ACROSS AMERICA

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 528, 4 December 1928, Page 7

ACROSS AMERICA

3.772 MILES IN 76 HOURS RECORD IN BUSINESS TRIP i Finding it necessary for business | reasons to drive his own car from j Los Angeles to New York, a salesman set out with a friend in a Dodge Brothers’ Victory Six. which had already covered 12.427 miles. Usually a good deal of preparation is made tor such a run, but the business was urgent and they had to start without delay. They took turns at the wheel during the arduous run. Up and down mountain roads, across deserts, through mud and rain and in city traffic with thrills and hair-rais-ing adventures thrown in, the pair carried on. Forced off a mountain road in Arizona in a collision with an approaching car, their car was damaged to the extent of a caved-in body, broken

windshield, bent front axle aud steering gear, and damaged front brakes. Surveying their plight, the two men, uninjured, agreed that the all-steel two-walled body had saved their lives. The car proceeded under its own power to Kingman, Arizona, where a Dodge dealer effected emergency repairs without replacements and mainly with a sledge hammer. This accident cost them three hours in time. In Kansas the drivers were again delayed by flooded roads and a 90 miles detour was necessary. At one time it rained so hard that they disconnected the fan to prevent it from throwing water over the engine. Stops were made six times en route for changing and replacing, tyres. Arrived at last in New York, the speedometer reading showed they had negotiated 3,772 miles at an average of 43 miles an hour; outrunning the fastest transcontinental trains by more than seven hours.