SPEEDING THROUGH

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 214, 29 November 1927, Page 6

SPEEDING THROUGH

France has begun “automobile auction annex salons ” held every Sunday for the sale of used cars. Good roads tend to unify our population by taking the town people to the country, and the country people to the town.

The baloon tyre has three distinct qualities: Low air pressure, broad surface, and extra resiliency.

One pedestrian is- killed in the United Suites every eight hours, a statistician says. That pedestrian must get awfully tired of it. o■ * * The speed limit on new cars should be strictly observed. The parts of a new motor must be worked in, and if they are abused in the first weeks of service, they are bound to suffer for it in the end.

There is no danger spreading spring leaves apart by driving a screwdriver between them, provided the body of the car has been jacked up in order to take the weight off the springs. Ordinary driving strains springs far more than would be possible for the car owner to do when spreading the leaves apart. . Holden’s body-building works at Adelaide is the biggest plant of the kind in Australia. It employs 2,700 hands, and the weekly output is 1,200 bodies. The latter necessitates carrying a supply of a million feet of airdried timber in the yards. When going down hill or driving on rough or gravel roads, do not step on the gas accelerator or apply too much power when traction is poor, as this may cause your car to skid badly. Our idea of the champion absentminded motorist, is the one that ran down a pedestrian, took the victim to the repair shop and drove his car to the hospital. When touching up the car with a little paint, the greatest enemy you have is dust, A good plan is to hang up a few wet rags about the garage. These ;will absorb quite a lot of dust which •floats in the air. Lubricating oil is about the cheapest thing used in the car, being about two per cent, of the running cost. . That being the case, don’t fail to carry out what the instruction book says: “Drain the sump at least every 500 miles.” “Honestly Mabel, I spend so much of my time in my car that I just can’t find time to' read the books I should read.” “That’s nothing. I haven’t even the time to read all the books I shouldn’t read.” * * *. Five hundred motorists in Summerdale, a suburb of Chicago, 111., missed their cars after they had parked them in front of their homes sometime during the night. The police towed the cars to garages, as they began enforcing a new ordinance against all-night parking. Chamois leathers which have deteriorated owing to long use, can be cleaned and made as good as new again by the following method: —Wash the leather in distilled or filtered water, sprinkle with powdered borax, and scrub well. Then rinse in filtered water and dry well. AN AFTERTHOUGHT Nervous Beginner: “I’m still a little backward about driving/* Instructor: ‘T guess that accounts for your starting in reverse every time.” * * * A MATTER OF CAUTION “What steps would you take ” asked the inquisitive motorist, “if your place became full of carbon monoxide gas?” “Long ones,” answered the wise garage man.

When a clutch slips and then grabs, it means that the unit is going to fail completely within a short time. The slipping is the result of the plates having been burned, and further slipping is forced upon the clutch making the plate-head expand and grab; the plates are burned again so that they slip worse than ever. Such a process cannot continue indefinitely. Apply that old proverb,. “A stitch in time saves nine.”