ENERAL MOTORS
EARNINGS.
Six Months Tracing.
For the second quarter of Lin
THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH. MOTORING SUPPLEMENT.
EXIT SKILL
Automatic Gear Change.
The method in which this":nu tomatic change operates was ex- plained in The Sun some montha ago, when a model gear-box was Imported from England. The first ear equipped with the device has arrived, and has been delivered to its owner, but supplies of chassis with this gear-box as standard fit- distributors, Messrs. Williams, Hill, and Cameron.
year the total net earnings of DRIVING SIMPLIFIED, ting shortly will be received by the
General Motors Corporation and Its subsidiaries were 89,040,323 dollars, as against 91,799,898 dollars for the same period last
year.
Earnings for the six months ended June 30, 1929, were 151,- 860,810 dollars. This compares with 101,367,074 dollars for the corresponding period a year ago,
CHRYSLER
-aboveTM all others.
SOLE AGENTS
The Republic Motor Co. of China.
(Shecessors A. LUNG & Co Auto Dept.)
90 32, 1 és Voeux Ro
A C SPARK PLUGS.
PORFECTED ar TILE WORLD'S LANDEST AND MOST Powseron ORGANISATION EN- VAGED IN THE MAKING OF SPARK PLUGS, Vezn ·AB FACTORY EQUIPMENT BY OVER 200 Succnse- FUL MAKERS,
"THE STANDARD SPARK PLUG OF THE WORLD."
TACHYCLET FACTORY ALONE TAKES NEARLY 1 MILLION A. Pruc EVERY RAN. To NAME A FEW OTHMAS -BUICK, Essex. CADILLÃO, ONAYO- Let PONTIAC CHANDLER, Henson, OAKLAND, Nash, HUPMOBILE, LA Balch and Dozane of Ornans, -
It will Pay you
To Fit
AC
Hong Kong Hotel Garage.
BOLE DISTRIBUTORS FOR SOUTH CHINA
[By E. T. Kennedy.]
SMOOTH SIX.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1929,
Pontiac's Amiable Behaviour.
SPEED SHOWN IN AUSTRALIAN TEST. [By E. T. Kennedy.].
When the speedometer hit 67 (easily from, check stops, so that it! and hung there, the road began to covers distances quickly; its gear There change is so light, and easy that break into corrugations. was not any weight on the back it is a two-finger task, and its seat, and a aldewind made the most brakes are effective, easily effec of the dance of the back wheels. (tive; pulling down spoed without Even with these disabilities, "th demanding much effort. steering rocked very little and the car was not hard to hold on a straight course.
Instead of the conventional gear change lever projecting through the Of an old woman who visited the floorboard, the Armstrong Siddeley Zoo, the story is told that she has a small dise and a spring load- looked the giraffe up and down, ed lever in the centre of the steer rubbed her eyes, looked again, andling column. The selector spaces said, "I don't believe it.".
aro lottered, and read, from the That story probably will be told bottom upwards, Reverse, Neutral, Low, Medium, Normal, High of many people after they have That gives four forward speech driven
the Armstrong-Siddeley, and reverse.
The steering had one fault-t equipped with its extraordinary au-
To drive the car the clutch con-
would not turn the car sharply en tomatic gear change.
trol is depressed the lever placed
flat corners at speed. If there was I might almost tell it about my-opposite "Low," the clutch released, The speedometer of this Pontiac the slightest bank on a corner, it self. Knowing what to expect when and you're off in bottom gear. Gain tourer was 5 per cent, fast, but an was possible to hug the inside I climbed in the car, I still found a little speed, push the lever up to honest 63 miles an hour for a curve and still keep the accelera- it hard to believe, for this gear- "Medium" depress and release the lightweight car under those con- tor down. At low speeds the car box promotes the novice driver to clutch, and you're travelling in theditions was meritorious,
could be swung around in a circle the status of an expert" motorist. next gear. Move the lever forward This new Pontiac can move in a lightly and effortlessly; but flat] " It removes doubt, fear, discomfort, a notch, press the clutch, release it. hurry. A touring test of 150 corners Bad speed did and noise from the operation of Repeat that as quickly as you like, miles showed that when it lapped harmonise, changing gears. It eliminates the and you are sailing along in top up miles of the Western-road at a This may have been due to 'n task (tedious to the non-mechanical gear. The task of driving is just continuous rate of 57 to the hour, misaligment of the front wheels,
as effortless as that.
it moved from Katoomba to the and probably was peculiar only to centre of Sydney in 1 hours, thia particular, car which means pace on the open stretches, for there were some miles of, tedious detours, and a solid bank of tralic from Parramatta inwards.
This is the small lever on the steering wheel of the Arm- strong Siddeley which replaces the conventional gear shift iever und seiccts speeds in the
automatic 'gtar bot,
mind) of learning the complex art of driving. With a car of this kind any novice who is shown the brake, accelerator, and which controls, and is told which way to turn the steering wheel, can learn to drive and attain proficiency withir 15 minutes.
YOURCAR SHOULD CARRY AN AUTO-TOTAL
THE BEST MOTOR CAR FIRE EXTIN-
GUISHER IN THE WORLD
Prices from the Sole Agents..
KELLER, KERN & Co.,
15, Connaught Road, O Telephone 0, $120,
JOIN
LUB
ASSOCIATE
Ltd.
THE HONGKONG AUTOMOBILE
ASSOCIATION
A Few Advantagoą:-
10% Off Motor One lusurance
Free Legal Advice. Reliable Drivers Supplied Free Mechanical Advice Associate Membership of the
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C. P. MARCEL Hon. Secretary.
C/o. "Hongkong Telegraph
The lever can be slid up and down the segments of the disc without altering the gear engagement, be cause the clutch control actually controls the alteration of gears the lever merely eelects them.
Likes to Climb.
Many Efficiencies.
not
With hydraulic shock absorbers to help them, the long springs; cushioned the body over the rough To change down the gear range
patches of the detours, which were. the action is exactly the same,
ruts and pot-holes decorated with Merely select the gear, push the
The run to the Mountains was stones. Ordinary corrugations clutch, and release it. A change made in top-gear. This did not were ridden at better than 50 miles ip or down can be made in a split scem a serious task, for the car an hour without sway or front- Traction of a soccnd, with- has a capacity for eating hills wheel jazz. out moving a hand from the steer which positively is gluttonoua. Even in the biting cold of a ing wheel. Obviously, that is an Its motor is efficiently lubricated winter morning at Katoomba, the advantage for trafic driving, hill elimbing, or safety, for the motor by system which keeps it smooth Pontiac started quickly,
reached an efficient operating heat eleanty and effectively can be used under the hardest work.
Notable, indeed, is the manner after a few minutes' running; so for checking the car speed in emer-in which "wooliness" has been efficient that the car was raced un Kencles.
engineered out of the Pontiac's to a speed of 60 miles an hour
No Shock, no Noise.
and
It is impossible accidentally to power plant. Its head and com- before it had travelled one mile.
bustion chambers must be cxcel- Comfortable seats with deepl slide the lever into reverse gear, forlently designed to turn out the it has a projecting safety catch,
squabs, handily-placed controls willch must first be released. But Power in such a sweet stream,
car
In second-gear the speed wharts that minimise effort, a light clutch it is possible to change from up to 43 miles an hour without that takes up the drive progres- reverse to 11 Corward gear
shiver or shake from the motor. sively from a short thrust, and while the
moving. At its peak point of revolutions headlight controls operated by the backward, and по smartly it is quite smooth, with a smooth- left foot all help to make the forward, without shock, by pushingness that suggests it is better than Pontiac easy to drive, and releasing the clutch,
a medium-priced six.
Without coasting, the netrol The car is an easy traveller. It consumption averaged 23.8 miles travels easily at speed; it idles per gallon. The car was supplied easily in traffle; it accelerates by Messrs, John McGrath, Ltd.
Driving this car, there is a con-
stant temptation to change up and down the gears, and, except that the engine revs. change in note, or the speed of the car slackens or quickens, there is no evidence that a change hus been made.
The gear-box itself is dumb, It has not any growls or whines. That is because it operate in an epicy- elle train, through five separate clutches. There are
NOVEL SALES IDEA.
BLAME FOR DRIVER.
An automobile distributor of The Maryland legislature has Hartford, Conn., has hit upon an considered a bill whereby every original scheme of selling his used automobile operator and chauffeur five driving cars. He has announced that in the state would sign a paper units in its make up. When low with every used car sold a popular admitting liability for property gear is used one unit carries the make of electric radio receiver damage up to $1,000 and personal
injury up to $5,000. transmission through one clutch. will be given free.
Second gear brings a second unit into play, and the drive then is through the low and second gear clutches. Third gear introduces a third unit, and top gear locks "the units into one compact transmitting gear, in which all are at work. Reverse gear operates as a single seperate unit,
That is a very clever and effi- elent, but the real revolution in driving methods is, the ease of operation. Probably an infinitely variable transmission one day will appear in the drive line of a motor vehicle, and it will reduce driving to
an absurd simplicity. Mean- while, the Armstrong Siddeley de- vice must be wreathed with the laurels of approval for its contribu- tion towards simplified motoring. The device is fool proof, it is sturdy, and it has been under test for more than a year, so it may be assumed to be developed to resist wear and minimise service.
An experienced mechanic, who watched the wonders of its working rently summed it up. "Gosh," he breathed, "what a mug's paradise."
AMO
NOTICE
TO
ADVERTISERS All advertising to be inserted in this Motor Supplement, must be delivered not later than 2 p. on the Wednesday of the week of publication.
MOTOR UNION
INSURANCE C? ?
Incorporated in England
(Under the auspices of the Automobile Association)
SPECIALIZES IN MOTOR INSURANCE
For full particulars apply to:—
THE UNION TRADING Co., Ltd.
York Building.
"Phone C. 587,
MONET-GOYON
THE GREATEST MOTOR CYCLE VALUE."
THE MACHINES WITH
AN INTERNATIONAL REPUTATION
for
RELIABILITY, SPEED, COMFORT fitted with
VILLIERS 2-STROKE SUPERSPORT ENGINES
and
M.A.G. 4-STROKE SUPERSPORT ENGINES Ask for easy payment plán.
THE FRENCH MOTOR CYCLE Co.
48, Nathan Road, KOWLOON,
THE DAILOOK MOTOR Co.
35-37-50, Tai Ping Road, CANTON.
"EXCELSIOR"
THAT CANNOT BE EXCELLED
IN
Reliability and Economy
The purchaser of Excelsior" "'knows when." he buys this machine that it is a motor cycle whose performance is a foregone conclusion- the reliability of which has been proved in ́every kind of trial or test and under every condition of road or track, and its price is so low that it cannot be beaten.
Apply for particulars.
THE SINCERE CO., LTD.
SOLE AGENTS.
RADIANT BEAUTY THAT MATCHES PERFORMANCE.
1930 MODELS NOW ON DISPLAY.
1
Buick's mechanical excellence has been traditional for over 25 years.
And now Buick offers radiant beauty to match its brilliant performance-new sweeping slender lines and dashing colors that make the new car really look as good as it actually is.
Inspect these amazing new Buicks to-day and see for yourself why already thousands have said "It certainly looks great:"
THE DRAGON MOTOR CAR CO., LTD. Telephone Central 1248 or 1247.
33 WONG NEI CHUNG ROAD, HAPPY VALLEY.