Jeff Wisnia wrote:

Leo Lichtman wrote:
"Jeff Wisnia" wrote: OK, so what's the etemology? Did they hold fenders
on, or fend off denting?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It's the same etymology, Jeff. Fenders on a car are so named because
they
fend off other cars, or possibly cows. Incidentally, in Britain, fenders
really can fend off things--they are what Americans call "bumpers."


Ah yes, and I'm old enough to remember when cars HAD bumpers, not the
wussy things they still call bumpers which get scarred from their first
kiss.

I also remember "bumper bolts"; Chromed carriage bolts which held the
old chromed bumpers onto their brackets.

Jeff

I can remember when Sunoco 260 cost .25 a gallon!
John