Vintage shots from days gone by!

You guys talking about the studded snows (which were GREAT but hard on asphalt & concrete road surfaces!) reminds me of the HAMB thread about auto-related inventions, fads, etc., that didn't stay around. Specifically, my Dad told me way back when I was a kid about a special-purpose tire (made, I think by Cooper in the early '50s). Coils of wire were molded in, right near the surface of the tread. After just a little driving wear, the little coils would begin to make contact with the pavement, providing extra traction bite in rain, snow, and especially ICE. He didn't have one to show me, so I'm going on a verbal description only. Very apparently, these didn't remain on the market for long. Anybody ever hear or SEE these?

Another ice/snow invention I've never seen with my own eyes were so-called "wheel sanders." You'd fill two sand reservoirs located in the trunk above each rear drive wheel. Apparently, the driver could release sand on demand (cable-operated, maybe?) when on a treacherous stretch of road. Sounds like a pain in the ass to mess with and, maybe, not all that effective, but they faded away, too. Anybody hear of -- OR SEE -- one of these???

 

Jimi, back in the '50s and '60s big rig tractors used wheel sanders. They were verticle tank type deals mounted in front of the drive tandem wheels. A pipe extended from the tank to each front tire on the tandem, giving traction to start moving on icy surfaces. Maybe someone can supply a picture. They were very common back then.

 

Common on railway and street car equipment, I had never heard of sanders being used on cars and I agree they probably would be a PIA. I think the sand railroads used use was heat dried so it contained little to no moisture.

Learn something on the HAMB each day, thanks Jimi.

Question - The is OP still active with this thread(have not seen the name in a long time). It has to one of the best on the internet never mind just the HAMB. Incredible pictures and stories.

 

I used studded tires when I drove a Taxi in Portland, they worked great on ice. Don't need them on snow.
As for sanders, that system was (is) standard equipment on locomotives.

 

Bonnie Lynn Fields (1944-2012)

 

In OR the sanders were standard on the school busses, later they used a small rotateing shaft with chains that could be lowered to the ground which would go under the tires and give the effect of chains.

The old brain just kicked in I remember JCW selling the sander for cars, would have a bag in the trunck and tubes down under the wheels

 

Margaret Livingston

 

Topsy and Eva 1927





Brawl atop a telephone pole, LUCKY STAR (Frank Borzage, 1929)

 

Dorothy Sebastian

Madge Bellamy

 

Cary Grant, Sally Eilers, Hal Roach & Elizabeth Jenns English

Sally Eilers & Lee Patrick in CONDEMNED WOMEN (Lew Landers, 1938)

1928 - Actresses at Mary Pickford’s Tea Party

Back row, Alice Day, June Collyer, Dorothy Gulliver, Gwen Lee, Molly O’Day, and Sally Eilers. Front row, Sue Carol, Lina Basquette, Mary Pickford, Lupe Velez, Flora Bramley, and Ann Christy.

 

Marlene Dietrich, 1930

 

Sorry guys for continuing to flog this horse, but my dad tells me stories of doing burnouts in his 396 Beaumont (Canuck Chevelle) in the spring before the studded snows came off, shooting sparks down the street!

 

Rochester NY Seneca Motors

 

http://mccainautomotive.com/VintagePictures.htm

Cool link...

 

Alrighty, computer problems prevented me from getting back sooner
and eating my words about Gardner using Continentals. They were
LYCOMING, all the way from 1920 through 1932 (when they built a
few hearses, then folded for good).



Before the fall. Elegant '29 Gardner roadster, powered by Lycoming. The high-end
Gardners are NOT extinct but quite scarce.



1930 Gardner front-wheel-drive sedan prototype. I'll have to find a front quarter view
showing the novel (for '30) grille treatment.

 

Well, THAT sure brings the picture into better focus. THANKS. At the time, my Dad worked at a township garage and some of the hardest, longest duty they did was in the winter.

Yup, and he just posted some new vintage material a couple weeks back.

 

I met Jeannie C. last year at Ernest Tubbs Music store in Nashville. That's either a "G" chord, or "this is what I thinking"

 

I had wheel sanders on my Tractor (horse) they looked like jerry cans. Had to put real fine sand in them or the motors jam up. never had to use them for wheel traction but one time loading an excavator it started to snow , had to use the sand on the low bed to load it as it kept sliding off the ramps.