MOTORING

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19137, 21 October 1927, Page 16

MOTORING

"Eoadster" Invites articles and paragraphs of Interest to motorists for this page. NOTES. The proposed amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act, which were published in The Tress last Tuesday, are regarded favourably by Mr J. S. Hawkes, secretary of the Canterbury Automobile Association, except the proposal to enable the registration or licensing of a. motor vehicle to be effected in any district instead of, as at present, only in the district in which a garage of the vehicle is situated. He considers that this would be a mistake for the reason that the present system enables officials +■■ -pertain without difficulty the number of vehicles m a particular district, whereas the suggested change would prevent it.

Th« accident record of 2o women taxi drivers employed by a cab company in Philadelphia is much lower than that of the men drivers of the organisation. The women claim to enjov their jobs and have shown themselves to be careful drivers. It was about six months ago that the company began the experiment of employing women chauffeurs.

In America a driving license is known as an "operator's permit."

Saturday race meetings and trials are a failure in America. Sunday is the only day on which a great crowc. can be attracted.

With the ever-increasing traffic congestion in London, and the constant spread of suburban districts, more and more people are looking for some better means of travel between thenplaces of business in the city and thenhomes. A great deal of credit is due to the big omnibus companies for the wav in which they have linked up outlying suburbs with stations, but travel by bus. in the rush hours is not one's choice, says the "Autocar."

~. Some wonderful new motor-car records were established at Montlhery, France, on September 7th, by a Voism car, which was driven successively by Marchant, Moul, and Kurnlace. They covered 1000 miles in Bhr 54mm 0.1 l sec, 2000 miles in 17hr 43miu B.23sec, and 3000 miles in 26hr 31min 52.125ec. They,also created a.new 24 hours' record by covering 2740 miles (the previous 24 hours world's record being 2590 miles) at the remarkable average speed of 114 miles an hour. .

At Calcutta, a police order is in operation restricting the hours during which bullock-drawn vehicles are allowed in the streets. This, it is believed, will stimulate the demand for motor vehicles, particularly if other important cities in India follow suit.

As a means of preventing the. theft of automobile parts, the civic authorities of Montreal, Canada, have adopted a by-law to prohibit the purchase or sale of any automobile part except from or by automobile or parts manufacturers or regularly constituted automobile supply houses.

A tablet preparation for addition to petrol has been introdnced in England. » Like all former "dopes," the tablets are claimed to lower the petrol consumption. An analysis shows that the tablets are composed of 62.5 per cent, of napthalene, 33.1 per cent, of oil, and 4.4 per cent, of graphite.

The rule of the road in France giv; ing the right of way to those travelling on national highways has heen abolish-, ed. It was found in practice that for such a rule to. he effective all secondary roads should carry warning signs at some points near to their junction with a national highway, and. as this could not be done, a Government decree has just been issued generalising the rule that drivers must give way to traffic approaching from the right. Originally this applied only to secondary roads; from now on there are no exceptions. In-'; most French cities it has been the rule for some time that, traffic approaching from the right shall have priority; thus there are no main and no secondary streets.

Where did we get the word "bus"? It seems that once upon a time a carry-all vehicle was invented and had to be christened. An English scholar undertook the task. He selected the Latin word "omnis," which means all, put it into the dative plural, which means "for all,'.' and tliere he had the .word "omnibus." It probably seemed to him an ingenious invention which would be appreciated and used with proper regard for the dignity of its origin. Not so. It was cut to" the meaningless "bus." "Bus" is far worse thaa "phone." which means something. "Bus" is only a tail-end inflection.

In Denmark the use of automobiles is rapidly expanding, says a report on the economic situation in the country presented to the Department of Overseas Trade by the Commercial Secretary of the British Legation at Copenhagen. Greater co-operation amongst British manufacturers for selling purposes is suggested in order to secure a fair share of the business that is being done. And the view s expressed that British firms in the past have failed to realise the strength of foreign competition; new conditions demand new methods. -

Considerable uneasiness is felt in London pnbiip passenger transport circles at the continual heavy losses on the tramways-. It has been, proposed that all the trams, omnibuses, and tubes should bo worked under a com--mon management, and common fund, but "Motor Transport" suggests that, whilst there may be much in favour of co-ordination, such a scheme would result in the omnibuses havinc to make up the losses incurred on the trams.

BY "ROADSTER.*'

SECOND-HAND CAR MAKING MOST OP IT. HINTS ON PAINTING. (specialist wbittek rox thz press.) (Bv Major F. A. C. Forbes-Leith, " F.E.G.S., Author of "By Car to India.") It must be over two years since I wrote an article on the dangers that the inexperienced motorist incurred in venturing into the second-hand market without technical advice. In that short time, conditions have altered considerably. The rapid growth of the easy payment system has brought about an entire change in what the motorist considers the first driving life of a car. In'the old days, when cars were expensive, they were built for a long life, and we were obliged to pay cash for them. These conditions, naturally, resulted in tho motorist using his car | for a considerable number of years, until, in fact, it nearly fell to pieces. We have au entirely different state ] of affairs to-day. In the first place, we have good cars at a reasonable price, and second, the great prejudices that existed in Britain against the easy payment system has been overcome. Now, a man can buy a car out of income, use it for a couple of years, and when he offers it in part payment for a new one, he can probably get a Dig enough cash price to cover the deposit on a new ear. A Clean Undercarriage. It is possible, now, to pick and choose many really good cars from the secondhand dealer. - Many of these are in such condition, both mechanically and in appearance, that they may be driven right away from the place of purchase, and need no extraordinary attention. It is also possible, with little money to find a car in good mechanical condition which requires a little renovating, and I am going to suggest the best methods by which the handy man may put his purchase into trim shape without a deal of trouble and expense. In tho first place, a car that has been lying for some time in a garage requires very,- very careful cleaning. Scrape every little bit of superfluous grit aiid dirt from every metal part a«d pay particular attention to joints. Go over it' again with a brush containing a mixture of lubricating oil and paraffin in equal parts. Then get a good supply of hot washing/ soda solution, and with some strong soap and a brush, scrub every part thoroughly. and dry it well.' This will leave you with a clean under-carriagc and will enable you to go over every bolt and nut with a spanner, •for the purpose of correcting any looseness there may be.

Amateur Fainting. We will assume that there are very few mechanical defects to be attended to and that appearance is the principal consideration. Nobody can enjoy driving a car with, bad paintwork, but, on the other hand, to have a car painted in a carriage shop is a somewhat expensive process.

There are several methods of paint- | ing that can be employed by the amateur. You can use several coats of enamel, followed by a coat of varnish, but very few motorists of modest means have the facilities for putting the car in a dust-proof room whilst they are carrying out the long and. tedious process of painting. In addition to this drawback, few amateurs can get good results by the use of enamel and varnish. There is another form of paint, namely, cellulose paint. This should be sprayed on to get the best results, and the amateur will find it very difficult to get a smooth result with a brush. Advantages of Lacquer. ' I have made several experiments lately, and have come to the conclusion that lacquer is the most satisfactory form of paint to use in such a case. In the first place, it is impervious to weather conditions, and second, the car needs but one coat; third, lacquer (which must be put on liberally) finds its own smooth surface immediately it .is applied with a brush;/further, lacquer does not readily scratch. It is not necessary to strip the whole of the body work of paint in order to get a good result. Scrape off any Blisters with a sharp tool and then go over the whole of the surface with a medium grade of glass paper, until you have a fair degree of smoothness all over. Although this lacquer paint is more expensive than enamel, it is very econoini.cal in the long run, so do not be alarmed if you find that, by volume, it costs double as much as ordinary material. There is another great advantage to this method; that is, that it must be put on quickly and dries immediately, and j there is no reason why you should not j drive your car within a couple of hours i eff the time you have finished the paint-.: ing job. It is quite possible that the nickel Work on such a vehicle as we are discussing, may be somewhat worn. Nothing is more disagreeable to my own senses than worn nickel plate, and you will find that you will get quite an artistic result by covering up the nickel work on the body with a lacquer paint of a slightly different shade. JReceritly, I have been supervising the work of a friend of mine who has carried out these instructions, and I can assure you that the result has been most gratifying.

PETROL ON SUNDAY. MOTORISTS WANT ACT AMENDED. The secretary of the Otago Motor Club (Mr P. H. Power) has written to the South Island Motor Union sug- ■ gesting that the Union get into touch with the North Island Union in Tiow of the decision recently given in DunecMn by a Magistrate with regard to bowsers where no garage is attached. "Representations should be made to the Government," states the letter, "to exclude such bowsers from coming under the operations of the Act, so that motorists may be able to obtain petrol on Sundays. Mr A. E. Ansell (president of the 5.1. M.U.) has been in touch with the Inspector of Police here, and the former has been assured that no united action will be taken, but if an amendment _of the Act is not carried'out they will be compelled to administer the law as it now stands." The latest American idea is to market a range of tyre covers in a number of different colours which can be selected to -harmonise with the bodywork of the car. If the vogue in striking two-tone and three-tone colour scheme's continues, chameleon-like tyres 1 will be needed to cop© with. it.

WORLD'S MOTORS.] HUGE BUSINESS DEVELOP- I MENT. j SOME OFFICIAL FIGURES. | Using the figure as "an index to prosperity," the Prime Minister recently showed how (says the Wellington "Post' 1 ) at March 31st last there in use in the Dominion one motor vehicle for every 11.1 people in New Zealand, and fresh sales might be taken at 1000 a month. Ihe growth ot the use of motor ivebicles throughout the world is oue of the wonders of the asze Mr Julian Foster (American Trade Commissioner in New Zealand) has just received some particularly interesting information on this subject from his Department in "Washington. The details are to January Ist, 192-V, and are official. The calculation of the Department is that there was one car to every 71 persons in the world, and 31,589,249 cars in use in 1926. The additions as at January Ist, 1927, were 3.061,018, including buses and trucks, making 27,6-50,267. Information on this subject was obtained by U.S. Consulate and other Government officers. No country in the world has been forgotten, not even the Solomon Islands — with two trucks—are forgotten; Tonga has 70 cars; Siam, 176; and there are eleven cars in the arid Yemen; and the United States heads the list with 22,137,334 vehicles. In. the lonely Faroe Islands there axe twelve cars; and the United Kingdom total is 1.023,651. All come into this exhaustive census. The largest number of cars are held first by the United States and next by the United Kingdom. New Zealand is tenth on the list. The ratio of persons to vehicles is: United States, 5; Canada, 11; Hawaii, 11; New Zealand. 12; Australia, 17; United Kingdom, 43; Denmark, 43; Argentine, 45; France, 46; Sweden, 61: Switzerland, 71; Belgium, 81; Irish Free State. 83; Cuba, 94; Union of South Africa, 99. The figures, it should be repeated are for January Ist. 1927. It is also stated that over 95 per cent, of the cars of the world are American, "manufactured in the United States or in Canadian automobile plants, or assembled in foreign branches i of these American plants.'.' The world's biggest motor-bus users are the United States, 80,000; France, 26.000; United Kingdom, 21,000; Canada, 6633: Germanv, 6000; Uruguav, 4955; Mexico, 4202;' Netherlands, 4000; Italy, 3293; Japan. 2623; India., 2500; Philippine Islands. 5077: Russia, 2090; Ceylon,. 2008; New Zealand, 1772; Greece, 1718; Siam, 13S8. OLYMPIA. NEXT MONTH'S BIG SHOW. It is confidently anticipated that the Motor Olympia of 1927 will be the best to date and that the attendance of 30,000, registered last year, will be exceeded. Shipments of the. latest in motor vehicles and accessories are being opened up this week and will be placed on exhibition in the King Edward Barracks-, which will be brilliantly lighted and decorated for the occasion. The Canterbury branch of the ■ Zealand Motqr Traders' Association has ■ been working on the show for weeks ' past and is confident that it will be an , even greater success than the.Olympia ■ of 1926, both from the point of view of • exhibits and attendance.