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Pop was riding in a 41 Ford to visit his family just before deployment to Europe (they flew there from the US). At a toll booth on the Pennsylvania turnpike the 2 year old hydraulic brakes failed totally. The car hit a Buick in the tool booth. After some debate the owner of the Buick finally let him know he was really ticked off because he had just used all of his accumulated ration coupons to fill his tank, which was now leaking all over the road.
Pop's ten man crew had accumulated ration coupons all the time they were in training and had enough to buy a couple hundred gallons of fuel. They gave the Buick driver the ration coupons and he left, couldn't care less about the smashed rear end, just the gas he had lost.
A lot of people learned to maximise their fuel mileage during the war. Consider what you would do today if you had 4 gallons a week to get everywhere you needed to go.
I know they got 43 MPG in a 55 Chrysler 300 Hemi accelerating to 45 MPH and coasting practically down to 0 speed, rinse and repeat.
They had 4 flats from Dayton Ohio to the toll booth on the turnpike. Replaced them with front tires for a tractor!
regards
Mech
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