Are New Models As Good As Old?

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 337, 24 April 1928, Page 6

Are New Models As Good As Old?

Improvements Make Old Cars Impossible The year 1928 is the year of a wonderful automobile, a glistening gem of individual transportation for proud ownership, a vehicle not only harmoniously beautiful, but also fast, safe, comfortable, easyriding, quiet and durable. To appreciate its excellence, think back a few years. How crude in comparison were most motor-cars of five years ago, or even two in some cases. How much more attractive are the lines of the 1928 product, how much more appealing are the colours, how much better the interiors are furnished, how comfortable the seats are, how silent the car is, how steady at high speeds, how comfortable on rough roads, how quickly it stops, how trouble-proof, how long wearing, and how economical, and finally—remembering that it is a drawing-room on wheels, driven by a highly efficient in-ternal-combustion engine and fitted with a complete electric plant—how small its purchase price. Nowhere else in industry is there such a bargain as the modern motor-car. This miracle has been wrought, not by any radical innovations, but by steady step-by-step improvement of the individual parts. As compared with

a very few years ago, materials are better, their design is better and their finish and fit improved. And yet the manufacture and assembly of these vastly more suitable parts on the \vhole does not cost any more and in some cases costs less, thanks to steady improvement in the processes of production, brought about by the intensive work of thousands of engineers and scientists in factory and laboratory. Further, the automobile industry today has many millions of pounds capital invested in it, and is the adopted profession of some of the finest brains in the world. These facts have an important lesson for anyone contemplating buying any of the many fine new models now on the market. These immense resources both in finance and engineering, are devoted to the producing of the best possible car. To make one false step, to produce even one model that is in any way inferior to the best opposition models on the market, means to jeopardise a great industry employing thousands of men, and sacrifice the profits on the immense amount of money invested. No corporation would dare take the risk, so the buyer of any new model in New Zealand can be positive that it has been thoroughly tested,'that it represents the best at the moment from the manufacturing country and must be a decided advance on that company’s last model. Why save the time at the crossing if you lose it in the hospital? Over-inflation is usually as detrimental to the tyre (especially rears) as under-inflation. A check of inflation in a large number of tyres shows that carelessness in this respect is just as prevalent as ever. Apparently many individuals do not use an air gauge and. therefore they sometimes run the pressure up to 40 or 50 pounds, which naturally will promote fast tread wear, says a tyre expert in the “Goodyear News.” Oyer-inflated rear tyres chatter and spin. Tyres to give maximum service must be maintained at proper inflation.