torrid said:

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I remember going through Baytown around that time, and my recollection is the whole business district was boarded up.

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You must have taken the wrong exit in Baytown.

The old downtown was probably boarded up .......and was aptly used as Detroit in future for one of the Terminator movies.

Baytown headed north toward I-10 after The Mall was built on I-10 (1981?)....the same mall that has been leveled....waiting on a new mall that the real estate man will build us.

Cobra39

JB!98 said:

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schmellba99 said:

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tk111 said:

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BTKAG97 said:

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rocky the dog said:

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That pic could be from 1999. Believe it or not.

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I was gonna say the next big one I know of was around 99. Gasoline was sub $1 for a while there. I think oil price got down to about $10/bbl.

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Yeah, I bought my first diesel around that time frame and I think diesel was running about $.96 per gallon back then. I remember if filling the tank up ran over about $30 it was an expensive fill up.

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Remember back then when trucks came with two fuel tanks? Just flip the switch and boom reserve tank. I remember my dad loving the two tanks but griping when he had to fill both of them up. He got a new Ford in 1981, and it was the first new vehicle anyone had ever had in my immediate family.

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I had a 92 F250 diesel with dual tanks. One summer day when the truck was about 5 years old, the A/C compressor clutch burned up, and blew the fuse. I found out the hard way that the fuel tank valve and the A/C clutch were on the same circuit. The front tank got low. I flipped the switch and NADA. I was lucky to find a gas station that had diesel before that tank ran out.

One of my earliest memories is when my youngest brother was born in 1982. I was four. The day he was born we were at my mom's cousins house. My dad was helping him pour a new concrete driveway and I had just managed to climb a small tree, when my aunt showed up to get me and my middle brother.. Mom went to the hospital and we went to McDonald's. This book was the Happy Meal Prize:

Back when there was a Rolls Royce dealership in Midland!

NE PA Ag said:

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Reginald Cousins said:

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BTKAG97 said:

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rocky the dog said:

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That pic could be from 1999. Believe it or not.

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Or 2001/2 ish. Post 9/11 I remember it got to 1.00 flat in my area briefly.

Surely was under some places.

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That pic is easily from that timeframe, maybe later. Zoom in on the vehicle at the gas station and especially the one on the far block and you can see these are later models, not 80s models.

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And there were no digital gas signs like that in the 80s. All had to be manually changed.

Stopped watching after "A/R conditioning...". Pronounced as just "A", "R" "Conditioning"

Apparently the AI voice interpreted "air" as "a/r".

Bugged me.

I was a first year Derm resident making 13k a year and working insane hours. Somehow found time to see the Oilers all the time during the Luv ya blue days, Astros with Nolan Ryan, and the Rockets twin towers. Great times.

JamesE4 said:

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Was in my junior year at A&M. But the 80s bust was already underway in summer 1982. I couldn't get a good summer internship so I got a summer job at the new McDonald's on SW parkway and business 6.

When I graduated in Chemical Engineering in May 1983, less than 10% of us had a professional job to go to. I was in the 90% majority.

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i was ChE in '85. Didn't find a job until 8 'month after graduation so I worked my McDonalds mgr job while looking for a permanent ChE. A few months after being hired into a paper mill, the mill manager said he hired me because I was willing to work at MCDs with ChE degree - said I had to be hard worker if I was willing to do that. Been making paper for 40 years now once I got that first job.

AgDad121619 said:

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JamesE4 said:

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Was in my junior year at A&M. But the 80s bust was already underway in summer 1982. I couldn't get a good summer internship so I got a summer job at the new McDonald's on SW parkway and business 6.

When I graduated in Chemical Engineering in May 1983, less than 10% of us had a professional job to go to. I was in the 90% majority.

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i was ChE in '85. Didn't find a job until 8 'month after graduation so I worked my McDonalds mgr job while looking for a permanent ChE. A few months after being hired into a paper mill, the mill manager said he hired me because I was willing to work at MCDs with ChE degree - said I had to be hard worker if I was willing to do that. Been making paper for 40 years now once I got that first job.

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Similar situation - graduated ChE in Aug '86 and didn't find a job until end of the year. Delivered pizzas for 4 months at my old high school employer (Mr Gatti's). Started working for an industrial water treatment company in Jan '87 and never looked back. Stayed in water treatment and it's been a good career. Might have made more money if I would have eventually tried to get back into oil & gas - who knows.

dermdoc said:

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I was a first year Derm resident making 13k a year and working insane hours. Somehow found time to see the Oilers all the time during the Luv ya blue days, Astros with Nolan Ryan, and the Rockets twin towers. Great times.

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Twin Towers didn't start until fall 1984, derm.

If you need a memory test, I might know a guy..

In fairness, wasn't he head coach and athletic director? $267K is less than assistant coaches get today.

YokelRidesAgain said:

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dermdoc said:

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I was a first year Derm resident making 13k a year and working insane hours. Somehow found time to see the Oilers all the time during the Luv ya blue days, Astros with Nolan Ryan, and the Rockets twin towers. Great times.

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Twin Towers didn't start until fall 1984, derm.

If you need a memory test, I might know a guy..

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I forgot what I was going to post. Maybe I should start putting ginseng in my Metamucil.

torrid said:

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I remember going through Baytown around that time, and my recollection is the whole business district was boarded up.

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I remember living in Baytown during that time and I have no idea what you are talking about. It was pretty much business as usual. Actually the town was growing quite a bit. It just kind of shifted locations on the growth. 80s was great.

annie88 said:

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I turned 16 in 1982 in Houston got my drivers license.

Remember it well.

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I got mine in 1982 as well, but I was only 15. Ahh, the joys of a west Texas hardship license...

Fun little story with me and Intro to Pet E.

In about 1988, in a moment of insanity, I thought it would be fun to take the Intro to Petroleum Engineering class as an elective. You know, to learn about the drilling industry. The first couple of weeks were really interesting and educational - learning about different kinds of drill bits, the drilling process, and so on.

Right before drop deadline, out of nowhere, the prof issues a homework assignment that went something like this:

There is a major rainstorm in West Texas. In the field, there is a holding container that is manufactured from 1/4" welded steel, 32' height and 50' diameter. It is 38% full of West Texas Crude. At what height of water rise will the tank float away?

I dropped the class the next day.

Math too hard? Or did you not know the weight of crude versus water? "Floating away" was a bit of a stretch since the weight of the water on 1/4" welded steel would be a weaker point, in my view. Age of the tank, how well maintained, metal fatigue, improper welds, etc. There is also the question of the floating lid over the tank and how that water is drained off.

So, hey guys how well did I do on that, just by osmosis from my Dad?

There was a reason I was an economics major. I did fine in Physics, but as I would have to go research specific gravity of West Texas Crude, (No cell phones available), and then re-figure appropriate formulas to use, all coupled with the fact that it was the first math assignment of the semester...

Yep, I threw in the towel. I always figured it might have been a trick question and I missed something obvious.

As an Ag major, I think I could figure that out pretty easily.

At least I could today, since I could figure out the weights of the steel, the oil and the water online in about 3 minutes.

The question I have, is it an open tank? If it has a top, there is a level of standing water at which it would float.

But if it is an open top tank, it would never float, as no matter how much standing water was around the tank, the tank would have added an equal amount of water inside.

Trick question.

jrdaustin said:

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There was a reason I was an economics major. I did fine in Physics, but as I would have to go research specific gravity of West Texas Crude, (No cell phones available), and then re-figure appropriate formulas to use, all coupled with the fact that it was the first math assignment of the semester...

Yep, I threw in the towel. I always figured it might have been a trick question and I missed something obvious.

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Dad was aeronatuctical enginnerong. First test came bac; as "BUNK
so he switched majors.

Serotonin said:

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Pretty impressive what AI bots are cranking out on YouTube now.

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the olds around here absolutely love AI slop.

BlueSmoke said:

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Back when there was a Rolls Royce dealership in Midland!

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Wild

Mega Lops said:

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Serotonin said:

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Pretty impressive what AI bots are cranking out on YouTube now.

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the olds around here absolutely love AI slop.

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Says the AI guy. Maybe consider making real thoughtful contributions? Or just don't post on threads on which you have nothing to add?

Just a thought.

dcbowers said:

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I turned 16 years old in 1982.

When I graduated from college in May of 1989, A&M graduated only 3 Petroleum Engineering majors. I wonder how many, if any, of them had jobs.

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Damn, I wish I had majored in engineering.

jrdaustin said:

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annie88 said:

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I turned 16 in 1982 in Houston got my drivers license.

Remember it well.

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I got mine in 1982 as well, but I was only 15. Ahh, the joys of a west Texas hardship license...

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My mom grew up in Tennessee in a very small town, like blinking light small town, like 12 people in her high school class small town and was actually driving by 11 in the country. She said the local cops didn't care.

annie88 said:

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jrdaustin said:

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annie88 said:

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I turned 16 in 1982 in Houston got my drivers license.

Remember it well.

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I got mine in 1982 as well, but I was only 15. Ahh, the joys of a west Texas hardship license...

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My mom grew up in Tennessee in a very small town, like blinking light small town, like 12 people in her high school class small town and was actually driving by 11 in the country. She said the local cops didn't care.

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My brother got a full DL at age 14. Some kids drove their own car to 8th grade. It was raised to 16 before I hit 14, and dad tried and failed to get me a hardship license at 15. He always claimed it was because he didn't slip the judge a bottle of booze and/or because the judge asked what I would do if he didn't grant it. Dad said I'd drive anyway, because he needed the help on the farm.

My Houston-born wife thought I was a lying SOB because I told her I didn't remember learning how to drive. I was driving on dad's lap at 5 and 6, driving on my own by 7, and I really didn't recall exactly when I went solo. After coming to the farm, she decided I was telling the truth.

techno-ag said:

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Houses were selling dirt cheap. I remember one went for $20,000. True, it needed some work. But even in those days that was a bargain.

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That's roughly the equivalent of about $68,000 today but you're right that is cheap. When we moved to Houston in 1970 my parents bought a house for $62,000. They ended up selling that house 30 years later for almost $600,000.

CanyonAg77 said:

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annie88 said:

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jrdaustin said:

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annie88 said:

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I turned 16 in 1982 in Houston got my drivers license.

Remember it well.

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I got mine in 1982 as well, but I was only 15. Ahh, the joys of a west Texas hardship license...

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My mom grew up in Tennessee in a very small town, like blinking light small town, like 12 people in her high school class small town and was actually driving by 11 in the country. She said the local cops didn't care.

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My brother got a full DL at age 14. Some kids drove their own car to 8th grade. It was raised to 16 before I hit 14, and dad tried and failed to get me a hardship license at 15. He always claimed it was because he didn't slip the judge a bottle of booze and/or because the judge asked what I would do if he didn't grant it. Dad said I'd drive anyway, because he needed the help on the farm.

My Houston-born wife thought I was a lying SOB because I told her I didn't remember learning how to drive. I was driving on dad's lap at 5 and 6, driving on my own by 7, and I really didn't recall exactly when I went solo. After coming to the farm, she decided I was telling the truth.

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Right on man. I was lap driving with grandpa about the same age. At 9 (1981), I would take his 1969 C-10 out to the Ag Farm to feed and walk my show steer. Only thing he or my grandma were scared of were the train tracks that ran through Beeville and me being sure not to get hit by a train!

We really did live in the best of times.

Thank you for the reminder of how far this country has fallen I guess. I am glad you enjoyed the good days

AgDad121619 said:

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JamesE4 said:

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Was in my junior year at A&M. But the 80s bust was already underway in summer 1982. I couldn't get a good summer internship so I got a summer job at the new McDonald's on SW parkway and business 6.

When I graduated in Chemical Engineering in May 1983, less than 10% of us had a professional job to go to. I was in the 90% majority.

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i was ChE in '85. Didn't find a job until 8 'month after graduation so I worked my McDonalds mgr job while looking for a permanent ChE. A few months after being hired into a paper mill, the mill manager said he hired me because I was willing to work at MCDs with ChE degree - said I had to be hard worker if I was willing to do that. Been making paper for 40 years now once I got that first job.

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You didn't happen to bake chocolate chip cookies in your cast iron skiller for the first semester engineering class for ChE majors in the fall of 1981 did you? One of the few things I remember from that class.

Keyno said:

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Thank you for the reminder of how far this country has fallen I guess. I am glad you enjoyed the good days

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We had my son at a late age. It sucks that he could not have the same experiences that we had as kids. It can get depressing that the freedom we enjoyed back then is inaccessible to them. He is 17 and turning 18 in April, just such a great divide between our experiences being born 37 years apart. Sad really.

"All glory is fleeting" - George Patton and some Roman.

BlueSmoke said:

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Back when there was a Rolls Royce dealership in Midland!

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I believe it was the highest volume Rolls Royce dealership in the world for a while.

YokelRidesAgain said:

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TyHolden said:

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what year were the oil crashes?

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The bottom fell out in 1986-87, although in retrospect there had been clear signs of decline for a few years prior.

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Houston was pretty darn good when I moved there in the summer of 1982. Got a job no problem, but I was manual labor at that time and opportunities were definitely there. Didn't pay much attention to economics and such since I was having too much fun rooting for the Stros at the Astrodome, and just working and playing. Really liked the Oilers, but man they sure could aggravate a guy, kind a like the Stros and Rockets in the 80s.

My friends and I were really pissed when Charlie Thomas **** the bed by selecting Rodney McCray with the third overall pick of the NBA draft in 1984 after selecting Olajuwon #1, and Ralph Sampson #1 in 1983. He should've taken Clyde "The Glide" Drexler and everyone knew it! Blown opportunity there despite getting Drexler in the 90s.

The economic bottom bit me in the *** in '86 when I got laid off and I went back to school at a Junior College, you know when colleges were affordable. Kind of worked out pretty well, especially after my fourth iteration in college yielded a degree at A&M in the 90s. Good Times Bad Times. Huh, sounds like a Zeppelin song.

Tex117 said:

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aggiehawg said:

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Since I was in law school back then but essentially living on my own, what a time! Then it all just crashed.

For those who were not around then, enjoy.

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I mean....still pretty similar today.

But that bust was VERY real. Moreover, it came at a time where the entire economy as shifting from traditional assets, like real estate and oil, to the stock market.

The 80s are really a lost decade in Texas. And it took until the 90s for things to turn back around.

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Not entirely. I grew up in Lake Jackson, big chemical plant town. The 80's were pretty good in that industry. Mid 90's weren't so comfortable there though, there was a significant downturn in the petroleum byproducts sector and Dow laid off about 1/3 of the workforce there. That one hit our area hard.

JB!98 said:

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schmellba99 said:

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tk111 said:

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BTKAG97 said:

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rocky the dog said:

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That pic could be from 1999. Believe it or not.

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I was gonna say the next big one I know of was around 99. Gasoline was sub $1 for a while there. I think oil price got down to about $10/bbl.

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Yeah, I bought my first diesel around that time frame and I think diesel was running about $.96 per gallon back then. I remember if filling the tank up ran over about $30 it was an expensive fill up.

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Remember back then when trucks came with two fuel tanks? Just flip the switch and boom reserve tank. I remember my dad loving the two tanks but griping when he had to fill both of them up. He got a new Ford in 1981, and it was the first new vehicle anyone had ever had in my immediate family.

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Yep. My first truck was a 1981 Chevy 3/4 ton that had dual fuel tanks. Sounded awesome until you had to A) fill both up because it was expensive and B) had to fill both up because you had to flip the damn truck around at the pump because the fuel doors were on opposide sides of the truck.

I got to where I'd keep 10 or so gallons in the passenger tank as an emergency reserve and just used the driver's side tank as my regular one.

Keyno said:

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Thank you for the reminder of how far this country has fallen I guess. I am glad you enjoyed the good days

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My point in posting these look backs in time is to remind people that we as collective Americans are different and always have been. One can call it American Exceptionalism with an implied diving intervention or just American Exceptionalism as defined by our founding. How our very unique Constitution has (mostly) maintained those manifest differences.

Do the idiots get a lot of screen time to spew their nonsense while the rest of us just go about our days living our unique American lives? Is it really all doom and gloom for the future?

Or is that more similar to the propaganda utilized by the enemies of the US such as was employed during WWII? Several months back, I started a thread about WWII POWs held in the states were actually treated as opposed to how they had been trained to expect. Compare the treatment to German, Italian and Japanese POWs here to American and other Ally POWS in those countries (except for Italy few POW camps there.)

We were and are different. Trump's election and reelection show there are still enough Americans who believe in freedom granted by our Republic and Founders as their core beliefs.

In 1968, Nixon called them "The Silent Majority" and they showed up at the ballot box. In 1972, they showed up in droves. Same with Reagan in 1984.

So has America really gone away from American Exceptionalism (however one defines it)? Or is the pendulum just swinging back to normal? Is a dystopian future the ONLY future for our country? Obviously, I don't think so because there are still enough people who remember what such freedom and fun feels like. Such as on this thread. Yes many had economic setbacks but persevered through the tough times and got through it.