And what went on in the backseat might qualify you for a sex offender registry today.

Still, when I was in my twenties I was riding in a van that was stopped by a trooper because it had a "Drink Carrot Juice" bumper sticker on it (I kid you not) and the driver was admonished for driving a 'commercial vehicle' (he said the bumper sticker constituted advertising!) on the Taconic where they are prohibited.

Thinking back, it was unsurprisng that the '59's driver was killed instantly.  I'm old enough to remember that a head-on collision (or a crash into a fixed object) back then was pretty much the same as breaking your neck - you were going to die, quickly.

Nowadays, I recall driving by accidents where it was obvious from all the parts lying on the road) that the cars had rolled over 3 and 4 times and the entire family was there sitting on the embankment, chatting and talking to the cop taking the report like nothing had happened.  And they'd walk away from a crash that would have wiped them out 30 or 40 years ago.

The construction of those old cars was still based on the model of a horse-drawn coach - build an H-frame and then bolt a box onto it. The fenders and bodywork were, at best, streamlining and, at worst, going to fold up and make the impact worse as they cut through the passenger compartment.  No one had given a thought to building a car from the inside of the passenger compartment out - and for the idea of cushioning and restraining the passengers inside a rigid cage that would protect them from the outside.  Indeed, TPTB at the car companies actively resisted going after safety (As opposed to style and power) because it was believed to be bad for sales, that people would be scared from buying a new car if they thought it might be unsafe.  Seat belts weren't in all cars until a federal regulation required them (in the 1966 model year, IIRC), over the resistance of the industry.

You name the safety improvement, and industry resisted it.  Air bags were a 25 or 30 year fight.  It was only the combination of product liability lawsuits brought on behalf of injured people and aggressive government regulation that made your cars safer than that '59.  When the cost of safety improvements got to be less than the cost of paying for the injuries, you got safety.

Finally, note that it doesn't get better with more schooling - I also scored entry tests for the proficiency testing scorers, and could count on at least a percent or two thinking that Japan attacked Pearl Harbor because we nuked them first... (FWIW, everyone taking that test had to have a 4 year degree)

Like when the bill is $8.42, ya give 'em a sawbuck, they punch in 10 bucks, then you give 'em the 42 cents ya dug out your pocket and they look at you like ya got three heads?  It's scary.

Then there was this bush doctor in the neighborhood who I would call in a pinch for a dub...I pay with a hundred and I'd end up with a sack and 120 bucks in small bills. I explained to the man that he wasn't gonna be in business long doing that, and gave him 40 bucks back.

I missed the Space Invaders question and the Little League one...I totally guessed on the Egg McMuffin, the Rutgers/Princeton football game and the Peanuts debut.