2
SINGAPORE TO LONDON.
LIGHT CAR'S LONG JOURNEY.
Following a large part of the
THE HONG KONG DAILY PRESS. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1929.
MOTOR NOTES.
course pioneered by Mr. Francis DEVELOPMENTS IN NEXT YEAR'S CARS.
Birties, the Australian overlander, Mesare. Walter Gideon and Raju have driven from Singapore to Londen in a Riley Nine. They covered 13,000 miles in five months and 20 days, crossing some of the wildest and most barren parts of Asin and the Balkans.
NEW LINES OF PROGRESS AND PRODUCTION.
MOVEABLE ROOFS AND COOLED LUBRICATION,
RELIEVING OWNER-DRIVERS OF WORK,
There are no secrets about the as is the water in the water cir coming motor show. Mary of next culating system. In combination year's cars are already obtainable, with the oil filter, this system de and we know most of what is to be livers cooled and cleansed oil to known about the remainder, writes the parts requiring lubrication, R.C." in the Manchester Guar-there is more adequate, lubrication, Manufacturer's have aban- and the life of the oil and also the din dened the methods of the conjurer; life of the engine is increased.
There is also better and cere the there will be no producing of un-
03 expreted rabbits frem a hat. Nor economical performance
road. In the productions of at shall we look for the £100 ear.
Arm adopting this If one were to be forthcoming least the publie would not buy it Inradiator-cooling the system can be From point of fact such a chr could be cut out in winter by the use of a made by giving it the very mini- by-pass valve, which is an interest- mum of equipment and a bedy of ing refinement of the principle. sorts, but compared with what can Progress goes still farther, for one,
The motorists set, out "from Singa, pore. on March 10 last, the ear being a standard open four-seater, with no accessory fittings. From Singapore they drove to Kuula Lumpur, and crossed to Penang, whence they shipped the car to Caueutta, ria Rangoon. After some trouble with the Indian Customs, who demanded a heavy deposit of duty on the car, they headed along the Grand Truck Road to Bombay. Before reaching Bombay hungry wolves attneked the car, which, however, outpaced them. Bombay they traversed Indin, vid Lahore, Montgomery, Dera, Ghazi Khan, and along the banks of the Grand Canal to Khanewal, Multon, and Ghazi Ghat, where they cross
boat et the River Indus hy a bridge..
be got to-day for from £139 up-well-known firm in at least one of wards to the modest limit of 2000 its models now traps the fumes it would be dear at the price. which come from the heated cil. Manufacturers and public alike ra cognise this, and the £100 car, long looked for once and regarded as something highly desirable, is dead before it is horn.
Willys-Knight Roadster Charms Film Star
Myrna Kennedy, Universal movie star, just had to slip into the driver's seat and try the controls when she saw this snappy green and black sport roadster, newest offering in the Willys-Knight line of Great Sixes, It's a car to match her unusual beauty. A striking and new effect in color has been attained by the use of black, light green and cream.
The dashing appearance of the model is heightened by the long sweep of the fenders, new hood louvres and streamlined body. Driver's seat and the spacious rumble seat are upholstered in leather. The powerful sleeve-valve Knight engine furnishes speed far in excess of all demands.
More than 550,000 tests are con-
cess of manufacture.
These fames have been a problem nuisance to the designer, and especially to owners of closed cars, for they penetrated the interior of the car, causing that well-known But although there are no secrets stuffy atmosphere, and headaches
Reverse gear, rather than a for has a low gear ratio, 4-speed trans- and some may be already using 1800. These fumes are now taken back to cars, that is not to say that the the carbaretter, and whilst they ducted yearly in Studebaker's enward speed, is the first to be used mission, and heavy truck type rear coming show will lack interest. As cannot now.enter the car, there isgineering and research laboratories, when the cars come off Studebaker axle and housing designed for sleep. spectacle, as an event, it will be further gain in that mixing with in addition to the hundreds of in assembly lines. The ears move downgrades and unimproved roads. The For the the fuel they serve to lubricate the spections made on every car in pro- the lines backwards, and are backed chassis has a capacity of 4,000 off the line ynder their own power. pounds for cab, body and payload." ar attractive as ever. motorist who knows something upper portions of the cylinders. It hout cars it will rank as one dis-is a process that directly" con- closing, more progress than any tributes to economy of runnnog. how during the past five or six years. I will prove once again that there is no finality in design.
In appearance, in the outward details of the ear that catch the eye, but much more particularly in items of design, coachbuilders and classis designers have entered upon new lines of progress.
וי
There is a wider adoption, in one form or another, of central lubrica tion for the chassis, which relieves the owner-driver of much trouble- some work, but as yet there is no sign that power-driven tyre pumps are coming. Nor have makers yet realised that the Continental s3 tem which enables, the owner to empty his engine sump of oil with- out having to crawl under the ear to open the plug would be a wel come improvement. But even lack ing these things, design in the new
Adventures In Persia. From Quetta to Duzali (appro- ximately 500 miles) the car passed through practically a barren waste, with numerous. sandy patches, in which the car sank deep, and had "to be shovelled out. The Persian frontier was crossed at Mera Jarva, where a river bed had to be fol- lowed for two miles. This was strewn with boulders, and it took three-quarters of an hour to cover the two miles. After a stay of a few days gathering information at Duzdah, the car made for Meshed, 600 miles away. To avoid the heat 150 miles were covered at night. A hot wind blowing ncross this patch, which is sometimes fatal to human beings as well as animals, is known as the Daski-i-Lut. Roads were in dreadful condition. Transport there
All-Purpose Cars. is done by large lorries and 'buses,
Improvements in appearance may which cut deep ruts in the hot, sandy soil.The car arrived at be dealt with firat, because they are Meshed at a time of deep mouro. the more apparent; and, moreover, ing, and British Rubjects in the the lines and finish and the concars shows striking progress, and locality were warned by the Convenience a car offers, all broadly though the non-technical motorist sul not to leave their homes, as falling in the coachbuilder's work, may not understand how it ail once agnio strong selling comes about, he will find a road the Persiane were hostile.
After are staying 10 days the car proceeded points. The chief improvement is performance and an economy of up- to Teheran. The weather was be the development of the coupe keep in next year's models that will coming cold, snow being seen on which, in face of the accepted mean please him. hill-toe, and very steep grades had ing of terms, is now becoming a to he negotiated. Water had to be four-seater coupé. With this goes carried, as the car was traversing refinement of line of the built-in
luggage-carrier. Balt deserta. For 300 miles reads
Other important developments were very rough, but improved near Teheran. From Teheran.have relation to the movable roof. Messrs. Gideon and Raju parsed The coupé, especially in its four-one connected with road transport, through Hamadan. Khermanshah, senter form, is now a successful at and Khamikin, where they crossed tempt to enclose the old-type dickey into Traq. Most of the time dur-seat under the roof. It provides a ing the journey through Persia they compact ear, one that is really a lived on holled eggs and hard bread, two-seater but that gives accom- but cccasionally obtained supplies modation for four, or even fire, by of fruit, Every 50 or 80 miles, they narrowing the space between the were held up and questioned by Trials, and altogether they were glad to leave Persia.
A Long Journey.
rear seat and the backs of the front seats, leg room being given by the provision of wells in the floor. In the result there is no cramping of the rear-seat passengers, and a de- cided gain in that their ecat is
1
BUDGET CONCESSION TO
ROAD TRANSPORT.
It has not been realized by every- points out The Commercial Motor, that the small concession proposed by Mr. Winston Churchill in the second half of the Finance Act was dropped by the present Govern- ment when it refused to concern itself with this particular portion. Mr. Philip Snowden, M.P., the present Chancellor of the Exche- quer, has, however, given an assur- ance that the matter of this con- cession shall receive attention in his Budget.
It was proposed that the rate of duty for goods vehicles of which
but does not exceed 2 tons should be- reduced from £40 to £35, with the existing rebate of 20 per cent. in cases where the vehicles are equipped with pneumatic tyres.
The ronds from the border to bought well forward of the rear Bagdad were rough. They were axle. This provides the most com- also bad for the journey to Mosu fortable riding position. When this the unladen weight is over 2 tone and Aleppo in Syria. From Aleppo type is allied with the movable roof to Alexandretta, however, Wwe get, in a real sense of the word, quite good guing. Heavy rain the all-purpose car. This movable made the roads from Alexandrette roof has made great strides of late through Turkey impassable, so the along differing lines. It may be a
There is some hope that the Chan- car was shipped to Athens, and sliding section of a conch-built roof followed a route through Saloniks that when pushed back throws half celler will see his way to helping to Sofia (Bulgaria). The roads in the roof open to the sky. It can be road transport to a larger extent Greece were bad, but great bos- manipulated by the driver from, than this, and The Commercial Mo
Lo extended the bis scat in a matter of seconds, and for suggests that, in addition to pitality motorists in this section. Rain for convenience is unequalled. made the roade muddy in Yugo The claim is made for, it that it slavia. It was not until..they had cuts cut draughts when open to the passed through Belgrade and reach back seat, thereby doing away with
the particular conccésion to which
we have already referred, this could
be effected by increasing the rebate where pneumatic tyres are employ-
ed Budapest that roads really fit the need for a rear screen. The ed. This is of particular import- for motor traffic were found. The movable hond takes two general ance in the case of the heavier route for the rest of the journey forms. One gives a fixed rear quar-classes of vehicle, the equipping of through Europe was vid Vienna, ter; that is to say, the rear portion which with pneumatic tyres would Munich, and Paris to Calais, where the car was shipped to Dover and driven to London.
SCA.
and fixed. The hood folds back on
of the roof and sides are coach-built involve the owners in considerable expense, and yet it is their use on these very machines which would do so much towards preventing ex- cessive wear "and damage to the roads.
to this quarter, and can be neatly slowed away in a cover.
Of the distance covered 11,650
The other type folds all the way miles were by land and 1,565 by!
The engine of the little car back to the body, and the folding was not decarbonised during the is done by means of a handle. In both types there is more convenience the only whole journey, and mechanical, trouble was the break of operation, and the opening and ing of springs. This started in closing of the hood is more quickly Baluchistan, and necessitated many done, than is the case with the type repairs and replacements. Other of hood fitted to the touring car wise the greatest difficulties experi. When all exclosed the car is not enced were climatic conditions, easily distinguishable from the Customs formalities, nail punctures, saloon proper. and the peculiarities of some of with the different nationalities whom the travellers came in con- thet.
Cooled Lubrication.
TURNTABLES TO AVOID DELAYS.
A few modern garages, some owned by private concerns, are equipped with simple form of tura- table by which much delay and the risk of damage through many- ring in limited spaces are obviated.
The Commercial Motor is of the, But it is in technical matters that opinion that such devices as these most progress has been made. Here could well be utilized to a greater- the manufacturers have entered extent, not only in the particular upon fresh and unusually interest sphere to which we have alluded, A etoek President Eight recently ing avdhues of progress, and in the but to assist in the avoidance of negotiated far-famed Kurrajong result we are going to get better congestion at places where loading Heights in New South Wales in tep and more economical performance and unloading have to be carried gear in an officially certificated test and longer life of engine and work-out in confined areas.
Much, of course, depends apon run. Kurrajong Heights 4 tiloing parts. What has happened is grind is rated as one of the stiffest that the makers have at last solved the size of the vehicles which have the problem of cooling the oil that to be handled.. If of considerable climbs in the world.
lubricates the engine.
length, then, turning them on The problem has been to deliver table might require excesive space Dodging wild game at 70 miles a cool oil at these bearings and the need far too elaborate a con- hour on Indian roads and crossing throughout the oil eirculation sysstruction, but there are many dead- rivers on railway trestles were tem, and this is now provided for end points where an undue amount awang the weldents of a gross coros by utilising the radiates Toits of vehicle revaraing has to be car try run in which a Studebaker Pro-How through the "liging the tip fried act and share the Bident Eight Roadster set a new now carried through a part of the turntable might be found to preve road between Calentta and Bombay. I radiator, and is there cooled just a solution of the difficulty.
LOWE
MOTOR TRANSPORT.
1929'S RECORD.
That the motorization of trans- portation in practically every coun- iry in the world will set a new record in 1020 is indiented by statis- ties on overseas truck shipments re- cently compiled by the United States Department of Commerce. During the first four months of 1928, commercial shipments increas ed 03 per cent. over the correspond- ing months of 1929.
At the present rate of increase, overseas truck business this year shanld almost double that of 1028, in the opinion of H. S. Welch, Pre- sident of The Studebaker Picfee Arrow Export Corporation. "A total of 105,447 motor trucks were shipped to world markets in 1027, foliowed by a total of 138,759 in 1928," he said.
Shipments this e year should approximate 200,000 unita."
#
An Imposing Gain. "Compared with the industry-as a whole. Studebaker's commercial business is in an excellent co- dition. During the first half of the year shipments of Studebaker trucks were more thas three times greater than shipments" in the cor- responding six-month period in 1926.
43
A still more imposing gain is anticipated during the remaining months of 1929," Mr. Welch con- tinued. "With a complete line of commercial units, including truck, 'bus, ambulance and funeral car chassis, the Corporation is in a strategic position to meet the grow- ing world-wide demand for motori- zation. In addition to a chassis of 220-inch wheelbase recently nounced, Studebaker will soon have new light truck chassis ready for shipment.
"The new chassis, of 148-inch wheelbase, is especially designed for (Continued on" preceding column). service in overseas countries.
LOWEST PRICED SIX
PRICE LIST WHIPPET SIX SEDAN Roadster......$2,640 Tourer.... ...$2,140
$2,640 Coach
$2.390
Coupe ......$2,390
The new Superior Whippet Six is the only low-priced six cylinder car to offer all these importantengineering features: Full force-feed lubrication, silent timing chain, extra long wheelbase, aluminum alloy invar-strut pistons, overtize balloon tyres, and "Finger-Tip Control."
with all these advantages
In beauty of design, the new Superior Whippet Six is so outstanding as to be accorded the position of style authority in its class.
Inspect the Superior Whippet Six at the showroom of your nearest Willys-Overland dealer. Give the car your most exacting scrutiny-you will find that in every respect in meets your highest expec- tations. Operation (All prices and specifications subject to change without notice)
The new Superior Whippet Six is also stronger and safer, hav. ing more frame cross members and a greater braking area than any other car at the price.
Cost Lower
of
"Finger-Tip ControlTM
single buzzon at ! centre of stearing
Bits and boren.
SUPERIOR WHIPPET SIX
Agents:"
GILMAN & CO., LTD.
W
4A, DES YEUX ROAD,
TEL. C. 290.
Garage & Service Station : "DURO" MOTOR CO., 132, NATHAN ROAD, KOWLOON.
TEL. K. 226.
LYS OVERLAND
FINE MOTOR
LTD.
CAR 8
It