Nostalgia for nostalgia, and how times have changed

The time-memory continuum is weird, if you stop to think about it. I sit here in 2021, being nostalgic for Nick at Nite's TV Land of the mid-1990s. Back then, it aired reruns of my favorite 1980s show, St. Elsewhere, and ran vintage commercials from the 1960s and 1970s. So, to sum up, I'm nostalgic for that time a quarter-century ago, when I could watch a TV show that debuted 39 years ago and commercials from a half-century ago.

One of those TV Land retro-commercials that has stuck in my head since I saw it repeatedly in the mid-1990s is the one for the 1969 Pontiac GTO called "The Judge." The catchy, psychedelic commercial features Paul Revere & the Raiders. You can watch it here on YouTube. There is, of course, a whole generation of folks who still remember this from when it first aired circa 1969. And another generation of folks like me who were introduced to its second life via TV Land. 

Car sales have changed a lot over the years, too. Not just the marketing and advertisements, but the process of buying a vehicle. Dad isn't a fan. He wrote this on Facebook earlier this month:

You buy a new car and finance it, so you get a dealer discount.

You get a letter from the bank telling you how to manage your account online.

You pay off your loan in full 10 days before the first payment is due.

You get an email confirmation regarding your payoff.

You never see or speak to anyone from the bank. 

The bank doesn’t ask if they can provide more services.

Does the bank’s computer get a commission on my loan?

Sorry, 35+ years selling face to face led to long-term relationships with my customers and repeated sales.

I’ll never do any future transaction with this bank. If it really exists.

A harsh sentence, but The Judge has ruled.