GREAT CHANGES AHEAD

NZ Truth, Issue 1189, 13 September 1928, Page 23

GREAT CHANGES AHEAD

Mass Production Has Handicapped Progress In Design

MASS production of motor-cars has not been an unadulterated •blessing by any means. It has, for one thing, stultified, progress m design. ,

ON the other hand, it has had a wonderful effect m simplifying the working parts and making them accessible. . Some ot the world's highest priced machines are still aggravatingly difficult to handle when even minor repairs or adjustments have to be done. One car, for instance, has not a removable cylinder, head. When decarbonizing has to be carried out the whole engine has to be dismantled. Certainly, the car is a magnificent piece of work, and probably would not, need "decoking" more than once m 10,000 miles, but nobody would care to deny that a cylinder head that can be removed is a great asset. ° Mass production, following -on keen competition for trade, has compelled manufacturers to make their cars easy to assemble and to adjust, and that has been all to the good. Easily adjusted valves, banjo type rear axles, removable cylinder heads, main, engine bearings that can be removed without dismantling the engine, owe their universality to- mass production. Lock, stock, and barrel— leave packing and transport to N.Z. Express Company, Limited. No matter how short the notice or how great the distance, possessions will be delivered on time, safely and economically. Estimates given at all our offices. All wprk under the care of experts. If you get sudden notice of transfer, call and see us.— N.Z. EXPRESS CO., LTD.*

Against those advantages there has to be reckoned the fact that progress and enterprise m engine arid chassis design have been greatly lessened. I This is due to the unwillingness of a manufacturer to go to enormous expense m altering hia machines and workshops to produce something different, and which is not likely to bring him any more profit. . Many of the big machines used m performing certain Jobs on chassis and engines cost tens of thousands •■ of pounds, and they are not readily thrown into the discard for the mere purpose of producing a car which will be only slightly improved, and might not, for some months at least, sell m any greater numbers. In some of the British and Continental factories, where cars are not produced by the hundred or thousand daily, great strides are being made In . design, and the world before long wilt* reap the benefit, as the mass production people will be foroed to follow suit to a large extent. Nothing is more certain than that some big American maker will shortly produce a car that will be sprung independently on all four wheels. This type of suspension is already being fitted as standard to several European cars, and has proved a brilliant success. Overhead camshaft drive for valve m head engines also must come on the mass production cars before long. Next year will probably see bigi changes m design on several of the more popular American cars. ♦