GARAGE GOSSIP

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 348, 8 May 1928, Page 6

GARAGE GOSSIP

The A.A.A. arranged an outing for inmates of the Veterans’ Home last Saturday.

It is reported that French motorists, though not in favour of a petrol tax would like to be able to take out weekend licences for- their motor-cars.

Captain Malcolm Campbell was a pioneer motor-cyclist and the founder of the Bromley M.C.C. His first machine was a 2 h.p. Rex. • * * On an ordinary 2 % h.p. machine, the speed of the front chain, when the rider is doing 30 miles an hour, may often be as high as 1,500 ft to 1,600 ft a minute.

An outing for the Blind Institute is being arranged for Saturday, May 26. Anyone who could lend their private car for this work are invited to communicate with the A.A.A.

The new Ford will be on exhibition for the first tim© in Auckland to-day week.

A lecture on the new motor regulations was given to Hamilton motorists last week by G. W. Hutchison, secretary of the A.A.A.

The new road sign-posts to be erected throughout the Auckland motor district by the A.A.A., will bear the mileage to the destinations indicated on them. At a meeting of motorists at Hamilton, last week, Mr. Hutchison, secretary of the A.A.A., said it was hoped to have the whole of the province thoroughly signposted during the next few months. * * * The Waitemata County Council proposes to undertake the improvement of a section of Lincoln Road shortly. All who have travelled over this main highway during the last year will agree that action is well merited. * >* * While it is anticipated the world sales of passenger cars will increase by 20 per cent, this year, and that of trucks by 5 per cent., various new problems also will arise in the world’s automotive industry. For instance, improved cars will greatly reduce the sales of spares and replacements, and profits will be reduced on all car sales. These factors will force many companies and dealers into liquidation or trade mergers. * * * For a long time American cars have been fitted with aprons over the front dumb-irons and extending rearwards as far as the radiator. More recently British manufacturers have — almost grudgingly it seems—started to fit them as well. It is hard to understand why such aprons are not almost universally adopted, because, if well made and carefully fitted, they are absolutely rattleproof, and they do certainly clean up the front end of a car. The cost of making is low, and they seem to be desirable from every point of view. * * * So many minors drive cars in the U.S.A. that San Francisco has had to organise a juvenile traffic court to deal with young offenders. Breaches of traffic rules by boys and girls under 18 years of age are dealt with by this court. Penalties are suspension of driving licenses for varying periods, and the onus is placed on the offenders’ parents to see that the child does not drive during the period of suspension. The general view is that the motor driver who can establish a SydneyMelbourne record is a man without nerves—a chap who is not even on nodding terms with fear. But that is not altogether right, as this little incident proves. The other day E. J. Buckley and a passenger pulled up at Sublime Point. Tli© latter went over to the look-out. “Aren’t you coming over, Buck?” he said as the famous driver made no move. “No,” said Buckley. “I’m scared of heights—l hate looking down a big drop.” Quite candid about it. And Buckley is the man who averaged 53 m.p.h. between Sydney and Melbourne!

In both performance and appearance the new models set new standai'ds, and the public is due for a big surprise when they view the new offering. All cars are low hung, modern in style and design with a unity of line to assure them a distinctive character of their own. Beginning at the very front, Hudson cars have higher and more slender radiators. This effect is heightened by the shutters, which are cleanly patterned and vertical in design. On all

cars the shutters are finished in lacquer to match the lower body colour. EEAUTIFUL LINES Surmounting the radiators are the new sculptured radiator ornaments of classic design representing fleetness. Motometers have been removed to the dasli. ‘All cars are fitted with headlamps of colonial design and with saddle lamps of like design mounted on the cowl. In Hudson cars all these lamps are nickel. To complete the distinctiveness of the front-end views all cars have wide sweeping fenders, extra narrow front body pillars and distinctively shaped visors. From the front the unity of design is carried around to the side by striped mouldings and the sweeping curve of the fenders. It is noticeable from the side that the roof lines are new in design, that the rear quarters Attractively curved, and that the windows are pleasingly shaped in a horizontal design. All windows are set off by recessed reveals and striping. The running boards are lower to the ground, covered with a rubber matting in pattern and bound with aluminium strips. CHASSIS STRENGTHENED Not only in their smart lines are the new bodies interesting, their strength and rigidity as well are exceptional. Construction is along the exclusive Hudson design of recent seasons, but is now even more rigid. At vital points in the structure reinforcing plates and brackets have been added. Further, where the body pillars join the sills tliey are fastened by heavy malleable anchorages. WONDERFUL ROAD PERFORMANCE When the Hudson officials first told the writer about this new car, among other things, they said it had a steamcar smoothness, and the writer found after driving it for many miles up hill and down dale that there was some-

PAWNING THE CAR SPECIAL BUSINESS IN FRANCE In France, where the Government j and municipalities are also in the pawnbroking business, loans can now be raised on cars. Special pawn-garages have been constructed, and within a few days of the opening of the first, it was guarding its full accommodation of 200 motorists’ pledges. The French idiom for pawning an article is puttinsar'it “an clou.” hanging in “on the nail”: but nails sufficiently large to hold cars cannot be found in ordinary pawnshops, so that pawngarages are being prepared all over the country. “LTncle” usually has the same idea of the value of a car as a motor trader has when a trade-in is wheeled up for inspection: but then the pawnbroker is lending, not buying, and he charges only 9 per cent, for his money. Government pawn-garages are not rapacious in* France. Petrol must be drained from cars as soon as they are in “pop,” but if the pawner remembers to bring a can with him he is allowed to take the petrol away, presumably for use in his automatic cigarette lighter, if that has not been pawned first. TESTING DIFFERENTIAL The freedom of the differential gear ! may be tested by placing the gear j lever in neutral position and spinning i the raised wheel as rapidly as possible by hand. As the opposite wheel is still on the ground the spinning of the wheel will cause the sun wheels of the differential to travel round the planet wheels at a rapid rate, and while this is going on the presence of any excessive wear or any damage to the teeth will become evident by the noise. A further test on the same lines, but by moving the wheel very slowly, will enable one to discover if the differential gear has any tendency to work stiffly at one place, indicating some internal trouble. to cure which the differential should be dismantled. i

thing in this claim for the engine had a very silky action and is very quiet and vibrationless besides. It pulled up the test hills at all speeds without any evidence of effect or fuss, and this statement holds just as much for the grade taken at six miles an hour as those taken at thirty. While the high performance qualities of the new engine are all centred in the changes made in the combustion chamber and valve mechanism, an offhand glance at these featur*es might

lead the reader to believe that the changes are negligible, but a close analysis will indicate that while the changes are slight the results are quite important, not to say unique. The intake manifold is within the cylinder block, and the intake valve instead of being right over the exhaust valve is placed somewhat to the right so that fuel being sucked in from the carburettor hits the centre of the exhaust valve, where it is vapourised. This is the first time the exhaust valve has been used as a “hot-spot” to assist in vapourising the incoming mixture. Many benefits are realised from this ingenious arrangement, namely: 1. The exhaust valve is continually giving off its heat by the draft of cool fuel against it, making for cooler engine running, which in turn permits a higher compression ratio. 9 A compression ratio of 5.5 to 1 is secured with ordinary fuel without any tendency to detonation, whereas most modern engines use a ratio of 4.5 to 1, with 5.0 to 1 as the maximum, although the latter sometimes causes detonation. 3. The high compression gives g. marked increase in both power and fuel economy. 4. When the engine is started from cold the exhaust valves warm up in a very few revolutions and thus begin to aid in vapourising the mixture almost instantly. This in turn makes it possible to turn off the choke almost as soon as the engine is started, and the greatly reduced use of choke results in less oil dilution and less engine wear. The cars have now been fitted with a vibration dampener on the crankshaft which makes for smoother running. In tests conducted with these cars in Australia last month it was proved that a speed of 70 m.p.h. could be averaged on a petrol consumption better than 20 m.p.g. Without a doubt the new “Hudson” is the finest car ever produced by the famous Hudson-Essex Company, and should be in demand by anyone who wants a high-class quality car.

16 CENTRES WILL BENEFIT MAIN HIGHWAYS BOARD GRANT Schemes of road improvement adjacent to the large centres of the Dominion are to be drawn up by the Main Highways Board and submitted to the local bodies affected. Under the petrol tax legislation of last year 25 per cent, of the receipts then estimated to total £720,000, is to go to better roading schemes adjacent to towns of a population of 6,000 and over. On the basis of the estimate this works out at £IBO,OOO per annum to be distributed among these centres. This sum is in addition to the 8 per cent, of the petrol tax allotted to the larger centres for expenditure on their internal roads. The centres of 6,000 population and over are shown by the “Official Year Book'’ as follows:—Whangarei (6,715), Auckland urban area (202,400), Hamilton (14,520), Gisborne (13,340), Napier (15,330). Hastings (10,445). New Plymouth (14.570), Wanganui (24,420), Palmerston North (18,835), Wellington urban area (126.750), Nelson (10,360), Christchurch urban area (122,000), Timaru (15,635), Oamaru (7.245), Dunedin urban area (83,250), Invercargill (17,750). THE MAGGY It is admitted that, usually, it is ad- . visable to leave magneto overhauls to an expert, but if, in an emergency, an l amateur owner has to dismantle the in--1 strument himself, it is essential to remember to place a piece of iron across the magnet poles before withdrawing the armature. If this procedure is neglected the magnets may be seriously weakened, and may even need re-mag-netising if they are left for a long period without a keeper. It is always advisable to treat the magnets carefully, for shocks and vibrations weaken j their magnetism; also, when the keeper is moved, it should always be slid off the poles and not taken off sharply. \\ hen replacing the magnets cafe ! should be taken to put them in the po«i- ---* tion they originally occupied-