Page
WHIPPET
FOURS & SIXES
INCREASED POWER..
LONGER WHEEL BASE ́
CHROMIUM PLATED RADIATORS
LONGER SPRINGS-
GREATER BEAUTY
And LOWEST PRICES în their respective classes
SHOWROOM
“DURO" MOTOR CO., LTD. SERVIOR STATION NATHAN ROAD, KOWLOON..
DISTRIBUTORS :-GILMAN & CO., LTD.
i!
AN UP-TO-DATE SILENT MOTOR-CYCLES.
GARAGE.
KOWLOON'S FIRST MOTOR
** AMBULANCE.”
SEEKING EXPERT, ADVICE,
:
The prevailing notion that all motor cycles are noisy, which exist ed a year or two ago, has now al- most vanished. It is becoming the fashion among riders to seek for silence. Noise is coming to be re-
One of the busiest repair stations sad garages in the Far East is the Duro Garage in Nathan Road,garded as bad form. Kowloon, writes af Daily Freu te- presentative. With accommodation for over 100 cars and magnificient approach flanked on either side by up-to-date petrol pumps, the garage has every modern appliance in stock, to deal with any emergency
Three years ago, when the R.A.C. first instituted its campaign in favour of quieter motorcycles it offered to supply free advice to motor cyclists for silencing the ex- haust of their machines.
call.
THE HONG KONG DAILY PRESS, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3, 1929.
MOTOR NOTES
WHEN WHEELS APPEAR TO REVOLVE BACKWARDS.
Most people have noticed that motor-ear wheels on the cinemato- graph screen occasionally revolve backwards, although the hero's at- titude may be indicative of Mal colm Campbell at his beat, writes Professor A. M. Low in The Motor, The same effect is observed when car is passing a fence in which there are gaps between the palings if the cinematograph shutter bap pens to operate at similar speeds
to the rate at which the spokes of the wheel pass your eye. Only al- ternate spokes are seen and after
the spake which should be moving towards the top of the wheel is obliterated you will see the next. spoke which has not quite reached the position of the leading spoke when you last saw it on the film.
The result is to suggest to the vision that the wheel is revolving backwards...
If it were not for the power of the eye to rethin an impression for film would be a mere jumble and a short period, the cinematograph a blur. I believe that some mon- keys have so little retentivity" of vision that they cannot appre This
the cinematograph. criticism would prove a god-sand to producers when dealing with dis- gruntled critics!
A NEW NATIONAL SPORT.
A writer in Motor Cycling, on the subject of dirt-track racing,
Siya:-
At that time, for every applica-cince tion for such advice there were seven summonses to be defended under the R.A.C. free legal defence scheme in respect of members pro- I spent a mest interesting hourscuted by the police for noise. in the repair shops yesterday. Sus To-day the proportion is nearly pended on chains from a girder reversed: for every inctor-cyclist overhead, six-senter A
Willys sunmoned for having a noisy ex- Knight was undergoing spray haust there are five who seek ad- painting, the roachwork having wice as to how they may further previously been well cleaned and silence their machines. glasspapered in readiness for the operation Two men only were needed to make an old ene look like. a model straight from the illustrat ed pages of the latest catalogue.
Io nacther corner of the repair shop a car had been dismantled right down, to the bare chassis and
mechanic with
an acetyline welder was busy at one end while. At the other, another expert was dismantling the engine.
1
fitted to the back of the truck bore the best part of the weight of the damaged Buick which had appar- ently tried conclusions with a stone wall or something of that nature.
"This little garden-roller ar- rangement," said the manager of the garage, "represents almost the last word in ambulances for damag ed cars. It is constructed in such As I was watching these opera- a manner that it can hitch on to tions the double doors swung open our repair truck and carry the and a powerful little repair truck weight of anything from a motor- awung into the garage with a large cycle to a 'bus. No matter how Buick car half-hoisted in the air. | damaged, a car may be, the am- An ingenious little contrivance bulance can deal with it effective-
(Continued on next Column). 15."
1
MOTOR WORKS LABORA
TORIES.
Whilst the average man "realizes that research work has always been carried out, he does not realize that work on similar lines has spread into the sphere of motor manufac ture, but it is a fact that no large works is complete without a fully equipped laboratory under the charge of a competent metallurgist. Its functions, whilst not so far: reaching as those of a research laboratory st, however, almost
equally important:
PRICE OF PETROL.
£8,000,000 MORE FOR THE COMBINES.
HOW IT WAS DONE.
TOTAL COST IN PETROL AND TAXES TO BE £90,000,000.
The secret conference of the oil
kings held last August in Achna carry Castle--and exposed at the time by the Daily Express has culminated at last in its great ob ject of raising the price of petrol
At that conference the greatest secrecy was maintained. Sir Heart Deterding took the castle "just for a aboot.".
There he was joined
The duties of the metallurgist, says The Light Car and Cyclecar, include responsibility for keeping all materials used in car construc- tion within their correct specifica-to the British consummer. tion, and in collaboration with the designer he selects the inost suitable material for each component part, farther lays down the necessary physical properties and decides the form of heat treatment when re quired. "
Standardization of recognized
specifications, covering both physi alloys, is now well advanced, and cal properties and chemical com- position have been delineated by
such authoritative bodies as the British Engineering Standards As- sociation and the Air Board.
HOW NATIVES BUY 'BUSES. The facility of hire-purchase a made tremendous differences to the commercial motor trade, and it is not always realized, points out The Commercial Motor, that in many a Javanese jungle village, peasant bus owners pay their monthly instalments to a finance house (or fail to pay it as the case may be), just as our village bus proprietors do at home. The deposit, however, which is usually one-third of the value of the vehicle, is frequently obtained from a money-lender in the case of these Orientals, and the interest on the loan may be any
American rival.
WILLYS
KNIGHT
CARS & TRUCKS.
[SHOWROOM "DURO" MOTOR CO., LTD, SERVICE STATION
NATHAN ROAD, KOWLOON.
DISTRIBUTORS :—GILMAN & CO, LTD.'
ROADS ABOVE THE WHY MOTOR-CARS · BREAK
RAILWAYS?
PLAN TO RELIEVE CON- GESTION IN LONDON.
No one who has even a superácial
DOWN.
Some of the principal causes of motor-car breakdowns on the road are dealt with in an analysis issued by the R.A.C. This is compiled from reports issued by the club's numerous guides throughout the country.
down is due to ignition failure, the percentage being 27.
The commonest cause of break-
quietly by Mr. Walter Teagle, the Standard Oil magnate, who had knowledge of the road transport of arrived from New York just for goods and passengers can but be a private holiday" Sir John Cad-lieve that the future holda vast pos- mas, chairman of the British Gov-sibilities of traffic increase. Every grament 'owned Anglo-Persian Oil
The following table gives the day more and Company, reached the castle by private and commercial-are being might be studied with advantage more vehicles main sources of failure, and it road, and as unobtrusively as his brought into service, and the rate of by car manufacturers of all coun-
"Shooting" the Motorist,
increase is far more likely to rise tries:- than to fall. Upon its development Other lesser magnates and a depends, to large secretariat" took,, up their national welfare, says the Commer a great extent, the quarters in the neighbourhood. It cial Motor (London), and we have was the most elaborate "shoot "still a very long way to go before. Scottish sporting history, but we reach the proportion of vehicles the grouse was not the objective.
to population which exists in the The bird they were after was the United States. motorist and especially the British motorist.
The main problem is, however, how our roads can be made ade-
Ignition Axle shafte
Cylinders and pistons... Clutch
Universal joints
Carburation Lighting Lubrication
Valves Gear-box
Per cent.
of total.
13.9
10:5
5.1
4.1
2.6
9.0
2.5
1.4
2.8
One of the first matters discussed quately to cope with the trafic like- was a world plan to depress they to exist in the near future. production of oil. There was too Already there is distressing conges much oil. It was gushing at such tion in many busy centres of modern brakes that the percentage & rate in every corner of the globe population, and the authorities are of failure bere is as low as 1 per
that the market was being flooded. That plan was tried, but tell through. Powerful as they were, the oil kings could not check the natural economic law of produc tion.
Taken generally, I think I can say that 1999 gave Great Britain a new sport. I am not going to pre- dict that it will become an estab lished national pastime, but I do think that for some time to come the cinders will prove a powerful attraction for the sporting public. I am no prophet, but I firmly be lieve that this year will be a boom thing ap to 75 per cent. 1 Consider year, after which dirt-track racing ing that these poor fellows do not will settle down as
plan genuine always understand the setting aside of an amount to cover depreciation, amusement-running quietly, at tracting its regular patrons and it will be well realized how hire supportera Dog racing had been purchase, imprudently applied, a popular sport long before the may bring motor-'bus operators to
and Gracing flash-in-in-the-pan, & sorry plight. now it is setting down to its old place in the scheme of thing, I think the dirt will do the same.
+
It is well for the road-passenger business that hire-purchase is so well regulated in this country.
You'll see it Soon
1 TON CHASSIS
H.K. $1,510
The
Outstanding
Truck
of Chevrolet History
CHEVROLET
economical
The truck that has reaffirmed Chevrolet's prond claim to transportation in every country of the world-a Six in the price range. of the Four-a truck that offers truck users in every line of business scores of vital advantages that have never before been available in any hanlage unit priced so amazingly low.
The 1929 Chevrolet 6-cylinder utility truck and the 1929 6-cylinder commercial have been on display since the 6th March, at our Show Rooms,
HONG KONG HOTEL GARAGE.
QUEEN'S ROAD CENTRAL.
TEL. CENTRAL 4759.
Another alternative or auxiliary
It says much for the efficiency of
finding the work of superintending cent this traffic increasingly difficult. In the smaller towns and rural areas a very large number of cases dealt There can be no question that in there is hardly likely to be con- with the failures were not entirely eiderable congestion for some years due to faults in the car itself; to come and the trunk roads. which neglect undoubtedly played a con- likely to be constructed in have already been built, and are siderable part. future, will probably be able to meet
early needs in this direction.
the
was discussed. Why the magnatee asked should not each company supply its market from the nearest source of supply 1
Access to Arteries of Trane.
WORKERS' SUN TEST. Since they were only rivals on the The great difficulty is to obtain surface and all in a price combine, access to these main arteries of why not pool sources of supply and traffic, and this is where a vehicle,
NOVEL EXPERIMENT IN ENGLISH TYRE FACTORY. cut the costs of transportation i whether it be private or commer- That plan has been largely car-gial, has often to waste so much ried cut and has resulted in a strik time. For instance, once a vehicle workers is to be tested in novel The sun's effect on the health of ing reduction of costs.
is on the Great West Road it can fashion at the large new commer keep up a very fair average speed, cial offices which have been built but to reach this road from, say, the alongside the main entrance of offices of this journal it has to tra- Fort Dunlop, near Birmingham. the price of petrol in spite of over- verse many busy, and often con- All the windows on the first floor
Russians Enter the Ring. But savings in cost were not enough. They must somehow raise
production. What was keeping it gested, thoroughfares. This, during have been glazed with vitagiass to down in Britain? Principally Rus certain times of the day, may occupy admit the sun's ultra-violet rays, sian petrol, which was increasing possibly an hour, although the dis- which are cut off by ordinary glass. its sale daily in spite of a noisy tance is only nine miles.
Careful records are to be kept of Press caarpaign to suppressit. To extend such a road much far the health of the workers on this The Russians, therefore, tad to be ther into the centre would involve Boor, and compared with similar brought into the ring.
an enormous expenditure, the des statisties taken of the workers on That plan succeeded. It was truction of a huge amount of valu- the other three floors. triumphantly carried through re-able property and the rebuilding A similar experiment carried out cently. For the first time the of a number of bridges. The same in Lancashire showed that there Russian Oil Products, announced remarks apply to practically any was much less absenteeism amongst their increase simultaneously with other trunk road, and the problem those employed in a shop reached the combines.
is how such a drastic procedure can by the health-giving rays than be avoided. It is certain that some amongst other groups working be thing must be done-and that quite hind ordinary windows in the same soon...
factory.
Russian petrol is no longer the forlorn hope of the British motor- "ist. It hares with the British Government company the honour of Bow being included in a price ring dominated by Dutch and American 'interests..
Our suggestion is that these majn Should the ann workers at Fort roads should be linked to the traffic | Dunlop show any such gains, every centres by roads carried over the window in the great new building railway lines, their inner ends being a to be glazed to admit the ultra- The division of profits will be a at the railway termini. The idea violet rays..... Juicy cao The increase of damay seem somewhat revolutionary; gallon means that an additional and we are quite prepared to admit
£8,000,000 will go into the coffers that there are many difficulties in MOTOR VEHICLE LICENCES, of the oil companies.
the way of its execution, but dif-
Of this sum the Anglo-Persian ficulties exist to be surmounted.
Oil Company, which is controlled The railway companies would, no
ENGLISH FIGURES.
By the British Government, will doubt, object violently. Some erition The number of motor vehicle receive approximately £2,000,000, also may suggest that the cost would licences current on January 31 laat
that being ita abare according to be so enormous as to rule out the in England and Wales was 1,359,314. the proportion of the British mar possibility of such roads, but after The number of driving licences ket allowed it by the foreign oila close study of the question we da issued in England and Wales dur. 'dictators,
not believe that tho expenditure ing the 12 months to November 30, would need to be nearly so great 1998, was 2,308,207.-
Squeezing Car-Owners.
BO
the railways"
The British Government, there. as might at first be thought. Other fore, exacts this extra profit from cities have elevated railways, the British motorist although it is why should we not have elevated but, later on, as conditions justify already taking from him approxi- roads The only reasonable place mately-£25,000,000 in horse-power for such roads is over the railway, and he finance permits, these links tax and £17,000,000 in petrol tax. where practically all the difficulties might themselves be extended into In other words, assuming that as regards property and the use of trunk roads penetrating as far as the consumption of petrol this year the area covered have been fought reaches 200,000,000 gallons (a moder. ate estimate), the British motorist will be asked to pay for his petrol, horse-power tax, and petrol tax a sum not less than £90,000,000.
Two men dominate the situation -Mr. Churchill as "Chancellor of
out in years gone by. Such roads would, merely be making use of space which might be referred to as being in the air.???
"Impossible "Things Already Done.
the Exchequer, and Mr. F. Es The engineering problems in Powell, the American represents task of this nature may be of con- tive for Britain of the Standard siderable magnitude, but are not
Steel. There is no reason why this combined road-rail system should be inartistic or unharmon-
fous-in fact, the inner termini could easily be made quite pleasing. Rampe could be utilized either for one-way or two-way traffic, accord- ing to the conditions Vehicles could travel in both directions,
Where tunnels are encountered
O interests, and the most authori. such as would be likely to appal there would be the option of rais tative voice at the councils of the then who have achieved other featsing the road over the tunnel or Petrol Distributors', Committee in which at one time would have been leaving the railway track for a "Britain-in other words,
short distance and rejoining where The regarded as well nigh impossible. Hing."
Consider what a wonderful vista it emerges into the open. The latter Mr. Churchill was hoping for a of possibilities the carrying out of procedure would only be necessary. further increase in the petrol tax, such a scheme would bring to our where the tunnel penetrated parti with a compensating reduction in vision! Imagine being able to run cularly high ground, which could the horse-power tax.
straight on to a trunk road at, say, then be avoided by a slightly cir St. Pancras, Charing Cross or cuitous route. Suitable ramps Liverpool Street.
could also be provided at convenient
But the combines have acted first. They have forestalled the Chancellor. An increase in the petrol tax would now be out of the question, even for Mr. Churchill. The horse-power tax, the invention that has done so much to kill British export trade in motor-cars, mant presumably remain.
The foreign dominated Petrol Distributors Committee has called the tune and the British. motorist must pay the piper.".
The scheme need not necessarily pointa, such as wayside railway be confined to the Metropolis. The stations, so that vehicles could leave arguments are almost equal in the overhead, road, either for the weight when considered in respect purpose of reaching an ordinary of other amongst our important road or for loading and unloading.. cities, where the traffic is nearly as Wo fully expect this scheme to great as in London. N be subjected to a large amount of So far we have alluded to such criticism, but we put it forward as over-the-railway roads as being a basis upon which something even useful links with the trunk roads, more valuable may possibly be
(Continued on next. Oolums).founded.