rust buster

In the forties and fifties there were no products for sale that we knew about to "bust" the rust, corrosion, and like on bolts, nuts and other automotive/truck parts. So my mechanic Father fashioned a liquid made from Coca Cola and motor oil, which worked well, but probably not as well as those commercially available these days.

My Father was no fan of many of the so-called soft drinks, and thus made a point of broadcasting and making possible parallels between this automotive solution and the possible health ramifications for the human organs, the complexions of teenagers, etc. I was taking a physiology course in high school at the time, and decided to weigh in with his parallels and analogies with Mrs. B. and my classmates. Well, it didn't go over very well with the class, but I made a few points with our beloved teacher.

Drinking glasses full of coke with submerged pieces of rust, iron and steel enabled us to observe the disappearance of the little "specimens" into the liquid. I presented a short talk with some bonafied results at Norman's Automotive. I'm not sure how many of my fellow students changed their soft drink consuming ways. This memory came up as one of the fellows working on the next property starts the arduous process of restoring a very old Farmall tractor; rust busting will be important.