THE HONGKONG DAILY PRESS, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9TH,
1926
Three Supreme Products
OF THE
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1111
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HONGKONG HOTEL GARAGE.
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[A.F.8.]
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[67.1]
SOCONY
MOTOR
AND
OILS
GASOLINE
Motoring Notes:
A Weekly
Review dealing with matters of interest to
all local motorists.
·
[BY AN OWNER-DRIVER.}
A Hongkong motorist who recently visited Manila. relates that all of the cars in that city are £tted with saloon or. limousine bodies.
"There can be no doubt that, all over the world, the permanently closed-in car is growing more and more popular.
The ladies usually prefer it. They sometimes have ficulty in preserving the neat appearance (which means so much to them) if they are in a wind-
swept open tourer.
A MATTER OF TASTE.
It is, of course, all a matter of taste. Many people in this Colony who use open touring cars keep the hood down in brilliant summer sunshine.
The Saloon and The Opeu Touring Car-Tropical Demands.
THE SIDE CURTAINS.. lr Many motorists find that the most annoying thing about the open touring car is the difficulty which meets them when they want to put up the side curtains.
It is new-a-days fairly easy for one man to raise or lower. the hood, but it is rather a Addling sort of job to fasten up the side qurtains.
THE WIDER ROAD.
Two-senter taxis might be popular for running about in town. They may, in time, cause the riekaba to disappear.
It is inevitable that, in time, the man- palled ricksha will be replaced entirely by the petrol driven vehicle. The ricksha coolie will be much better off when he is transformed into a chauffeur.
PRICE CUTS.
It is always good news to the local motorist to bear of any reduction in prices of cars.
In many places the Jubilee Road has
As the methods of production improre, been widened. A number of awkward and as experience in manufacturing work bends have been straightened out, There | connected with cars increases it is inevit are still a few, however, that need this able that prices will fall unless, of course, attention of our local road-makers. It wages rapidly increase.' is probable that further improvements will be made
British car vendors realise that they bave a hard task in competing with the The road passing by Felix Villas mass-production of American cars. enables you to avoid all of the traffe However, the English Rover company, through the Restaurant quarter. But have nanounced big reductions in the
IL. everyone should drive through that part price of the 14/43 horse-power car.
Hongkong once at least, for unless has overhead valves and four wheel
of
It may be argued that moterista de- mand too much of the makers. On they other hand it is just possible that the
makers have concentrated all of their attention on the mechanism of the car, and have not given suficient attention to the other fittings.,
The big cars can easily carry bathing
baskets and golf clubs. The small cars need special Attinga It is true that
.1
have seen West Point lit up at night brakes together with the firm's reputa- you have not seen anything of the gay tion for sound and reliable work. life of the Chinese.
Incidentally it may be mentioned that It takes some time, however, for a car the first safety bicycles were called to thread its way through the intricacies | “ Rovers" because they were produced of the West Point maze, and so you may by the Coventry frm of that name.
Ia
take a short cut up on to the Pokfulam Coventry is a Statue to the inventor of Road if you wish to avoid West Point. the safety bicycle and the founder of the
You must drive along Caine Road if Rover firmi.
Others, during the summer, keep the hood up as a protection against the sua, but towards evening the hood is there is usually a luggage grid provided you take the upper road. There you will
put down.
་
Any covering over the car, tends to obacure the scenery. That does not matter very much in a town but in the country it is most certainly a drawback, unless the motorist is not interested in
scenery:
The saloon and, limousine, body first made its appearance as a result of the demands made by ladies who wished to attend evening partica. It was more ex- pensive to fit on to the chassis than the ordinary touring body, but those who can afford evening parties can usually afford to pay a little extra for increased
comfort.
11
THE TROPICAL SUN.
It must be admitted that the bood usually fitted to a touring car is rather A nuisance.. There have been improve- ments in the design recently but that does not mean that there is no room for fur- ther improvements.
No doubt the reason for the popularity of the closed in car in Manila is because of the tropical sun.
The fashion may be changing in Singapore and Penang but three or four years ago there were a large number of open touring cars to be seen in both cofitres.
In Great Britain' the closed in car is becoming more popular because of the inclement weather which seems to prevail at all times of the year in Great Britain. It is certainly a nuisance to have to put up a hood and aide certains in the midst of a sudden shower.
AN OPPORTUNITY.
J
There is most certainly a great op portunity for an ingenious inventor to produce some form of hood that can be raised or lowered by the driver while he remains in the driver's seat
Purchasers of cara would pay a few pounds extra, gladly, for such a con- venience.
Imagine the driver pressing a button and so starting up an electric motor which winds the hood up or down'!
There was an English firm that raised our hopes three or four years ago. A metal (probably aluminum) arrangement alid up or down to form a part of the
hood.
When the car was used as an open tourer the covering slid behind the back seat into a sort of hage pocket provided for it in the rear part of the bodywork.
The device does not seem to have been very successful, however, or we should see it in use to-day..
THE TAXIS.
In some ways the arrangement employ ed by the designers of taxi-cabs seems to be the most sensible: There is a sort of permanent frame work to which the collapsible hood is secured when it is
at the back of the car and baskets can be placed there. ¿
t
Golf clubs scratch the paint work of the car. When the hood is down they can, with some cars, be placed in the hood It may be as well to resign one- self to entrance to the car on one side
only. In that case the golf clubs can be placed in a rack on one of the running beards.
see all of the opportunities that, were missed by the ex-Direeters of Public Works, Messrs. Chatham and Parkins. They allowed houses to be rebuilt on the old sites along Caine Road although many local residents pointed out to them that
a great increase in motor-traffic was inevitable.
Neither of those gentlemen was much interested in motor-cars in those days,
NO EXTRAS.
The new price for the five-seat tourer
£483, while the Weyman saloon is Esss. The coach buit saloon is £895. Thus there is a reduction of £75 in each
casc.
It is stated on most reliable and in" dependent authority that the briefest, wearing parts are capable of doing at least 50,000 miles of service and it will be of interest to discover how many
It is sometimes said that makers do though there are stories of how the medium grade car will run without any
not provide sufficient arrangements for the cooling water in the tropics. There have been cases of fully loaded small cars in Hongkong getting into difficul ties because the water in the radiator has boiled. It is, however, not a very common trouble.
Usually the radiator volume is ample. Of course the fan should be watched so as to obtain the full benefit of it.
venerable Mr. Chatham almost lives a motor-car in Eugland. "
hundreds of thousands of miles a modern
A point to be in expensive replacements.
noted with the cars that are now being sold at round about 2500 is that it is unnecessary to spend a cent on extras as they are fully equipped with, all the latest accessories.
A GREAT NEED. Something should be done by the
it is something of a triumph that cars unofficial members of the Legislative Council to ensure that, in future, no at such a price will run 50,000 miles- opportunity is lost to widen the narrow say for five years-without any replace ments. Of course, uztair handling will damage any car. The absolutely fool- traffic arteries such as Caine Road,
A few feet of the grounds of Govern-proof mechanism is not to be seen on
the road. ment House should be sacrificed so as to widen the road which skirts it.
A PIONEER'S PROMOTION.
The directors of the company manu-
THE CAR AND LOCAL PICNICS.
There is a dreadful hair-pin bend"on') In the good old days" bathing the road between Government House and
have appointed Mr. Basil Johnston hus picnics in Hongkong always meant the Colonial Secretary's office and it faturing the famous Rolls-Royce car launch picnits. Now-a-days people prefer should be made less dangerous as quickly inanaging-director.
An engineer by training Mr. Johnson- the more comfortable method of the as possible. It isn't very much to ask-
just a few feet off the grounds that sur-has bad experience of work outside of motor and the matshed.
Great Britain. He has crossed the Everyone equator on thirty-two occasions. During round Government House. knows that His Excellency would gladly the Great War he served in the Royal agree to such a plan if his technical Naval Air Force.
The majority of people enjoy the drive out, and the drive home again, quite as much, if not more, than the actual bath
ing.
There are few more delightful pleasures to be had in Hongkong than the ran home from Repulse Bay to Hongkong via the Jubilee Road at about sunset time.
If you have, also that happily tired feeling which a swim produces, and the contentment, which follows a tea taken with an appetite which a bathe usually creates, then you appreciate indeed the easy running of the modern car and com- pare it favourably with all the discom forts of a steam launch.
THE SURVIVALS.
The Jubilee Road has been greatly im
It was proved during the last year. originally built (so say the local gossips) with some of the money raised in Hong- kong to celebrate the jubilee of Queen
Victoria.
It was not built with any idea of motor traffic. It was for carriages ́or horsemen. In those days riding was a popular pastime in this Colony: Except in connection with the races, the Fanling
hant
and the Mounted Infantry Section of the Volunteers, the pastime bias almost disappeared.
It may be mentioned, however, that H.E. Sir Cecil Clementi and Lady Clementi are dometimes to be seen riding, On Saturday last their car was waiting at the Wongreicheong. Gap and it was generally surmised that they wanted to avoid the inconvenience of riding on a horse through traffic.
THE SUNSETS.
The Jubilee Road was not used very much until motors were introduced into up. The great advantage is that it the Colony. It skirta round the West
is comparatively speaking easy to put the hood up or down.
ern and the North-Western part of the aland. It is well wooded. It reveals some splendid building sites which are
The device is not popular with private car owners, possibly because they think used. by the Dairy Farm for cowsheds that it makes the private car look too and other purposca...... much like a public. véhicle.
.
What it also reveals are the glories of One of the great disadvantages of the the Hongkong sunsets. There are few closed in body is the extra weight. more gorgeous sights in all the world Although there have been great efforts than those which may be seen any fine to reduce the weight" of the limousine evening as you naiselessly glide in a car body, and although there has been con along the Jubilee Road_ siderable success, yet the fact remains Away to your left you catch a glimpse. that there is still a great deal of extra of the junks, with their picturesque weight in closed in cars. That means, in sails, moving across the sea-scape. The its turn, stiffer chassis. In the end it hills on the island are coloured as only costs more for petrol and tyres.
tropical sunset can colour hills, You Some of the makers market closed-in recline in the comfortable seat of your bodies at almost the same price as the well-sprung car and, if you in any way apon tourers. It is remarkable that they are able to appreciate the beautiful, you can afford to do so.
are too happy to talk..
advisers were to recommend it.
TWO-SEATER TAXIS.
In 1896 Mr., Basil Johnson became the superintendent of the first car exhibition organised in England by his late brother, Mr. Claude Johnson.
It would be of some interest to know New cars are appearing on the streets whether the new managing director of in England at the rate of about four the Rolls-Royce concern has ever been in thousand a week, so that the 500 two- Hongkong. He has travelled all over seater taxi-cabs that are supposed to the world, including India, Russia, appear, this year will be an almost Brazil, Argentina, etc. negligible portion of motor traffic.
The experience gained with them, how ever, will be valuable. It is doubtful if two-seater taxis would be popular in Hongkong, especially with Chinese
clients.
It is simply amazing that so many people can be carried in one taxi as can often be seen in this Colony. When we remember that usually the taxi has to climb a bill we cannot help feeling that the Chinese clients who crowd in get a very cheap ride if it is worked out on the man-mile basis."
SH
So far as is known to the writer there are only two Rolls-Royce cars in Hong- kong. The name is associated with affluence, but it is also synonymous with good workmanship.
The founders of the firm were remark- - ably clever men who aimed at producing
thoroughly reliable machine.
They accomplished that chiefly because of their infinite capacity for taking pains.
In motor-car work that means a very great deal. People who can afford it will pay a big price for reliability.
SHELL
SHELL
DELIVERED BY OUR OWN LORRIES Direct into" CERTIFIED
SHELL PUMPS
IS ALWAYS TUB SAMP
PERFECT QUALITY AND
· CORRECT MEASURE
The Astacio Peizpletam Čs. 1.B.C.