Page
HONG KONG DAILY PRESS TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1932.
SPARKS
FROM THE PLUGS
!
MOTORING IN AMERICA policeman has less iden. of traffic gallons. Accordingly the water PEDESTRIANS CAUSE
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AMERICAN AND FOREIGN CARS.
Why is the performance of the al flutuess, New Orleans would be typical U.S. machine in America, thirty feet under the Mississippi
different from that of British or but for the flood banks.
The answer lies in the fact that American cars are designed to meet
control than π Londow street urchin. Curiously enough,
the citizens of the noisiest country in the world demand a very high de- gree of silence in their cars.
Finally, the American rarely keeps a car for longer than a year, and although it is used daily, al- most hourly, his total mileage does hot commonly exceed 15,000. Then
These are the standard conditions under which the bulk of America's cars are used and for which, ac- cordingly, they are built. The reac- tions our design are obvious.
capacity is reduced to the minimum at which boiling will just not occur with low power output,
The gears of American cars are |
MOST ACCIDENTS.
POLICE STATISTICS SHOW
THEIR FAULTS.
Motors are blamed for thousands of decidents in which they are in volved, through the fault of others.,
undersized to a European eye. Sometimes they are noisy. The gear box is designed for use at starting, for quick acceleration, and for slow' pulling over really bad road sur- Continental ears? Why should it The bulk of America's populathe car is sold.
faces. That is, for very intermit- Official analyses of American and excel even occasionally its more exition lives in such cities and towns,
tent use. It is not designed for British "motor" accidenta for 1031 pensive European prototype? And I them, not just near them; the
long bouts of hill-climbing, and is revent the astounding fact that why should the curious anomaly suburban dweller, as we know him
definitely undersized for such work. pedestrians caused nearly 70 per exist that the American vehicle, Erigland, does not exist. As
Because populous America is cent, of these accidents. while superior is certain respects, resuit practically all cars used as
dead-fat country the designers of! In Britain and Germany podes- is inferior in others?
town cars pure and simple. They The engine must be silent, and American brake gear suffer from trians who involve motors in ac take the man to business, the wo-valve efficiency is sacrificed to quiet-cerebral atrophy. American brakes cidents raw are being prosecuted, man on shopping or social rounds, ness.
It must be large, and low- are bad, American brake linings and an immediate reduction in a set of conditions totally distinct the son or daughter to school. On is the case.
are worse. America has whole-hear.¦ "motor" accidents is resulting. from those existing elsewhere, and Sundays they make one of a slow-geared to the rond wheels in order tedly adopted four wheel brakes,
In one British City last year that only nccidentally do they emmosing procession to the golf club to give rapid acceleration and this has been done chiefly to pro
(Glasgow) pedestrians actually body certain features which appeal for the country club, only a few smooth to the colonial buyer, writes Emiles away, or they amble sedately up and down the city's boulevards.
But they never see the country power at low engine speeds, despite adequate to the duties demanded of follow:- roads. They never seu a hill. They, the inevitable concomitant speeds. never have a chance of reaching Petrol consumption is disregarded. fifty miles an hour. They never use The big engine is running for their gears except for starting and, occasionally, better acceleration. Their engines never run at full throttle except when speeding up in traffic, and then only for a few seconds.
Miles Knolles.
The American maufacturer 'sets out to build a standardised product for a standardised people living in a standardized environment. He is not interested in the man or the jocality requiring something a bit --or a lot-different. If ninety per cent, of his market can be satisfed with his standard product, then the dissatisfied ten per cont, must re- main dissatisfied. He cannot help
them.
American Roads Either Very Bad or Excellent.
!
traffic.
slow-running in Carburetter and valve settings must be such as to produce maximum ¦
most of its life on only a whiff of gas, and beating surfaces, cooling capacity, and lubrication systems are all designed to cope with this low average power output.
Overheating of Engines & Prominent
Defect.
Overheating is one of the most prominent defects of American dis used under some conditions, and the cause is nor far to seck. Even in
vide a sales talk point, and not because two wheel brakes were in
them.
Steering is low-geared and de- lightfully easy in traffic; at speeds over fifty miles an hour whip and wobble are, frequent experiences, but as such comparatively high speeds are rarely attained they are
excluded from the designer's pur- view. For the same reason engines develop
vibration objectionable when running fast, although they perform deliciously, smoothly when cruising along at light speeds.
· Petrol tanks aře of small capacity because the daily mileage is email
00 owner
Now ninety per cent, of America's
are used solely for "town The city ronds they use are either work and in "dend-fint country. so well surfaced that springing is Populous America is as flat as a almost superfluous, or so appalling billiards table. New York is situat ly bad that no one would ever the coldest weather the American and pumps are everywhere. Ob- ed on a tiny-island, and the major,' think of driving over them at more jumps into his car, presses the self-soleto demountable rims are accept- ity of its cars never leave that is, than a crawl. The traffic is dense; starter, and expects his engine toed, without demu as land, Compared to Chicago or London and Paris have nothing develop reasonable power imme-would, or could, think of changing do a rim himself; he just drives round Detroit, Lincolnshire is positively like it. Everybody has a car. They diately. No cold engine can
the corner to the nearest tyre shop mountainous. In Houston, Texas, are nil on the strents together, and this. Therefore it must worm up the eye aches, for a hill to break the resultant congestion is all the rapidly. Two gallons of water and has the job done for him. Self- the dreadful monotony of the etern-more chaotic since the American warm up twice as quickly as four startors are the best in the world. They have to be. In a traffic jam in a big American city it would be physically impossible to get out and crank up an engine that had been inadvertently stopped.
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24821.
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5
5
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6 cylinder 22c
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Performance Under Divergent
Circumstances.
It may well be asked why the American car, produced with no thought other than to satisfy n nation of city dwellers living in the most sophisticated environment, should perform so admirably under the totally divergent circumstances of colonial or pioneer use.
Surprisingly enough, while the conditions aro ng far removed as to two poles, the demands made by those conditions are remarkably similar. In pioneer country speed ia impossible; it is the smooth slow- running vehicle which is required, ambling along, for the greater part of its existence on quarter-throttle, but with a large reserve of power to pull through a mud-hole or o stretch of sand. Springing is neod- ed to take care of deep holes at slow speed, and not "dithory" roads at high speed. Engine vibration or poor steering when travelling fast are no detriment; fast travelling is out of the ques- tion, anyhow,
Certainly the standard American car fails to meet pioneer require- ments in its undersized gears, its inaccessibility, and its inadequate cooling, but against that is the fact that it is made of truly excellent materials-unquestionably the best in the world and thus
箍
greater margin of safety than ever
was contemplated by its designers.
It is most interesting to find that
A car designed solely to fill the re- quirements of the crowded millions of New York, Chicago,, or 'Kanga City-the most artificial require- ments conceivable-should accident ally fit in with the needs of those who live at the very opposite
end of civilisation. It is also a great piece of good fortune for the car manufacturers of America that this
caused 78.1 of the street accidents,
and the following analysis by the Chief Constable of the city classifies the various faults by pedestrians as
Waiking in front of
vehiclo
Per
Number centage
1202 Running
streets............ 1031. Leaving or boarding
across
moving tramcar or bus LT- Passing behind trum
or other vehicle... Stepping off footway without looking Falling from vehicle Stealing rides. Crossing street worse
for drink
<
21.7
19.0
བྱ་འ ོ། ཞཱ ཨཱུ
823
14.0
.961
4.7
...
248 20-1
4.5
3.T
118
110
of
$9
Playing games | street
Knocked down by motor vehicle through stepping off moving tram... Running After
vchigles
Total
1.8
0.6
20
0,3
4150
73.1
The WOLSELEY
HORNET
CYLINDER
British Masterpiece"
With the rear petrol tank quickly filled-sitting back la the quiet ease of pneumatic upholstery-speeding smart- ly through traffe and over hills, sesers with the safely of Lackheed hydraulio brakes-dropping smoothly from top gear to another silent top gear-four winding windows and a sliding roof open to the cool breeze5------ this is moloring par excellencs.
The Hornet "8" is Wolseley's creation for comfort and performance.
Sole Distributors :--
DODWELL & COMPANY
Queen's Building Tel. 2021.
Air.n. 3,
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DEAL DIRECT
THORNYCROFT
SIX-CYLINDERED
COACHES & OMNIBUSES
MOTOR VEHICLES
Pioneer Manufacturers of Commercial Motor Vehicles
Full Range of Spares carried in Hong Kong and Shanghai.
4 or 6 Wheels
:
4 or 6 Cylinders
30 Cwt. to 10 Ton Loads
20 to 70 Passengers
JOHN I. THORNYCROFT & CO., LIMITED,
Pioneer Building, Nathan Road, Kowloon.
TEL, 56752.
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