Grease guns must have been real popular years ago. Without them, the roads would have been strewn with automobiles and trucks that had come to a grinding halt due to poor lubrication maintenance. During those prewar years, grease was the life blood of an automobile.

As shown in this lubrication chart for a 1936 Cadillac, there were a dozen-plus points on a car's chassis that had to be lubricated regularly. These were the days before sealed-for-life bearings, universal joints, trunnions and bushings. So a quick pump of grease into the many zerk fittings was all that was needed to keep a car's driveline and suspension running smoothly.

How important was lubrication in vintage autos compared to today?