Old Cars

My limited recollection of early automobiles dates to about the 1929-30 period when my mother’s brother bought a car (Model A?).  The one fact that stands out in my memory is the location of the gas tank, which was located just before the windshield and was fixed across the width of the car above the dash panel.  The fuel gauge was located in the dash panel and consisted of a glass container with a float that indicated the amount of fuel in the tank.  When the car was in motion, 

the float bounced around within the glass container showing the status of the fuel supply.  Hindsight has me wondering what happened to the gas in the event of an accident!  But then, the speed of cars wasn’t what it is today.  Also, bumpers on those cars were real and more structurally sound than the sheet metal fakes that exist today.  On the older cars, the steering wheel post had two levers that disappeared many years ago with the improved engine designs.  The first controlled the richness of the fuel-air mixture to the engine, providing a gasoline/air mixture from rich to lean to the engine.  The other varied the number of degrees that the spark plug fired before TDC (top dead center).  When a car was started, the fuel-air mixture was set at “Rich” and the spark was set close to TDC.  While the operator sat behind the steering wheel, a second person used a hand crank to “turn the engine over” from in front of the car.  When the engine “caught,” the operator gradually shifted the fuel-air mixture lever from “rich” to as close to lean as he could and still keep the engine running without overheating.  This step was taken to conserve fuel.  Concurrently, the operator would “advance” the spark by moving the spark lever to increase the number of degrees the engine would fire before TDC.  This step was taken to increase power.  The movement in combination of the two levers permitted the operator to adjust the operation of his engine, and increase power while reducing fuel consumption.  Ever lurking in the background was the possibility of the engine overheating if the mixture was too lean or the spark was firing too soon.  

During the early days of the automobile there were few paved roads, most roads were dirt with the loose soil scrapped off or dirt covered with gravel.  Paved roads were found in the cities or urban areas.  Tires for cars were as underdeveloped as the cars themselves, consisting of a tire mounted on a rim as with cars today, but instead of being tubeless each tire was inflated with a rubber tube.  The combination of poor roads and easily punctured tube tires made taking a trip adventurous.  To improve the chances of the driver ever returning home without a flat, car manufacturers designed their cars with multiple spare tires which were mounted on the sides of the cars or on the rear behind the trunk.  The more spares the more likely you would be able to complete a trip without having to repair a punctured tube.  It wasn't unusual to see cars mounted with 3-4 spare tires.  If the driver was fortunate to have a spare available, he would simply replace the punctured tire with the spare and be on his way.  However, should the poor soul find himself with a flat and no spare, he would be forced to remove the tire from the car, remove the tube from the tire and locate the puncture (while hoping it was a puncture and not a tear).  The knowledgeable driver always carried a tire repair kit which was available in two basic types.  One kit provided for a cold repair while the other allowed for a hot repair.  To make a cold repair, the driver would remove the air remaining in the tube. abrade the area around the puncture with a tool supplied in the kit, cut a patch from a small sheet of rubberized material large enough to cover the area around the puncture and spread enough rubber cement

over the abraded area to seal the patch to the tube.  The repair would be clamped while it dried.  If the repair held, the tube was inserted in the tire with the tube valve facing the outside of the tire.  A hand air pump would be used to inflate the tire to the proper pressure measured with a cylindrical gauge.  The hot repair kit provided the driver with a small disc filled with a combustible material which was clamped to the patch and set ablaze vulcanizing the patch to the tube.  With the wheel replaced, the driver (who by this time was filthy dirty) cleaned himself as best he could and continued his journey. Some drivers included a wash-up kit in the trunk.   


Gas stations in rural areas were few and far between and the knowledgeable driver strapped a container of gasoline to the trunk, usually inside of one of the spare tires.

How, you might ask, can a youngster of seven be so knowledgeable?  Well, hindsight is wonderful.  The information about the gas tank and gauge is a recollection, as is the matter of hand cranking the engine.  Seated in the passenger seat, the tank and gauge were at my eye level and I spent most of my time watching the gauge.  I wasn’t tall enough to see out the window and could see little else.  The matter of cranking was seen often enough to have made an impression. Engine starters came later.  As to the details of the engine operations, they were learned years later during discussions with adults on my observations, and while attending schools

December 2014
LFC