Clearing snow off the car, 1951

With each season comes new chores. Winter’s chores always seem a little less enjoyable, as each snowfall brings more shovelling. This fellow, photographed by George Lilley in 1951, tries to wipe the ice off his windshield with a gloved hand. Thankfully, vehicles have come a long way in how they heat the interiors for comfort and defrosting. Drivers of the earliest motor cars used gas lamps (and a lot of clothing) to keep warm, and by 1917, car designers realised that the exhaust pipes could help heat the interior. In 1929, Ford introduced a system to push heat from the engine through the dash. GM later introduced the heater core in 1930, a technology that is still in use to this day to keep us warm on those winter drives.