during WW2 fuel rationing, car collectors had the advantage over all others, they'd pull out the electric car, or the steamer.

The Met’s opening night for the 1942–43 season was November 24. James Melton, newly signed to the opera company, but having yet to make his debut, drove down Broadway to 39th Street with IBM founder Thomas J. Watson Sr. and his wife in a 1922 Detroit Electric he had reconditioned for use during gas rationing.

Imagine having 100 cars, and only one A ration card

http://jamesmeltonmusicalcareerantiquecars.blogspot.com/2012/11/wartime-transportation.html