By-Gone Winter Motoring

Our ten tips to keep your Hillman, Standard or Wolseley on the road in the days of £sd.

Stock up on anti-freeze from your friendly local garage

As Esso stated in an early 1950s advertisement – "don't let frost wreck your engine".

Fit a fog lamp

Many who drove in the winter of 1964/1965 would have considered £8 19s for a pair of the latest Lucas "Pathfinder" fog lamps a wise investment – especially at a time when some cars had a six-volt electrical system.

Blank the radiator grille

Owners of Citroen 'Flat Twins' will be familiar with applying the plastic cover (with a cutaway for the starting handle bracket) as winter approaches. This writer can also remember seeing Austin A60s and Hillman Super Minx grille decorated with Bacofoil during the 1970s as a cheap alternative to –

Install a radiator blind

A piece of equipment that now seems as dated as skiffle or the BBC Home Service, but it provided invaluable to countless motorists of the past. Preparing your car for cold weather often meant stopping some or all of the airflow through the radiator to assist engine warming. For just sixty shillings, you too could be enjoying winter motoring thanks to the 'Aircon Radiator Blind'.

As late as 1969, a heater remained an extra on several models, so a Delaney-Galley unit possibly represented the wisest £9 5s you ever spent on your car. In addition, you probably needed to -

Invest in a tartan travelling rug

Even if your car were fitted with a heater, its efficiency could not be guaranteed. Effective demisting was often mostly by opening the front quarter lights, so a tartan rug was essential to keep one's knees warm.

Purchase a decent hat

For fashion and for warmth. For the gentleman driver, 23/- was a modest sum for the 'Motorway Cap' – with "No. 11 anti-shock felt".

Ensure your car is well stocked

Many drivers considered snow chains, gum boots, spare clothes, and a Thermos flask essentials for a long winter journey. Walking to the nearest telephone box may be impossible if you were stranded.

Buy a Gno-Mist panel

Even in the late 1970s, a heated rear screen was not always fitted as standard to a cheap new model, and so one solution was the Gno-mist kit. In essence, it was a stick-on panel designed to create a vacuum on the back window. And let us not forget -

The Joys of Winter Driving with a Dynamo

From the memoirs of Les Barker, a retired police officer - Les Barker his stories | Facebook. On Boxing Day 1962, he and his partner were patrolling the M1 in a heavy snow-storm:

Because we had to travel so slow trying to get some grip, very little charge was being put into the battery, and as the headlights started to dim, I had to switch them off. I kept dropping the clutch and revved the engine hard, trying to put a bit of juice in the battery. I dare not stop to do this as the resulting build-up of snow I knew would prevent me moving off again. We then lost radio contact, and finally, the car just came to a halt. The battery was now completely flat.