My grandfather on my father's side was contracted to deliver bulk mail from town to town in New Mexico in the 30's. Close to 300 miles a day 6 days a week. Los Alamos and Alamogordo were on that route.
When WWII hit, his job was deemed critical and he was discouraged from joining the military.
At that time his ole flatbed also had about half a million miles on it and there were no parts available. No tires, no engine parts, he got special ration cards for gas but that was it.
My father told me stories of how the old man made new bearings out of pieces of leather belt. He cut them to size, hammered them to the right thickness, and soaked them in oil and grease.
He'd get anywhere from 3 to 6 days out of a set of leather bearings and had to work under that truck almost every night.
He bought up all the used tires within driving distance because almost no one else could use them, no gas.
When the tires ran out he actually used rubber soles from shoes on his tires to replace the tread. Grandma sewed together long strips and he's figure out how to fasten them to the tire carcasses.
Top speed was prolly 25 mph but that was better than zero. he made that 300 mile trip more than once on rims because that's all he had left.
Almost every week he had to walk a while alongside the road, picking up scraps of wire of nails, or whatever he could find to mickey-mouse something back together on the truck to finish his route.
By the time the war was over he had right at a million miles on that ole truck and when he could actually buy a new one it was one of the happiest days in his life.
Until I get to that point, until I gotta scrounge junk off the side of the road to be able to get home day after day, I ain't got it so bad.
Near as I can tell, his truck looked kinda like the ones below. Can you imagine keeping one of those running 300 miles a day for a million miles with no parts?
