The good people at Dark Roasted Blend have put up a fascinating series of photographs of what they call “Automotive Madness”. Most are from Russia and Eastern Europe, where people tend to make do with what they’ve got, and maintain and/or modify their wheels with whatever comes to hand. Here are a few examples.
If your windscreen wiper motor doesn’t work . . . improvise!
Ditto if you run out of spare tires!
Turning a VW Microbus into a Major Bus?
Turning a snow tire into a SNOW!!! and ICE!!! tire?
There are many more pictures at the link. Funny and recommended reading.
Peter
The wiper/rope trick works well- as long as you have a passenger to pull the strings. Sometimes, a spare motor or linkage is simply not available.
The last photo looks like a pro ice racing tire.
Returning from a fishing trip with a couple of friends in my Jeepster the wiper motor quit in the middle of a heavy rainstorm, so we rigged some fishing line and one guy in the front operated the wipers. Must have been on a weekend in the late 50's or early 60's.