It’s the height of the war and material shortage in the U.S. is at its worst.
The Japanese have control of most of the islands in the South Pacific that provide the most rubber to much of the world. The rubber trees they cultivated were the best. And of course, the U.S. was totally cut off for this needed product. Not good in a time of war when the military equipment must have this material to be successful.
Almost all the rubber material the U.S. could get, went to the military overseas. This left the U.S. citizens’ personal vehicles at the bottom of the list for automobile tires! Local service trucks received the most tires (in limited quantities) to keep our country surviving. The U.S. must have trucks for the following:
- To carry wood and fuel oil to keep homes, schools, and businesses warm in the winter.
- To transport food from farms to the citizens.
- To keep telephone lines operating.
(Very important at wartime, and it goes on and on…)
This all left private car owners close to NOT on the list to receive new tires.
What happens when you must re-place a damaged tire to get to work, operate a school bus, or keep an ambulance available? What if no tires can be found?
You planned ahead with a process called, “Booting”!
To even think about having one of your good non-replaceable car tires to be damaged, you must protect it from the road surface by “Booting”.
Here’s how:
Find a used discarded worn tire; the size used on your car. With a hand saw, cut off the inner edge on both sides (what a job that would be). Wrap this cut tire around your good tire and let it take the wear on the road! Drive slow and you can “probably” use your car for most all local errands. No long distance trips. This is what is referred to as American Ingenuity. It sure beat walking if you could get gasoline (It was also rationed).
NOTE:
Wish we had at least one photo of this unusual method of “staying afloat” during this time of great shortages in our country. This way of overcoming the fear of being without transportation to your most important places made the appearance of double layered tires on the family car not a concern.
After all, just 10 years earlier, we were in the middle of the Great Depression! As a country we were then even in a worse situation with no idea if it would ever end. The American people were accustomed to adversity and remembered they “weathered the storm” then, and they would do it again!
Driver sitting beside his inner tube and tire with so many patches. The artist shows him smiling as he thinks of all new mounted tires plus 4 new spares!
