before finishing an important file.

[lwcamp]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Ford Econline vans with an after-market luxury conversions seem to have been favoured among executives and rich campers, depending on the exact furnishings installed, and such vehicles seem ideal for use by the senior executives* of North Woods Logging Company.

When I was young, my family had an Econoline. It was good for seating all us kids with a bunch of camping gear or hauling a load of tamarak back from the mountains along Forest Service roads, but it was not an off-road vehicle.

Luke

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by lwcamp

When I was young, my family had an Econoline. It was good for seating all us kids with a bunch of camping gear or hauling a load of tamarak back from the mountains along Forest Service roads, but it was not an off-road vehicle.

Probably not, no. But assuming that modifications similar to these (obviously with a luxury upholstered and equipped interior) were made, could that make an 80s era E-350 Econoline/Club Wagon into vehicle capable of traversing a very difficult path?

[lwcamp]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Probably not, no. But assuming that modifications similar to these (obviously with a luxury upholstered and equipped interior) were made, could that make an 80s era E-350 Econoline/Club Wagon into vehicle capable of traversing a very difficult path?

No doubt a good mechanic could transform it into something fairly capable of going through tough terrain, with enough time and money (and by the sounds of it, money is not going to be in short supply for this vehicle).

Luke

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Clayborn Allen owns several classic cars that are fun to drive

• 1964 1/2 Mustang (first model year) Convertible or not, as you like.

• '57 Chevy (Bel Air). Get the convertible.

• 1966 Shelby Cobra. One of the cars that starred in its own song in the 60s California car craze.

• 1956 Ford Thunderbird. He'll have fun, fun, fun...

• 1961 Jaguar E-type

• 1964 Chevy Corvette Stingray

• 1955 Mercedes 300 SL gull-wing

• 1931 Bugatti Type 41 Royale

• 1964 Aston Martin DB 5. Because Bond.

• 1970 Datsun 240Z. (Nissan called itself Datsun in the US until 1986.)

Clayborn can send me any of these he doesn't want or gets tired of.

Was the 1992 Hummer an entirely new idea, unprecedent before it, or just the most iconic example?

Actually, I never thought of it as especially luxurious. Expensive, yes, so it might as well have some nice interior materials. But the main selling point when it appeared was that it was an actual military vehicle! So it had to be tough and off-road-worthy, right? Or so the marketing went. And the military was still popular after the first Gulf War. It wasn't "here's a really high end super-luxury SUV" -- that was the more usual suspects like Lexus, Mercedes, BMW. The H2 and H3 were new civilian designed, but they kept the look.

Which of these, or alternatively another type that I didn't mention, would suit Mr. Allen for the comfortable drive with his guests up to the deliberately-hard-to-get-to luxury cabin?

I'd say the SUV. The van would also be comfortable, but not as prestigious.

a work convertible that is owned by his father's company. That last will still be as flashy as possible and much too powerful for any reasonable need

*edit*
Irrelevant modern-day section removed. When shifting gears from the past classic cars to now, I forgot that "now" is 1988, rather than 2016. Hm, a couple years too early for an Acura NSX. Solid Corvette territory, tuner version from Callaway of course. Porsche 911... and 959? Lamborghini Countach or Ferrari Testarossa for flash. I'll work on it some more tomorrow.

[tshiggins]

Speaking of cars and local "color," in most small towns the teenagers spent Friday and Saturday nights "cruising" Main Street, or whatever road was wide enough and had plenty of fast food places, video arcades, movie rental places, cinemas and other establishments to separate teens from their money.

There weren't very many games for personal computers, yet, so a lot of teenagers spent a lot of money on stuff like this:

http://www.arcade-museum.com/year_detail.php?year=1988

Since people have posted music lists, I'll just note that a fair number of pretty good films were released, in 1988:

http://www.imdb.com/search/title?yea...moviemeter,asc

A sufficiently popular "drag" would draw teenagers from towns many miles away, and at least some of them would have really nice cars and trucks. Muscle cars were on their way out, but plenty of them were still around.

http://www.cargurus.com/Cars/l-Used-...ting=139298604

http://www.cargurus.com/Cars/l-Used-...ting=139118881

http://www.cargurus.com/Cars/l-Used-...ting=139292540

Cars like that will be pretty rare, though. Most teenagers will drive pickups in various conditions, and a lot will have sensible little economy cars at least five years old that their parents could afford.

If a sufficiently straight, long, well-paved and unpatrolled road lay nearby, at least some of the kids would actually participate in drag races -- mostly just for bragging rights. Those roads would lie outside the city limits, and the county deputies would know all about them. They would make a point of busting things up before the teens got too stupid.

Also, a sufficiently wooded area with a nice view of a lake, or something, would be the spot where the teenagers would go and "watch the submarine races" -- in other words, make out. Teen pregnancy rates in rural America can be shockingly high.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by tshiggins

Also, a sufficiently wooded area with a nice view of a lake, or something, would be the spot where the teenagers would go and "watch the submarine races" -- in other words, make out. Teen pregnancy rates in rural America can be shockingly high.

That sort of thing may have been involved in the a mystery that the characters have come across, when five local youths went on a hike during an unsually mild week in December, 1982. The three girls told their parents that they were going camping with each other and the two boys told their parents that they were going hunting. Neither group mentioned the existence of the other.

The way the PCs have heard the story, however, the weather grew worse and worse, until finally their parents grew concerned and started a search for them. When they were found, three of them were still alive, buried in snow and huddled together for warmth. The other two had apparently drowned while taking a canoe out on the Saint John River.

The problem the PCs have with this is that it seems that either the teens decided to go canoing during a bad snowstorm or, if the accident happened before the storm, the three surviving teens managed to recover their body heat sufficiently after an immersion in freezing water to be able to bury themselves in snow and survive for 36 hours, without lasting ill effects.

Both versions seem wildly implausible. The PCs suspect that some lies were told, with or without the connivance of local law enforcement.