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THE PERFECT CAR STILL TO BE FOUND
GERMAN IDEAS IN MOTOR DESIGN
London-Although it is but rarely that ene sees a German car, es- *pecially a
one, on British new
who
* coads nowadays, the Berlin Show
is of more than passing interest to anyone
concerns himself with the development of car de sign,
con-
The show at Berlin apicuous for the novelties it" pra- sents. The Germans do not for Het that a little more than 20 years age they set the fashion to the motoring world by producing a motorer which, in essentials, the father and mother of practically all motorcars as we know them to-day. The German automobile engineer is clearly de. termined that history shall repeat itself, for he is now exploiting a umber of new ideas which are promising enough.
WILS
Although Germany has a few ex ptionally fine highways, they are row designing their cars to give the best possible results over in different surfaces. Many German cars are now equipped with inde- rendeht front wheel suspension, An advance that has been fully de to be
monstrated in every way practicable and desirable.
Wheel Wobble Bogy. The benefit of allowing each front wheel, so to speak, to look after itself, is chiefly that when e wheel meets a bump it does not disturb the other wheel, nor raise a heavy does it have to
The
conseqtense is xle-beam. that the reaction on the ear as a whole is very much reduced, no that comfort is greatly promoted, Finally, it lays the hogy of wheel-wobble ar shimmy" and for all. In all probability in- dependent front wheel suspension
TRAFALGAR.-SQ. TRAFFIC
22-LIGHT ROBOT
London, Fob. 20-Work will be- gin a week hence on the scheme for putting the traffe of Trafalgar square in electric leading-strings It is the most ambitious scheme of traffic control by automatic light signals
planned iP Europe.
At present six police constables un constant duty directing vehicles which pass through the square at the rate of 7,000 per hour. They are to be replaced by
yet
HONG KONG DAILY PRESS, TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 1933.
SPARKS
FROM THE PLUGS
CARS THAT ARE EASIER
MAINTAIN AND REPAIR
TO THE MONTE CARLO
RALLY
MR. FORD AND the perfect Vehicle
DO DESIGNERS DRIVE THEIR OWN VEHICLES
BY OWNER-DRIVER."'
ftumor has it that Mr. Henry ignore what happens when repairs light ziguals of the red, green Ford is about to produce and are necessary, has been overdone,
The signals and amber pattern. are to be of the traffic-actuated market the perfect motor car writes type, which means that all unnetes-Orner Driver in The Bulletin. It eery hold-ups of the traffio are cut sounds interesting, and it rather out and the intervals of red and suggests that all past announce green automatically adapted to eats of perfect motor cars have
heen wide of the mark. demands the passing
the moment.
་
of
is the only sound solution to the problem of obtaining really good of light net springing in cars weight, which have modate widely varying loads.
to accom.
The new car, we are told, will be made up of small parts for the purpose of making repairs and re- placements very much easier than they have been, and we owner- drivers will therefore find our bills
much smaller.
Linos Not Everything. Clean lines are all very nice, but the knowledgeable. owner-driver knows the trouble which follows inetal aprons, valances, and down-} swept rear covers.
Try to remove the mudguards from a modern car and you will find yourself occupied for many hours. If the job is done in a garage you will find all these hours
in the bill.
Let us be truly thankful. Have Motorists to-day find the costs of The economic influenke is well you noticed how large a part labour car ownership high enough, and costs play in the bill for decarbonis-while the manufacturers are cater- demonstrated in a large number
more small-sized vehicles, it is to of light-weight, low-priced, small-ing, fitting a new fan bolt, or even ing for emptier pockets by making be feared that many of these are powered cars, a type with which topping-up the battery ?.. hitherto the Germany industry
designed in a fashion which wi has but little associated itself.
sooner than later make just a heavy Several of these are equipped with
drain on the owner's pocket as the air-cooled engines. It is notable,
better designed but larger ones. howover, that whereas the British move in a similar direction some years ago was exclusively concern-
Importance of Accessibility, Apart from the rumour referred to, our designers have far too long been thinking in terms of construc- tion and not of real accessibility, although it must be confessed that several of them have tried to help us lately.
Out of Proportion.
I like the Ford idea of small
parts,
HUMBER SUCCESSES
By registering the highest AuM- ber of marks in the Classon for cars starting from Great Britain, and from Scotland, Mr. Lionel Martin, compoting on the Humber Snipe 80 Sports Saloon has
the gained
following Rally awards :-
of
1. The Thistle Cup-for the
competitor, irrespective nationality, gaining the high- eat number of points by cover- ing an itinerary with a start- ing point in Great Britain, 2. The Royal Scottish Automo- bile Club's Prize--for the com- petitor, irrespective of nation- ality, gaining the highest number of points by covering an itinerary with a starting
in point Scotland. (Mr. Lionel Martin started from John o'Groata). Bearing in mind the extremely severe conditions from start to
finish of the Rally, and the fact that little more than 50 per cent of the original entry succeeded in
Martia's performance on reaching Monte Carlo, Mr. Lionel
from Great Britain-is more than Humber-the best of cars starting praiseworthy,
the
efficient cars are doing so because they cannot afford to have them overhauled.
There are so many things about the modern car designed, as I have said, to be built on the bench, that Clutch housing apertures have The combined cylinder block and one may be pardoned for making from the once more whether designers over air-noticeably increased in size, and crank-caso.
one can now get a spanner inside famous Detroit factory, and has drive or maintain their own cars. them. Similarly with the monnt been copied all over the world on ing and driving of dynamos and the ground that it provides a stiffer ignition distributors.
But this form of construc- respecta
ed with the two-cylinder engine or less motorcycle type, of more
modern these
German coolers" have four cylinders at the least. and that in all cases the air-draught is induced mechani- cally and not dependent merely on the movement of the car. once
-Gordon Aston in the Evening Standard,
"Ten"
It's only a
but there's
unit.
emanated
American cars, are not one whit cars in these
ahead of British
On the contrary, many
On the whole, however, the tention undoubtedly raised the cost of of them am much worse. dency to manufacture cars for reboring cylinders, and perhaps we assembly on the bench, and to are now going to be rid of it.
REAL COMFORT
MORRIS
HERE is shown the new MORRIS TEN SALOON the only car of its power on the market with a really roomy four-seater body. There is plenty of leg room and plenty of head room - for passengers and driver alike. Then there is the four-speed gear with its silent third-ensuring complete comfort in running carefully balanced design in spring- lug and weight distribution, giving
perfect, untiring smoothness comfort in assured safety in driving at any speed, thanks to the hy draulic brakes . Yes, taking into consideration all these features, together with the sunshine roof and Triplex safety glass
comfort is certainly the keynote of the new MORRIS TEN models. Telephone 28021 and arrange a trial Tun, free of all obligation, at any "time"to"
Dodwell & Co., Ltd.
A.P.B. 96
to
The goat of reboring cylinders, by the way, is out of all proportion the initial, post, of a car of moderate price. By the time one has paid for the labour involved in preparing the job, the fitting of new pistons, and the replacement of the parts, more than £15 has gone" on quite a small engine. The cost of the car originally may have been in the region of £160, so that £16 for one job is rather stiff.
Possibly Mr. Ford has in mind the replacement of complete engines at low cost. If so there will be an outery among those people who boast that the engine in their car was specially selected for them. It is astonishing how many special engines are on the road. I think salesmen are largely responsible for their existence.
Reconditioned Power Units.
I do not view the prospect of having the power unit exchanged for a reconditioned one with alarm. On the contrary, provided that the engines are really reconditioned properly, I would welcome being able to drop into a service station and have a now unit installed for n. few pounds.
Think of the saving in time-and- labour and the value of knowing that one has not had to lay up the car for weeks on end.
I recall the outery which follow ed the announcement that one could have reconditioned dynamos, bet tories, and electric starters supplied instead of waiting for repairs. Most people accept these service instruments now without a grumble.
Would Agents Object? ".
I am afraid the ordinary garage agent will kick if manufacturers follow the forecasted Ford plan. Thno and again I have been told by agente, when I complained of the difficulty of maintenance, that they did not want to make the work casier. What would become of them if one could nip off a mud- guard and, replace it within an hour or two?
I think that reasoning quite wrong. Make motor ownership easier and thousands more cars will be sold, Reduce the costs of repairs and adjustments, and more will be placed in the hands of garages.
I am not suggesting that it is possible for the agent to reduce costs as they are to-day. I merely point out that if they had more Work they would be able to spread their overlicuds over a larger" ifmm- ber of cars
Costs and Inefficiency. The fact remains that it--cars were made of smaller parts, each ona of which would be readily re- movable, thers would be fawor ramshackle cars on our roads." It ís fòb the slightest use blinking the fact that many people running in- [Dentinued an mast: Column)
THE NEW
SAIR FLIGHT
PRINCIPLE TYRES
BY
FISK
MEANS MORE
mileage
A SUPER-TYRE WITH NO COMPETITORS.
Sole Distributors
GILMAN & CO., LTD.
Telephone 28011.
Hong Kong Bank Building.
TRUST A Thornycroft With Your TraNSPORT
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 L. THORNYCROFT & CO., LIMITED,
Ploneer Building, Nathan Road, Kowloon,
TEL: 66759.
TRUST A THOrnycroft With Your TRANSPORT