"mary" wrote in message
...
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



Did the rubber thing extend from the car's chassis to the street? If so, it
may have been some sort of anti-static strap. The Radio Amateur's Handbooks
of that era would mention that the tires could devlop a static charge which
would interfere with radio reception, but recommended an anti-static powder
to be put in the tires.

Frank Dresser

"Frank Dresser" ) writes:
"mary" wrote in message
...
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



Did the rubber thing extend from the car's chassis to the street? If so, it
may have been some sort of anti-static strap. The Radio Amateur's Handbooks
of that era would mention that the tires could devlop a static charge which
would interfere with radio reception, but recommended an anti-static powder
to be put in the tires.

Frank Dresser


I saw something like that just the other day. I didn't notice any
particularly big antenna on the car (ie not likely they were using
AM shortwave). I knew about the scheme, it never occurred to me that
it was in the past tense.

Mine you, maybe it was simply the car falling apart.

Michael

"Warpcore" wrote in message
thlink.net...
I remember the catfish whiskers that were used to help people park, but
not
the thing you mention s. I was very young then LOL.



Yeah. Curb feelers. I was a kid in the 60s, and some people had them. I
don't think they often lasted past the first couple of snowstorms. A
related accessory was the headlight indicator. A plastic rod was somehow
attached to the side of each headlight and would light up with the
headlights. I suppose this would inform the alert driver his headlight had
burned out. That is, if it somehow escaped his attention that he had one
bright spot ahead of the car, where he used to have two. For whatever
reason, I seem to remember curb feelers and headlight indicators as being
florescent pink back then. I never felt inclined to buy either accessory.
Or even find out if they were still available.

Frank Dresser

The straps in question were for the reduction of static. I did some research
on the 'net tonight, but found only one page that specifically mentioned the
straps usage in the reduction of static. Unfortunately the page was written in
PDF, when I used the "view as html" option that occurs for some of the PDF
searches on Google, I was unable to copy the desired passage. (my Adobe viewer
crashes my computer on occasion, and anyway the document can be written that
disallows copying even in adobe).

These straps were quite common in the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania area. Apparently
"African Americans" in this area found them desirable esthetically, (I thought
the straps looked nice as well), as they were more prevalent on their cars
than others. We (in a racist way) used to joke that blacks were afraid of
electricity and that was why they used them. They were quite common indeed.

http://216.239.37.104/search?q=cache...8J:www.mornews.
com/pdfarchive/2002/september/14/9-14-02%2520F9.
pdf+car+parts+static+straps&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Copy and paste the entire link, if it works, do a search for the word "static"
(omit the parenthesis). Deep in the text is a reference to "Static Straps",
"made of abrasion resistant rubber impregnated with carbon black". "It is said
that they last a life time, and cost about $10 apiece at most parts stores".
They were placed on the driver and passengers sides of the car at the rear,
hanging down and scraping the street.

Regards.



In article nk.net,
"Warpcore" wrote:
I remember the catfish whiskers that were used to help people park, but not
the thing you mention s. I was very young then LOL.

Never say never.
Nothing is absolute.

"N8KDV" wrote in message
...
That's exactly what they were for Frank, to bleed the static charge off
the
vehicle. I haven't seen one of those things on a vehicle in a long time,
but I
do remember them. I think that the compounds used to make modern tires may
have
made the things obsolete.

Steve
Holland, MI

Drake R7, R8 and R8B


Here in Korea, they have them on probably 60% or more of POV's and maybe 80%
of the commercial vehicles.. big sellers..

"Frank Dresser" wrote in message
...
A related accessory was the headlight indicator. A plastic rod was somehow
attached to the side of each headlight and would light up with the
headlights. I suppose this would inform the alert driver his headlight
had
burned out. That is, if it somehow escaped his attention that he had one
bright spot ahead of the car, where he used to have two. For whatever
reason, I seem to remember curb feelers and headlight indicators as being
florescent pink back then. I never felt inclined to buy either accessory.
Or even find out if they were still available.

Frank Dresser



Another popular accessory here in the Land of the Not-Quite-Right.. though I
don't think they pay much attention, as a very large number of cars here
have several lights out, and no one seems to care. One interesting thing..
the Korean govt. just passed a new 'clean air' law, but what's funny is, it
doesn't apply to Koreans, only to foreigners. Now all foreigner's cars will
have to pass a clean air test before they can be licensed, but locals can
still drive their smoker-chokers with impugnity..

-=jd=- wrote:

On 13 Aug 2003, "mary" wrote in
:

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

I'm thinking it was more than just rubber (if inspected
closer) and was used as a ground strap? or a pre-cursor to
"curb-Feelers"?

I believe those rubber straps were impregnated with a conductive
material. They were mainly intended to discharge static electricity
caused by a passenger getting in or out of the car and rubbing their
bottom across the seat cover material.


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Something to do with the grounding I suppose... Cannot tell
if it worked or not. One can still see them in cars from Russia.

Matti Ponkamo, Naantali, Finland

"mary" kirjoitti
...
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

Brenda Ann wrote in message
...

"Frank Dresser" wrote in message
...
A related accessory was the headlight indicator. A plastic rod was
somehow
attached to the side of each headlight and would light up with the
headlights. I suppose this would inform the alert driver his headlight
had
burned out. That is, if it somehow escaped his attention that he had
one
bright spot ahead of the car, where he used to have two. For whatever
reason, I seem to remember curb feelers and headlight indicators as
being
florescent pink back then. I never felt inclined to buy either
accessory.
Or even find out if they were still available.

Frank Dresser



Another popular accessory here in the Land of the Not-Quite-Right.. though
I
don't think they pay much attention, as a very large number of cars here
have several lights out, and no one seems to care. One interesting
thing..
the Korean govt. just passed a new 'clean air' law, but what's funny is,
it
doesn't apply to Koreans, only to foreigners. Now all foreigner's cars
will
have to pass a clean air test before they can be licensed, but locals can
still drive their smoker-chokers with impugnity..



Wonder how they wrote that law, or do they just enforce it with disgression?

Dave

"Dave" wrote in message
...

Brenda Ann wrote in message
...

"Frank Dresser" wrote in message
...
A related accessory was the headlight indicator. A plastic rod was
somehow
attached to the side of each headlight and would light up with the
headlights. I suppose this would inform the alert driver his
headlight
had
burned out. That is, if it somehow escaped his attention that he had
one
bright spot ahead of the car, where he used to have two. For whatever
reason, I seem to remember curb feelers and headlight indicators as
being
florescent pink back then. I never felt inclined to buy either
accessory.
Or even find out if they were still available.

Frank Dresser



Another popular accessory here in the Land of the Not-Quite-Right..
though
I
don't think they pay much attention, as a very large number of cars here
have several lights out, and no one seems to care. One interesting
thing..
the Korean govt. just passed a new 'clean air' law, but what's funny is,
it
doesn't apply to Koreans, only to foreigners. Now all foreigner's cars
will
have to pass a clean air test before they can be licensed, but locals
can
still drive their smoker-chokers with impugnity..



Wonder how they wrote that law, or do they just enforce it with
disgression?

Dave

Don't know.. we just got notification of it's existance through our command
sponsor..