CW wrote:

The strap had nothing to do with radio reception. It was to ground out
static electricity before it zapped you in the butt when you got in.

In those days the seat upholstery was known for producing static
electricity when a passenger slid in/out of the car. This was the
purpose of the rubber grounding strap, which actually had some metal in
it. This is also why you shouldn't get back in a car while you're at a
gas station with the fill hose in the tank pipe. When you get out again
and touch the pump nozzle, static electriciy on your body (from the car
seat) can ignite the gasoline vapors.

mary wrote:

This is not a short-wave question, but I thought people here would know
the
answer. When I was a kid in the fifties, it seemed as if people who had
radios in their cars had this rubber thing hanging from the bottom of
the
car. When I asked my parents what it was for they said it helped provide
better radio reception. Somehow I remember every car having one, but
then
maybe not. Anyone remember what it was all about. Our car did not have
one
because my father would never get a car with a radio.

Thanks

Tom


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