Oh. My. God. "Vintage" Carseat

[Fairy]

Any Sesame fans out there that have Sesame Street Old School: Volume 1? I'm a Sesame fan, so I got it a couple years ago for Xmas. DS loves it, too, and I hadn't watched Disk 3 yet. I pop it in, and in episode 406, there's the oldie but goodie, "Everybody Sleeps." And not halfway thru, I about fell over. There's a baby in their carseat sleeping. The carseat

BLEW
ME
AWAY!

Think '70's brown vinyl, with the over the head dealie, no 5-point to be seen, and that small guage pipe metal framework. I had to click back at least twice to take it all in. Here it is on youtube, at the :25 mark. She's there again at the 1:03 mark for a longer time. This youtube version is not the one originally aired and on the DVD, but the clip is the same.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yYX__GwDs0

I'm still sittin' here in shock. Now, it was, like, 1971. I cannot believe I survived this carseat and others like it! I think, also, this is a very good example of a product that has changed monumentally since we were babies that when our parents see the version we're using on our own babies now, we get some of that, "we didn't need that kind of thing when you were that age, and you're FINE!" Yeah, in this car seat? Only for sheer dumb luck!

ETA --> I put this here cuz it's not really about carseats in the spirit of that forum. Please move this, mods, if you disagree.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Yikes!

Think though in 30 years people might be making the same comment about our carseats now. :)

Beth

[maestramommy]

LOL! It looks like a high chair strapped in the car! My bro had a carseat in 1976, and by that time the head support was a little better, and it had a 5 point harness, as well as an OPTIONAL front piece that you buckled over the baby. My parents almost never used it. It was WWIII to get him into the carseat, I think they just abandoned the front piece.

ETA: I totally remember the video! I remember cracking up when the man fell out of the chair, and seeing for the first time that some people slept without any jammies!

[Snow mom]

Yeah, the technology has certainly changed. I have pictures (lots of pictures) of myself sleeping during car trips in my carseat, which looks similarly ancient and dangerous. I posted a picture of my first attempt to install our new infant seat in my car and a friend of mine who is in the Peace Corps in Bulgaria responded, "In Bulgaria, we have laps." I guess even today there are plenty of babies riding around in much lower technology or no technology at all. We do our best, but I'm agree that the technology will continue to evolve and some day our kids will be talking about the ancient carseats we put them in.


~Lisa

[LarsMal]

Whoa! That's crazy!! I thought it was going to be that vinyl infant seat. The one that hardly had any belt at all, and just sat on the seat (or on the floor of the car where my MIL supposedly put it). YIKES!!!

I've never seen that one!

[kijip]

LOL! It looks like a high chair strapped in the car!

It looks a heck of a lot like the highchair we used as babies at my Grandparent's house if I am remembering my family photo album well.

My parents had an carseat for my little brother. When we moved across the country in a VW Bus, where do you think the carseat went? Unsecured between the driver's and passenger's seats, on the floor. And the floor or unsecured to a seat was where the thing was supposed to go. Nice.

But we all do what we can with the information we have. And Beth is right, perhaps our kids will shriek about pictures of them in their Britaxes and SafeSeats and wonder WTF we were ever thinking, LOL.

[randomkid]

Haven't watched it yet, but I will. I just wanted to say - carseat as a child? What's that? Seatbelt? What's that? My Mom just laid me on the front seat next to her. For crying out loud, I even had a harness in the car for my DOG! I clearly remember riding in the back of the station wagon with all the seats folded down and a piece of foam over them to make a comfy place to ride and sleep when we were traveling hundreds of miles to go to my Grandparents. I also remember standing up in the floorboard in the back and looking between the front seats so I could look out, talk to my parents, etc. By the grace of God...

[maestramommy]

I clearly remember riding in the back of the station wagon with all the seats folded down and a piece of foam over them to make a comfy place to ride and sleep when we were traveling hundreds of miles to go to my Grandparents. I also remember standing up in the floorboard in the back and looking between the front seats so I could look out, talk to my parents, etc. By the grace of God...

Oh I KNOW! I'll bet that's why we didn't need DVD players on long trips!

[writermama]

You can laugh, but a car seat very much like that saved my brother's life when my parents were in a car accident. And I'm only here because my parents were wearing seatbelts -- that my Dad had installed in the car himself because the car didn't come with seatbelts.

Whenever I hear people bellyaching about "Oh, back in my day, we just rode around with kids on our laps and gave them bags of broken glass for toys ..." I have to bite my tongue. And then I nod polietly and strap my kid rear-facing into a Britax Marathon.

[trales]

When my SIL found out we were pregnant, she went into her hot attic and pulled out a infant seat she has been saving for 21 years for us to use. I almost died when I saw the thing. I accepted the Patagonia bunting, but helped her move the car seat to the curb.

[bubbaray]

There is a member over on carseat.org (classicseats IIRC) who collects old carseats (not to use, obviously). If you find one, send that member a PM.

FWIW, I was in a worse carseat than that as a child. Of course, I'm probably at least a decade older than most of the parents here. I was probably the only kid in a carseat back in the day (dad had a PhD in engineering, so that was probably the impetus -- obviously it was NOT the law, LOL).

In defence of our parents, there were not the car seats available then that we have today, nor were car accidents as dangerous IMO. People drove slower and with more patience. More cars were of equal size (ie., not a Yaris vs a Suburban, KWIM?).

But, yeah, I have to laugh when I see pics of myself in my "carseat". I should dig out a photo and scan it....

[kijip]

In defence of our parents, there were not the car seats available then that we have today, nor were car accidents as dangerous IMO.



WRT to dangers of car accidents: this is not actually true. Cars were in and of themselves much less safe then and there were a lot of fatal car accidents. At least in the US, the number of motor vehicle related deaths was actually higher during much of the 1960s and 1970s than it is now and the percentage relative to the population was much higher, as we were dealing not only with a smaller population but also a much lower number of cars per capita. I don't have my misc info from my CPS Tech classes handy, but this is one of the main take away messages of the classes I took.

Part of this is that cars themselves were not designed to take the crash forces like modern day cars are- the occupants took more of the force themselves to say nothing of just smacking your head on a honking piece of metal (then) vs plastic (now). Solid car frames without crush zones were very dangerous for those in collisions. And of course now we have side airbags etc. If I was going to toss an unrestrained child occupant in a car, I'll take a 2005 Toyota Camry over a 1965 Buick any day of the week. We truly are much safer traveling by car now than we used to be- adults, kids, infants, everyone. Car seats make kids that much more protected.

[SASM]

Wow! I have a really good memory (my earliest memory was somewehere around 1yr old) but cannot remember, for the life of me, what my restraint seat looked like back then. I do remember having a booster that was pretty much a wooden spindle stool with the seat belt woven through the arms. YIKES! That thought floors me.

[JTsMom]

Holy cow, in the event of an accident, how would a child even stay in there? Looks like she'd just come flying out!

[wendibird22]

It looks like the restraint bar on a tilt-a-whirl ride at the amusement park!

Anyone else remember getting to ride sitting on top of the padded armrest that folded down in the middle of the front seats of a station wagon back when the front seat was one long bench style seat? I thought that was soooo cool! Not exactly the proper booster seat!

[Fairy]

It looks like the restraint bar on a tilt-a-whirl ride at the amusement park!

Anyone else remember getting to ride sitting on top of the padded armrest that folded down in the middle of the front seats of a station wagon back when the front seat was one long bench style seat? I thought that was soooo cool! Not exactly the proper booster seat!

I totally did this. We didnt' have a station wagon, but when I'd get to ride in a friend's, it was like Disney World. I also loved riding on the armrest in the center of the backseat. Mmmm, good times. Good, good, dangerous times.

How 'bout sticking your head out the window like a pooch?

[HIU8]

I remember trips to FL in a chevy station wagon. My parents put the seats down and my brother, sister and I laid sleeping bags the long way and slept or sat up and played the entire trip totally unrestrained. My parents also took me to FL at 6 months old laying in a cradle that was placed on the backseat of a 2 door NOVA. I do remember when my parents started insisting we wear seatbelts though (in the late 70's). A friend of my mothers was driving her daughter somewhere and she leaned on the door and fell out of the car. Two cars ran her over. She survived, but it was really scary and really close to home for my parents.

[wendibird22]

We traveled to Boston from WNY in a Ford Fiesta (read skateboard on wheels) when I was 7. We had a car top carrier for all our stuff. The back seats were down and DB got to sleep there and I was relegated to the floor...sleeping over the hump. That's what happens with an older and MUCH taller brother!

[MamaKath]

I was probably the only kid in a carseat back in the day.
I rode in one too! Although due to more tragic circumstances; my parents good friends lost a baby when a drunk hit them. We had "top of the line" carseats which looked alot like that one!!!

I need to show my kids that video. We had that VW camper! It was AWESOME!!! I am still mad that my parents sold it when I was like 4, lol. It was the absolute greatest. I would love to see something like those come out and be cost effective now.

ETA- To the OP where did you get the DVD set??? What a great Christmas gift that would be!!!

[MontrealMum]

My parents had to have seatbelts installed in my mom's car (1965 T-bird) when I came along because it didn't have any. They also had chains installed on the front seats (when I started riding up there) to keep them from crushing me if they collapsed - they were very heavy. I remember a younger neighbor boy having a car seat like the one in the video, but I think that I'm old enough that I predate those - ack! My parents ordered something special from Ford Motor Company that was a grey plastic "booster" with this huge curved thing that fit over the top - I called it "The Tunnel". I hated it, you couldn't see a darn thing. My mom did the preschool pickup with me in that, and my BFF held in by seatbelt only next to me. Prior to "The Tunnel" there was some sort of bassinet thing when I was still an infant that got strapped sideways into the backseat. Carseats were definitely not the norm. When it was passed down to my cousin (2.5 yrs. younger) they had to give up using it because she became so incredibly motion sick not being able to see anything. I can't remember if my aunt and uncle bought something else or not. I also remember riding laying down in my BFF's family's station wagon, or sleeping sideways in the back on the way to our cottage - unrestrained. Ahhh, the 70's :) I looked and looked for a photo yesterday but couldn't find anything.

[MamaKath]

Prior to "The Tunnel" there was some sort of bassinet thing when I was still an infant that got strapped sideways into the backseat. Carseats were definitely not the norm.

LOL! The carbeds! When I had my first, a friend of my sister was telling me all about her dd (my age) being in a carbed in the front and how you used to just nurse the baby when they needed it- even if you were driving!!!!

[C99]

Yeah, the technology has certainly changed. I have pictures (lots of pictures) of myself sleeping during car trips in my carseat, which looks similarly ancient and dangerous. I posted a picture of my first attempt to install our new infant seat in my car and a friend of mine who is in the Peace Corps in Bulgaria responded, "In Bulgaria, we have laps." I guess even today there are plenty of babies riding around in much lower technology or no technology at all.
~Lisa

A friend told me that in Norway, they use the Emmajunga carry cot as the carseat. And when I was in Indonesia, it was not uncommon to see entire families (including babies worn in a sling) hanging off the back of a moped.

[MontrealMum]

LOL! The carbeds! When I had my first, a friend of my sister was telling me all about her dd (my age) being in a carbed in the front and how you used to just nurse the baby when they needed it- even if you were driving!!!!
Yikes! Nursing while driving is unfathomable to me. Of course, I never mastered nursing while typing either, so I will restrain myself from saying more...is that a special level of ticketing infraction? ;)

[Fairy]

And when I was in Indonesia, it was not uncommon to see entire families (including babies worn in a sling) hanging off the back of a moped.

Ohmigod................

[swrc00]

That's the car seat I had!

[lovin2shop]

I have some fond memories of bean bag chairs in the back of an old van decked out with hanging beads.

[MaiseyDog]

Haven't watched it yet, but I will. I just wanted to say - carseat as a child? What's that? Seatbelt? What's that? My Mom just laid me on the front seat next to her.

My mom still talks about how she use to hold me while driving because she worried about me rolling off the seat and onto the floor when I was a baby. Of course I can also remember when she started insisting we all wear seatbelts and she would strap 2 of us kids into one seat belt when she was doing carpool from school

[randomkid]

I totally did this. We didnt' have a station wagon, but when I'd get to ride in a friend's, it was like Disney World. I also loved riding on the armrest in the center of the backseat. Mmmm, good times. Good, good, dangerous times.

How 'bout sticking your head out the window like a pooch?

Yep...rode on the armrest and stuck my head out the window. Um, obviously not at the same time.

[jerigirl]

Here is a picture of me in my car seat at 5 weeks old. This was probably Sept 1976.
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn175/jerigirleed/jeribabycarseat5weeks.jpg