10
MOTORING NOTES
(CONTD.),
THE POOR MAN'S CAR IN 1928.
[BY JOHN PRIOLEAU.]
time of year. They have been of all sorts and sizes and of pretty nearly all prices. They have been English, French, Italian American, and they have been, I suppose, in their several ways, de- eigned for practically every known class of car buyer.
also in the capabilities of the car when it is at its very worst
THE HONG KONG DAILY PRESS. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25th, 1928.
a
FORD'S RUBBER CONCESSION.
NEARLY FOUR MILLION ACRES.
4 30%
HEALTHY AND ACCESSIBLE PART OF AMAZON VALLEY.
RIO DE JANEIxo, April 4th.
capital were the only reasons why. Although much mystery has been the trees were not being exploited. attached, and still remains attach The commisison recommender the ed, to the details of Henry Ford's Lower Amazon Yallay, or the State rubber concessions in the Amazon Para, and especially singled out
that the concession comprises rivers Tapajoz, Xingu, and Tocan- 1,500,000 hectares (3,700,000 acres) at tins. The first of these, the Tapa- distance of about 150 miles south joz, was most highly recommended of the city of Santarem on the because of its accessibility to oceanUS Tapajor river, between Cupary and going steamers Tapacura, in the State of Fara.
Taking 500 pounds to the nere as an average, experts estimate that if half of the area of the Ford conces sien is planted, the annual produc- tion would be 373,000 tons of rubber, or slightly more than the total
States during 187. amount consumed by the United
THRILLS OF RECORD SPEEDING.
"A FASCINATION ABOUT THESE THINGS.”
BY MRS. MALCOLM CAMPBELL,]
Messages began to come through. A STUDEBAKER TRIUMPH.
Campbell is about to start.'
י,
34 HOURS AT 0.8 M.P.H.
11
• Campbell, has just crossed the first mark.' Then, almost on the instant, Campbell has passed the first mile mark.' Then the second, third and | THE TRACK A DRY LAKE BED, fually, Campbell has just entered the mile!"
horror and that of every spectator, we saw that terrible sand cloud rise
A gold feld is the last place in the world one would expect to wid- 1054 An automobile speed trial. Yet a stock model Studebaker Com-
"
The track on which The Commander proved its mettla. whs the dry bed town of Kalgoorlie and appro of Lake Ferkolilii, near the mining rimately 300 miles inland from Perth
Right on this we *W the Within the past few weeks I have This is really rather remarkable, as
blue streak of the car flash into had rather more opportunities of not only does it indicate the
Giving her impressions as an sight, pass and disappear in the mander Roadster, in the heart of trying new models of cars than maker's confidence in his design
observer of the record attempts by distance, leaving the drone of the the Coolgardie Gold Fields in generally "falls to my lot at this and methods of constriction, but Valley, it is now definitely known i the region which comprises the her husband to beat the land speed exhaust as the only evidence that it, western Australia, brako every Aur- had ever been there at all. We tralian record for speed and en- record at Daytona Mr. Malcolm knew it was going fast-terrifically darance for Si hours on March 10th, Campbell contributes an interesting fast-and were speculating whether according to a cable received on
America. Corporation of article to The Motor, from which it was fast enough, who, to my March 17th, by The Studebaker we quote the following:-
"It was in no sense an attempt | again. Ford's concession is included in on the record, and the course wa this region and he thus knew in a
not even marked. He seemed to be large measure what he was about going famously, and had got up to when he accepted the invitation of speed of about 130 miles an Dr. Dionysio Bentes, Governor of the State of Para, and sent a com- mission which arrived in Pars in March, 1925, to study Brazilian, conditions in general. The commis- sion spent three months in the country, and the lands on
The body work has undergone and such a remarkable change for 1929. As I felt sure would be the case, the position of the small saloon is being severely attacked, and many tivals have sprung up in the shape These experiences of mine have of those forms of coachwork called the unusually interesting, because sunshine," "sunlight," and so they have enabled me to make a forth-that is to say. saloons which pretty fair forecast of what sort of are really all-weather cars with eal- cars are available for various lapsing, folding, or sliding roofs depths of pures. I think we are which make them equally suitable all going to come off pretty well in for fair and foul weather. Only a comparison with former years-al-couple of years ago body work of
Among all of the tributaries of the Amazon, the Tapajoz is by far
the
hour when the car hit a bump in the sand, leaped two feet into the air and forward for quite thirty feet, landing with a resound ing crash.
"I never want to live through another moment like it. I was
the xir.
though, of course, here and there this type was to be found on none the most healthful and accessible, Tapajoz river drew its especial nt/standing on the dunes watching th: that he had covered the mile at speed of 705 miles per hour, in
bring navigable by ocean-going
tention.
steamers for at least 200 miles from its mouth, or to the farther limit of the Ford estate, as careful wound-commission
A Second Ford Commission. Sometime later a second Ford arrived, comprising
2
Driven by Norman "Wizard " Smith, the veteran Australian driver, The Commander not only broke all Australian records for speed and endurance for 4 hours, but lowered all records for 100 to was made mm- 1,700 miles. That der observation of the West Austra lian Royal Automobile Club.
During the 24-hour trial, The Commander travelled as an average ·
cluding all stops for fuel and oil, The last 50 miles was covered at a^ speed of 78 miles per hour. No mechanical adjustments were made. throughout the run.
that Following the statement "Nothing in Australia has ever
that had it not been for a movers dust storm carly in the run which prevented high speeds, The Com mander's Australian 4-hour run
Automobile Association observation cords established under American at Atlantic City Speedway October 8th to 10th, 1997. In this test a stock Commander Roadster, one of atrio which later travelled 25,000 miles in less than,, that number of minutes, ran 1814.96 miles in 24
1995 seems to me to be likely to be these care, whether they be of the ings have shows. Ford's planta specialists, in chemistry, botans, experienced in the whole of my life.) sufficiently long take-off run, so his travelled so far so fast" came word
A 1250 Maximum.
arc the usuzl examples of but expensive chassis of a comider stagnation or even retrogression-able size. Now you can buy quite but those of us who are going to practical examples of it for even do particularly well, I think, are less than the poor man's £230, the poor. The poor man's car in There is more room, too, in all quite a desirable acquisition. two-seater four-seater, coupé, or saloon order, and although there is still unlimited opportunity for im- By the poor man's car I do not proving, upholstery, their general necessarily mean, with one or two comfort strikes mo exceptions, the cheapest. Some carstinctly in advance of anything we which are produced in huge quan have had so far. Springing, for tities at very low prices may call example, is better, windows do not themselves poor men's cars with rattle so much as they did, and justification, but the kind of poor those deadly saloon draughts teem man I am thinking of is he who to have been brought more under can afford to pay just that little control. bit more for his car which makes 60 much difference to the pleasures
ރ
tions would thus be connected with Detroit by water direct, consider-
transportation. as being disably simplifying and cheapening
you
My God! I thought, surely this thing cannot happen twice without mishap! I never thought to see my husband alive again, but once more the fates were kind, and even the car came through without material damage. What had hap pened was that the car bad struck a soft patch of sand, skidded and, of course, thrown up a cloud into How Malcolm get the car out of thas skid even he does not know, but he did, and almost 45 we saw he was sale we were told
about 214 miles an hour. If, there- progress of the car when I saw a tre fore, he could keep it up on the mendous cloud of sand spring into return trip the records were safe. the air, heard the crash and thought This time, however, the wind it was the end of all. It was pro was against him, and the effort of controlling the car had been so bably the worst moment I have eve: great that he did not make a agriculture, and labour organiza-It looked as though all his bapes, speed was just under 200 miles an tion. The party went into the even life itself, had gone in that hour for the second mile. However, jungle and thoroughly investigated
the average worked out alt right, one ter ible instant Indeed,,, had and, so far as the actual records the land which is situated on the that been so, I do not think were concerned. I could feel that would have broken the 24-hour re This Ford enterprise has the great right bank of the Tapajor river, it could have been worse than was the auxiety and strain were over. advantage of being able to avoid the between the mall tributaries of the experience of that poignant "Would I go again! I do not mistakes made by others in the-rub-Capary and Tapacura. Members of instant. ber held of Brazil. It has been the commission travelled on foot for
know. In spite of the terrible nerve-racking strain there is ✡ It was on Sunday that at last fascination about these things which verified that the "Hevea brazilian several hundred miles through the records were achieved. At about draws one irresistibly-so much so, Amazon high plateau, comes into high plateau some two or six miles with a 33-mile-an-hour gale blow moments again, I suppose that it zia," in is natural habitat, the virgin forest This region is though conditions were still bad want to go through these awful two o'clock in the afternoon al- that although I feel I never, never
back from the river, with, aning, it was dreided that it was now my husband decides to go out again altitude varying from one hundred or never. The car was brought out next year I shall simply have to
and driven down to the start. to one thousand feet." These table- lands have a mild," semi-tropcal
contain much valuable timber, be- able to mechanical cultivation. They
sidės rubber, balata, gutta percha, cocoa, Brazil nuts, vegetable oils, and a great variety of other pro- ducts. Rubber trees were tested. the soil examined at various pointe, and a full report laid before Mr. Ford in Detroit. The commission found that labour is quite plentiful in the State of Para. As a rule, the labourer of the Amazon is of and under proper incentive capable good physique, ingred exposure
of long-sustained effort.
- possible for him to have bought resisting solidity, springing, hill duction per acra A very import climate and being flat, are favour
bearing one or two years earlier than
else in the world, and if scientifical- under the best conditions anywhere
latex and so lower the cost of pro ant factor, also verified, is the natural immunity of the rubber trees in the high lands", to all diseases peculiar to the plant. These characteristics are probably the result of natural selection through centuries.
Astonishing Variety. of ownership, and for the purposes 2016 you can get an astonishing For your £200 £10, £20 and of analysis and comparison I take the maximum price to be £250. For
variety. You cannot have every· this the poor man can buy not only
thing A yet, but a car of which be fedis distinctly choice between conch-work comfort, make 13 extremely pleasant proud, but one which three years ago we should have thought it impeed, quietness of engine, quietly cared for will produce much more ness of gear box, Continental road. under £350.
For between £200 and £o you thinking, and, last and greatest, can buy a really very nice little real quality. I have met all these motorcar to day, with equipment, and less important things amongst qualities and performance which the new poor, man's cars, and al- have frankly surprised me during though I bave not met them all in my runs on the latest examples of one car each example has put up them. Most of the drawbacks of very good average. the low-priced small car are rapidly I have driven a 9 h.p. ear, weigh- disappearing. In the first place the ing very little, at 50 miles in hou. car itself either in accommodation or in power no longer truly de- serves the description small. These 9, 10 and 11 h.p. engines of to-day really put up a praiseworthy per formance. They are not only caF able of sustaining high speeds for a long time without fatigue, but there is
a pleasant measure of hanging on
in most of them which connotes decent acceleration and absence of that quick falling off in power against the collar we dread so much.
with no more than a pleasant bum from its excellently balanced ea- int. and quite literally not a and from the body-work and naturally, beaded the price list at chassis. That was quality and that £260. I have driven 9 h.p. cars with the same speed, not quite a much quality, costing £30 Jess, have driven others with realy as tonishing body work, excellently rung, and finished in a way which did not remind me in the least of mass production. And without exception (an entirely new feature for the poor man) the I have been particularly impress-equipment on the dashboards has ed with one aspect of these poor been surprisingly good-a good deal men's cars, and that is that they, better than in many cars I can re- or at any rate the best of them, member costing three times as much ecom to be built with more care than three years ago. formerly. With arcely an excep- Of the wearing qualities of the tion the examples I have tried have poor man's car for 1928 we none of done considerably less than the in know anything, and one can oily usual stipulated 300 miles under guess at how they will be behaving which the hated 20 miles an hour in a year or two, but it is only may not be exceeded, and I have always been encouraged to treat the car as if it had 10,000 to its credit
Small Baloons.
fair to say that so far as my re- searches have extended the poor man's chances are distinctly good.
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1:
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THE HONG KONG HOTEL GARAGE
25, "QUEEN'S ROAD CENTRAL
[THE HONG KONG & SHANGHAI HOTELS, LTD.)
OLDEST SERVICE TO MOTORISTS:
i
Preliminary Investigation. Government seat a special commis- In the 1993 the United States sion of experts and technicians to bilities of developing the rubber investigate and report on the possi- plantations industry of the Amazon valley. This commission spent near- ly a year on the ground studying Industrial Company of Brazil will It is understood that the Ford the soil, climate, population, labour, begin work at once on the establista- health, sanitation, transportation, ing of settlements and also an ex- and communication. Its report, tensive campaign against any traces published in 1925 stated that there of jungle fever. The latter wili are more than 300,000,000 rubber-probably be the first thing on the bearing trees already growing in programme when activities are com the valley: Lack of labour and merced-Manila Times.
BIG DEMAND FOR WILLYS- OVERLAND, CARS.
SPEEDING UP PRODUCTION,
in Whippet prices and the intro- Since news of the great reduction duction of a new low-priced Willys- Knight double-sleeve reached over- Export Corporation has been busy seas dealers, the John N. Willys
night and day taking orders cabled by overseas distributors.
Stocks of cars in several coun- tries were sold out within two weeks after the 1928 announcement of Mr. Willys, and the Export Corporation is shipping cars to seaboard by train-loads instead of
car-loads.
DRUNKEN DRIVING IN- CREASE IN THE U.S.A.
FEW CONVICTIONS.
The United States is countin ap its motor föll id; human lives for 1927, and it has discovered that the year a recordone in deaths and accidents, Drun ken driving, and mad reckless- ness are blamed for many of the latal smashes.
1-
In the city of San Francisco the year, and 19 of these were hit- slone, 150 liver were lost during These gaina over previous years drivers were arrested than ever be
and-run cases. More dranken are comparable with the unusual increases shown at all other show fore, and hit-and-run cases totalled points and dealer points through-23 altogether. Of these, 61 were
later arrested. ་ ་
out the nation,
The first great influx of orders came following the recent Whippet price reductions, an added impetus being given with the introduction of the new Willys-Kaight Standard Six the lowest priced Knight
Yet, only one driver-a man who pleaded guilty, and demand- ed that he be seat to gaol-wes convicted...
Conviction of offenders and in- position of adequate, sentences has
engined six ever built by Willys-lagged far behind the commission Overland. This new car, company officials declare,renches a new Beld of buyers in a price class never be fore touched by a Willys-Knight Six
of offences throughout America.
San Francisco records show that 310 persons were arrested for driv ing while drunk, до Average of this number were sent to gaol, and more than one a day. Only 18 of their terms averaged less than six months.
To meet this demand the Willys Overland plants at Toledo, Elmira. and Pantine are concentrating on the utmost production possible. Already the Toledo plant is pro- In every case where a death oc ducing more than 1,000 finished curred the driver was charged with Whippets and Willys-Knights manslaughter. There were 103 auch day. Employment likewin is charges sworn, but only five were reaching
high-tide with 16,500 tried, and the only conviction was workers already on the payroll.
More than 4,000 applications for dealer contracts have been received at the Willys-Overland executive ofaces since the recent Whippet price reduction, hundreds of these: applications coming from dealers in competitive lines.
In keeping with the company'a plan to step into the highest pro- duction in the history of the or ganization, at the earliest possible date, work is being rushed night and day to complete, the 81,000,000 addition to the body building plant-an addition necessitated by the unexpected volume of orders for Whippets and Willys-Knight motor:cara.
1
in the case of man who pleaded guilty, mentioned above..
It is becoming harder and harder to secure a conviction against a drunken or reckless motorist mainly because the pe son injured is lóth to prosecute? provided he can sective compensa bion for his injúryed, velika Jurica, which consist largely of motorists, rarely 18 in a verdict of guilty. Even Uh the hit-run cases, which are the most dastardly of all, the public attitude appears to be one of indifference. Jurymen, don't seem to realise that they may be the next victim of the hit run or drunken motoriste.
50.
NO TYRE ever designe l for passenger car service has achieved such mileage and endurance records a the Goodyear Heavy Duty Cord Tyre.
miles per hour, to break all Ameri hours, an average speed of 73.03 can standard distance marka from miles to 1,000 miles, and all period records from 1 to 24 hours.
ALL WEATHER
GOODY
GOOD YEAR
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ALEX. ROSS & Co. (China), Ltd.
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