HOW
TO BUY AN OLD. CAR.
SNARES FOR THE UNWARY.
THE HONG KONG DAILY PRESS, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 25, 1929.
MOTOR NOTES
Second-hand cars are very often from the utility point of view quite as practicable purchases as new ones, but the exceptions may lead to painful experiences in the matter of
continuous stream of sinall bills, with the attendant worry of having an unreliable machine which may At any moment spring an unplea- sant surprise on you.
MOTORING.
IS IT TO REMAIN A PLEASURE?
#
The open road is ahead; a fresh breeze bringing a glow into one's checks; and round shout, on all sides, is beautiful country. Per-
two the risk of getting a really possible. Yet, if you should hear" performance, on a car of moderate haps the track is laid through green
1 is usually during the weeks ucceeding the Show that some of the most desirable bargains in ears ed when they are looking for a are to be discovered in the second second-hand car which shall be of hand market. The new cars, have real value and not a mere money been ordered and, perhaps, de-rap. The wisest plan, naturally, is to buy a car whese history is 'livered, in dearly every' case on, the part exchange system, by which the known, that is, one belonging to friends. Most of these deals are old car represents proportion carried out with firms of whons of the price, and dealers all over
"the other party" have long been the country are receiving or pre- paring to receive the old ones. The customers, and it is obviously to the interest of the firms in ques- choice of a second-hand car has
tion to see to it that their now always been a rather difficult busi-
customers get the best barrgains neas, but within the last year or
that man Jones has been allowed. £200 for his one-year old car, it is unreasonable to expect that you, Robinson, will get 1 for as little nk that. As we have heard from the trade more than once," these second-hand car deals are based on very narrow margins of profit, and in order to secure a sale of some
willing kind some firma are
to sacrifice a good deal of the com- mission due to them on the sale of the new car. A profit must be made somehow, and it would he unreasonable to expect a business firm to be satisfied with less than they can get.
had bargain has been considerably lossened owing to the spread of what may be called the one-year car" habit. A very large number of motorists nowadays find that it pays them better, on the whole, to keep ear for a year only, and when the new model comes out to exchange it for a new one.
The reason for this is partly because they enjoy the use of the latest type, and partly because the Arcond-hand value of a car which has only done a few thousand miles is obviously very much higher than it would be at the end of the se Fond year. The gradual payment ystem, together with the part ex- change scheme, has spread very rapidly, all over the country, and at is the rule rather than the ex- ception for really sound ears to be found in the second-hand depart ment of most dealers' establish- menta.
In this connection I have just been told of two example of se- cond-hand value for which there does not seem to be any explan. ation. One is that of a well-known
A good rule in dealing with a strange firm is to put yourself completely in their hands and at the outset to make it clear that, if you are satisfied with the second. hand car, you will place your or der for the next one with the sam people, and for that reason it is important to deal only with firms of established repute.
Renovation
Other points to be remembered and very popular medium-powered when a suitable type of ear has been ear which cost about £350 a year, found is to endeavour to assess, the ngo, for which no less than £900amoans which will have to be paid was offered by a large firm of de-before long in addition to the pur- alers on condition that the latest model was bought in exchange. The other was that of an ecnally well known luxury car costing in the neighbourhood of £1.600 three or four years ago, in excellent condi- tion, with very high-class coachwork, the value of which has been assessed at under £100. These are prohah ly exceptions of a kind for which there is no explanation.
The Wiso Flan,
There are one or two things to be remembered by the inexperiene-
chase price. Tyres may be worn and need renewal within two or three months. This will add pos¦ sibly £20 to the price. Parts of the running gear or engine may be in need of attention, and there is al ways a possibility, unless consider- able caution is used, of having a repair and renewal bill to fave be fore long. For that reason a pro- per trial should be made of the car, and in the event of wear being dis- covered a hard and fast estimate for the necessary overhauling obtained on the spot.
POPULAR SMALL CARS.
LARGE OUTPUT.
TYRES FOR LORRIES.
CHANGING-OVER FROM SOLIDS TO PNEUMATICS.
It is most satisfactory 'to find
such a greatly increased demand for vehicles equipped with pneu matie tyres, this not only apply ing to the lighter types but beth to four-wheeled and six-wheeled models capable" of carrying very beary loads.
solid tyres has been so small that' those in stock are being provided with paeumatic equipment.
The popularity of light cars is Generally speaking, it is wiser to
emphasized to an extraordinary de- fix your choice on a type which has
gree by the Motor Show every year. a workaday rather than a striking
It is on the light car stands, says The Light Car and Cyclecar, where attainments rather than on a really fast one. Except in the hands of pasture lands, verdant with lushy the large crowds gather. It is the experienced enthusiasts, a car which
grass, and fed by a cool, placid small cars which grip the public has a high maximum speed has
stream; it may lie among moun-imagination because they extend greater potentialities for giving troubly in its second ten thousand tains, their rugged heights towering such wonderful possibilties and are We know, states The Commercial miles than one of the family type. upward to the skies, and forming so remarkably economical and satis. | Mator; of cases amongst chassis Unless you know the late owner, it grand silhouettes and impressing factory in service. At the Motor makers where it has been the prac is wiser to pass over the “ Sports type and stick to the other.
Show this year there were 18 Britice to maintain a reserve stock of The their majesty upon all. Or, per
tish makes, eight French, eight vehicles, but the call for those with Sports type is far more likely to haps the road is nothing but a mere have been driven hard, and there.
Italian and one Belgian, making track, stretching into the distance
31 makes in all. Last year there fore be in a more advanced can. dition of wear than one with a com- across parched and arid-looking were 33 makes of light car it the Show, and in 1827 there were 20 paratively slow-speed engine, and plains, with but a shrub or two out-
makes. These figures do not show coachwork designed for sober use.
lized against the blazing, waste.
that the manufacture of light cars The Coachwork.
What matters it? There is beauty is an increasingly popular occupa- Particular attention should be
tion, but to those who understand and interest in them, although onc paid, of course, to the condition of
the trade they indicate an extreme- the coachwork. If there are; door may appeal more than another.
ly healthy condition. While the rattles and other evidences of wear The main thing is that trips to just demand for light cars has increas and looseness, it is essential to dissach scenes are possible, and are the ed enormously the number of mak- cover before you buy it how deep-
ers shows no rise, revealing that sented the trouble is. A light rattle,
big outputs are the rule to-day, "to which you do not perhaps pay
with consequent material benefits tol very much attention while watch
the user in first cost, service and ing the performance of the engine,
general satisfaction. may increase very rapidly after the car is yours, and lead not only to fresh expense in having, it cured, but also to your being deprived of the use of the car for a considerable
time.
heritage of every man, woman, and child of to-day. To the motor-car do we owe such opportunities, and to the brains that have given them
to us.
Amongst users, too, there is a distinct increase in the demand for conversion to pneumatics, but hero a certain amount of caution should be exercised and expert advice ob- tained. An example of the trouble which may occur was the recent Prosecution of & municipality which, by fitting paeumatic tyres on its buses and altering the wings accordingly, found itself in the re- grettable
MOTOR CYCLING.
INTERNATIONAL TRIAL FOR IRELAND?
An International Six Days' Mo- torcycle Trial must be held next year and it is the privilege of the Auto-Cycle Union to hold it in England if it please. Why not, says a contributor to Motor Cycl- ing, hold the International Six Days' in Ireland! The ecuntry, in my experience, is peopled with ex--- "traordinarily hospitable folk who are, moreover, the very best of sportsmen. Ireland has plenty of bad roads, plenty of steep hills and a splendid variety of scenery. It had, furthermore, Governments which 'permit racing on the roads, so that a high-speed road test could be organized for the concluding day. It is not inconceivable that the end of the event could be ar- ranged to coincide with the Ulster Grand Prix or one of the big car races, so that a road circuit would be fenced off and organized in re- adiness for the riders.
to
Learning to Motor-cycle.- There is, says a writer in Motor · Cycling, so much bad driving about in these days of "Motoring for the
like Million," that I should prescribe for all "new motorcyc- lists" a dose of the finest driving ther takes in company, during an lesson there is-trials riding. Whe
actual trial, or alone, practising, be medicine of freak hills is equal- ly efficacious for teaching control, The rond sense, and confidence. latter quality is the one which no- tion that they should tackle a hill vices lack most; the mere sugges-
appals them; they are quite sure they could not climb it. This is precisely the attitude which makes them fail, and which hampers them truth which ane learns after foun- in their road driving. The great
The fact is that the traffic ques
dering about on a few hills is that tion, which has for so long been a
it is all really much simpler than source of anxiety within the limits
one thought, and that one can real- of the city, is quickly, spreading for
ly control the machine quite "easily. into the whole metropolitan area.
It is often said that the best way and beyond that into the country.
In some cases the alteration may of learning to swim is to be thrown One has only to venture out en a involve difficulty with the body into deep water. My suggestion is Saturday or a Sunday along any of work and necessitate the provision somewhat, analegous, although the the main roads to see ample evi of langer wheelarches. There is process is not nearly so alarming. dence of the threatening trouble.usually ne trouble as regards the It is certainly safer for a novice to The never-ending procession of
Dual drive ratio, because the larger experiment on a lonely test hill. motor traffic is so great that driv- tyres raise this somewhat and so than on crowded roads, for he can. ing is no longer a pleasure, while compensate for the extra speed not hurt himself or others; while the bustling habits of so many car which it is possible to achieve. The he will learn more in a shorter. owners in their endeavours to pass movement is, however, all to the time. I suppose I must have fal- ench other render what should be a good and one which receives the len off on half the test bills of
cordial approval of the Ministry | Great Britain, but I have never. rather trying alertness.
of Transport and road authorities. sustained a scratch thereby.
of motoring progress, at least in so far as pleasure is convererd.
Ia ita comparatively short life- time the motor-car has been one of the most potent factors in the de- velopment of civilisation. It has, in the space of a few years, open- ed ap countless avraues of hitherto undreamt of pleasure, and accom- plishments. So rapid has been the advance of automobile engineering and the motor industry in general, that it forces one to wonder what the future will hold. We are re- puted to be on the brink of even greater and more astounding dis coveries, and it is said that we are as yes still only in the dawn of motoring progress. Perhaps we are; but unless we are careful there may be another more appropriate metaphor to apply to the position. sought for and traced on the prac-it, that we are in the twilight | pleasant relaxation a period of tical trial run.
(Continued on next Column.)
Coach-building jobs of this kind are apt to take considerably longer than the circumstances seem to war- rant. Another fruitful source of annoyange is stickiness in the wins dow-raising apparatus, the cure of which usualy entails dismantling the entire door. To a considerable extent you should be able to leave the responsibility of the condition of the machinery largely to the 'ven- dors, as it is to their interest to see that you have as little trouble as possible in this respect, but enach work weaknesses must
predicament of being prosecuted by its local police for exceeding the maximum width per- nitted by law, which for vehicles above two "tons unladen weight is 7ft. 8 ins.. and the vehicles of the municipality in question had as & result of the changes attained a width of 7 ft. 0 ins.
EFFICIENT, GRACEFUL, & RELIABLE.
Further, for your comfort and contentment the Austin twelve embodies in high degree, all those features which the public demands in a medium priced, medium powered machine.
Note the elegance and distinction of the lines, the comfortable seating arrangements, the remarkable accessibility, the ease of control, the useful turning lock, and the generous equipment.
Arrange for a trial run, its performance will be a revelation to
you.
FOR FULL PARTICULARS APPLY TO
ALEX. ROSS & COMPANY (CHINA), LTD.
HEAD OFFICE:
PRINCES BUILDING.
HONG KONG
DEPOT:
CHATER ROAD.
Phone C. 2487.
HONG KONG AND KOWLOON.
The Austin
Twelve
KOWLOON
GARAGE:
SALISBURY ROAD,
Phone
K. 1488.
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