Alanint,

Yes, I thought it was actually a pretty good product, despite all the fun which was poked at it. I have used a good bit of it for motorcycle seats and reupholstering the interior side panels of my old Beech Bonanza. In retrospect, it probably would have generated some really bad gases in case of fire.

For auto seat upholstery, Uniroyal made a breakthrough when they learned how to ventilate it with small holes, etc.

Naugahide, or a nearly identical product, may still be in production. Anybody know? But it's certainly of no value for things like holsters.

Ah, I sure miss those little suckers sometimes; jumping up on their hind legs under the kitchen window, banging those front feet on the soft aluminum siding, begging for their favorite treat of mashed bananas, mixed with coca leaves. It always made them do the cutest little traditional Chilean dance.

Anytime they started to act up, or get really out of line, all I had to do was snap my fingers and say "Uniroyal" in a loud voice, and they'd straighten right up; didn't want to find themselves on that production line, sprayed with orange die and rolled all up.

Most people do not know that Uniroyal is based in Naugatuck, CT, which of course is where the name "Naugahide" came from....

You are right, I didn't know that. I have long been a fan of Naugahide. When I fixed up my 1930 Model A Ford to drive to college, I did the interior in roll-and-pleat white Naugahide. Along with the '54 Cadillac metallic maroon paint job and white pin stripes it looked pretty spiffy! The running gear I left strictly stock. I still have the car (I have owned it for 52 years) and hope to completely restore it before I get too old to drive.

Ca'mon Ron! We have to see a picture of that!

Jerry Burney

Jerry, you should go out to his house and see it, I have, twice ;)

Ed, I would like to do that very much....If I win the lottery I would buy a Motor Home and travel around the USA looking at all the collections people have...

Jerry Burney

Jerry,
I had to scrounge around a bit to find some photos, but here they are. It was at its peak of grandeur when I graduated from college in 1961, the same year I enlisted in the Army. The one with me in the car is around the time I just got back from Viet Nam (1968) and was putting the car into storage at my in-laws home in Pennsylvania before my next assignment. The next photo is when I trucked it out from the storage in Pennsylvania to El Paso in 1982 after my retirement from the Army. The poor thing had sat in storage indoors and out for more than 20 years (the last time it was licensed to drive was in 1970). Now the top is shot, the paint has faded and it needs a lot of TLC which I hope I can give it. Next to my darling wife Sarah (whom I met the same year I bought the Model A) it is my fondest remembrance of my youth.

Ron, Now that's some car! Spoke wheels! That would be a labor of love to bring it back to life...Nothing like fond photo's of our youth to make the memories come alive.

My first car was a 47 Chevy. Paid $65.00 for it and drove it for years.

Oddball story..I was driving home to Colorado when I was 16 and while I was coming up a high mountain pass my left front tire caught on fire from a bad wheel bearing. I got to the top and there was a little store up there. I stopped and wondered what I was ever going to do about my problem. I needed a new wheel bearing and was not likely to find one for a hundred miles. I bought a soda and was wandering around the parking lot..I looked over the side of the mountain and down in the bottom of the creek was a wrecked car upside down. I took a second look and it was a 47 Chevy! I grabbed my tools and went down, took of the front left wheel bearing, put it on my car and continued on accross Colorado!

Jerry Burney

I've had a couple items that were the same; blankets and a leather jacket from Colombia, to be exact. Don't know what it is, but after a few years of being wall hangings, the blankets lost their smell...the jacket never did... :o