REAR ENGINE CARS.

Shannon News, 4 June 1929, Page 3

REAR ENGINE CARS.

Continental designers continue to experiment Avith placing the engine over the rear axle, an deven the failure of the German Rumpler car to become popular has not stopped the tendency. The Rumpler Company tackled rear engine installations on an ambitious scalo some vears ago, and Avhat merits the -tadicai system possessed were given prominence. A new French roar engine car designed by Jacques Gerin has made its appeeanmee on the Continent. The inventor, claims the foJloAving outstanding advantage for his, design. He consders, by the Avay, that on account of streamlining considerations, all cars in the future will have their engines at the rear, and this being quite possible, one must admit after sitting in one of these cars, that the driving position is really delightful. The visibility from 'the seats- is most extraordinarily increased. The noise of the engine is completely suppressed, although the power unit in itself is none too silent. As a matter of fact, all experienced drivers know that it is quite impossible to drive an engine without hearing it. Something will therefore have to be devised to make the driver, ‘‘but the driver alone, “hear” his engine as it runs. But such total silence could hardly be called a fault by his fellowpassen<fors. Fumes are noticeably absent from the body, as all exhaust gases are, of course, swept away at the real. M. Jacques Gerin’s power unit in-■ chides a short-three-speed gearbox, with central change, and an especially short transmission to the rear wheels, reduced length of its axles goes a long way toward the suppression of transmission noises. Good accommodation is provided for. a small trunk inside| the body. The aero dynamical efficiency of such a car is without any possible comparison with the conventional type ot car, as our readers are well aware. And this should probably be the greatest claim of M. Jacques Gerin s new car if he did not hold in reserve a greater invention atill. Ttic crajmo * » "t 1 ” 1 ® ; or the bloc-moteur, is separable fron the body. In less than seven minutes, and by Ldoing 12 nuts only, the who.e of the mechanical parts, engine clutch, gearbox, and transmission, still resting on the rear wheels, and thus quue easily accessible for repairs, come away and are unharnessed from the. chasm. They can be wheeled away into the retSr «hop, just as a tired horse is Sen away to the stable, and rep aecd in seven more ounutcs by another unit, The side members of the frame are built as sliding rails to allow of such a movement.