THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 1932.
THE CHINA MAIL.
AN THE MOTORISTS' PAGE N-
Accessibility In Car Design
Makers Derive Useful Hints From Owners
Lack Of Liaison
"Recently I have been using a) are selling in large numbers. few small cars, and have learned But their qualities on the road much that has surprised me are much higher than in the about the maintenance work in-garage when they are in need of volved, the dealing with those such attention as the owner gives, things which every owner-driver especially in regard to 'getting is supposed to attend to. I have down to various points to fill also been gathering the opinions with grease and oil,
of practical men on this ques- In that respect accessibility tion of accessibility, writes the has not only failed to keep pace motoring correspondent of the with improvements in engines, Ceylon Observer.
suspension, and the like but has
I would not go as far as the gone backwards. That point was foreman at one large garage who emphasised in one of the talks 18 tersely told me that there was had with the garage staffs by re- no accessibility these days, al- ference to a car not made now though, in support of his opinion, for some years.
he called up one of his star men] In the case of this model It! to confirm that it took a quarter was the work of but a minute ori of an hour to get up the front two to take out the front seats: floorboards of a specified small and lift up the floorboards, and car in order to get down to the the owner could then straddle gearbox. That, too, as he point-the propeller shaft, or sit on it, ed out, in a well-equipped gar- and, with plenty of leg-room age with experienced men. head-room, and elbow-room, get
of his own
Bolts and Screws.
-
THE BUICK IN CZECHO-SLOVAKIA
The cameraman catches an effective angle of the Presidential Palace in Prague, Czecho-Slovakia.
and the
WIZARD CONTROL OF BUICKS.
Engineering Development.
· ENTHUSIASTIC COMMENTS.
REAL ECONOMY IN NEW CARS.
Better Engines and Brakes.
Cars Perform Better At Night
Change In Atmospheric Conditions
NOTICEABLE IMPROVEMENT
Thousands of motorists have detonation will occur. The den- experienced the sensation of, ser, or more compressed, the gas charge is the greater expansion having their cars run better at it will have when it is fired. night than during the day, and "Air naturally becomes heavier have wondered accordingly if and more dense when cold, ex- the car really operated better or panding when hot. At 70 de if it was only a halucination.grees temperature a pound of air This question was put recently will occupy 18.4 cubic feet of to Oldsmobile engineers and they space, while at 82 degrees it will assure motorists that improved only occupy 12.4 cubic feet. car performance at night often, Therefore, a larger and heavier is a fact and they explain the charge of gas mixture can be reasons why this is so.
drawn into an engine cylinder "A noticeable improvement in when the air is cool. car performance at night usually "Another contributing cause occurs when the day has been hot of improved engine performance or sultry and there is a material at night is the fact that night drop in temperature at night," air usually is damper than dur- explain the Oldsmobile engineers. ing the day, and the fine parti. This improvement is due to cles of moisture contained in it the change in atmospheric condi-slightly slows the rate at which tions.
the fuel burns.
"An internal combustionen- "In designing the 1982 Olds. › gine gives better performance mobile Six and Straight Eight, when the gas mixture is under we have increased the compres- high compression that is, sion ratio so that owners obtain providing the compression has this improved performance under not been raised to a point where any atmospheric condition.
·4-CYLINDER MODELS
6-CYLINDER MODELS
E 90" WHEELBASE MODELS L100 WHEELBASE MODELS
OPEL MOTOR
OPEL MOTOR CARS
I was told of, and I found for down to his gear-box, the brake certainly higher than the level myself in these cars I was run-shaft, and all that is assembled of his head.
Happily, by the time all the ning, faults of design that cause at the rear of the engine. the owner-driver tackling main-
werk is over and the car is on tenance in the restricted space By way of contrast, one of the the road again the owners' ati- garage far more cars I was shown had its floor-oyance is soothed by the excel- trouble than ought to be experi- boards screwed down, partly lent performance he is getting. enced. Of another make, at an-with engine-turned screws of an But the fact remains that it is. other garage, I was told that it engineering standard pitch of an annoyance, a constantly re takes 10s. worth (or more) of thread partly with wood screws, curing one, for cars must have
IMPROVEMENTS IN 1932. dismantling and reassembling in The steel stamping which rim- periodical attention, order to give Ss. worth of atten- med the top of the gearbox was smaller the car the more pro-
Automobile prices are not greatly tion.
fastened down with both kinds nounced is the inconvenience.
Saving the average motorist Thing Aimed At. Selling Well.
of screws, and the channel part
It is trouble that ought not to
hundreds of applications of the lower this year, but value is certain- Every one of the cars mention over the propeller shaft was
ly greater than ever before, with the ed ranks among the popular bolted through the wood of the occur. We get it partly because clutch pedal in the course of a class and has a reputation for floorboards.
to-day the manufacturer must day's driving, Buick's sensation inclusion of safety glass all round,
a price in order to al automatic clutch, the leading
the sliding roof, real leather for economy in running costs, for All these screws had to be work to road performance, hill-climbing undone and the bolts unfastened stimulate sales, and he takes the feature of Wizard Control, is upholstery, arm-rests, bumpers and powers, reliability, and good before the owner-driver could shortest way to that price which working life, and most of them get down to fill his gearbox. He will give him a profit. But it is bringing forth enthusiastic com- many other items, formerly classed are cheap.
had an alternative: to crawl also due in measure to a factory mendations from all parts of the as extras. Whether present value For all these reasons all are under the car and try to fill at conception of a car as a thing o.world, according to reports re-can be maintained is another mat- deservedly popular, and there is an orifice almost as high as the the road, so that performance is ceived by General Motors Ex-ter, and the doubt provides another evidence on the road that they underside of the floorboards and the thing aimed at. It is a port Company. Never in the argument for buying a
ception fed by familiarity with history of Buick and, perhaps, in
YOU ARE CORDIALLY IN the car as a stripped chassis, in the industry, has a single en- which form of course, accessibi.gineering development met with
Cars will never be better as re- VITED TO TELEPHONE lity is at its very best.
car is always depreciating, and by real liaison between the body. Buick's automatic clutch per-keeping an old car an owner is builder and the chassis designer, mits shifting to any gear low, and when that body is a steel second, high and even reverse always depriving himself of all the pressing remote points that are without touching the clutch conveniences, economies and plea- bolted over cannot be reached by pedal. This is made possible by aures offered by the car of 1982. the use of saw and the appli- Buick's selector valve, which re- cation of a little amateur carpen-gulates the speed of the clutch try.
engagement, for low, second and model may find it a real economy as It is all trouble that could be high, giving mechanical precision well as a pleasure to own one of the rectified, at a cost. But few to the operation.
new 9 h.p. or 10 hp. cars, while the
YOUR NEW CAR
SHOULD HAVE THESE:- FLOATING POWER... FULLY AUTOMATIC CLUTCH
WHEELING
TRANSMISSION
SELECTOR
HYDRAULIC
FREE EASY SHIFT SILENT GEAR
FOUR WHEEL
BRAKES..
CENTRIFUSE BRAKE DRUMS MONO-PIECE ALL - STEEL BODIES
DISTINCTIVE BEAUTY
You Want Them All in the
Car You Buy
You Have Them All in the New DODGE CARS.
DODGE
SOUTH CHINA MOTOR CAR CO.
Deux Road Central
now,
new car
It is due, further to a lack of ponse, it is declared.
so instantaneous a public res-garde quality for prices, the old 30228 OR TO CALL FOR
The owner of an old-type 12 hp.
owner-drivers would decline to The driver can also go into owner of a 7 hp, or 8 h.p, small car pay a little more if they had free wheeling and out of it with will find many advantages in the practical demonstration that a out using the clutch pedal, the slightly larger car, at very little cessibility was a real and posi automatic clutch giving instant more cost, although the British tive factor in design. The control of both free wheeling and babies represent motoring in its owner-driver is, and always was conventional drive. in the bulk, the man with the spare purse, and has to think in shillings.
Thinks Twice.
most economical form, and a won- H. A. Alfoth, Service Manager derfully satisfactory form, too. of General Motors Export Com- Points for Decision. pany, pointed out that each time The 1982 car in all sizes is de- the clutch is fully depressed Anitely better braked as well as If to-day his purse tenda to be with the foot in the old type better engined, and the standard of lean he thinks twice before hand of operation, a force equal to breaking is now generally satisfac ing over his car to a garage for about thirty-five pounds is exert tory. This item can be disregard attention he himself ought to be ed. . With Bulck's automatice, bat the, accessibility of brake able to give. If he weighs up clutch, this rk is performed adjustments as well as of lubricat the little extra cost of positive by merely resting the foot upon ing points may be given some con- accessibility, supposing that he the new clutch control button, sideration
could get it, and the convenience power supplied by vacuum from Even If the car is to be serviced, of such a factor to himself, the intake manifold: moving the it will be the better looked after if against those visits to the gar clutch.
age, he will be prepared to buy "I consider Bulck's automatical points requiring attention are economy in the first instance. clutch and the other elements of convenient of access.
"Makers" have admitted again Wizard Control free wheeling, and again that they derive many and the new silent second avacro useful hints from private own- mesh transmission, one of th era, but in the main they have greatest engineering accepted only those relating to rentá-afbeant: road performance. It would bo| Alfóth:conchi ded
far-sighted of them to collect
opinions on this matter of acces
sibility and see what can be done After
future
and
OPEL
As regards the humber of cylin- ders, when it comes to over 12 hp. the general preference is for six cylinders, and very Below 12.
amply
runn
A DEMONSTRATION.
· THE DRAGON MOTOR CAR
COMPANY, LTD.—33 WONG
A
NEI CHUNG ROAD--HAPPY
VALLEY HONG KONG.
R
S
CHRYSLER
A NEW CHRYSLER Sox, with six body models; a new Chrysler Eight, with five body models; new Chrysler Imperial Eight, with three body mod da; a new Chrysler Custom Imperial Eight with sir body models. "All new Chrysler can offer the
greatest
developements in modern times.
CARS NOW ON DISPLAY AT
THE NATIONAL MOTOR CAR CO.