- Last week I was working on my 70 year old car,
and found this,
a spark plug tire pump?
What the heck is that?
Well, it turns out there area ton of vintage car products
just like this.
So, I bought a bunch of them,
and today we're gonna test them.
- [Joe] I really hope this thing doesn't pop, Kanan.
- Oh, oh, oh.
We got pressure.
Oh, completely missed.
Are these vintage products trash or treasure?
Let's find out.
- [Both] Yeah.
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(air whooshes)
- All right, Joe, let's get right into it.
Our first product here is our Schrader Spark Plug Tire Pump.
- Wow, Schrader of Schrader Valve fame, I assume.
- [Nolan] Of Schrader Valve fame.
- What is this?
- So this is a tire pump.
- Oh, oh.
- It, uses a Schrader valve.
- Yeah, for your tire
- Most tires out there.
But what you do is you screw this into your spark plug.
- That's pretty cool
- On your engine.
A Schrader spark plug pump is a practical
portable compressor that provides
an unlimited supply of clean, fresh air.
All right, so I think this might work.
Let's go test it.
- Let's do it.
All right, Nolan.
Now the first thing that I think about
when talking about this cool tool is that
if that plugs into the spark plug hole to fill your tire
it's also gotta be pumping fuel into your tire, right?
- [Nolan] You'd think so.
But there's a little rubber piece in here.
There's these openings,
and during your intake stroke it's sucking air
through these holes right here, these slots.
And then on compression, the rubber fits back up
against the metal itself, sealing it off
and it uses that pressure to push the air in
- [Joe] Fresh air.
- Fresh air,
fresh air from the outside through these slots.
None of the fuel air mixture is going through this hose.
It's just air coming in through here.
- Wow, well, they thought of everything.
- They sure did.
- Let's plug it in and see if it works.
- All right.
- [Joe] The swivel fitting at the tip
over here doesn't feel a whole lot
like it's gonna hold pressure,
but guess we'll see.
- It has an inline pressure gauge as well that you screw in.
It only wanted to do like one or two threads.
I'm also a little suspect of that.
- Let's fire this thing up and find out.
- [Nolan] Cool.
(car engine starting)
- All right.
So I think it's leaking in that fitting.
You can see it jumping like crazy.
- All right.
It's been about two or three minutes
since we plugged the hose on there
and started the engine
and we're not really seeing much of a difference.
The needle and the pressure gauge hasn't moved a lot.
It is just rattling back and forth.
So, maybe we let it run for a few more minutes.
See where we're at.
Oh, oh, oh, we got pressure.
- [Joe] Woo.
- [Nolan] Look at that.
It's pumping up.
- It worked.
So once we got that swivel head in the right position,
- Yeah
- It wasn't leaking a bunch of air,
it filled it right up.
That took less than a minute to get.
- [Joe] Yeah, that was very quick actually.
- [Nolan] It sounds crazy.
That was way faster than I thought.
- All right, Nolan, so lay it on me.
Is this ancient crap or does it take me back?
- I think this is take me back baby.
Our next product Joe,
is the Gale Hall Mile-O-Meter.
This thing claims to measure 31
different engine functions all from one needle on here.
- On one diagnostic gauge, huh?
- [Nolan] That's right.
So you tap it into a vacuum line,
basically on your engine
and based off vacuum pressure.
It tell you all those different things.
The main draw of the product Joe
is the gas mileage readouts.
- I see, so that's why they call it the Mile-O-Meter.
- [Nolan] Yes.
- So you can get your miles per gallon.
- [Nolan] Yes, so- - This is from the days
before you had that on your dash.
- That's right.
You know today's cars,
they have ECUs reading a bunch
of different sensors using complex algorithms
to calculate your miles per gallon.
Where this just use vacuum pressure.
- I think the idea of this is that
you route it to your engine,
but then you pull this up somewhere
you can see from the driver's seat.
So, you know kind of what your gas mileage is
as you're driving
- Joe, how do you think this thing's
gonna compare to today's mileage algorithms?
- You know, I'm interested to find out.
Okay, so it's really like our 33 miles
per gallon really is like zero.
'Cause' you're not on the gas at all,
- Or you're not you're not going anywhere.
You're not getting any miles working.
- [Joe] So you can see when I hit the gas pedal,
everything comes down to tell you that
your miles per gallon are coming down.
- [Nolan] Yeah, yeah
- Which is true,
but that is just it reading vacuum.
You lose vacuum when you hit the gas pedal
when you load the engine.
And that's also when you're using gas.
- Yes
- It's in the ballpark probably.
- [Nolan] So, that's like immediate right now.
So, it says 10.
- [Joe] Yeah
- [Nolan] Right now we're at 15, says 13, we're at 14.
I mean, it's not an exact thing.
- No.
- But I think it gives you an idea.
- Yeah, it definitely gives you an idea
and it at least if nothing else serves
as a constant reminder of your efficiency.
- Yeah.
- From a time when there was no
other way to really know.
- [Nolan] I think this takes me back.
(bright upbeat music)
- Take me back.
Now let me take you back to Donut Media.
- Please.
All right, Justin.
I think this next product is something
you might be interested in.
It's a swamp cooler for your car.
So, swamp coolers like this
have been around since the 1930s.
This one is from the 1950s.
I'm not actually exactly sure how it works
so I think we're gonna have to
take it apart a little bit.
So, let's grab a wrench
open this thing up and see what's going on.
(bright upbeat music)
- [Justin] It is its own.
- [Nolan] There we go.
Okay, all right.
Now we got the basic parts broken down.
Here's how it works.
You know, you got your air inlet here.
Air comes through here as you're speeding down
the interstate and passes through this guy
which you soak in water.
Then the air blowing off of this is evaporating it.
It's nice and cool.
It's nice and humid.
- It's a ice box without ice.
- Yes, so let's put this thing back together
and see if it works.
- [Justin] I do feel air.
Oh wow.
That actually does feel pretty good.
- It does, that's nice, man.
- The funny part about this AC is
in my window and I don't feel it at all.
It blows straight to you, Nolan.
- It feels, it feels nice.
- Let me give you a couple rotations.
- [Nolan] Oh yeah.
- [Justin] There you go.
- We're on 45 miles an hour and I'm feeling nice.
- Smells like a cigarette smoker's basement
in the sixties.
- Ugh.
- All right, Nolan,
let's try out the real AC.
- [Nolan] Oh, that's, that's a lot better.
- That's more, much stronger.
Oh wow.
Yeah, that's already colder.
- Yeah.
- While we're waiting for this ancient thing
to choke us out with its cigarette smoke smell,
we're gonna jump back in the past
again with this old school eating tray.
It's pretty simple.
You just hook it here in the window
which is how I thought this would go.
All right, and while we're have this food tray
and our AC going, we've got a in-car.
What is this?
An oven?
Oh yeah.
It's a mobile oven.
So, we've got our jump pack here.
We're gonna try and cook something
while we're in the van.
- What do we have to cook in here?
- [Kanan] Pick A or B.
- I'm going for B.
(bright upbeat music)
Oh God.
- Is that a fish?
- That's a full fish.
- [Nolan] Oh God, sorry.
- Oh, oh no.
There we go.
Come here.
Come here, fish.
- Oh god.
- [Nolan] This is gonna start a fire.
- We'll see if it actually heats up.
- This would be the worst road trip.
This is already the worst road trip.
- [Kanan] Feel hot?
- No.
- [Kanan] Not at all?
- Oh, oh, yeah.
It's heating up.
Wow, I'm actually starting to smell this.
- [Justin] There you go, Nolan.
- All right, Justin, what do you think?
- Well, you know,
I didn't get any of that fresh cool wet air
that you guys expected from
this thing but what did you think, Nolan?
- [Nolan] I thought the Swamp cooler
worked pretty well.
Much better than expected.
The tray did its tray thing.
- [Justin] Yeah.
- [Nolan] Than that oven,
I'm actually glad it doesn't work,
because otherwise that would've been terrible.
- The heck you got there Nolan.
- This is just my new battery brain deluxe.
- No way.
- Yes.
So, what this thing does,
it claims to plug into your voltage regulator
on your vintage automobile six volt system.
And every time you start up your car this
thing will charge your battery completely back.
- Isn't that the point of the alternator
or generator in the first place?
- Yes, it is, Joe.
That's why I'm confused.
- So, why I do you need it?
Ah-ha.
The reason a battery does not last indefinitely
is that the regulator does not compensate
for the normal aging of a battery.
So, they're just saying like,
if you've got an old battery
and you want it to last longer,
maybe hook this thing up and it will ask
for more voltage outta your voltage regulator.
- And unfortunately,
we don't really have any six volt systems.
We could cut these welds, open this thing up,
and I bet that these wires right here
just powered that bulb right there.
- Let's cut her open.
(machine whirring)
- And okay.
It's a light with a resistor
and that's it.
So, it is what we thought it was.
All right, Joe,
but why would you even need it to begin with?
- Well, older batteries from cars of this
era were much more susceptible to breaking down.
And when a battery starts breaking down
if the voltage isn't increased
it'll just continue to break down further and further.
But still even a little hokey for that, I'd say.
- All right, Justin.
Our next product are
these Richlite Warn-O-Curb fender guards.
The idea is that you attach these
to the fenders of the car on the passenger side.
So, when you go to parallel Park or something
you can feel the curb before you run into it
with your fancy white wall tires.
You wanna keep those clean?
I've got a little test lined up for you, Justin.
So, let's go back to the office and test these things out.
- All right, Nolan.
What test do you have for me?
- All right, well, we're gonna install these on the car
and you're gonna parallel park blindfolded.
Oh, Yeah, dude.
Okay, keep it going.
Keep it going.
All right.
Crank the other way.
All right.
Oh, and our curb fender is completely mess.
Put a fist under the best under there.
These were not designed to be put
on a car of this age and country of origin.
Cars that these were designed for had a much
like different flans on the fender and stuff
and not a bunch of plastic.
So, this is neither trash nor treasure, It's-
- [Justin] Simply a relic of the past.
- A relic of the past.
Well said, Justin.
All right, let's do our next product.
- What's up Nolan?
This car's so big you can just hang out on it.
- Yeah, you can.
You can.
Okay, so our next product is actually a safety product,
a rain safety product.
This is the Anco Tel-Tale wiper arm pressure indicator.
Now the thinking is, back in the day
the wipers were pretty light on these cars
and once cars started getting faster and faster
because of an engine technology at speed on the interstate.
Your wipers would have a tendency
to flap around creating annoyance
but also be pretty unsafe in rainy weather.
So yeah, let's open this thing up.
Nice vintage packaging.
This attached card ,Joe, enrolls us
as an official testing station of this bureau,
the highway visibility bureau.
Dude, these guys were like,
they made up taken serious their own bureau
to sell their product.
- But man, look how cool that thing is.
- Look at this thing.
- [Joe] It's a, it looks an old like
guitar pedal or something.
- Yeah, the thing it is, every inch wiper
you get an ounce of pressure and that's enough
to kind of hold your wiper down at speed.
So, let's go ahead and test.
It's measuring at six ounces of pressure
so half that recommended by Anco and their gage there.
- So, this is kind of a cool idea, I suppose.
I mean, I'm not sure how necessary it is.
- [Nolan] I don't think a product is ancient crap.
- [Joe] Yeah.
- [Nolan] But the grift is ancient crap.
- [Joe] That's right.
- It should stay where it belongs back in the past.
- Yeah.
- All right, Justin, let's jump right into it.
This is a tire re-groover.
This is very popular back in the day.
You'd use it to cut grooves in old tires,
refresh them, maybe keep your old tires lasting longer.
You don't really see this used today because one
it's pretty dangerous to re-groove old tires.
And two, it's probably just cheaper
to buy a cheap tire than pay someone to do the work for you.
You do see it used in the off-roading world.
I've seen people on like monster truck teams,
cutting grooves in their tires.
We have it plugged in right now
and the tip is already very hot.
We have an old tire here.
Justin, how well do you think this is gonna work?
- I feel like in these straight channels we might be good.
- Yeah.
- Will it be usable?
Will we pop it?
That's what I'm worried about.
- Yeah.
- I'm thinking it might just explode in your face,
- Oh, lovely.
Let's get some protective glasses.
- [Justin] Oh, wow.
- [Nolan] Wow, it really does just cut through.
It's super easy.
Just lay that tip in the groove there.
Get to the wear bar, and then.
- Reset.
Try one of these.
- Oh, sure.
Let's get artistic with it.
I cut through.
- [Justin] Oh no. - [Nolan] I messed
up the tread. - [Justin] Nolan.
- Isn't it like,
it's pretty satisfying.
- Yeah, it glides really well.
- This might be my favorite one
that we've tested so far.
- I would have to say so.
- [Nolan] I'm backing up a little bit.
- [Justin] really hope this thing doesn't pop, Kanan.
(loud explosion)
- All right, Justin.
I think we've demonstrated that the tool works
but it does take, it takes a, an artisan's hand.
- [Justin] Yeah, for sure.
- You need to know what
you're doing with this thing.
I would not want my car to have
anything like this on it.
- No.
- [Nolan] All right.
Justin, what do you think?
Is this ancient crap or does it take you back?
- [Justin] Most certainly does not take me back.
It is ancient crap.
- Thank you so much for watching this video.
It's super interesting to check out these old tools.
Subscribe to the channel if you haven't already
for more videos like this one.
Thank you very much.
See you next time.
- Peace.
(bright upbeat music)