Bought my first rifle, a Marlin 336C on maybe the first lay away plan from Peterson Hardware Store in Louise Texas on HWY 59 in WHARTON, COUNTY opcorn:
I remember riding around in my pu truck with 2 shotguns in the back window rack, and leaving the doors unlocked while shopping, and they'd still be there when I returned. But them days are over.
At 16, I and other friends drove to school with rifles and shotguns because we hunted before and after school sometimes. Hell, I had a 55 chevy truck and my doors didnt lock. Homeroom teacher had no problem with me leaving my marlin 30-30 or double barrel savage 12 gauge in the corner until school finished, and I would pick it up on my way out. This was Selma Alabama in 1986 but times have definitely changed
Gas was .27 cent a gallon and every now and again, Bit Melvin would run a gas come-on. Put the nozzle in your tank, put it on wide open and locked, and if you could guess when it'd click off, within 1/10th a gallon, your gas was free.
Incidentally, Bit's gas station was where the waffle house is now in milton.