Does Pre-war mean pre-1939?

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Rookiemonster

It’s always been a vague way of saying it to me. Like what war? Vietnam? The gulf war? I would call anything before Vietnam vintage.


I don’t really see why we have pre war and post war.

There are a few reasons US collectors have WWII as such a dividing line.

Unlike wars we've been involved with since, WWII was pretty much total. Anything that didn't aid the war effort or public morale wasn't looked at as all that good. (yes, there were luxuries, black markets and even dissent, but less openly than you'd think. )
As such, production of lots of consumer products was halted. Cars were basically not built (with a very few exceptions) Any materials were used for production of war goods first, anything else second. Some materials were entirely unavailable publicly. Like chrome. Bicycles were produced, but as stocks of parts were used up, the new parts when available were painted rather than chromed.

Recycling was also huge. A huge portion of what existed for any needed material was gathered up in drives and recycled. Paper and metals especially.

Most stuff that was made before the war began for the US became a lot less common in a brief time.

After WWII, the attitudes were different. So stuff made after the war wasn't recycled to anywhere near the same degree. And the people who were kids during the depression and war were now adults. Adults who had experienced a lot of time without money for stuff, then a stretch with money, but nothing to buy. So saving stuff became a lot more common.