From a November 1st, 1959 copy of the Des Moines Register comes today’s scanner love, an ad for “The Hitch-Hiker”, a child’s car seat of dubious safety protocol but many handy features. From the ad, this seat is intended for children 6 months to 6 years old and “…makes your child the safest passenger in your car…” due to the use of “safety detent blocks”, whatever those are. My guess is that they prop the seat forward so in an emergency stop your child has a head start on becoming a human bullet.

As a bonus, it doubles “…as a convenient drive-in, TV, or picnic seat.” You know, I was just thinking that I was getting the shaft since my kid’s car seat can’t be turned into anything except a car seat — I could have been having relaxing picnics by now!

And only $6.49 — that’s a steal!


As a prelude to the new year and to jazz things up a bit around here, I’m posting some interesting things that I’ve been grabbing with my flatbed scanner over the past few weeks. Some might be poignant, some funny, some just strange — but if you read here regularly, you’re used to that by now. I hope you enjoy.