Turn signal fluid

[Steve Passmore]

Just imagine if Lucas had been making digital dashboards in the '80s!

They did I believe in the Lagonda?  A disaster for restores now.

[Philippe M. Ruel]

For its lighting systems, Lucas' nickname could be "Prince of Darkness".

[Jay Friedman]

When I worked in a garage as a young guy in the '50s, the older mechanics would tease newbies and sometimes even customers who asked what was wrong with their car by saying "the Johnson Bar is broken" or "the Finnegan Pin is bent".  Later in life I learned that while the Finnegan Pin was a non-existant "thing-a-ma-jig", there really is an obscure tool called a Johnson Bar, apparently a kind of pry bar used to extract screws.

[savemy67]

Hello Jay,

Ask any stevedore or longshoreman what a Johnson bar is and they will probably tell you about the blisters they received from using one.  In the shipping and freight world, a Johnson bar was a long (usually wood) pole with a short, offset tab or lip at the bottom end.  The bottom of the bar also had a pivot or fulcrum.  Thus configured, the bar provided alot of leverage to maneuver shipping crates, pallets, etc. that weighed hundreds of pounds.  Back in the day, a man and his Johnson (bar) could move mountains!

Christopher Winter

[Jay Friedman]

Chris,

Thanks for the enlightenment.  Now, if someone could only come up with a real Finnegan Pin.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Ask any stevedore or longshoreman what a Johnson bar is and they will probably tell you about the blisters they received from using one.  In the shipping and freight world, a Johnson bar was a long (usually wood) pole with a short, offset tab or lip at the bottom end.  The bottom of the bar also had a pivot or fulcrum.  Thus configured, the bar provided alot of leverage to maneuver shipping crates, pallets, etc. that weighed hundreds of pounds.  Back in the day, a man and his Johnson (bar) could move mountains!  Christopher Winter

In the Boat Yard, we called those things Red Neds, as they were painted red.   A great lever

Bruce.

[cadillac ken]

another boatyard tool was the "bung picker".  As a kid we would laugh and laugh at this.  Apparently it was a pointed hook thingie tool that would pick the bungs out of the wood on the boats (kind of foggy on the explanation as we always were laughing when the guy at the boat yard would mention the tool.)

[savemy67]

Hello Ken,

A bung is typically a stopper for a hole.  In the boatyard, a bung is usually a stopper for a drain, and one would have to pull the bung to let out the water.  I can appreciate the laughter.

Christopher Winter

[TJ Hopland]

Im going to guess the reason you would be removing bungs in a boat yard would have to do with ballast tanks?

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

The only bungs in a boat yard worth thinking about removing is those in the hull to let the bilge water out, and the one in the barrel to let the rum out.

Bruce.

[chrisntam]

I used to work in an auto parts store back in the '80s.

We kept the turn signal fluid next to the oscillating Johnson rods & muffler bearings.