Frazz by Jef Mallett for February 25, 2022

About 40 years ago, more or less, my mother gave me a joke tee shirt that featured a sign for “(Somebody)’s gravel pit and croissants” … I believe that’s more or less proof that drive through coffee hadn’t happened yet, then.

Based upon the principal’s principle, how much was a cup of joe then? I wasn’t born forty years ago; I was born (this coming June) thirty-eight years ago.

Not a coffee drinker, but in the late 1970’s, early 80’s Restaurant/Diner coffee was about $1 or less for a cup and came with refills for that $1. No idea what the price is today.

I remember drive-thru coffee in 1982. It was the height of the malaise era in Detroit, when the Corvette only made 180 hp, and cars like the Escort and Chevette roamed the roads. Rabbits were rather popular as well.

When my brother was in High School, he’d sit in a coffee shop and drink coffee as he did his home work. And that was about 70 years ago.

Give me a nice robusto any day. Even out of a vending machine.

In the 1940-50’s era, coffee was a nickel or a dime. In many places refills were free. And on the counter right at eye level there usually was a pedestal tray with doughnuts under the dome for a few cents more. Hard to resist. Dunking was mandatory then, too. Or you could spring for a slice of the pie from the other tray.

Will add that, through the years, those big coffee urns rarely ever turned out a bad cup of coffee. Something about big brews and time for the ingredients to meld. Found the same true in military mess halls, which, by the way, rarely ever matched that name. Somehow, the slowly congealing brews in little coffee break rooms that gradually replaced the off site coffee shops never quite lived up to the name.

Spoken like someone who’s never seen an ’83 Lincoln Continental or Cadillac Eldorado IRL.

Back then it was a donut and coffee shop. I hate saying this. My mom would stop at the donut shop on the way to taking me to school. Donuts and coke for me, donuts and coffee for her. That was in the 60’s in Denver.

40 years ago isn’t as long ago as Caulfield is thinking

I don’t remember going to any drive-thru’s when I was a kid but I do remember car hops. People who would bring the food out to you as you sat in your car in their lot.

Caufield has his years off by a decade. By 1982, most of the large cars had been downsized in order to meet Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards. Now if he’d looked about 50 years back, he would have caught the American land barge movement at peak length.

That line would have been two miles long if all the drivers were in 1976 Gran Torino station wagons. Nineteen feet long with a 351 V-8 and sweet, sweet fake wood side paneling. If you were a 16 year old with a learner’s permit and could drive that without terrorizing the neighborhood then there was nothing you couldn’t drive!

I’ll stand by a comment that I’d made earlier, Starbuck’s coffee is not only not worth waiting for, it is barely worth drinking as they fall for the sad trope that coffee must taste bitter to be good. I suspect that many of the people who go there prefer the mixed espresso drinks.

Shouldn’t that be “Quaffee”? The quantities of those monstrous qups that are usually given out at drive-thruhs demand qualling it to quaff and not just to drink or sip. (I’m no native speaker, but I learned “to quaff” from some 50 year old Peanuts-strip.)

First Tim Hortons drive through was in Hamilton, around 1985.

I thought this strip was presumably placed in Michigan. What’s with the coffee shop’s name east-coat-style awkward vowel-stress? “Quofee”?

It still isn’t. The reason for Starbucks is because you can sit as long as you like and use the bathroom. Not because the coffee is worth $4.

The line in the kitchen is much shorter.

Labeling station wagons as SUVs was one of the most savvy marketing victories in history. With a simple rebranding, station wagons went from being an embarrassment to the must-have vehicle.

My Mom said the coffee at the Automat in Downtown KC was excellent – and free refills!

My coffee came from my Mr. Coffee, gas station, or a diner 40 years ago. And still does.

i don’t know how I drank my coffee with just milk in it before he flavored creamers came out. I have 4 or 5 different flavors I alternate with that make my coffee fun to drink daily.

People were smart enough to simply make coffee at home for a very low price.

The comments are funnier than the strip!

I remember a drive through in the 1940s, they only served Hamburgers. Garden City, KS

it went up to 10 cents in Oct 1958, before that is was a nickel. Yes it was worth it,

The local Toddle House poured a pretty good brew back then. A dime for a regular, fifteen cents for a large…

Dunkin’ Donuts would like to have a word with you…

My first thought was, “in what universe is a sedan bigger than an SUV?!?” but if you’re talking length, which seems to be the main focus here, than I suppose some, mainly older, models qualify. Though by the 80’s (which would be 40 years ago) I think most were not such land boats. Either way in terms of height and with SUVs are still bigger and yes there are too many on the roads these days. And in parking lots which are designed for smaller cars. So often I end up parking far away even when there are closer open spaces just so I don’t have to thread the needle between two of those Stupid Ugly Vast things.

Buck Owens drove his semi to buy coffee.

Didn’t have shops dedicated to coffee, except maybe in the biggest cities.