Ever Hear of This?

[Old Mike]

My wife was looking at a webpage with old cars and old car accessories and told me there was an old Chevrolet on it with “the liquid tire chain option”. I looked it up and apparently there was a one year only option on ‘69 Chevrolets, that mounted two aerosol cans in the trunk, one over each rear wheel well, that was controlled by a button on the dash. It would dispense a “space age polymer” (which was also toxic) over the rear wheels to “provide instant traction” in icy, snowy driving conditions. But the photos suggest other companies, including Mother Mopar, marketed it, just not controlled from the dashboard. The effectiveness of this stuff was questionable at best, which is most likely the reason a very small number of cars were optioned with it and it quickly disappeared from the option list.

 

[Pete Kaczmarski]

I believe this was from 1969 era as some cars had a traction enhancing option. I suspect it resembled this product.

 

[rkrochen]

Remember the product but wasn’t aware it was mounted in the car. It was also advertised as a hand held spray.

 

[Newport 66]

I recall a devise that was attached to the rear wheel wells and could dispense the "goo" to aid traction. Think it was sold by JC Whitney perhaps? I don't remember seeing the spray adhesive though!!

 

[Welder guy]

GM Tried To Conquer Winter Driving With Space-Age Liquid Tire Chain

 

[Davea Lux]

Would have to think that stuff would make a hell of a mess on the lower quarter radius.

Dave

 

[crv]

At least they were thinking outside the square.

 

[CBODY67]

A friend was working at a Chevy dealership in Irving, TX in about '71 or so. They'd bought a case of the AC Tire Chain stuff in '69 and still had most of the case. It got icy that winter, suddenly catching drivers off-guard in the middle of the day. He and another guy took some of those cans out to the drivers on the icy access road in front of the dealership. They'd spray it on the rear tires, tell the drivers to slowly spin the wheel to distribute the liquid, let it sit for a minute or so, then they could drive off. MANY happy people. I don't recall if they charged them for that service or not. Used up that case and got it out of the way! Everybody was happy.

CBODY67

 

[3C's & a D?]

Compressed high percentage isopropyl alcohol?

 

[commando1]

Weird.
I worked a Chevy dealer in 1969.
I lived in New England.

I never heard of the stuff.

 

[CBODY67]

It was one of those niche, flash-in-the-pan deals from back then, like "touch-up paint paste" (which we still had some of, packed away, from the earlier '70s. A neat idea, but like many Chrysler deals back then, not well-understood by the dealers or the general public (as to why they were better), but still a pretty good idea.

Of course, if there were cars sitting on the lots with that Camaro option, there'd better be replacement cannisters of "the stuff" in the dealership parts department, too, for best results and customer satisfaction.

In the '60s, there was a Greyhound bus driver that'd come into the neighborhood store to get a gallon of cheap bleach. He said he'd pour some on the rear tires of his buss and then it would move in icy weather. Just needed enough to get it moving, he said.

Enjoy!
CBODY67