THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH, MOTORING SUPPLEMENT. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1930.
ADOPTING A BRITISH IDEA.
Twelve speeds forwards, five axles, four driving wheels, two differentials, three gear shift levers and the ability to traverso rouls that would stop anything but a tractor-that's the Tatra-Car recently brought over from Czechoslovakia by Thompson Products Corp., of Cleveland, for experimental pur- posen. Above the car in shown taking a raith stretch of Below is shown ground at its top speed of 28 miles an hour. the unique hood and the horizontal, four-cylinder air-cooled. engine.
LESSONS OF OLYMPIA.
The Pessimists Confounded.
BETTER CARS AND LOWER PRICES.
MEN WHO HAVE MADE BRITISH CARS.
[By Douging West.]
At this year's Motor Show atflie satel "I think I can make a Olympia British manufacturers better engine myself." have proved that in every class of motor-cur they are the oqunis of
་
Sir William Morris,
their foreign rivals, and in most Sir William Morris la another classes their superiora, Within born engineer, though he never the past few years the Industry had any formal engineering train- has made astounding progress. ing All he learned he gathered Largely through the energy, from experience in his own work- resource, and Industry of a few shop.
With no advantages of eduCR- remarkable men, who have attrnet- ed to their service the finest tion or capital, he started when he engineering brains and the mbt was 16 a bicycle repairing hop skilled workmen in the country, in Oxford. From repairing it was the production of motor-cars has short step to building his own become one of Great Britain's bicycles, which he hiren out to leading industries.
undergraduates to ride racos in the "High." About 1900 he wis himself a well-known amateur track-rider.
CVII-
C. S. Rolls & Sir F. H. Royce. Yet a young in it that many
Then he began to repair motor. of its plonrers still control the grent businesses that they haveleyeles and soon afterwards to manufacture them. He became created. Such men as Sir Henry the proprietor of A garago in Royce. Sir William Morris, Oxford and for ten years Herbert Austin, Mr. J. D. Siddeley.
jetinued to make motor-bicycles and and many others who in small garages, eyele shops, or in fa to study the motor-ears that were brought to him for adjustments forles devoted to other purposes.
overhaul Gradually he turned their inventive engineering skill to the productior; { acquired a little capital and a of motor cars are now among the of capable startar and
assistants. stair 1913 he designed birgest employers,
acquired & factory at Cowley.
and and
Two names famous in British But it was not until after the | motoring history that will always war that he INIAME A serious be associated together ure those of factor in the motor industry, and Sir Henry Royer and the latein 1919 his output was only 137 Charles Stewart Rolle, joint cars. founders in 1906 of the firm of Rolls-Royce, Ltd. Yet it would be hard to find two careers more dis- similar.
and
Sir Herbert Austin.
Sir William Morris's formidable rival Sir Herbert Austin is also
to
la the first deende of this great mechanic, whose career is century Rolls, a highly capable Jone of the romances of n
As engineer with Elon and Trinity young and romantic Industry,
was apprenticed to an Collegn, Cambridge. behind him. a boy he was the gifted amateur of two uncle, an engineer in Australin; novel forms of locomotion, motor there he managed several Amill ing aviation. He was only works before returning when he was killed while flying England to control the manufae- at Bournemouth, One of the ture of sheen-shearing machines must laring of pioneer pilots and in Birmingham, to the use of the winner of several trophies, he which he had converted many of accomplished, among other feats the farmers of Australia. notable in their day, that of cross- ing and recrossing the English Channel in 95 minutes.
His interest in motoring was no
his own, with an output of 50 cars
In the middle of the nineties he designed his first car, a three- wheel vehicle with 2 2-h.p. engine, the first long-distance test in 3900. Jess keen. He devoted his wealth faving helped to construct sheep- and energy to the development of hearers, he next became Wolse the motor-car.
He took part inley's general manager when that races, investigated new designs rm began to manufacture motor- and disused factory six or seven Before Olympia opened its doors thoroughly reliable and ecmomical at once saw the merits of a 10-hp, cars. In 1906 he bought an old vehicle. L'rices and valur this year then head of a firm nanufacturing files from Birmingham, and thera
by Mr. the motor industry were opposed are unprecedented. Even where electrical machinery, and invited to the holding of an exhibition this prices remain the same as in 1930. Mr. Royce to enter the motor-car in the first sear year
General Trade was bad, value has gone up by the inclusion
industry. A Separate company people were not spending money--- better cuipment and fittings, formed, of which Rolls became the
Mr. J. D. Siddeler. these were some of the arguments. better bodies, better brakes and technical director. Mr. Royer.
Seldom have pessimists been letter appearance.
Another worked out every detail in the
competitor in the more confoundedi. Instead of the Whether the car coats £122 or
He han design-1,000-miles test in 1900 was Mr. J. paying attendance being thousands £2.060; Austins, Bentley, Chevrone of his car,
every motor-ent and nero D. Siddeley, then managing direc down, as was prophesied, there is, let, Armstrong-Siddeley, Chrysler, engine that has left his factory tor of a company which manufae- so fur, little difference in the figures Talbot. Daimler, Dodge, Bulek, since that day. At one time when tured
pneumatic tyros. Two compared with last year. Agents Hillman, Humber, Morris, Singer, the firm was in its infancy he used years Inter he formed a
esmen have found the public Standard, Stur, Sunbeam. Swift, to do round the workships with which built sars to his specificn- ready to spend.
Vauxhall, Wolseley-take all these hammer, smashing any naterial Olympia is not only the greatest an examples, inspect them from that did not come up to his own trade fair of any single industry in radiator to luggage grid, and you exacting standards. the world, but it is an example of you will see that they mark a great can cheapen a advance compared with last year an industry product by the adoption of advanced or the year before. production methouls,
how
Nothing New-But-
+
tions and patents, and soon after- wards amalgamated with the growing Wolseley organisation. But now this great envinces For many years this now veteran designs his cars in a room of his inventor has impressed the mark villa on the Mediterranean or in of his inventive skill and imaginu America Surpassed.
the completely equipped drawing tion on the motor Industry, and 1-day, as he has shown, he ena effer in his country house in still The truth is that British makers, England. He has became almnat spring surprises, True, there is nothing standing. if they want to get world trade have recluse, and is an enthusiastic remarkable than Mr. F. W. Lan- None of the pioneers is more in ly new, in a technical sense, in the got to give something better
gardener.
chester. As works manager and halls devoted to cars. The fluid quality and price than their com-
All his life he has worked hard. designer to clatel of the Dainier and the petitors British firms as a whole. When it years old he sold news-
a company manufac Armstrong-Siddeley is not new infin polinement, quality, price and
sible for important inventions principal. Fluid Clutches existed performance, have caught up to the pers. Then he was apprenticed gas engines he was respon-
jia the locomotive workshops of the rela bailt in Amerien.
internal-combustion 26 stars ago. There is nothing American enr
Great Northern Railway at Peter-relating to new in epicvelle gears, but the cum-and is one or two cases have over Lorough, and later helped to make file mind to the construction of
engines before he turned his ver bination and the improvement of the hand it.
Other points which. I think, have uns at 11 Before he was 20 raotorcars. In the early nineties There is nothing nude greater appeal are that the he did pioneer work in lighting the he wrote ably on the science of streets of London and Manchester Hight, of which he was an enger now in the simplifiention of een-detail work be more suitable by electricity. At 21, with a capi-student." traliand chassis fabrication, but its the man who has to look after metal of less than £100, he founded refinement and more
His motor-ear of 1895 nehieved general apwn ear. that the controls and lu-
his own business as a manufac-a speed of 12 mph. and was run plication is new.
struments ensure less wearisome Some people talk about "atagna-handling, and that the small things rer of are lamps and afterwards on the high roads in defiance of dynamos. He bought one of the the red-flag regulations. There in design. There is no which two years
il ago, were
earliest foreign cars imported into a scarcely a firm manufacturing stagnation in design now, nor has soures of irritation such things to this entry, and got so tired of motor-curs in England to-day that there ever been. What has happen. filters and brake adjustments are repairing the engine that finally
(Continued on Next Column.) ed Is that cars have been going now in places where they enn be through a period of change from gut at for replacement or adjust- the luxury class to the popular ment with comparative case. cheap models. The Jull is more
The Little Six. apparent than real,
two give
mend of trong new in refine
tion
As I have previously said, this One type of car in the show is show is It
transition Olympia practically new. I refer to the There are a number of devices for Little Six. Interest in it, as shown easy gear-changing, either by means by the crowds round the Wolseley of special clutches and gear boxes. Hornet, is almost as great as when or by a mechanical means of doing the first "baby"-the Austin Seven away with double-clutching by came into the show seven or eight securing the correct meshing of years ago,
gear philons. There is no stagnu- While I do not think this class for there, and, with more proof car will have as great i vogalo gressive methods still to come in at first as the lever "babies." In the factories, together with the which Britain has no rivala 1 public demand for the silent third believe that eventually It will speed, I am convinced that before become the most popular of all for long every cheap car will have the man who tan only afford a similar devices as a standard.
Prices and Value,
modernte sum in initial cost. An Carburation devolopa, engines develop, and light motails for The British industry has done bodies advance, still more commo- wanders to advance the ear to its dious salcons of this class are present level, while producing a bound to come.
OIL FILTER.
Protects Engine Against Wear,
The Arst test showed that the oll Alter removed as much as one tenspoonful of abrasive material in every 1600 miles of driving.
The accond tost showed that wear with unfiltered oll was five times more than with filtered oil.
This third revealed that in 10,- Flint, Mich.. Nov. 16th, Tosts 1000 miles driving the Altering bag by. C. W. McKinley, research en became filled with more than two gineer of this city, reveal how the pounds of dirt, sludge and abrasive oil Alter protects the engine making servicing necessary at this against wear.
milenge...
POULTRY'S LIMOUSINE.
MATIONAL POULTRY EXPRESS
19% TO 18.9
LIVE & REFRIGERATED
LOUISVI IT MY,
Ten thousand pounds of live poultry can be shipped on one trip for any distance and be fed and watered on route. In this tractor-trailer combination truck being used by Louis Cohon, of Louisville, Ky. Food is mixed in a tank on the: truck and is carried to feed troughs by forca. A generator supplies current for 42 lights which illuminate, the coops at feeding time.
Christmas Greetings
What Better Surprise Gift
FOR NEW YEAR THAN
A FIAT CAR?
We have the following Models Ready for the Road 509 Tourer, 4 Cyl: 514 Tourer, 4 Cyl: (Saloons and Spyders) 521 Saloon, 6 Cyl:
520
Torpedo
6 Cyl: (also Coupe)
We make an allowance for your old Car. Spare Parts Always Available.
Service Station FIAT GARAGE and
LANCIA GARAGE
i
Hennessy Road.
Tel. 24841.
Tel. 23557..
A. GOEKE & Co.
Tel. 22221. FIAT
AGENTS
THE NEW
Spare Parts Dept."
CHINA BUILDING
Fourth Floor.
Tel: 22221.
AIR FLIGHT Principle Tyres by
FISK
MEAN
MORE
mileage
Obtainable at all Garages upon request.
Sule Distributors:
GILMAN & Co., Ltd.
Telephone_28011.
had not a humble beginning well
DICYCLES.
Time To Re-tiré
CET A FIEKĮ
TRANI HARI 189-16A. FAT, OPA
4a, Des-Voux Road, C.
READY FOR SHOW
|show to be held at Grand Central.
Palace, New York, Jan: 3 to 10,
within the memory of middle-aged
Mora bicycles were sold in 1920 More than 54 makos of cars, people. Mr. Montagu Napler, for than in any year since 1910, se-trucks and taxicabs will be exhibi example, built, his first cars in a cording to the magazine, Cycloited at the annual automobile small back street in Tambeth 11⁄2 a Trades of America, factory covering all told not more than half an acro. Daimler cats were built in 1806 in part of old cotton mills in Coventry, the birth place first of the bicycle and later, of many now Bourishing motor car factorios..
BIG PAYROLL
A total of 427,451, employees in the American automobile Industry were paid $775,478,810 in 1920, ac- cording to a recent estimate..
POLICE COLOURS, A California requires that anton used in the enforcement of state ftraffic laws shall be painted white,