MOTORS AND MOTORISTS.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17126, 22 April 1921, Page 4

MOTORS AND MOTORISTS.

(By "VELOX.")

For tho fix'ot three months of this year the position of.tbo motor trader was not a particularly happy one, comparatively speaking. Twelve months ago thero were clamouring customers waiting for the delivery of cars and other motor goods, and the dealers -were, in most cases, short of stock, and could not deliver? Now the position is unfortunately reversed, that is to say, the goods are here in plenty but buyers are a trifle shy, though the position shows signs already of getting better.

It would be rather idle to deny that cars take more selling nowadays. The prevailing financial stringency, f which is affecting all trades and commercial undertakings, has naturally reacted on tho motor trade, and the heavy stocks of cars which arrived with unexpected rapidity have not lessened the difficulties of agents. But this phase is almost certainly a, temporary one. The motor is far too useful and important a. factor in the economic lifo of the Dominion for *t to suffer moro than a brief set-back. Motor transport has now become as indispensable as the railways and tho post office.

The automobile industry produces, in thu final analysis, not motor cars and motor tracks, but "Transportation,'' a basio necessity, exactly as coal and eteel and grain and cloth are basic necessities. "Modern life," says ail expert iu economics, "is founded moro largely than is generally supposed on distribution, which is simply a function of transportation. Eliminate transportation and civilisation, as wo know it, would change its form overnight." Ono has only to remember the enormous inconvenience to the general public caused in New Zealand by the railway "cut," and the "go slow" or strike tactics of any section of labour concerned in the transport business, to realiso that a set back to the motor industry would be as serious a proposition to the business community and the consumer as another mild war.

It is quite a debateable question whether it really pays a man or a- business firm to continue running old cars, that is, of courso, if the. car is actually to bo used to earn money. Tho best and latest types of motor vehicles are now readily obtainable, and, as tho most recent improvements arc in the direction of more economical running, it might -easily be found that a saving in running costs of up to £1 a week could be mado by the use of tho up-to-date vehicle. . Then there is tho matter of repairs to 'be considered, and only those unfortunates who have had experience of what ,th© repair bill for an ancient car can be, can adequately realise what this may mean. t *

The advantages of motor transport over the 'bus, the tram, and the train are quite ingeniously set out by a North, Island firm who have broken lather new ground in tneir endeavour to'convince possible customers of the soundness of the idea of providing, salesmen and representatives with cars to get about in. Quito an. elaborate series of calculations have been sent to mo which claim to prove that a salesman can use his car at a, cost of 4Jd per -car mile, or .85d per passenger. mile, as against lsd per .passenger mile on the railways.. It is also claimed that nearly 50 per cent, of useful timo. would be saved.

It does riot seem out of place to emphasiso the extreme desirability of all motorists fully insuring their cars and themselves, not forgetting the dangerous third party. It is not much however, having a policy and not knowing its contents. It is just as well, therefore, before insuring, to ascertaiu exactly what it is you are going to be protected against. . It certainly is equally advisable, on being insured, to read the policy from time to time. Insurance companies sometimes com© in for quite a jot of undeserved abuse from clients, when the fault is not the insurers' at all. It is not much use' saying what you■> thought you were getting,; when-the policy can tell you precisely. Read your policy and avoid litigation.

• The season of the big shows in England and America is concluded now, and it is interesting to make an analysis of tho different cars exhibited, and observe the tamd of design in these two countries. 'Approximately 292 cars were shown at Olympia in London, not counting the ultra light typo of car, visually called a- "cycle-car." • I'our cylinder engines numbered 203, .siitcylinder 59, two-cylinder 25, eight-, cylinder 18, and 12-cylindor 1. .Rondetachable cylinder heads numbered 169, and detachable 133. , In clutch design single plate and leather cone tyres were most numerous, with multipJate clutches a good third. air-cooled engines were shownj as against 284 water cooled. ■ Tour and three speed gear boxes were standard on. the majority of the cars, there being 144 of the former and 142 of tho latter; the balance was made up of two speeds and variable drives. The vogue of the electric starter is well shown by the fact that 245 cars were fitted with this useful adjunct, and only 17 were without it. The magneto as a means of ignition also supreme, 247 of tho exhibits | carrying them, as against with bat-

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

ten- ignition, and 16 dual. Side-by-sido valves still retain their popularity, there being 221 engines so fitted. * ortyeight had overhead valves, lb had sleovo valves and the balance were T headed or had the inlet over the exhaust, lor the- final drive, the spiral bevel Was the favourite, the straight bevel next with 15 examples, worm drive being a ba" last with but 36 exponents. Who wheels headed the list, 91 cars being so fitted, but steel wheels were also popular their number being 83. Thero were 68 cars fitted with wood wheels, and 69 with the moro modem discs.

It seems fairly obvious, therefore, that tho most popular form of English car is one with a four cylinder cngpe (monobloc), side by side valves, magneto •ignition, electric self-starter, single plate clutch, four speed . gear box, semi-elliptic front springs, qunrierolliptic rear springs, and spiral bevel drive to the back axle. Turning *> tho reports of the recent grept show in !New York, we come upon a rather .different state of affairs, which shows that the American ideal is not quite the same as tho British. Tho details given do not Allow of quito an easy comparison, but it is* obvious that of the cars shown, those with six cylinder engines formed nearly 51 per cent, of the total, four cylinder engines and eights being 38 anil 10 per cent, respectively. Tho monobloc system of cylinder casting was overwhelmingly favoured, So J per cent, of the engines being of this type. With regard to valves, the . L head engine with 6ide by side valves is as .popular in tho States as in Britain apparently, for no less than 66$ per cent, of this t3 T pe of valve is on the- American automobile. The valvo in head system is the next favourite, 27 per cent, of cars being so designed. Thcrmo6yphon cooling is not favoured so much as water circulation by pump, the figuros beiug 29 and 63 per cent, respectively. The unit system of power plant* construction is very popular, 87 per cent, of engines and gear boxes being mounted as a unit, while quly 12 per cent, of gear hoxos are mounted separately. It is not without interest to learn that the average prico of 160 American cars in 1916 was 1600 dollars, and this year it has- mounted to no less than 2711 dollars?

All users of internal combustion engines will bo interested to know that a .British fiftn again leads the world in the matter of constructing the most powerful engine for aerial craft. A well-known American maker of aero engines recently did a. lob of boasting about.a power plant that his firm turned out being the biggest thing of its kind on earth, but lie wasn't right even. then. His firm's engine was said to develop 600 h.p., which., no doubt was quite correct, but lie must have overlooked the fact that tlio ."Sikh" 800 h.p. engine, made, J.believe, by Messrs Bolls-lloyco, had Been 4n being for a considerable time. The Americans are now further eclipsed by the new Napier ''Gab," an engine which develops well over 1000 -h.p. (The remarkable. piece of work is proof of the high state to which aero engineering , has been brought. The. "Cub" has 16 cylinders arranged in the form of an irregular gt. Andrew's cross round a' common crank case. Four B.H.T. magnetos aro usodj and a carbureter With one float chamber and four jet chambers, one for each row of cylinders. Nominally of .1000 h.p., the "Cub" on its trial run —an untuned performance-HlevelopM 1057 h.p. At the rated output, it is among the lightest engines in the world. It developes one h.p. for each 2£ pounds or its weight. The "Cub" has been specially designed for the R.A.F., and many of the details of the- engine are being kept secret, for. the present at anyrate.

The term "pleasure car'' usually makes '.tho experienced motorist very mad indeed, because it' gives the quite erroneous impression that most cars are luxurious things and really unnecesi sary. Mr S. L. lyler, president of the Nw South Wales Motor Traders' Association has gone to tho trouble of carefully compiling statistics for Australia which prove'that for every car that is used for "pleasure" no lqss than nine are utilised for business and professional work. Seventy per cent, of the cars bought .in Australia are purchased "by country dwellers and in a land of immense distances as Australia ia they have become absolutely necessary. In ISVw South Wales alone there are 224 mail routes served by privately owned cars which cover a total of 11,000 miles. To"replaee these services by railway communication would cost the State £154,000,000 .for permanent way alone, exclusive of Working costs and rolling stock. Eventhis only touches tho fringe of tho usefulness 'of the automobfle and the part it plays in the progress of the country, and instead of taxing cars as luxuries, as some people suggest, a better stroke of statesmanship would be to subsidise car services which are capable of bringing the country into closer touch with the business cntres. Too often do the authorities consider tho motor car in tho light only-of its sporting aud pleasuro uses.

A London chemist" lias demonstrated that « semi-alcoholic fuel can be obtained from coke oven gas by passing it over or through sulphuric acid. It has been estimated by experts that had the whole of the resources of England been treated 'so last year no less than 23,000,000 gallons ot excellent motor fuel would have been obtained. So far the Government has done nothing to promote the production of this fuel. As a matter of fact, quite aTot of fuel ■of various kinds is mado or produced at Home. There is the benzole production, for,.example, the shale oil production, and some quite good petroleum wells-are in being in different parts of the country. In Dertys-hiib oil is flowing from a 3000 ft well at tho rate of a ton a day, and over 150,000 gallons have already been tanked. Other wells, aro being sunk in Derbyshire, Stafford, Nottingham, and Scotland. None of this oil has got on tho market so far, and the alleged rcason«for merely storing it and not using it is that important legal questions as to exact ownership have yet. to be settled. Motoring papers at Home are not slow jp. hinting that the alleged reason is not the real ,one.

"As the old road era was succeeded by tho railway era, so, I believe, the latter .will be" succeeded by the now road 'era," suid Lord Montague of Beaulicu -at a recent meeting of the Institute of Transport. Tie railway, according to him, should be regarded as a stage only in transport development', and not as a permanent condition of affairs.. The road era had only just begun, and soon roads might be made of-some permanent, or semi-permanent materials—perhaps some form of or concrete —involving negligible cost for upkeep. Speed limits would bo abolished before long on tho open road, and when special motor traffic roads are made the average speeds of passenger vehicles would equal, if not eiceed, the average,speeds of passenger trains. Railways will be forced, by competition, to provide motor roads and carrying orf traffic by road as well as by rail. fcJome lines might even bo replaced by motor roads. Overhead and underground roads wore bound to be made in- the

great cities, the streets of which could not possibly carry .the traffic, even of a few vears hence, for to -widen -theni would be practically difficult and financially impossible.

Ik would seem that the British magneto, industry, which was slowly and painfully brought to something like perfections during tho war, is in very grave danger, unless tho Government does something very quickly to stop t' lo dumping of cheap 'German instruments on the Home market. When tho war broke out it is safe ib say that over 90 per cent, of British automobiles, motor-cycles, and commercial vehicles had a well-known German magneto fitted as the means of ignition. Three hundred thousand German instruments were coming into tho country ©very year up to a few months before August, 1514—when the 6upply suddenly ceased —and the authorities' woko up to J*he extremely unpleasant fact .that all ~war tiunsport, and aircraft would be seriously crippled unless a magneto supply could be conjured from somewhere or other. By great luck, it,was found that America could give us and our Allies —who were in tho same fix—a fair supply, and 147,000 were imported into England during the first few months of the war. Then the- attention of British manufacturers was turn* ed, with feverish energy, to solving the problem of Home manufacture, and their efforts were crowned with a very large measure of success. Many, difficult problems had to lie solved, naturally, but in a year or so's time the British magneto was performing belter than enemy one had over WM> and the situation was saved. # Now tho Germans nro endeavouring to recapture the position of"monopolists in tho magneto trade which they held before the war. It is stated in tho technical papers that, at the present time, tho .Bosch Z. U4 car magneto, which is quito a large type, can actually be supplied at £3, the duty bringing the prico up to £4. Considering the platinum points alono cost £1 and the' cost of all the raw materials, -in England,' is greater' than this total, it i 3 quite obvious that tho British manufacturer cannot hope to compete witn the German, and that this \ital nidustry Is absolutely doomed, unless protected in some adequate manner. J lint the British Government recognised that it should do something was proved by tho fact that, in 1915, Mr Lloyd George promised .that the importation of magnetos from Germany would be prohibited for five years after peace was declared, and that a preferential tariff should be imposed on all other foreign magnetos. He meant well, no doubt,.but tho Sankey judgment reversed his decision, with the consequence that the British magneto industry is' now threatened with extinction. A great deal of adverse comment was caused by tho conditions laid down by the Air Ministry for, the recent aero--plane" competitions, for which £65,0w was offered as prize-money. • Hero it •tfas stated that while al* the, engines used must be designed and manufactured within the British Empire, yet this rule did not apply to secondary equipment, such as ignition apparatus. When this was pointed out, the authorities made matters worse by withdrawing the clauso which awarded marks' for aeroplanes, the equipment ot which was entirely British t It certaauly seems a qucfr way of encouraging a tremendously important Home industry. It is good to learn that England was. not the only nation oaught_ short of vital supplies at tho beginning of the war. - Germany was in tho same fix as regards tyres as England was as regards magnetos. On tho authority ot Mr. Edward 'Manvillo, M.P., it is now stated that, tho extraordinary position arose of tho.British'Government, alter war had been declared, actually trad-, ing tyres to the Germans m exchange for magnetos. This sounds almost incredible, but so many tftings have been revealed in connexion with war matters that are amazing, that one does not feel inclined to disbeheve anything believe them either, tor, that matter. • '"■'.■-•" ":J

: The -Royal Automobile :CluT> has re----j cently instituted a standard-of comparison, for the purpose ,of testing headlights of motor-cars, which has aroused a great.deal of interest. The two main bases of comparison which the tests are designed to provide, con* cern the distance in front of. n- car, at various positions, .at which an object, normally hard to see upon the road, can be picked up, and the relative dazzling effect of car lamps upon an observer -approaching from tho front. A peculiarly mavked "standard disc is used for testing purposes. TMs is designed to represent, an object that can only bo seen with difficulty, but-which nevertheless must bo sufficiently well illuminated to ensure safety. l-te,.disc is placed at various distances from the front of the car's lights, and according to the distance at which the driver can positively determine' the true shape of the marks on.tho disc the powers ot the lamps nra gauged. Tests are made with the disc' at ground level, and at 4ft "6in, 6ft; and Bft above it; also at tho sides of tho roads. The idea is ingenious, but it -seems to me that, the personal equation of the driver—who might have Very good eyesight or very bad-might upset.tho uniformity of the scheme. To test dazzle the standard disc is placed 6ft to the side and 6tt to the rear of the lamps to be tested, at j, height of '44 ft from the .ground. Its face is faintly illuminated by a small lamp placed two feet in front ot it screened from the observer, ine measure.of dazzle is obtained by taking tho distance from tho front ot.tne : lamps undergoing te3t to tho point at which tho approaching observer is first able to discern tho standard disc.