Under pressure — cooking exhausting work!

by Bill Buys

THESE days there’s a KFC, McDonalds, Chicken Treat, Subway or similar franchise just about everywhere.

You usually don’t have to worry about sustenance on any trip in Australia or elsewhere in the Western world, but things weren’t so easy in earlier times.

Unless you were in parts of the US, where, in 1930, you could get a device that mounted on the rear bumper of your car which the makers said ensured a well-cooked meal at the end of your journey.

The the ‘automatic cooker’ had a steam pressure kettle heated by the hot exhaust gases via an extension of the tail pipe.

‘An hour's drive is quite sufficient to thoroughly cook meats and vegetables,’ an ad for the product in a Modern Mechanix magazine claimed.

‘Total weight of the unit is so slight that running qualities of the car remain quite unaffected.

‘Motor tours are much more pleasant when one is assured of a well-prepared meal at the end of the trip.’

Would the meal have leaded petrol seasoning? The ad doesn’t say.

There’s also an engine-block cookbook called Manifold Destiny which details how to go about preparing a feed and then heating it under the bonnet in a container bolted to the car’s exhaust manifold.

There’s a modern version too, in a product called a MuffPot which attaches to the exhaust of ATVs, motor sleds or motorcycles.

‘Every part of the MuffPot is made from high-quality stainless steel that meets all criteria for safe food preparation, storage, and dining,’ the makers say.

‘The MuffPot comes with an adjustable hose clamp and a heating base to make sure of uniform heating. Just set it, ride, and expect a warm, steamy meal at each stop.

‘Roast chicken breasts, toast tortillas, prepare some potato hash with veggies, fry bacon and even caramelise some apples on the go! MuffPot can cook all your favourite food while you and your buddies ride on every trail.

‘Imagine eating a hot and ready meal on top of a snowy mountain, in the middle of the woods or on top of sand dunes after hours of riding. You and your riding buddies can enjoy hot food right after each exciting ride.’

Well, what about a shot of rye whiskey, vodka, tequila, whatever with your meal?

In 1957 the exclusive 400 GM topline Cadillac Eldorado Brougham sedans could be ordered with a set of six metal shot glasses, which had magnets on the bottom so you could serve shots on the go without fear of spillage.

Drinking and driving was apparently OK in the US in the 1950s.

Want a smoke?

Smoking is not popular now that we know cigarettes can kill you, but virtually every car made had a built-in cigarette lighter.

That however, it meant taking your eyes off the road to get the ciggy out of the packet and carefully apply the red-hot lighter to it.

Much safer were products like Pres-A-Lite and Ronson, which offered an accessory that would hold a pack of smokes and then dispense a lit cigarette to you on demand.

And how about a coffee?

McDonalds didn’t have a drive-through service until 1975, but well before then VW Beetle owners could buy a Hertella Auto-Kaffeemaschine.

It was a pretty sophisticated device that could operate on 6 or 12V, had a heating matrix for the water, and brewed and filtered coffee.

It also came with porcelain coffee mugs with a magnetic base.

After your coffee you might realise you’d forgotten to shave.

No problem. General Motors offered Remington electric razors options on Cadillac, Oldsmobile, and Chevrolet, and better still, in 1969 a joint American Motors and Remington promotion actually gave away 100 AMX cars with a 12/120V auto-home shaver attached.

How to cope with hot weather? Packard was the first with factory-installed aircon - in 1940.

It took another 30 years before most new vehicles offered the system that for several decades, has been taken for granted.

In between, a company called Thermador was there to help. Its Car Cooler sort of did the job, using evaporation of some four litres of water in a pod-like tank strapped to the outside of one of your car’s windows.

Cool air was then blown into the cabin as you drove along. While not perfect or adjustable in any way, it was better than nothing. Also, it only lasted about 200km before it needed a refill.

And what about Fido?

Dogs, and in some US states, goats, have been riding in cars for as long as there have been cars. But their hair and sometimes their smell, could be a problem.

It wasn’t long before a few entrepreneurs came up with answers: one was a dog crate which was mounted outside, on the running board of your car.

The crates had solid sides for front and rear for protection from debris and some were so big that the car doors could not be opened on that side.

That hassle was solved by the goat or dog sack, which was a canvas bag with a hole for the animal’s head and it had a couple of stout metal hooks which attached to the car’s window sill while Fido (or Billy) stood on the running board.

An ad for the device appeared in a 1936 issue of Popular Mechanics, claiming your pet “can ride safely and comfortably in this sack.”

However, if you insisted on having your dogs and goats in the car, there was an easy way to get rid of the hair: a vacuum cleaner that ran on the power of the car’s engine.

You clip an aluminium attachment to the car’s exhaust pipe, allow the engine to idle and the hair and dust is sucked out – and ‘expelled in to the air behind the car.’

As for babies, there were some early and frankly, scary, versions of child safety seats. Far more comfortable (and dangerous) were several versions of baby hammocks.

They were designed to fasten in the rear of your car, so your baby could be lulled to sleep on a smooth road, or be given an exciting jolting experience on poor surfaces – or . . . the mind boggles.

Yet the ads of the day included the Lull-a-Baby Hammock ‘the safest, most comfortable car bed ever made’ and it could be fitted to any hardtop car within a minute, while the 1960 Corvair had a package tray, a recessed spot by the rear window where it was ‘a safe, comfortable way to carry your baby.’

It was the warmest place in the rear-engined Corvair and the vibrations from the engine would lull the baby to sleep.