Winter Driving in the Good Old Days

[hop2it]

Mark,I noticed the hood up from the cowl,it reminds me of a story my dad told about when he drove truck for gannet newspapers, he would prop the hood up at the cowl so the heat would keep the windshield clear.Grand Rapids is a great city my brother lived there and was a prof. At Calvin College,your weather usually arrived I Rochester Ny. A day or two later right now it's under 20 and windy.I hope you are able to avoid the salt,enjoy the cruising whenever possible.
Doug from cold but right now sunny Fairport NY

[jerry of whidbey]

I have used hand signals and the other driver waved back at me

[Rex_A_Lott]

Originally Posted by Terry, NJ

My A coupe has a sign with 5" letters saying "Hand Signals Only" because I've almost been creamed turning left into my driveway by someone behind me,trying to pass me, DESPITE MY HAND SIGNAL! They're so far out of use that older people have forgotten them and younger people never knew them. The sign gives them a heads up.
Terry

Most people now days would be looking for the bird if they saw that sign.
Still, you tried.

[rusted]

Hand signals= horn broken, watch for finger!

[SeaSlugs]

question regarding driving in the winter in model A days - Since a garage was relatively a luxury item and a heated garage was unheard of many model A's spent their life in the driveway or on a street. Since antifreeze wasn't used in cars yet what did you have to do in the winter with the radiator water? Get home and drain the radiator and have to refill it before you went to work in the AM? What did you do while you were at work???

[Joe K]

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question regarding driving in the winter in model A days - Since a garage was relatively a luxury item and a heated garage was unheard of many model A's spent their life in the driveway or on a street. Since antifreeze wasn't used in cars yet what did you have to do in the winter with the radiator water? Get home and drain the radiator and have to refill it before you went to work in the AM? What did you do while you were at work???

As I understand anti-freeze from my high school chemistry teacher - Methanol was the AF of choice back in the day of the Model T. Think of today's windshield washer fluid. The big downside of Methanol is that temperature causes the methanol to evaporate from solution - and it only works to temperatures above zero. (and why windshield washer fluid can freeze to your windshield when it is bitterly cold.)

Starting about 1926 improved formulations based mostly on Ethylene glycol were used. EG has the big downside of toxicity. And EG has not really been replaced - only improved since 1926.

Propylene Glycol is the new alcohol on the anti-freeze block. Considered less toxic than EG, it is also more expensive.

So I think the answer is that AF WAS used, but probably not favored. Considering the tendency of the original Model A water pump to leak on occasion, it is likely that many pets were lost after finding a sweet puddle under the front axle of a Model A.

More details at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifreeze

Joe K

[Clem Clement]

When I was little Daddy used to keep jugs of something hidden under the porch in the summer. I was told it was antifreeze for the winter. I dunno what it was.

[ctlikon0712]

Here is a link to "The Model Garage" stories about Gus Wilson, an fictional mechanic starting in 1926 who teaches the reader about their cars. Very enjoyable reads, one is specifically about freezing temps and radiator fluid. I can't remember which month and year, I think it was somewhere between 28-31
Enjoy.
http://www.gus-stories.org/pdf_storehouse.htm

[Brendan]

Originally Posted by Clem Clement

Windows? In the old days, you had windows??

I don't have a top!

[Glenn of northport]

I went to army surplus store and bought bombers long coat used when bomb bay was open it was good and warm for driving in Detroit winter of 46 in my 1930 roadster kept the girls in front seat my friend Frank in rumble seat