GARAGE GOSSIP

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 296, 6 March 1928, Page 6

GARAGE GOSSIP

A motor gymkhana will be held on the site of Mr. G. Henning’s speedway at Mangere on March 17, and the prizes won at the Muriwai races, will be presented. The programme will slightly differ from the last few gymkhanas and as an added attraction one of Auckland's best runners will be matched against a motor-car over a hundred yards’ course. Mr. D. Mill has also agreed to be present with his Moth airplane, if he is in Auckland at the time. The. whole of the proceeds of the gymkhana are to be devoted to the fund which is being raised by the sports bodies throughout New Zealand to send New Zealand athletes to the next Olympic Games.

The extent to which high-priced cars sell in New Zealand is discussed in “General Motors Life” for February, and it is interesting to note that in 1927 there were 359 cars sold in the Dominion in the class price above £6OO. This represents 2.77 per cent, of the total car sales during the year. It is expected that about 400 vehicles will be sold in this price class during 1928. During 1927 some 30 per cent, of the cars sold in over £6OO class were British, American and Continental cars count for the larger proportion of sales in this class each year, as in other classes.

The Information Bureau of the A.A.A. is now open continuously from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. .

The United States Department of Commerce has recently announced that the rapidly increasing volume of American foreign automobile assemblies is playing a most important part in American foreign trade. In 1927 there were 25 foreign branches of American automobile companies in full operation, an increase of 15 since 1924.

Spare parts and materials for motor work imported into New Zealand during 1927 were valued for duty purposes at £267,797.

The Auckland Automobile Association is to be congratulated on its success in having several desirable features embodied in the new regulations. Uniform signals, the off-side rule and the dimming of headlights have caused considerable discussion and the regulations as now gazetted are due largely to the vast amount of work which has been put in by the council of the association for many years past.

Knowing that a new penny a gallon tax on gasoline was to be imposed, garage and fuelling station owners in New Jersey, U.S.A., stocked up their tanks and storage chambers in advance in order to pocket the profit. When books were balanced afterwards, it was discovered that evaporation and shrinkage during the storage cost them a total of £IO,OOO.

“My wife suffers from nerve-strain, the result of much brainwork, and her doctor advised her to try motoring. She learnt on a second-hand Dodge and after completing some 3,500 miles over a lot of the steep hills of this State finds her car the king of tonics and a perpetual pleasure, at the minimum of expense. It is manageable, responsive, and, though long past its youth, game for anything and reliable.” Thus runs a letter received by the Sydney agents for Dodge cars.