I Remember Those...

The 1940's and 1950"s were clearly the golden age of owning an automobile. This was before computers and cell phones so most all of the advertising was visual and "hands on." In order to stand out from the crowd the manufacturer had to use bright colors and graphics to catch the eye of the consumer.

Radios in the early automobiles did not always have the best reception especially in the rural areas, where radio stations were few and far between. This device was supposed to help solve your poor radio reception problem...if the wind did not wiggle it loose and it blew off going down the highway which happened more than once.

This was also the era when cars did not have a ton of accessory options from the factory, so that left the field wide open and literally hundreds of small companies survived and prospered making all kinds of unique automotive related accessories. Ideas for car accessories were limited only by imagination and the public who decided which products became popular for their function or their "cool" factor.

This is a "Passing Mirror" which attached to the drip rail of the driver's door and allowed you to see around the car in front of you to determine when it was safe to pass without having to weave over the center line.

When I started buying out dealerships and auto parts stores in the  early 1970's I only wanted the parts related to the 1948 thru 1955 Chevrolet cars and trucks. There were lots of car accessories available from those same vehicles that were by then obsolete. I would find whole displays of obsolete accessories in the basements of old dealerships and auto parts stores. The displays and the NOS accessory parts were twenty plus years old by then and had no value to the store or the public.

Many people smoked in the old days so there were dozens of accessories for smoking in your car or truck. This is one of the more unique smoking accessories. It held a pack of Lucky Strike or Camels (remember no filters) and when you flipped down the little tray in front... a single cigarette rolled out and the element on the left lit the cigarette for you... so it was ready to smoke. It was advertised as a safer way to smoke in your car or truck. This smoking accessory attached to the steering column of the car or truck and plugged into the cigarette lighter.

I got hooked on those aftermarket accessories and started buying them up. You can imagine what my collection looks like today after 25 plus years of collecting.

I first used old JC Whitney catalogs to help identify some of the more unique accessories,  then I started to collect the old auto accessory and wholesale auto supply catalogs to further help identify the pieces in my collection. Now I have a good sized collection of the old accessory catalogs. Many of the accessories were also sold as private label accessories thru such stores as Firestone, Gambles, and Western Auto.

Now some 25 years later I have a unique collection of automotive accessories from the golden age of automobile. I will share a few pictures with you here. These serve as a reminder of how simple and carefree things were in the old days. As more and more accessories became standard on new cars the sales of aftermarket accessories gradually declined and many companies went out of business or began manufacturing something completely different.

Some things they sold back in the day were a little questionable such as this Ring and Valve job while you drive which was pretty expensive, even for the late 1950's. Inside the package was a series of lead pellets that you were supposed to drop into your gas tank and somehow they would dissolve and fill the tiny holes in the cylinder walls and the valve seats to restore compression and engine horsepower. I have quite a few examples of these types of products in my collection, this is one of the more questionable ones.

Auto parts stores had some unique collectibles from the manufacturers. This was a desk lamp from Fram Filters given to the store owner for his desk. With the lamp shade on... these lamps did not put out much light so most of them you find are missing the lamp shade, it got tossed in the trash.

This was a Fram Filter ash tray that was designed to set on the parts counter( remember a lot of people smoked in those days). These had a pretty rough life as they got knocked on the floor quite often and then were picked up with greasy hands. That little flip tab in the middle was the first to go by a well meaning customer who just happen to have a pair of pliers in his pocket. It made flipping the ashes into the can easier.

In case you are too young to remember here is what the typical Fram oil filter looked like back in the day. You can easily see the resemblance between the actual filters and the Fram advertising pieces.

Hard to imagine today but prior to the mid 1950's automotive engines did not come with oil filters from the manufacturers. They quickly became a popular add on accessory for obvious reasons. Here is one for a 216 Chevrolet engine that bolted to the intake manifold. The oil filter shown above on the right was used in this filter.

This was by far the most popular Fram Counter advertising example. All that you had to do was pick up this Fram advertising display and tip it 45 degrees and the lighter in the center would glow cherry red. It was big enough to light both cigars and cigarettes. You often find these with all of the writing worn off the sides but the lighter still working. I talked to a retired Fram rep who said these lighters were the most difficult to keep in stock. These were also known to burn little fingers if the mechanics helper wasn't watched closely.

It is amazing all of the things that we grew up with and never paid much attention too. Today's plastic advertising is not near as visual and not made to last. When you find something from the old days... (and if you are like me) it jogs a memory of our youth and the auto parts stores and car dealerships we grew up with. While those places are long gone... a piece of advertising like those shown here can be a welcome reminder of how things used to be. Now...if we could only explain that to our grandkids!