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HONG KONG DAILY PRESS, TUESDAY, JUNE 5, «1934.
MOTOR JOTTINGS
THE CYCLING CLUB
NEW CHRYSLER CARS
Advanced Type of Body
THE BUDGET
To Fanling In Heavy Rain
Though once again the objective of the Hong Kong Cycling Club was not attained, the run to Fan- ling in continuous heavy rain was nevertheless immensely enjoyed by those who dared to dely the elements.
Under Mr. C. Read (Captain) the Club" departed from the Ferry DI 9.20 a.m, and despite an in- elease in the number of minor delays. Faniing was teached be- "fore 1a.m. at which time the duwnpour increased in intensity and caused a halt at the Hunters Arms.
"Refreshments and a chat fur- ther delayed the party and i was not until 12.40 p.m. that the journey was resumed, still in the ruin. As the latter showed no sign of abatement. the extension to Shataukok was abandoned in favour of a "sprint" for home which resulted in Shamshulpo be ins reached at 2 p.m. by a šatur- cted but extremely merry band of wheelers.
Next Sunday it is intended to explore the many tracks in the area between Lye-mun, Sai-kung and Talpo. This locality offers considerable scope for the wheel of the pottering cyclist, and with Mr. H. A. G. Keates' as guide, an undcubtedly pleasant spin will be enjoyed. The rendezvous will be. as usual, the Star Ferry at 8.15 All cyclists are extended a a.m. cordial welcome.
the duties of Hon. Secretary will temporarily be carried out by Mr. H.A. G. Keates at Wellington Barracks during the illness of Mr. I. G. Crayford.
'The winter programme of the Club is already the subject of
· much discussion by the Committee
and Members. The events include
two tourist time trials over a 50
les course.
This distance is to he covered inside 4 hours on fully equipped machines, and with one compulsory halt for a light meal which will be provided by the Club. Also included is a Hill - climbing competition. a free-wheel and competition,
probably in January next. a 25-miles Open road race. Sultable awards are being arranged for the last three events, whilst to all, who beat the iltotted time in the tourist events aspecially designed certificate. will be presented.
Special car service in connection with the Alhambra Theatre.
By special arrangement with tie Hong Kong & Yaumat: Ferry Cu Free Transportation will be given all cars and passengers with the purchase of a minimum of two $1.10 or $1.50 tickets for the Alhambra Theatre.
A further feature of the car service is the ample parking space directly in front of the Theatre.
Tickets available at the Hong Kont-whart from 4 p.m. dally.
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The new Chrysler line for 1934. known as airflow" automobiles... contains many fundamental en- gineering improvements.
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For more than five years the Chrysler engineers have been probing the basic problems of weight distribution. Their search led them to the discovery of certain principles of dynamic balance, throughout the vehicle. in the old design the engine, the heaviest unit in, a car, was be hind the front axle. In" the new Chrysler this mass weight is over the front axle in a position" al- mast twenty inches farther for- ward than in ordinaly practice. This distribution of weight s declared to completely eliminate all pitching of the car.
Besides the new-distribution of weight the engineers have de- signed a type of body construç- Lion which attains a stiffness that climinates secondary vibra- tion.
Extensive experiments show that the results of research is a "Aoating ride," which enables the occupants of the car to ride at seventy to ninety miles an hour over dirt roads. corrugated gravel, cobble stones and other irregular pavement in perfect re- laxation. It is possible to write a letter, read a book, or go to sleep while travelling over any sort of road in these new-cars.
In appearance the car is en- trancingly streamlined. designed to slip through the air, with the least possible disturbance to the surrounding atmosphere. Gone is the conventional radiator de- sign. Instead, the radiator grille is smoothly rounded, which flows gently Into the windshield.. line and to the tool. The roof in turn slopes gently backward and..down to a smoothly, and beautifully molded, rear line, which tends to
eliminate the vacuum caused by previous designs.
The entire structure of the car- bodies now is one complete unit of steel from front end to rear.
The airflow" design also has mude possible a new and Improv- ed location of the steering me- chanism.
There are three new series in
the airflow" models, the Eight. the Imperial and Custom Imperi al.
The Imperial in a luxurious. car of 130-horsepower, and 183- inch. wheelbase. its, overall length is 214 inches,
The Eight is powered by an en- gine of 122-horsepower and has a wheel-base of 123 inches. Its overall length is 2081 Inches.
The Custom Imperial, which is mounted on 148-inch wheel- base and has an engine of 150- horsepower, will be available in A number of individualized body types.
Besides the eight-cylinder mo- dels the Chrysler Ene for 1934 wal contain a six-cylinder car built on two wheelbases, one of 118 Inches and the other 121 in- ches.
SACHS
Outboard
Motor.
The small engine of highest Power
Speed
Simplicity
Reliability
Economy
For free demonstration apply
F. FELD & Co., Ltd.,
Pedder Building, HONG KONG.
Comments On Reduced Tax ·
During the general debate "on the Budget resolutions in the House of Commons last week. general approval was expressed at the reduction of the horse- power tax, although some Labour members opposed it. The follow- ing are extracts from some of the. speeches made:
Sir H Samuel (Liberal): The Chancellor of the Exchequer has raided the Road Fund for an-' + other £4,000,000 in order to co- ver the cost of the very proper concession made with regard to the taxation of motor cars. That arrangement is open to some criticism. All the money in the Road Fund is needed for the pur- pose of the Road Fund.. There is an immense amount of work urgently requiring to be done on . the roads. There ought to be a very considerable loan for Carty- ..ing out these necessary improve- ments on the roads, which would make them safer. In so far as the Road Fund is raided it makes it the more difficult to carry out that policy.
Mr. Banfield (Labour): The Chancellor of the Exchequer may reduce the horse-power tax with the best possible intentions, but unless he is prepared to do some- thing for the maintenance of stabilised prices of steel and for · delivery within a reasonable time. then the remission of taxation will be thrown away. The motor car makers are unable to get stabilised steel prices,
Sir Robert Horne Conserva- tive); The reduction in-motor taxation is no attempt to grant any favour to any privileged per- son's in this country. The only object of it is to increase work and to obtain opportunities of markets which at the present time are denied. I became con- vinced that our difficulty was que to the lack of power in our cars;
· ULSTER ROAD BILL
The text of the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Bill which is to be presented to the Northern Ireland
contains Parlament, inany measures which are in- tended to secure greater safety" on the roads
A court, under this Bill, wil dangerous driving. Imprison-
ment as well as a fine for first or second offences of reckless or dangerous driving. Im prison- ment as well as a fine can also be imposed for a first offence of drunkenness in charge of a car. Application to the court for the restoration of a suspended licence cannot be made until After twelve months.
The police will be empowerca to stop and test cars personally The police may drive such a car
AUTOCAR AUTOCAR ROAD TESTS
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The Jowett Kestrel
Although, the basic design re- mains what it has been for many years, the 1934 Jowett certainly lives up to the habit which t has established of producing each year a better performance than its. forerunners; this. moreover," has been achieved at the same time
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improvement im... coachwork and outer appearance has been effected.
In many ways the car is unique. It has a two-cylinder - horizon- tally opposed engine; the body space is greater than that provid- ed in some cars of double the en- gine size. The general raliability of the Jowett is famed among its users. and decarbonising is a term almost uncalled for in their Vocabulary. Withal, the taxation rating la lower than that of any other car on the British market.
Externally, the Jowett Kestrel, which is the de luxe model'of the, range. preserves the lines adopted for the
previous year; that is to say. it is a four-door saloon with a flared rear panel conceal- ing a generous luggage space be- hind the back squab of the rear seat. The frontal, aspect has beep improved by the radiator' shell curving forward at the base. the bonnet has been lengthen- ed, the starting handle is detach- able. the top of the screen is curved, and the wings and va- lances are combined in a smooth one-piece. pressing. The front bumper is more compact as a re- *sult of a neater fitting provided by the revised chassis frame. «
So much for the butward and visible changes. On the road the car performs with remarkable ease. The power unit is very rea- soriably quiet, and only at the lowest of speeds can it be reco- gnised as having only two cylin. ders. Indeed, as the speed rises ...it becomes increasingly, sweet and there is no question of juzz" developing at full throt- tle on third gear.
a
Acceleration Good
Of course, no claims are made for unusua maximum speed capabilities. Rather is it justly advanced that this 7 h.p... "big". car is a high-average vehicle, and this it most certainly is. The maximum timed speed was" 55.5 mph. (when the spee- dometer registered between 58 and 571, yet for many miles on end the needle was kept at 53. and under normal open road con- ditions, tree from trafic, it was seldom under 47 Thus," it may be said that the average, speed capabilities over long runs are somewhat higher than most peo- ple require, and that, in conse- quence, there is no feeling of stress on the part of the driver resulting from the mind perpet-
the car...
Acceleration is distinctly good...
in relation to the engine capacity and the size of the body. Indeed, it is one of the car's principal characteristics that it enables journeys to be made in very rea- sonable time. Third" gear acce- leration is quite Jively, and it can be used freely up to about 43. m.p.h.; on second gear the maximum is just below 30 m.p.h.. and this fatlo is sufficiently low to deal with all normal road gra- dients, and for starting. As a point of interest, even after a standing start on second gear at the foot of Brooklands: Test Hill, the car only just called for a change down on the -1 in 4 section. First gear, being truly an emergency ratio, is really too low for best results on the Test Hill, the en- gine being on the point of valve bounce most of the way up. Re-- starting could be effected with ease at any point on the hill.
for a reasonable time and disually running on in advance of tance, or may require the person In charge of the car to drive at such a speed as the police officer shall direct. The Bill also 'pro- vides that before ah insurance company, can repudiate's policy on the ground that there was misrepresentation of the person taking it out, the company must first take an action against the insured person for false repre- sentation and obtain a convic on in a Court of Petty Bession The reason of the lack of po- wer was the high taxation in this country upon power, which prove the British manufacturer into making a car with as little po- wer as would suffice for the roads of Great Britain. Such a car is entirely inadequate for the rough, roads and steep hills of the Du minions, and the high-power cars of America were able to defeat the British cars in those markets. I regard what the Chancellor of the Exchequer is doing to-day as at least a beginning in remed- ying this very difficult position. I am not sure that the conces sion. Is large enough, but it may induce the manufacturer here to go in for a higher-power car, which will allow him effectually to compete with the higher-power cars of the foreigners in the Do minions,
Mr. Pike (Conservative): Iam' convinced that this reduction in the duty will open out new chau- nels for the Shemeld steel · in- dustry, and that the motor OUT will be made available to much - greater numbers, "vras comose
made in the surrender, value licence will be enjoyed Jn majority of casos by little man earning their own
motor car
Qear changing is at all times. easy. The four-speed box thas double-helical gears for the third speed and the constant-mesh wheels, but there are no special devices to facilitate gear chang- ing; nor do these appear to be necessary, for the downward change from top to third can be made without declutching, at low speeds, while upward gear changes do not call for double- clutching it is merely necessary to declutch and move the layer with a light pause in neutral. The lever is long and its move. ment firm, with cumcient resa- tance against the selector springs to make its action positive,
Cleaning --Bday
Bteering is good at all upenda, but is not as light as some. This
It
is no disadvantage on the road in fact, it is regarded by many drivers as desirable, although when manoeuvring the car may involve a lttle more effort; there is a fairly pronounced self- ceptring action.
The length of the Wheelbase and the long springs make the general riding on rough surfaces. and the road-holding, 'excellent! in fact bad surfaces" such as wom, uneven paving-commonly found in the manufacturing areas-can be taken at speed without either discomfort or ad- verse effect on the directional control of the car?
Braking is well up to the en- gine performance, for although It is not possible to achieve epec- tacular figures, the pull-up is definite. entirely free from un- evenness, pull on the steering, or any tendency to slide. On wet roads the brakes can be applied with much the same pressure 13 on surfaces without promoting skids.
In the car's general equipment there is little more" that can be desired. The shape of the wings makes cleaning easy-a point of value to the owner-driver. The battery is mounted in front of the dashboard, with a sapacious tool-box flanking it on each side.
in the interior," which was up- holstered in a soft moquette on the model tested, there are slid- ing seats, in front, with more than sufficient range of adjust- ment movement, door pockets are provided, and, there are two sling arm-rests in the rear compart- "ment. A roof light is fitted, and " the back squab is retained by a spring clip, so that access to luggage is easy. Efficiency of the lamps is good," and the dual- screenwiper Ls effective. The windscreen opens just enough to see beneath ft.
DISTILLING
WATER
Longer Life for
Batteries
The emciency and life of bat- tery cells fargely depend on the proper constitution and adequate purity of the electrolyte. The electrolyte is a mixture of sulp- huric acid and water, and much, care is usually exercised in the préparation of the sulphuric acid which is suppiled, but the distill- ed water, which is used to dilate it every time the battery is "topped up." is seldom compar- uble from the point of view of quality.
in
Certain substances. if present as impurities, have a very harm-" ful effect on the battery. For instance, some metais, which are nearly always present in tap water... and frequently even poor quality distilled water, will become deposited on the plates. The ultimate effect of this is to cause undue discharge · or the cells when not in use. The pres- ence of iron, even if only to the extent of 0.01 per cent., may double the normal idle loss of the cell. Copper, which may“ also be found in low-grade distilled water. has A similar effect. Chlorine, which is rarely quite absent from, any but the best di5- tilled water, becomes converted to chloric and perchloric acids. which are harmful impurities. Such examples emphasise the im- portance of using a pure distilled water, which
obtained can be from, an automatic still sold by Melvin. Ltd., 17. Leighton Place, Kentish Town, London, N.W.5. It consists of a container which is fed from the water supply and an electric heater which boils the water." The steam which t given off escapes down pipe through the centre of the con- tainer, and in escaping is conden- sed by the cool water coming, in from the water supply and con sequently comes out of the con- tainer as a liquid. In other words. as pure distilled water.
STUDEBAKER TO HUGE CAR
At Chicago
Fair
Huge colossäi ... gigarille.. stupendous... these words describe the gargantuan Studebaker auto- mobile now being prepared for The Chicago's 1934 world's Tair. world has never seen a motor car as large.
'The steering wheel of this huge model will measure seven and ope`, half teet from rim to rim. The tyres will be twelve and one half feet high. The doors will be four. teen foot wide and tall enough for .. an elephant to walk into without
The crouching.
running-boards will be twenty-one feet long. "Ave feet wide. The windscreen wiper.. will be more than a yard long.
This car which would make n comfortable vehicle for the glant cncountered by Gulliver on fajous wanderings, is to be es hibited in the Great Hall of the Travel and Transport Building at. A Century of Progress. It will be the plece de resistance of the. Studebaker exhibit, although it will. be only part of the exhibit,
The mammoth automobile wi be a model of the 1934 "peedway. skyway Studebaker Land Cruisez. attractive new streamlined model recently announced. It will meu sure 80 feet from bumper to bum-- per, 28 feet high and 30 feet wide (all Studebakers being built wider than they are high). It will be the world's largest model of an automobile, so big that even that affable glant. Primo Carnera. would te unable to "change S tire" without the help of a small derrick,
on
In fact there is only one other cir that approaches this world's fat exhibit in size. That is Studebaker "President Roadster." now
exhibit at the Proving Ground, near South Bend. This model is big enough to house A twenty-one piece orchestra. But a full size Marine band will be able to get into the world's fair moact without dificulty.
TOUST A THOPNYCROFT WITH YOUR TRANSPORT
DEAL
DIRECT
THORNYCROFT
SIX-CYLINDERED
COACHES. @ OMNIBUSES
MOTOR VEHICLES
DIESEL OR PETROL
•
Pioneer Hanufacturers of Commercial Motor Vehicles
Full Range of Spares carried in Hong Kong and Shanghat,
#
4 or 6 Wheels
4 or 6 Cylinders
80 Cwt. to 10 Ton Loads
20 to 70 Passengers
JOHN L THORNYCROFT & CO.,
LIMITED,
Pioneer Building, Nathan Road, Kowloon,
#TEL 56752.
TRUST A THORNYCROFT WITH Your TransPORT
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