DO CARS THINK ?

Hokitika Guardian, 28 September 1927, Page 1

DO CARS THINK ?

The fact that a man bought a motorcar for twenty pounds at auction, and many men bought other ears for “a mere song” recalls the advertisement of the genial auctioneer, who said in it. “All these cars were driven to the garage under their own power.” There is really nothing comic in this paralysing cheapness. But a year or two ago. ihe happy purchaser, feeling like a young Rockefeller, electrified the family l>v telling it he had joined the opulent army of motorists. Socially the family soared above the earless people in the suburban road. Pa spent hours in the garage fondling the vehicle. Ma, attired in her best coney sables, partook of the pleasures of the broad highway. The children were carriage folks. And still the good old monthly payment went on and the benzine hill had to lie paid and the man with the spanner took his weekly toll, and the tyre bill cropped lip and tho keenness for conquest of the road died away until at last, “driven to the garage under its own power,” tho one-time hope- of the family passed into the possession of another. Not long ago, two men in a five-horse power Dialbolo No Mobile (self-starter) had difficulty in a Remuera street. A man who had spent all his life among horses, and therefore was a keen gambler, watched the men violently pulling levers, their brows bathed in perspiration. Nothing of a perambulatory nature occurred. Finally, lie advanced to the men and made a firm offer of £4 10s for tho ear as it stood. The offer was accepted, the money paid and the men went away on foot. Tho new owner, mounting the ancient ruin, accidentally' twiddod something aboard and the car lurched forward with a scream. He was unable to stop it until the benzine had run out. Next day ho tied u)> something with a bit of fencing wire and a staple and drove to Rotorua, tearing down the main street in first class style. A man watched him pull up in front of a hotel and stood admiring the car. “Don’t want to sell her. T suppose?” asked the man. “No!” said the owner, “I don’t, but—well. T wouldn’t let her go for a penny less than sixty pounds.” The Rotoruvian scratched his head, went away, and returned with the cheque. The Remuera man. out of mere curiosity, watched the new owner from the corner. IVhcn he last saw the purchaser lie was still trying to get a start out of the No Mobile. —Auckland Star.