That practice continued into the 60's. I bought my first 18 wheeler in March of 1964. We would stand out on the running board not only to get away from the heat, but on a 1st gear hill it wasn't that uncommon for a drive shaft or input shaft to break or an engine to blow up. We knew that we couldn't hold her on the hill and we wanted a head start on jumping clear of the darn thing. Film and photo developing cost money which no one had. And we thought the practice would last forever.
