Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Little books like this were very helpful when dealing with cars in the early part of the 20th century.

Books like this were so important to many a car owner. In the old days of the early part of the 20th century you did not have car garages everywhere. In fact there were not too many places to get gasoline. So you always had to take care of matters. Flat tires were a common problem and they took place often. You would sometimes need two or 3 spare tires if you were taking a trip.

 It was fortunate that the cars were very simple. Usually you would be the mechanic and you would try to keep your old gas buggy running. So this is a 1915 edition of this booklet and it was to many back them worth its weight in gold.  Today we scarcely give a thought to our cars when taking a trip or just going for a drive. If there is problem, you get it fixed. But in 1915, you would have to be creative, see the local blacksmith, the hardware store and maybe another fellow down the street who also had one of these gas wagons as people called them then. Probably they would pour over a book like this and try to figure out what was the matter. Or maybe make a part with some metal fashioned by the local blacksmith.

 If you owned a car for a few years back then there would have been many self repairs evident. You did not need to drive fast, so even some unique tire repairs worked. Remember the speed limit in those days would have been around 20 MPH if you could even do that on the dirt roads. So let your imagination go while some time and think of what it was like driving a 100 years ago where a breakdown was a common very common event.  Then, go to your car of today and give it a hug.