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Oct 25, 2019 11:53:02 GMT
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I didn't know I needed this.
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C320
Part of things
Posts: 24
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Oct 25, 2019 13:00:46 GMT
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Thanks for posting this, that's such a cool resource. Great effort by Argos too. Many of us fondly remember the catalogues (& the smell of them!). Love looking at some of this, the stereos & wheel covers I used to drool over when I was thinking about mods before I even got my first car in the the early 90's! |
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Argos Book Of Dreamsfr€$h&m1nt¥
@freshandminty
Club Retro Rides Member 99
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Oct 25, 2019 13:49:49 GMT
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Thanks for posting this, that's such a cool resource. Great effort by Argos too. Many of us fondly remember the catalogues (& the smell of them!). Love looking at some of this, the stereos & wheel covers I used to drool over when I was thinking about mods before I even got my first car in the the early 90's! Yes the smell was my reply on twitter - the only thing that you can't get on the internet but it came back to me when i saw the photos  |
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Oct 25, 2019 14:05:25 GMT
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Cor that brings back memories, that was the year i bought my Talco 149 piece tool kit and carried home on the bus.
Jeez it was heavy , especially cosidering most of the tools were chocolate based and barely lasted a year
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Oct 25, 2019 14:07:09 GMT
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simpler times indeed. sure i spotted an 80's argos cat in the loft a while ago , not sure i will be sniffing it though.
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'80 s1 924 turbo..hibernating
'80 golf gli cabriolet...doing impression of a skip
'97 pug 106 commuter...continuing cheapness making me smile!
firm believer in the k.i.s.s and f.i.s.h principles.
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Oct 25, 2019 14:20:33 GMT
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Amazing.
Coming from a print industry background what really amazes me when I look back at this stuff is the sheer amount of human effort that had to go into reprographics and finished artwork to print these things in the days before computers and dtp.
Every single one of the pictures would be a film negative or positive, not a digital file. Each would have to be scaled by calculation to fit the layout at the desired crop, and then separated and burned into the film seps to create printing plates for a huge web offset printer.
All the text had to be phototypeset, output, laid onto art boards and then converted onto the film seperations too, in exactly the right place, with the corresponding numbers to the reference image, and the correct order code for buying the parts.
Thousands upon thousands of tiny interlinked interactions all dependent on focus and professionalism. Then a proof-reader would inspect the wet proofs and if there was an error... start the process over again.
I used to work in the industry but even with my past experience, today it absolutely boggles my mind that people actually pulled stuff like this off year after year.
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Oct 25, 2019 17:08:45 GMT
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Amazing. Coming from a print industry background what really amazes me when I look back at this stuff is the sheer amount of human effort that had to go into reprographics and finished artwork to print these things in the days before computers and dtp. Every single one of the pictures would be a film negative or positive, not a digital file. Each would have to be scaled by calculation to fit the layout at the desired crop, and then separated and burned into the film seps to create printing plates for a huge web offset printer. All the text had to be phototypeset, output, laid onto art boards and then converted onto the film seperations too, in exactly the right place, with the corresponding numbers to the reference image, and the correct order code for buying the parts. Thousands upon thousands of tiny interlinked interactions all dependent on focus and professionalism. Then a proof-reader would inspect the wet proofs and if there was an error... start the process over again. I used to work in the industry but even with my past experience, today it absolutely boggles my mind that people actually pulled stuff like this off year after year. and the argos catalogue was a minnow compared to the mail order shopping ones!! |
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'80 s1 924 turbo..hibernating
'80 golf gli cabriolet...doing impression of a skip
'97 pug 106 commuter...continuing cheapness making me smile!
firm believer in the k.i.s.s and f.i.s.h principles.
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Del
South East
Posts: 1,448
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Oct 25, 2019 18:43:07 GMT
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For years, I have been hunting for a watch that I bought from Argos in the mid to late '80s.
Yet I have hunted through the catalogues from that time on their site and it's not there.
I know I owned it, and I was certain I bought it at Argos. I can only assume that it must have been from Index!
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Argos Book Of DreamsBenzBoy
@benzboy
Club Retro Rides Member 7
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Oct 25, 2019 20:10:59 GMT
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I bought the Hilka 110 piece tool kit from the 1993/4 catalogue, it was my first tool kit! I still have some of the tools (although plenty met their end - they were the finest Indian steel after all...), and the cantilever tool box is still going strong. Funny little trip down memory lane, that. THanks for sharing |
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Oct 25, 2019 20:23:51 GMT
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What a fantastic resource. I think we were quite privileged as kids to have mail order catalogues to hand, it made the Santa list so much easier when you could just write 'pages 654 to 687'.
It still boggles my tiny mind when I visit a modest sized Argos store that they carry every item in the catalogue and then some, TARDIS technology surely??
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Oct 25, 2019 21:50:32 GMT
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It still boggles my tiny mind when I visit a modest sized Argos store that they carry every item in the catalogue and then some, TARDIS technology surely?? Like a lot of British things, Argos was a unique idea that never scaled up and embraced new technology. It existed long before Amazon, and there's an argument to make that with the right global vision and the right investment, it could have become what Amazon is. But it didn't, because it was a British High Street retail brand. Still is. |
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Oct 26, 2019 13:39:20 GMT
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It still boggles my tiny mind when I visit a modest sized Argos store that they carry every item in the catalogue and then some, TARDIS technology surely?? Like a lot of British things, Argos was a unique idea that never scaled up and embraced new technology. It existed long before Amazon, and there's an argument to make that with the right global vision and the right investment, it could have become what Amazon is. But it didn't, because it was a British High Street retail brand. Still is. not even really high street now...most in our area have been shut and squeezed into sainsburys stores now. |
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'80 s1 924 turbo..hibernating
'80 golf gli cabriolet...doing impression of a skip
'97 pug 106 commuter...continuing cheapness making me smile!
firm believer in the k.i.s.s and f.i.s.h principles.
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Oct 26, 2019 14:22:41 GMT
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Shame the prices aren’t the same
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60six
Posted a lot
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Posts: 1,658
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Oct 26, 2019 15:38:17 GMT
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For years, I have been hunting for a watch that I bought from Argos in the mid to late '80s. Yet I have hunted through the catalogues from that time on their site and it's not there. I know I owned it, and I was certain I bought it at Argos. I can only assume that it must have been from Index! What watch was it? I may be able to help - Hope you know the manufacturer |
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Some 9000's, a 900, an RX8 & a beetle
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Del
South East
Posts: 1,448
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Oct 26, 2019 17:18:36 GMT
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What watch was it? I may be able to help - Hope you know the manufacturer See the white Lorus with the 'floating' hands at the bottom here (no 10)? It was the black, slightly larger version of that. |
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Oct 26, 2019 22:51:07 GMT
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What watch was it? I may be able to help - Hope you know the manufacturer See the white Lorus with the 'floating' hands at the bottom here (no 10)? It was the black, slightly larger version of that. I remember somebody at school having a watch like that. I seem to remember it was a Swatch. Ive been looking through the watches too, theres more in the 70's catalogues that I like than there is in todays catalogues. The next time I need a watch, I know what I'm looking for. |
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Oct 29, 2019 20:28:55 GMT
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'80 s1 924 turbo..hibernating
'80 golf gli cabriolet...doing impression of a skip
'97 pug 106 commuter...continuing cheapness making me smile!
firm believer in the k.i.s.s and f.i.s.h principles.
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MiataMark
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,963
Club RR Member Number: 29
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Argos Book Of DreamsMiataMark
@garra
Club Retro Rides Member 29
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It existed long before Amazon, and there's an argument to make that with the right global vision and the right investment, it could have become what Amazon is. But it didn't, because it was a British High Street retail brand. Still is. Also the argument that W H Smiths could/should have been the Amazon but dismissed the potential of the internet, big warehouse in Swindon that could easily have been the hub (at the time the largest unsupported -except the edges- roof in Europe). How many other people had children (or did it themselves) that would helpfully tick things in the Argos catalogue that they wanted for Christmas. |
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1990 Mazda MX-52012 BMW 118i (170bhp) - white appliance 2011 Land Rover Freelander 2 TD4 2003 Land Rover Discovery II TD52007 Alfa Romeo 159 Sportwagon JTDm
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