---
title: '''Don''t thrash your vehicle!'' (Australian vehicle-maintenance poster)'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dont-thrash-your-vehicle-australia-1942/
description: A grinning, bare-chested Japanese figure swings a spiked flail at an army truck whose headlamps are drawn as a pained face, above four 'Don't' rules for…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

**Content note:** Caricature of a grinning Japanese figure swinging a spiked flail. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[!['Don't thrash your vehicle!' (Australian vehicle-maintenance poster)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/dont-thrash-your-vehicle-australia-1942.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/dont-thrash-your-vehicle-australia-1942.jpg)

# 'Don't thrash your vehicle!' (Australian vehicle-maintenance poster)

A grinning, bare-chested Japanese figure swings a spiked flail at an army truck whose headlamps are drawn as a pained face, above four 'Don't' rules for drivers. The poster pastes the enemy's image onto driver misuse, so overloading or hard braking reads as doing the enemy's work.

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
Don't OVERLOAD or OVERDRIVE
Don't ACCELERATE or BRAKE FIERCELY
Don't CHANGE DOWN AT SPEED
Don't NEGLECT MAINTENANCE
Don't
THRASH YOUR
VEHICLE !
```

The caption bar 'AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL' and the accession number at the foot are the museum's, not the poster's.

[← Don't Let That Shadow Touch Them: Buy War Bonds](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dont-let-that-shadow-touch-them-1942/) [Drive the Japs from the Aleutians! Our Bullets Will Do It! →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/drive-the-japs-from-the-aleutians-1942/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Bronze sestertius of Gaius (Caligula), reverse S P Q R P P OB CIVES SERVATOS in an oak wreath](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-caligula-ob-cives-servatos-0037/) (Roman Empire · 0037 · Testimonial, Transfer)
- [Gold coin of Kanishka: King of Kings legend, king at the altar, deity Oesho](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gold-dinar-kanishka-king-of-kings-0130/) (Kushan Empire · 0130 · Transfer)
- [Gold solidus of Justinian I, reverse VICTORIA AVGGG with Victory holding a Christogram staff](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-justinian-i-victoria-avggg-0538/) (Byzantine Empire · 0538 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Bayeux Tapestry, scene 23: UBI HAROLD SACRAMENTVM FECIT VVILLELMO DVCI](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bayeux-tapestry-harold-oath-to-william-1070/) (Kingdom of England · 1070 · Transfer, Card stacking)
- [Mughal gold coin of Jahangir, dated 1028 AH, with a bull inside a ring of sun rays](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jahangir-gold-zodiac-coin-sun-rays-1619/) (Mughal Empire · 1619 · Transfer)
- [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (Dutch Republic · 1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Consult of the doctors on the grave illness of the Grand Sultan (Consult vande medicijnen inde swaere siekte vanden grooten Sultaen)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/consult-of-the-doctors-sick-sultan-antwerp-1683/) (Spanish Netherlands · 1683 · Transfer, Bandwagon)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (Great Britain · 1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)