DANGEROUS LODGMENT

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 156, 30 December 1938, Page 14

DANGEROUS LODGMENT

A Southland motorist had an unpleasant surprise when he entered his garage to get the car out to take the family to town. One of the tyres <vas flat and investigation revealed that imbedded in it was a .303 cartridge which was still alive.

The majority of the squeaks and rattles of the motor body can be traced to the holding down bolts. A check up on the bolts will remove most of the nuisance. It is better for the car, anyway, that they should be tight.

say to operation of the controls. Mos: oi these have found their way either to facia board or steering column otuy the brakes and accelerator pedal remaining on the floor, out of the way >t everybody's feet, even the driver's except when he has them in use The present-day engine is smooth in its operation vibration to all intents and purposes being eliminated, with great beneficial effect from every point if view, including the fact that the nerve centres of the driver, no longer subject to the torture of some years ago, have acquired a quiescence that is no small facto in the safe /handling of vehicles in traffic. It is everybody's gain, including the man in the street.

With the reduction in size of engines came a reduction in chassis weight, with a redesigning of bodies that provides roomier seating and more luggage space than was obtained in the cumbersome structure of some years back. The lighter, more compact' cars are easier to handle in traffic than their predecessors and easier to' manoeuvre into a parking; space.

Cars that give fairly satisfactory milage from fuel on the open road frequently offend in the matter of fuel consumption when operating in traffic, with the frequent stopping and starting demanded by controls and the varying slowing down and speeding up that are constantly necessitated by the conditions that prevail. This problem has been approached through improvements in carburetion. advances in high-compression design, and other developments leading to comparative economy.

Braking, too, has undergone immense improvement from the traffic-driving standpoint, better vision is aimed at and achieved, and gear changing has been greatly simplified. In these respects progress is still being made, arid this year has witnessed decided advancement in many models.

All this means safer, better, and more economic cars, all at the cost of the far .less efficient machine of a few years ago.