I published this recently on Medium, and wanted to share it here as well. Enjoy!
I recently came into a trove of vintage books; 25 large boxes full.
I’ve spent the last few days sorting them into piles of donate, trade-in at the used book store, and keep.
One that landed firmly in the “keep” pile was this “Handbook for the Woman Driver,” a guide published by Phillips Petroleum Company in partnership with Charlotte Montgomery, the Automobile Editor of Good Housekeeping.
Full disclosure, I was expecting this book to be filled with condescending advice about “female drivers.” I was wrong! So incredibly wrong. What follows is a genuinely sweet guide for a population that wasn’t encouraged to drive until much later in history. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.
Charlotte Montgomery was a consumer writer and the Automobile editor for Good Housekeeping; she wrote a monthly column called “Speaker for the House” from 1955 to 1982.
In “Speaker for the House,” she wrote extensively about consumer rights and manufacturers’ responsibilities
“During her at-home years as homemaker and mother she read avidly and it struck her that men were not only doing all the designing, but also all the writing on business affairs. Nothing was being written from a woman’s viewpoint.” - Dorothy Copus Brush in the Crossville Chronicle
As a bright 16 year old in 1943, Montgomery drove a now lost to history Cleveland Automobile.
She recalled the freedom that a car granted her and her friends that summer and many summers after, and while working as a freelancer at Good Housekeeping, she was asked,
“Do you drive a car?”
She responded,
“Nothing special, just like any woman.”
American women haven’t always driven at similar levels to their male counterparts; Charlotte says that
“Just about 1/3 of the licensed drivers in this country today put down ‘female’ where it asks for ‘sex’ on their license application.”
In 2021, female drivers began to outnumber male drivers. Charlotte would be proud!
In her columns and this guide for women drivers, Montgomery explores the liberty and autonomy a car can offer a woman.
“A car to a woman is freedom, mobility, a fuller life. Safe, independent, carefree- it will take her wherever there’s a road.”
That being said, let’s jump into her advice for women drivers in 1960!
Becoming a good driver means knowing how a car works and logging as many miles as possible.
Don’t just be a defensive driver, build an attitude of courtesy and good manners on the highway.
Drive slowly enough to have complete control of your car no matter what any other driver does.
Have the gas station attendant check 4 crucial levels every time you get gas; oil, water levels in the radiator, water level in the battery, and air in the tires.
Economic driving is almost as important (and usually the same) as safe driving. Accelerate slowly, brake slowly, and keep your tires inflated to the manufacturer’s specifications
If traveling with a baby, invest in a bottle warmer that plugs into the car’s cigarette lighter.
If your town doesn’t have a drivers’ education program for teenagers, lobby your local high school to start one. Safe teen drivers are good for the whole community.
Carry a hair net or scarf to protect fragile curls while running errands in the car!
For winter, a pair of leather gloves, and for spring, a pair of cotton gloves will protect your hands from callouses and help you grip the steering wheel.
An expensive car should run up to 80,000 miles, a mid-priced car up to 60,000, and a cheap model should be expected to run up to 40,000 miles, economically.
Above all, in every situation, keep your head!