{"id":47905,"date":"2026-07-01T00:17:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T04:17:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/?p=47905"},"modified":"2026-06-30T23:29:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T03:29:22","slug":"the-17-time-machine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2026\/07\/01\/the-17-time-machine\/","title":{"rendered":"The $17 Time Machine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"A little over a year and a half ago, I dug out a drawing I\u2019d penciled back in the mid-1980s and finally inked it. Finishing that 40-year-old piece<\/a> lit a fire under me. I started filling sketchbooks with new drawings and notebooks with ideas. About a month ago I began my morning ritual: one dedicated hour each day writing the story. I\u2019m now well into the first draft.<\/p>\n

It might become a prose novel, an illustrated story, or even a comic book\u2014I\u2019m still figuring that out. But as I write and draw, I keep needing reference and inspiration for the period details.<\/p>\n

The story is set in a high school sometime between 1978 and 1982. I considered watching movies from that era like Foxes<\/em> or Fast Times at Ridgemont High<\/em>, but they felt filtered through Hollywood casting and art direction. The kids were a little too perfect, missing that raw, authentic awkwardness of real teenagers.<\/p>\n

So I thought about tracking down my old high school\u2019s yearbooks. Logistically, that quickly proved impractical. Then I remembered the great modern elephant graveyard where people unload their pasts: eBay<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For $17 plus shipping, I scored this gem from Adrian, Michigan<\/em>\u2014grades 7 through 12. It\u2019s everything I needed: the hair, the clothes, the gloriously awkward expressions.<\/p>\n

I flip through it for character names, fashion references, poses, and general atmosphere. It\u2019s also full of unexpected treasures.<\/p>\n

Like this completely unlikely homecoming float based on the sci-fi film Logan\u2019s Run<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"A dystopian story about a society that euthanizes everyone at age 30\u2026 turned into a high school float. It was one of those things that only made sense at the time. Absolute gold.<\/p>\n

And of course, no 1978 yearbook would be complete without a Star Wars<\/em> reference.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

These pages are pure time travel. For the price of a pizza, I bought a direct window into the era I\u2019m writing about\u2014unfiltered, unpolished, and wonderfully real.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll keep sharing updates as the story and drawings progress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For $17 I bought a genuine time machine: a 1978 high school yearbook.
\nPerfect reference for the story I\u2019m writing\u2014real 70s hair, clothes, awkward expressions, and gloriously weird homecoming floats, including one based on Logan\u2019s Run and another celebrating Star Wars.
\nPure nostalgia gold. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":47906,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[31,120,26],"tags":[6386,6397,6389,6392,6388,6395,6394,6396,6391,6393,6390,6387],"class_list":["post-47905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blast-from-the-past","category-curious-clutter","category-stuff-joe-likes","tag-1970s-nostalgia","tag-analog-nostalgia","tag-creative-writing-inspiration","tag-ebay-finds","tag-high-school-1978","tag-illustration-reference","tag-logans-run","tag-personal-history","tag-retro-70s","tag-star-wars-1977","tag-time-machine","tag-vintage-yearbook"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Grid-of-kids.jpg?fit=640%2C819&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1ed1x-csF","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3169,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2011\/06\/21\/dawn-of-the-home-video-revolution\/","url_meta":{"origin":47905,"position":0},"title":"Dawn of the Home Video Revolution or I Was a Teenage Gorehound","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"June 21, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Remember when Video Cassette Recorders were new? We got a Sears-branded, top loading, VHS machine around 1983 well after this 1978 ad appeared so I seriously doubt my Dad paid anywhere near $700 bucks for one. I remember the year he brought it home because I used it and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blast from the Past"","block_context":{"text":"Blast from the Past","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/blast-from-the-past\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/TBmurders.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8298,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2012\/06\/06\/tense\/","url_meta":{"origin":47905,"position":1},"title":"Past Tense?","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"June 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Sorry, Parker Stevenson! The joke was too obvious to pass up! This was another poster from the FULL COLOR POSTER SPECTACULAR. This appeared in Marvel Comics' Godzilla: King of the Monsters No.18 published in 1978. At that time, Parker Stevenson and Shaun Cassidy were pretty popular with the teeny-bopper\/Tiger Beat\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "What I Miss About Comics"","block_context":{"text":"What I Miss About Comics","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/what-i-miss-about-comics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/COMICS-HEAD.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/COMICS-HEAD.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/COMICS-HEAD.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10337,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2012\/11\/02\/making-the-pinball-machine-costume\/","url_meta":{"origin":47905,"position":2},"title":"Making the Pinball Machine Costume","author":"Tina Garceau","date":"November 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"It has become our tradition of sorts to make costumes that light up and have a coin-operated or vending machine theme. In years past, we have made a a candy machine, a jukebox and a fortune teller. This Halloween was no exception. This year we stayed in the arcade, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Halloween"","block_context":{"text":"Halloween","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/halloween\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/pinball-screenshot.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/pinball-screenshot.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/pinball-screenshot.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/pinball-screenshot.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":45662,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2025\/08\/28\/terrible-movie-great-soundtrack-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":47905,"position":3},"title":"Terrible Movie – Great Soundtrack","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"August 28, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I am once again returning to the well of awful movies that had great soundtracks. This time it's Brian DePalma's The Fury which was released in 1978 and is based on a novel by John Farris who also contributed the movie's screenplay. That may be the problem with the movie\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blast from the Past"","block_context":{"text":"Blast from the Past","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/blast-from-the-past\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/The-Fury-soundtrack-album.jpg?fit=800%2C699&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/The-Fury-soundtrack-album.jpg?fit=800%2C699&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/The-Fury-soundtrack-album.jpg?fit=800%2C699&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/The-Fury-soundtrack-album.jpg?fit=800%2C699&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4925,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2011\/10\/31\/halloween-2011\/","url_meta":{"origin":47905,"position":4},"title":"Halloween 2011","author":"Tina Garceau","date":"October 31, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"In past few years, Joe and I have cooked up increasingly complex costumes for our son Lloyd. It started with the robot costume which had lights which everyone loves. We took what we learned constructing the robot and went with a vending machine theme. There was a candy machine that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Crafts"","block_context":{"text":"Crafts","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/crafts-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/head-shot-fortune-teller.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/head-shot-fortune-teller.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/head-shot-fortune-teller.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":38143,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2022\/07\/06\/marvel-treasury-editions\/","url_meta":{"origin":47905,"position":5},"title":"Marvel Treasury Editions","author":"Joe","date":"July 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"80 glorious over-sized pages of Hulk stories by some of the greatest members of Marvel Comics' legendary bullpen of writers and illustrators. The treasury editions were printed on newsprint like the regular comic books, and they were usually sold at drug stores and supermarkets. This one was published in 1978.","rel":"","context":"In "Curious Clutter"","block_context":{"text":"Curious Clutter","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/curious-clutter\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/COMICS-HEAD.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/COMICS-HEAD.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/COMICS-HEAD.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47905"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47914,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47905\/revisions\/47914"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}