FIR BARD
Charm
There is an irresistible charm in the simple dignity of Packard fines a slender, well bred appearance as appealing to the man of affairs as to the. woman of fashion. Probably no other car in the world has attracted so many distinguished owners.
But Packard's prestige is based upon.
ASK
THE MAN
THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH,
something more than external grace and beauty. Every owner, regardless of his mechanical knowledge, senses the su- periority of theimproved Packard chassis. A matchless agility in traffic-and on hills-plus an ability to maintain thrilling. speeds hour after hour are renewing, for many, the sheer delight of motoring.
WHO OWNS ONE
PACKARD
THE DRAGON MOTOR CAR CO., LTD. Telepho o Central IP44 or 1247.
33. Wann Net Curso Roat...... HAPPY VALLEY
CHRYSLER
52-62-72-Imperial 80"
Chrysler-A Car For Every Taste and Need
Chrysler cars" 52," "62," "72" and Im- perial 80," supreme value in each price class are always new, wholly now, em bodying developments and pioneer im- provements far ahead of all others. Only a thorough test, with you at the wheel, if you wish, can show you just how far, ahead.
A. LƯNG & CO.
10, QUEEN'S ROAD. C.. Phone C. 1291.
MOTORING SUPPLEMENT.
HOW TO
NEW EAT A
CAR.
The Worst Weeks of Its Life.
[BY JOHN PRIOLEAU.]
SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 1928.
TIMING A TEST.
Wonderful Recording
Instrument.
The hundredth part of a second seems unimportant in our daily lives, yet it assumed Vast propor¬ tions to the American Automobilo Association during tho 16 days the. three Studebaker Commanders were, each breaking all known automotivo records by travelling 25,000 miles in new car requires very careful hand-ons than 25,000 minutes at the At
Iantic City Speedway. Hng for the first thousand miles or
For a number of yours now it bas been generally recognised, even by novices, that practically every
so after it has, boen délivered to ita owner. There are one or two instances of cars, mostly of the very expensive kind, which can be driven, practically speaking, in a normal manner from the very out set, their engines and running gear having undergone a lengthy run- ning-in process. This accounts to a certain extent for their high price. These, however, are greatly in the minority, and extremely rare exceptions to the general rule that in car in at its worst and most de
licate in the first fow weeks of its life.
I
་་
It is not simply a question of kepping the engine speed low for the first 500 or 1,000 miles. It is on the attention paid to minor de- tails that the successful taking over and running-id of a new car de penda. This is growing more es- sential every year as our cars be- come more efficient for their size. We do get wonderful power and performance from machines which would have been regarded quite literally as toya before the war, but there is no question that these machines require far more tender treatment when they are, new, and very often more watchful care when they reach middle age.
After the need for keeping the engine speed down for the first thousand miles or so, the import- ance of proper lubrication takes a high place in the list of, matters calling for particular attention. The oil in a new engine is much harder worked than in an old one, and it is very sound economy to change it often. A gallon of all costs under 7s., but the repair of big, ends, engine bearings, and gudgeon-pin bearings is very ex- pensive. Make up your mind to spend at least twice as much.on' new oil as the makers of your car re- commend. I would even go so far ns to advise the inexperienced to change the oil in the Bump three times in the first thousand miles,
Need for 'Oil and Grease, Keep a careful look-out, while you are running in the car, for hot bearings anywhere, such as in dyn- amo or magneto, hubs, and any- where where it is possible that things may be a little tight owing to newness. It is far better to Lover-oil than, through laziness, to allow perhaps ratlier Inaccessible places to run dry.
Particular attention should be paid to the ofling or greasing ar- rangements on the steering gear, and new oil or grease forced in at the various points at frequent in- tervals. The springs should re- ceive particular attention when the car fa new, in respect of lubrication. It is astonishing what a number of cars are sent out, especially from mass-production factories, with an [all-round shortage of grease or oil. Only a month or two ago a case of this kind came under my personal experience.
The car was one which enjoyed a good reputation, built by a firm of long standing. The owner, motorist of considerable experi- once,
worried at was
the outset by, the extreme noial- ness of the gear box, and he was proceeding to compose a latter to the makers embodying some extremely frank opinions, when it occurred to him to have the top of the box off and see if the Lepth of the gears had suffered much damage The box was bone- dry, and looked, us if it had always been innocent of any form of lubrication.
Dirty Petrol Tanks,
The thing seemed incredible, but there it was for all men to see. | Upon this startling discovery we set to work together to go over the chassis from one end to the other, and were at once rewarded by find ing the shackles on both back springs also bono-dry. On a more recent occasion I came across a case where a.new, engine had been sent out with the holding-down nuts of the detachable, head insufficiently screwed up. This is not of course † so serious a mutter as sending out a dry gear box, but it could have led to extraordinarily inconvenient happenings in the form of burst gaskets, if the motorist' were far from help.
|
In fact this infinitesimal fraction of Father Time's flight became so important that the judges and exe cutives representing the A. A. A., were equipped with the most accur- ate and elaborate time recording equipment used was so accurate machinery known to science. The
that it recorded the hundredth part of a second and did not vary more than one tenth of a second in 24 hours.
The heart of the recording machinery was a Waltham chrono- meter, the property of the Ameri- can Power Boat Association. This time recorder was examined and certified by the United States .Bureau of Standards to be accurate within one-tenth of a second in 24 hours.
At the finish line in front of the Judges' stand a wire was stretched across the track about an inch above the boards. Depression of this wire to the boards caused it to trip! nn electric stamping machine in the. Judges' stand. Every time one of
ALL THAT WAS LEFT.
The San Francisco fire turntable after part of the upper.
stories of a burning building crashed on it.
NEW RECORDS.
the cars passed over this wire the THEY START YOUNG. exact time was recorded. Each car. made 16,667 lups during the 25,000 mile test and every single lap was It is estimated that 1,500,000 For the first nine months of 1927 recorded with hundredth of a cars in the United States are awn-General Motors earned 200,000,000 second accuracy.
Jed by minors. As the cars passed the finish line
Many of these, it is asserted, and the time was recorded on the fare home-made assortments of long roll of tape, the car's number travelling junk, which are more was set beside the time stamp.menace than motors. Each car carried a coloured light so that it could be distinguished as It flushed across the Hing during the night...
It addition to the electric re cording of each lap, the scorers entered each lap In a horizontal column numbered successively from 1 to 16,667. This latter system graphically showed the exact post- tion of the cara at all times. All stops for fuel, oil or relief drivers! were also recorded on these sheets. Pit stops were accurately timed but were not deducted from elapsed time.
The tape upon which the lap times were recorded had reached the tremendous length of 400 feet when the trials had come to an end.
During the testa it was necessary to keep constant check on the speed the cars were making. Consequently the statisticians of the A, A. A. struck a speed average every 10 lapa. This average was jotted on the tape.
The official clapsed time for each of the two stock model Commander Roadsters was 22,968 minutes for the 25,000 mile distance, an average speed of 66.31 miles per hour. atock model Commander Sedan covered the distance in. 24,200 minutes, averaging 61.98 miles per hour...
פי
Death to Friction
A
cognise na it comes up eventually to the float chamber.
Apart, then, from the prime necessity of going very gently in- deed for the first thousand miles, and of keeping the engine constant ly supplied with fresh oll, it will be. found to pay very well to carry out; an extensive overhaul of the entire chassis, and to make sure by per- sonal experiment that every part is in fit condition. Cleaning out a petrol tank is an extremely difficult! job, unless it has, na all tanka should have, a large plug at its low. est point and a filler can big enough newly delivered car is a dirty to admit a human hand and arm, petrol tank one of the commonest but it may be done by flushing it and one of the most inexplicable.
out at the cost of a few gallons of One would have imagined it to be
petral. The precaution may save worth the makers' while to see that you hours of delay and annoyance. the tank was only affixed to the on the road. The fact of the mat- ter is that you must make up your chassis after being emptied of the strange assortment of paint flakes, mind to the necessity of doing for horsehair, scraps of what look like yourself what the maker of your wool, grit, fillings, and indetermin-car ought to have done before he
sold it to you. ate sludge, which we all wearily rp-
One of the commonest annoy ances found in connexion with a
LITAT
dol. net more than during any other nine months in its history.
This figura is"greater than the earnings for the whole of 1920, which was a record year.
Proved in the
finest Testing Plant
in Europe
UPERLATIVES are much-tried words in adver-
Susing these days, yet only a superlative can do
justice to the Morris Engine Testing Plant: For this plant is literally the finest of its kind in Europe. Here fifty-six electrical dynamotor-machines operate seventeen hours per day making sure that eve Morris engine is up to the high standard set for And in addition to the production test plant there is gathered daily a wealth of valuable, data by the Engine Research Department of Morris Motors. The plant itself is of minor interest to the non- technical owner of a Morris. What does concern: him is the very wonderful results obtained thereby,” in the form of the world's outstanding small car value,
The Horria-Oxford
Two-Bexter.
MORRIS
The Wheel of the World
PRICES FROM £180.0.0 THE HONGKONG HOTEL GARAGE, (The Hongkong & Shanghai Hotels, Ltd) Phone. C. 4759
Phono 0. 4602-