Technology makes head-spinning advancements every year at an exponential rate, so not all that seems perfect at the moment will live forever. In the 1960s, there were tons of gizmos and gadgets that seemed essential but have been lost to time. From adding machines to carpet sweepers, here are 15 obsolete 1960s products — with ’60s prices — that are only good for collecting dust today.
Rotary Phones
Everybody had these things in their houses until the 1980s, when touch-tones made a big splash. They usually sold for about $15 to $40 (anyone else save up their allowance for one?). Now, it feels like they mostly exist on movie sets.
Carbon Paper
Before photocopiers popped off in the ’80s, carbon paper was its own copy machine. Coated on one side with a waxy piece of ’60s magic technology, it let you create a duplicate simply by writing or typing on top. A pack typically cost about $10.
Typewriters
Before computer word processing, typewriters were everything, which honestly sounds like a nightmare if you made a typo. They originally cost about $30 to $100, while some vintage typewriters can go for thousands today.
Phone Books
The modern internet really did away with the need for these, but there was a time when flipping through a phone book was the fastest way to find an address or phone number. It took forever, but it worked — and in the 1960s, phone books were typically free, included as part of standard residential phone service.
Milk Crates
Milk delivery used to be extremely common, and grocery store runs weren’t the norm. Your milkman dropped off farm-fresh bottles in a big crate — which, back then, cost people around 25-30 cents per quart — and that was that. Simpler days.
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8-Track Tapes
If you were listening to music in your car in the mid- to late-1960s, it was probably on an 8-track. Cassette tapes ended that era in the ’80s, but some annoying people still swear by them. They originally sold for around $6 to $10.
Slide Projectors
How were you supposed to show off boring family photos in the 1960s without Facebook? Slide projectors. There was something special about gathering friends on the sofa and forcing them to relive your last vacation — especially since a new slide projector back then could cost anywhere from about $20 for a basic model to over $100 for a fancier automatic one.
Adding Machines
In the ’70s, electronic calculators became the standard, making bulky adding machines — which weighed anywhere from 5 to 20 pounds — easy to ditch. They typically cost about $35 to $60, but by the ’80s, hardly anyone was using them.
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TV Dinner Trays
If you ask me, a TV dinner tray is still a grand slam of an invention. Sometimes it’s just you, your dinner, and the latest season of whatever you’re binge-watching — a perfect night. Back in the 1960s, a set typically cost about $5 to $15, but most people retired them decades ago.
Manual Lawn Mowers
You can still buy a manual lawn mower if you want to have less fun and spend more time on yard work, but when electric and gas-powered models took over in the ’70s, manual mowers died off quickly. Back in the 1960s, they generally cost around $20 to $40.
Carpet Sweepers
At around $10 when they were common, these are technically still around — but “obsolete” is really the only word for them. Once vacuum cleaners arrived, we didn’t need them anymore.
Cigarette Vending Machines
Costing roughly $200 to $500 new in the 1960s, cigarette vending machines were everywhere — diners, parks, airports, and of course bars. The anti-smoking movement of the ’90s really put a stink on them.
TV Antennas
From just a few dollars for indoor rabbit ears to $50 or more for rooftop setups, these were must-haves for TV reception before cable TV existed. Once television went digital in 2009, they were officially obsolete.
Viewmaster
Costing just a few dollars in the 1960s, View-Master viewers were how people entertained themselves before Nintendo existed — by staring at 3D images through a weird pair of binoculars. Once video games took off, these things died out fast.
More From Cheapism
- 10 Discontinued Snacks We Miss From the 1960s — Before you pass the chips aisle, take a nostalgic bite through retro favorites like Quisp, Fruit Stripe gum, and Corn Diggers that vanished from shelves but still haunt our snack cravings.
- 15 Foods Middle-Class Families Ate in the 1960s — Step back to the dinner table of yesteryear with classic ’60s home-cooked staples like macaroni salad, pot roast, and Jell-O salads that defined family meals in the era before fast food reigned.
- 9 Discontinued Candy Bars from the 1960s That Need to Make a Comeback — Some sweet classics and quirky confections from the ’60s were loved then and still deserve another chance on today’s candy racks — here’s what we think should return.
