What the heck IS this thingy???

[Yaris Hilton]

Originally Posted by MadMax

I thought that was were you inserted the key to wind up the engine!

American cars of the '30s and '40s usually had a small opening to insert a crank in case the starter didn't work. My '40 Ford had one, with a small pivoted cover over it in the lower center of the grille. The same tool served as the lug wrench, jack handle, and emergency starting crank. The end of the handle had two little lugs that engaged a socket in the front of the crankshaft pulley, which had angled ramps to kick it back out when the engine started. Fortunately I never had to hand crank the old Flathead V8. It's not a bad idea to be able to, though!