MOTOR AND CYCLE.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 November 1926, Page 14

MOTOR AND CYCLE.

- MOTOR CAR ASPIRATIONS. WHAT THE PUBLIC WANTS. * (By Our Motoring Correspondent.) London, Sept. 23. Tach year it is solemnly asserted that stabilisation in motor cars has been reached and each year there is the recurrent phenomenon of cheaper and cheaper cars. Considered superficially, this tendency is to the majority of motorists perhaps a welcome one, but an uneasy minority is beginning to ask whether the downward movement in prices is such a good thing after all. What they are afraid of is, that the fierce competition which prevails in the motoring industry may have its reaction on the present high standard of reliability which characterises even the cheapest make of car. Common-sense suggests that if prices fall still further a point must soon be reached below which a manufacturer will find it commercially unremunerative to produce a car which can be bought with the confidence that exists to-day. Inevitably the manufacturer will have to employ 'inferior material and resort to economies that must further reduce the efficiency x>f his products. If it were a suit of clothes the'matter would concern only the wearer. Shoddy tweeds may be an eyesore but they are not a public danger such as an unreliable car certainly is. and there would accordingly seem to be aorne justification for the apprehensions of motorists that cheaper cars may prove to be a mixed blessing. CHEAP CAR FALLACY. If a questionnaire were sent out to those interested in motoring to ascertain what they most hoped to find at the coming motor show in London, it is safe to hazard that a considerably varied list of replies would be forthcoming, in which the aspiration towards still cheaper cars would make a comparatively modest showing. The demand for further reductions would come mainly from potential motorists still in the throes of indecision as to whether they should buy a car or not. In their case a drop of £2O or so in the cost of a car they had in mind might often prove the deciding factor. Those who have had experience of motoring and who happen already to own a car or are thinking pf buying a new model, will however, look for other things at the show than price reductions. They know that the initial outlay in motoring is only part of the cost of that pastime, so they will concentrate on such matters as improvements in chassis construction, decreased petrol consumption, easier gear changing, better springing, and. in the case of owner-drivers, easier maintenance. • TOWARDS THE SUPER CAR. It is one of the penalties of visiting «nv motor show that the contemplation of hundreds of different models of cars imust leave the owner of a car somewhat dissatisfied, not so much with his

own car—for few motorists are ever heard decrying their own cars —but with the creiumstance that he is not able to combine in his own car all the improvements he sees on other cars at the show. Lf he had his way he would select the all-weather protection of Model A, the wonderfully light but highly efficient brakes of Model B, the accessible driver’s door on Model C, the luggage grid of Model D, and add them, all to his own chassis. In the ideal car, which will doubtlessly make its appearance at the motor show one of these years, this culling of the best features of every make of car in the construction of a super-car will probably take place, but at next month’s show the most that can be expected that indicated, that while manufacturers have not yet reached the stage of fraternal helpfulness at which they are willing to agree to an interchange of their best patents and designs, they are at any rate alive to the fact that the modern car, however reliable, is capable of still further improvement. INCONVENIENT SPLENDOUR. A tendency which the writer hopes to see eradicated at this year’s show is the too lavish display of bright nickel parts, at any rate in the case of the models favoured by the owner-driver. It is really unfair of the manufacturer to use much nickel on such cars, for he places upon the purchaser an onus which he cannot discharge. Nobody likes j.o be thought a sloven, but the average ownerdriver who has no money to throw about cannot usualy afford the services of a car cleaner after every shower, and as he has little time to do the work himself it follows ahat after a few showers the bright new nickel becomes himself it follows that after a few conscientious souls who perform painstakingly the Sisyphus-like task of looking after the nickel, but they find that their motoring, which was intended to be a pleasure, has become a penance. Metallurgists allege that the day of the rustless and stainless nickel, or something similar is at hand, but until it has become a commercial product manufacturers will do well to curtail the number of bright parts on the 1927 models. SOME SUGGESTIONS. i Among positive aspirations in , the way of improvements in the coming motoring year, there may be mentioned i all-weather equipment that keeps the [ rain out everywhere, eveu at the front ; screen, springing systems that do not require to be eked out by shock absorbers, central lubrication or at any rate greasing points that will permit the grease and oil to reach their intended I sphere of utility, gears that will not i give an ear shattering protest when the ! driver changes down a shade too quiekI ly or a shade too slowly, more efficient I and less noisy brakes in some of the cheaper cars and greater accessibility to the accumulators and some of the other components. The list can be lengthened by sucli additions as infinitely variable gears which will abolish gear-changing and more efficient cooling systems; but if manufacturers and designers get on with some of the more urgent reforms I in the coining year they will have done .enough for the time being to ensure to them the warm gratitude of discerning I motorists. Cars this year are listed at ! prices to suit every reasonable pur-

chaser. The slogan for the future should not be cheaper cars, but better cars. BRITISH CARS. MR. COATES CHALLENGED. SUITABILITY FOR DOMINION. I London, Sept. 22. Last week, it appears, Mr. J. G. Coates made a speech in which he declared that it was not passible to buy a Bri-tish-built motor, car in New Zealand suited to the requirements and conditions of the country. Mr. S. F. Edge, a motoring authority, has taken the matter up, and has written to the Daily Express challenging the New Zealand Premier’s statement. “Mr. Coates,” writes Mr. Edge, “can get motor cars of high-grade quality and suitable for any country, made in Great Britain, with clearance equal to any American motor-car. Mr. Coates suggested that American manufacturers supplied cars which were better suited to conditions in New Zealand, and other not yet fully developed lands where country road conditions are bad. Actually facts are against Mr. Coates. The A.C. motor car, for whose manufacture Mr. Edge himself is responsible, the Armstrong Siddeley, the Sunbeam, the Bean, the Trojan, the Vauxhall—all, these makes of motor ear have ground clearances fully, as great .as that of most American-made machines. These makes and many other British motor cars, cater specially for Dominion trade, and design their models with an eye upon it Nevertheless,- the fact that Mr. Coates was ignorant of this state of affairs shows how faulty must be the publicity methods and general organisation of British manufacturers who offer their vehicles to New Zealand. AN EXCELLENT SIGN. “That the country’s Prime Minister of all people, should not know what British firms are doing to supply the demands of his countrymen indicates that whatever methods are used to advertise British motor cars in New Zealand are an utter failure. Now-price cuts by motor car manufacturers are being announced | almost daily. This is an excellent sign of the vitality and initiative which possess the industry, even though it has gone through such a trying time since the beginning of May. “Competition among the makers of low-priced motor cars is growing keener and keener. The advent of an American motor car which, despite'the import duty, can compete with British machines, has quickened the British manufacturers’ interest in giving the best possible value for money. I “This sort of competition is excellent. The benefit it brings to the motorist is too patent to need emphasis, but it also keeps the manufacturer himself from adopting the attitude of ‘our motor car. is good enough as it is to earn us a profit, so don't let us worry to improve it.’ This attitude, adopted' I fear only too frequently by some British manufacturers in the past, can only lead to I stagnation, the falling off of sales, un- • employment, and trade depression. Healthy vital competition leads along the road towards prosperity.”

THE MANIA FOR SPEED. There is a trite story of a motorist who, after taking all kinds of chances in speeding through traffic, thereby endangering his own life and the lives of others, turned to his companion on their arrival at the destination and triumphantly announced, “Well, we gained five minutes.” “That so,” answered the rather disturbed passenger, “now that we have the five minutes what are we going to do with it?” A study of accident reports indicates that a number of disasters brought about by exceeding the speed limit, involved drivers who had no valid reason for haste.. Most of them were actuated by the desire to get ahqad of the other machine. Some belier'ed they were endowed with superior skill in piloting a motor-car. Possibly they were, but they did not reckon on drivers who were not quite as skilful or those just as eager to reach the end of their trip. SPLINTERLESS GLASS. Tlie attention which is being paid to glass which will not splinter when frac-! tiired during a collision is shown by i the fact that there are now three firms able to supply glass of this special texture (says the Autocar). For the latest it is claimed that by reason of the great improvement which has been made in the manufacture of this material, the new glass can be produced at a reasonable price. A sample shows that the two sheets of glass which were welded together with a sheet of special material, are edged by a compound which is almost invisible, and that the glass itself is very clear and white, bearing no trace that there is any special substance between tlie two panes. When struck by a heavy blow the glass merely cracks, but no part of it falls away even under repeated blows. WE KNOW HIM? Consider, to ; day, the pedestrian chump Who sports the cognomen of J. Joaquin Gump He’s true" to his name—and we eye him askance, This dub who gives motorists never a chance I He filters through traffic with faraway stare, He crosses the street with his nose in the air, He heeds not the horn, and he flouts all the rules — He’s known as the acme of iav-walking fools! He causes more mishaps than people can name. And prompt on the motorist shoulders the blame. Relieved were the driver, and safer the road, - Would but the pedestrians follow the code; Oh, welcome the day when they all shall have learned To wait o the sidewalk ’til traffic’s been turned, To carefully take the right side of the road, ». And cross o’er the highway in sensible mo/10l

RAILWAYS REQUIEM. “Within ten years there will not be more than ten lines of electric railway in Canada which will be able to operate and show a profit,” the radical prediction made by Mr. S. L. Squire, Deputy Minister of Highways for Ontario, in an address before the Canadian Good Roads Association's annual convention at Edmondton on September 28. Mr. Squire stated that automobiles and motor trucks are gradually supplanting railways and radial lines in meeting Canada’s transportation needs. In this connection there should be, he thought, a very thorough survey of districts in which new railway lines are projected, with a view to determining whether automobiles and auto trucks could not serve the people just as well. An adequate fee for trucks operating on the public highways also was urged. More than £175,000,000 is invested in automobiles in Canada to-day, Mr. Squires pointed out, while £102,500,000 has been spent on the construction of motor highways. NEWS AND NOTES. ■ The proposal in England that the present motor tax on horse-power should be altered to a tax on petrol is being increasingly discussed. It is now generally recognised that the petrol tax is the fairest motor tax, as those who used the roads to the greatest extent pay the most towards their Upkeep. Recently a member of the British Ministry of Transport stated that it was proposed to construct in London a vast underground parking station. In time, this would have to be done, as the streets were growing more and more congested. Speaking at a banquet at Llandrinod Wells recently, Sir Henry Maybury stated that something like £40,000,000 would be spent upon the highways of England in the present financial year. He believed there would be available during the same period something like £2,250,000 for the maintenance and I improvement of rural roads alone. “Eighteen years is the minimujn age at which motor driving licensee may be obtained,” says the Melbourne Herald. “At this, .ftge a person is supposed to have the physical and mental capacities to allow him to assume responsibilities entailed by takin» a selfpropelled vehicle on the public highways. Among schoolboys, there are many who have access to money out of all proportion to their sense of responsibility. At the wheels of fast care, they ar e care-free tb the point of negligence. Lately, there have been several accidents in which boy drivers at the “showing off” age were involved. No one knows a youth’s temperament better than his parents, and even an indulgent father should know when commonsense dictates that his son is too high-spirited and immature for a brand new sports model car, with its high speed capabilities, to be a desirable gift. Unquestionably, many young car owners take road risks' iii the°penumbra of the false security that “Dad will fix things” if they get into trouble.”