Now with all the atomic-powered cars you want...

So, back in the pre-internet era of my childhood, I liked reading old Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, and Mechanix Illustrated magazines. There was a pretty good supply of the 1960's and newer ones floating around at my grandmother's house, so if I was getting a bit bored or underfoot in the machine shop, I'd pick one up, sit in the corner by my bench and read them. Now, nothing against the modern incarnations of Popular Mechanics and Popular Science, but they don't hold a candle to the mid-20th century ones. Even better, by the time I was 12 or so, I discovered that Popular Mechanics magazines from the 1920's and 30's were availble (rough shape w/o covers) for less than a buck a copy from Volume One books in Hillsdale.

The depression era magazines are highly facinating, from the somewhat economically desperate nature of the advertisements, "If you don't use Lifebouy Soap/Gillette razors you'll bomb the job interview" to the historically amusing features. I have a 1930's PM magazine that discusses safety features for future cars, including "steering wheels as thick as an axe handle" and "safety belts for all cars" which, come to think of it only took another 40 to 50 years to come about.

Anyway, I've discovered a VERY cool blog that consists mostly of scanned articles from this sort of magazine: Modern Mechanix: Tommorow's Technology Today