just wondering how many use desert water bags on Hamb? bought this old Minnequa water bag with the California state outline just liked the look, on the back it says $1.70 i'm thinking it's old any thought on that
I'd use one if I had one. I don't see anything OT about them unless you live where it never gets above 50 and you never leave your neighborhood.
it's a cool 6 above now was thinking if i got the 53 Stude coupe going use it at Bonneville Speed week
One of my uncles had one back in the 50's when I was a kid. He was in the Navy, stationed at San Diego for a long time, and they'd have the bag tied to the front bumper of the DeSoto whenever they made the trip across the country to visit family. I'd always thought his was goatskin, but maybe it was flax like the one in the pic.
Indeed, I actually had one strapped the the bars on my hawg one year when I was making the run from Barstow to Vegas. It sweat and sprinkled me with water as I was breezin' down the road. The wife and I were talking about desert bags awhile back. Both of our dad's run them when we were kids. Come in handy in the Mojave about 49 miles east of pig snarf. I recall drinking out of one once but I don't remember why, guess I was thirsty.
Hi Everyone... Here is one displayed at the California Route 66 Museum in Victorville. I remember some folks had them on their cars yet, back in the early 1960s, passing through on US36 in Northern Kansas... HAPPY NEW YEAR!...duane
Remember them well. When we were kids and went to eastern Washington dad always had one tied to the front of the car. Both Stevens pass and Snoqualmie Pass had 50 gallon drums of water every few miles to replenish the water supply back in the 50's. That old 39 Packard used up some of that water. Wish I had that car today
I remember my dad having one on the '51 Buick when we crossed Death Valley going to Cali in the mid-50's. Thanks for bringing back the memories..............................
We have one. Bought it at a estate auction many years ago. We have never used it for anything Other than a wall hanging. I believe it is unused never been filled with water. OldWolf
We used to use them quite often when training in the desert, just hung them on mirror brackets. They worked well, but the water always had a funky taste to it.
I picked this one up from Gene McKinney a long time ago at a swap meet,,been hanging on a closet door knob ever since. HRP
It was a way to identify "Turistas" back in the day. Lots of folks from out of state would attach them to the hood ornament and partially block the radiator air flow.
we used to use them when baleing hay when i was about 10 years old, have not seen any for a long time
There's been one hanging in my van for about a year. I am looking for a clean, usable one, might have to go with a new one.
Antique car clubs sometimes give them in goodie bags for tours, but they'd be new. Might find one on Ebay.
I've been keeping an eye out for an inexpensive one like yours because of where it's made. Pueblo Tent and Awning is less than a mile from my house. I've been tempted to stop by there one day and ask if they still have the old patterns for the ones they made.
If they weren't regularly cleaned and boiled, they would develop mold in them that made the water taste terrible and was probably toxic. Dad used them up till the middle 60s to supply water for the labor crews. Part of my job was to clean them.
I have one hanging in my shops office, we used it when we came across the desert in 1964 on the front of a 57 merc turnpike cruiser. It kept the car running cooler and was an emergency water supply if you needed it. I get a chance I'll snap a pic of it .........just some cool old shit to have always brings back memories when I remember where it all had come from.
Boy I remember the taste of the water from one of those. My parents always had one hanging on the car, came in very handy when the Ramble American blew a head gasket somewhere in the desert coming back to Fresno from a trip to Colorado in '58, my dad had to make a gasket from a cereal box. Jury rigged, but we got home.
I grew up in NM, leaving Albuquerque there were sign warning tourist Desert Ahead, get your water bags here on Rt 66, dad often hung one on the mirror, dont remember drinking out of it, got one hanging in my garage now...
those are neat.. one of those things I proboally wouldn't ever know about if I wasn't on here.. I want one.
Yes, I still have one on my old '37 chevy roadster. It went with me to Birdsville last year and it was great. Birdsville is about the most remote outback place in Australia, look it up. The chev done about 2000 miles on the roughest dirt roads that I have ever seen with corrogations 14 inces apart and 5 inches deep! The car drank $650 in gasoline,9 pints of oil,1 tube of grease and I drank 2 cartons of beer. What a memorable trip. Nothing went wrong with the old girl at all. As for the water bag, I could have sold it a hundred or so times as it blew every body away as society seem to have forgotten all about them.
I remember those - everybody seemed to have them on their car when I did a cross-country trip in 1964. Driving a Corvair at the time - didn't need a water bag....
That's the way I remember it also, in the late 50's early 60's. In the summer most cars on Rt 66 west of Albuquerque would have bags. Also, there were places in NM where tourists could rent swamp coolers, and return them on your way back. I remember many, if not most cars had those too. The bags and coolers worked very well on that stretch of road.
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