[AT] Cold snap

[Indiana Robinson]

Is it spring yet?
It was pretty common to drain radiators in the early days, especially
during the world wars.
My father used to work in a shop in town in the late 1920's and early
1930's. During those years the roads were still full of Model T Fords. He
always said that the old oils just about became solid at zero temps and you
could barely turn the crank. He worked with about 6 other guys, all with
the same problems. He would drain the oil into a bucket at home and sit it
behind the stove to keep it "kind of" warm. In the morning he poured it in
the car, put water in the radiator, covered the front with cardboard and
drove into town to work. At work he drained the oil back into the bucket,
drained the water out and carried the oil into the shop. He said that in
really cold weather there would be a row of a half dozen buckets of oil
lined up behind the shop stove keeping warm. They normally all left work at
the same time and normally all stayed until everybody's car was running.
Sometimes one would need to be pulled to start it or if it was too bad or
the car too stubborn they still had a ride home. When he got home it all
started over again...
I attached a picture of a kerosene engine heater like I used to own (and
probably still have here "somewhere") That was made to sit or hang under
your car in an unheated garage. The tank was supposed to hold enough to run
it overnight. I don't recall who made mine but Bunsen made some of them.
Kind of scary...
A much older friend of my father was stationed in Russia during WW-I and he
told of them using John Deere trucks (solid tires). He said in the winter
they always kept at least one running at all times so they could pull start
the others. They were bivouacked out into the homes of locals and he
thought very highly of the folks he stayed with but said that he was never
warm while there.


.

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