THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH, · ·
STAMINA DEPENDABILITY
Roosevelt
MARMON-BUILT
MOTORING SUPPLEMENT. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1929.
REPAIRING SMASHED MOTOR VEHICLES.
Important Branch of Automobile Industry.
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C. P. MARCEL
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O/o "Hongkong Telegraph"
We extend to you a hearty invitation to try this remarkable new car by Marmon for yourself and discover the most inspiring performance you ever found in any automobile- in 15 minutes behind its wheel you can find out everything it took the engineers more than a year to put in.
J
S. L. KWOK &. Co.
SOLE DISTRIBUTORS
Bank of Canton Building.
The Choice
of the-
G. W. R. L. N. E. R.
and
SOUTHERN
for their new
Tel. 0. 3467..
RAILWAY
RAIL ROAD SERVICES
THORNYCROFT
SIX-CYLINDERED
COACHES & OMNIBUSES
Preferred by experienced users!
Further particulars of our Lorries, Vans, etc., for 1 to 7 tons, and Coaches or Omnibuses for 20 to 45 passengers forwarded on request to :—
JOHN I. THORNYCROFT & CO., LIMITED.
UNION BUILDING
FIFTH
HONGKONG
FLOOR.
Telephone Central 4881.
DEAL DIRECT.
Write us and our representative will call.
The "before and after" of a smash-up is shown in the two views of the same automo- bilc, above, at the right, before and after the body repair man takes charge. At the left, R. L. Marble of Cleveland is painting a repaired door the same colour it had before the
necident.
Up-
is removed and while the franie is time, the word rots and the wood- straightened by means of heating work has to be replaced. with an acetylene torch, the body holstery has to be repaired in somic,
lenses and squeaks taken out. in worked on.
"Removing squeaks," anys Mar- Removing the dents from the body is called "dinging" and the ble, "is probably one of the smallest! Idents are sometimes called "dings." yet most difficult jobs we encounter. A tool used in this process is a A squeak is elusive. To find the dolly," a shaped plece of steel source of one sometimes means which the "ding" man holds under- hours of driving and working. In
By James F. Donahue.] Cleveland, Nov. 00.-One branch of the automotive industry, the auto body repair shop, probably does more for unfortunate. motorista than any other division.
An automobile manufacturer has a comparatively easy time making a new car. Each part is made to fit, and ducH. But the repair men
above. charge a customer full time for have a lot of trouble in straighten-neath the metal to be reshaped by some cases it is impossible to
his hammer blows from ing fenders that are dented and After the fender or body is atraigh such a job because it takes so long torn, bodies that are crushed in tened in this manner, it is filed and to locate the squeaks and it seems and frames that are knocked out of smoothed down with an emery so simple to the average motorist
wheel and then sanded and made to find. ready for the paint shop.
line.
"If they must wreck their car there must be someone who can x them." This statement, frim R.. L. Marble, body repair mun of for the this city is the reason springing up throughout the coun- try of thousands of auto body re- pair shops.
Welding and Soldering: Where dents can't possible be dinged out a solder is used as filler, When the metal is torn in places, the arétylène tereh is used and the tear is welded together.
"Many things enter into fixing a job which air customer doesn't realize when he brings a wreck in to us. A bent frame cannot be been lined and the frame squared readily seen until the wheels have up: A fender might seem in fair- ly good shape. But I generally takes more time to fix it than a In the paint shop, a car is pre-customer thinks.. pared for painting by sanding, or, if the paint is old and cracked, it is removed with a paint remover and the new cout of paint is built up from the bare metal.
"A new car looks niec. But let it get a damaged fender, a smash-
Wrecks are Misleading.. ed-in rear end or a torn top, and the nice look is gone," says Marble.
"För this reason, we encounter Cars Can be Rebuilt.
customers who think they are be-
"Naturally, a
man with any
"With the modern spray gun and ing overcharged because it taken pride wants to get his car to look- ing as near new as possible. He fast drying pints, however, it is more time to fix a ear than they can't send it all the way back to Pissible, where the place repaired think it should. But from expe the factory far repairs, so the body is small, to paint that spot to such rience, we find that we can gener- shops have sprang up. Here he a degree of perfection that a dir ally hit within a few hours of how
ja job." can get any repair done, from Ference between the new and old much time it will take to complete
recon-paint can hardly be detected.
The biggest job Marble over straightening an axle. tu
in these The spray gun used
n sedan, which was structing and repainting an entire
shops is an exact duplicate of those tackled was
completely demolished from front joh.".
The process of repairing wreck- used by manufacturers. The paint to mille, including the radiator, Here the is placed in a cup, and the gon fitted hood, front fenders and side-pan, el cars is an art itself.
cow), doors and door posin. The worker gets nothing like the per- into it. Tech-cut panels, smooth surfaces compressed air tank is then attach-motor and everything else had to and correctly-shaped parts to worked, and by means of a trigger, be repaired. It took two weeks to with. Instead there are bodies fine spray of paint is "slot" on the twisted out of shape from the force job with a motion similar to that of an impact with another car or used with a brush. telephone pole. The frame may be beni, and if so the entire body must come off the chassis before it can be straightened.
In the case of a bad wreek in which the frame is bent, the body
A hose connected to a
The biggest day in the repair complete the job and it cost $445. game according to Marble is Mon- holiday, day or the day after a After the Elusive Squeak.
This, he says, is because of the Other divisions of body repair-large number of motorista on the ing enter into a bad wreck which highway over the week-end and makes lots of work for the repair the increased number of wrecke
If a top has leaked for a during that time.
Men...
WEATHER HOUSE. ANTI-DAZZLE LAMP. being dazzling to an oncomin
motorist whilst the former is. The dif- altogether innocuous. fused light is eaid to be sufficient
For Testing Effect on Saves Trouble on the for normal driving requirements.
Motor.
Road.
has
successfully
An ingenious electrical control is provided to operate the slidable part of the lamp in a positive manner, and this part is securely Jorked against movement in each of its two positions. The substan- tial and reliable character of the nicehanism has been demonstrated by.fitting it to a solid-tyred lorry nightly rung engaged
upon between London and Birmingham, months without giving and it has been in murvice for trouble.
many
NOVEL DEVICES.
INGENIOUS INVENTION. General Motors Proving Ground,
We were shown recently an the, 1268 nere outdoor laboratory interesting form of anti-dazzle near Milford, Michigan, U.S.A,
lamp, which where cars accurately tested to find out their performance ability, undergone a great many trials und han added, in response to a de- has been commended by a number mand for greater necuracy, a of competent authorities. Known weather house to its many sefenti- as the Full Light Safety lump says de checking devices.
the Motor this consists essentially
The driver is provided with a Adapted, like so many of its of a two-piece reflector, the muin companion devices at the Proving part of which is secured to the pair of push-buttons controlling Ground, to the sole
one of them task of lamp shell and is of the usual electrical circuits in the following
way:Pressing evaluating precisely and impartial parabolic form. The central nor-allows the current to pass through ly all makes of automobiles, the weather house is perhaps the only tien surrounding the bulb holder, the cofl of a solenoid threading one of its kind in the world. Un however, is mounted on a slidable which is an iron rod on which the like other observatories, this one stem, so that it can be pushed bulb and reflector are mounted. In not a weather forecaster, but a forwards to complete the reflector weather "Hindeastor" to use a or pulled rearwards through a dis- term employed by Proving Ground tance of half an inch or so in order engineers. It includes in its com- to produce a non-dazzling beam,
A Diffused Light. plete equipment probably the only wind velocity indicator in opera-
The result of retracting this tion outside of the U..B. Navy. The observatory is operating day portion of the reflecting surface and night under the direction of together with the bulb la to, pro- duce diffused light over a large! skilled meteorologistą.
area in place of a more cafenn- to current being required to hold Weather has always been a trated long-range beam, the latter the rod against further movement. Pressing the second button allows current to pass through the coll of bugaboo to automotive engineers,
a small electro magnet, which has and the Proving Ground has not neglected to place it among the cornuble from all parts of the the effect of pulling the rod down- most important factors bearing Ground, to place weather compu- wards against the spring-loaded upon performance. Means of re-tation on an efficient basis. About ball and so releases the notch; the cording temperature and barome 1,000 feet higher than Detroit, coil spring then pushes the rod tric pressure had been in use with cold winters, warm summers forward until the limit of move- before the weather house was and generous distribution of snowment is reached. In each case the established. It remained, how- and rainfall, meteorologists agree current flows during only 'a short. ever, for this compact little build with automobile men that it is period of time, so that the con-
sumption in small. ing, whose warning flags are dis ideally located.
The solenoid then pull the rod rearwards against the action of a apwards by a spring-loaded ball light spring and it is also mushe which causes a notch on the rod. to engage with a flat surface, so locking it in position..
Somewhat Bulky.
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OF
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INSURANCE
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CHRYSLER
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Successors A. LUNG & Co, Auto Dept.)
Des Voeux Road