WORLD MOTOR TOUR.

Shannon News, 18 January 1929, Page 3

WORLD MOTOR TOUR.

LADY’S VENTURE IN SMALL CAR.

ACROSS THE UNITED STATES IN A BABY AUSTIN.

Ail event of particular interest to motorists ana of no small concern to the public generally was the arrival in Levin, at noon yesterday, of Miss Gladys M. de Haviland, who is touring the world in the ear now so well known as.. the Baby Austin Seven. With Miss Stevens, of the Wellington staff of Magnus Motors, as a passenger, Miss de Haviland drew up at the Magnus Molots garage, where she was welcomed by the Mayor (Mr T. Hobson), the local manager, Mr P. Lynch, and a good gathering of the public. . Miss do Haviland was then entertained at lunch at Williams’s lea-rooms, after which she proceeded on her way to Palmerston, where the night was spent. . Miss de Haviland, wlu is a sister of jifr Jeffrey de Haviland, designer ni the aeroplane of;that name, arrived in Wellington on-Monday by the Tahiti, from San Francisco, having travelled overland from New York. A*i interesting acccunt of her tour was obtained by a representative of the Chronicle. ■ The journey •Was . commenced at Lon gt ridge, England, on Thursday, October 18th, ana the car was driven through a heavy rainstorm to Southampton, where Miss do Haviland'and her companion at that Pme,-Miss Eley, boarded the Tuscania, which arrived at New York on October '27th. Th.eir object was to -encircle the world in the smallest car made, the 7 h.p. Baby Austin. The,car is iu every respect a standard model, and the equipment is identical with that given to all pur-, chasers of this make of machine. AMERICANS KEENLY INTER-

ESTED. In the trip . across the States the important towns 'through which the car passed were Philadelphia, Gettysburg, Washington, Columbus, Daytoiq Indianapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, Santa Fe, Needles, and Los Angeles, thence travelling north to - San Francisco, where the voyagers caught the Tahiti for New Zealand. The experiences of the pair on the road were interesting to the fullest degress, and were frequently very thrilling. In every city through which they passed, the Baby Austin, . evoked the 'curiosity of the Americans, and incidentally their admiration and friendliness. Very few had seen such a tiny motor vehicle Th,e ladies weie treated most hospitably at every pointj an.d American car owners were always very anxious to assist them with such matters as road information. On the Other hand, it happened that the little Seven was o'.' service to much larger cars on at least three occasions during I»he long jomv ney, when the travellers were able to help those in -difficulty through breakdowns.

DETOUR ROADS AT THEIR WORST

At several places appalling detours? from the main rods were encountered. These detours were simply d long succession of deep holes filled with mud and water. lii at least one instance the Seven was able to negotiate one of these detours with less difficulty and at a higher ipeed than the large ears which essayed the same feat. It would be far from the correct state of affairs to imagine that the journey across America .was made on good roads and under easy conditions, for quite the largest portion of the trip was male under extremely Adverse conditions. Borne roads, especially in the deserts, were heavy.sand and were negotiated on the lower gears. Othoi parts were on mountain passes reaching altitudes of almost 8000 feet. Hun dreds of miles of road were so bum-py and so filled with potholes as to maki tho going not only extremely difficult, but exceedingly uncomfortable for any type of vehicle. The little Seven however, underwent all these trial and was far more willing to carry on at the end of the day than the ladi'et were.

Miss de Haviland was greatly amus ed by some of the roadside notices also by some of -the signs ornamenting the walls of various inns. Just afte. passing a notice stressing the need foi exercising care and avoiding- skidding, the travellers eaine to a garage hoarding, bearing the words, “You wreck if. We will fix it." At another point the 1 tourists were shown a number of white crosses on the roadside, marking the places where people had been, killed in motor accidents. HUMOUR LIGHTENS HARDSHIP. At one of the roadside inns there was a quaint placard or. the wall, which read, “Our coffee has a lingering kick Like a flapper’s first kiss.” Another notice said, “Use less suga'e but stir like h —. We don’t mind the noise.” Wit was even more conspicuous in a wall-sign which gave the following- advice: “Don’t make fun of our’coffee. You may be old and weak some day. ” ■ The travellers had a number of trying experiences which they are not likely to forget. On one very muddy and boggy section of road the car sank ho much and so often that eventually the whole of the space between the wheels and the' mudguards was packed tight with mud, and nothing could-be done until the ladies made -arrangements for help to lift the car out of a hole in which it had settled. They then picked out tho mud as best they could with their fingers, tli us freeing, the wheels and enabling them to revolve for at least a. period. ■ At certain stages of their tour the travellers- suffered bitterly from the Intense cold, which was, of course, jartieularlv severe at high altitudes. They were unlucky enough to contract influenza, which added to their hat-d-

ships, and Miss Eley had to return to England from Hollywood. AUSTRALIA AND INDIA NEXT. It is the intention of Miss dc Haviland to make rest of the journey alone, except across the. Australian Desert,' where will have a lady companion with her. 'She is quite confident, after what the little car has already accomplished, ■ that they will have no difficulty in completing the circle of the globe, and she has every confidence that she will arrive back at the Austin Company’s works in England with the vehicle in good going condition. On reaching Levin, Miss, do Haviland had accomplished 4350 miles out of a. total- of approximately 30,000 miles. She is still using the original set of Dunlop tyres. They show very little sign of wear, and so far only one puncture has been sustained. Aftertouring the North Island, Miss de Haviland will leave on Friday next for Sydney, and-will meet her younger brother, Hereward, who represents De Haviland’s plane in Melbourne. When the continent has been crossed .to Perth, she will sail for India, which she hopes to reach before the monsoon season.