1948-04-03 — Page 8

Page

THE CHINA MAIL, SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 1948.

The

MORRIS

TEN FOUR SALOON

Fast

MOTORING

NEWS AND VIEWS

EXPLORING THE

THE LOST

LOST VALLEY IN A MORRIS TEN

To prove personal conviction

that the English car would Mr. G. Reid tells of epic trip

KO

anywhere, under any conditions,

THE LOST VALLEY

Just

gineering feat. We climbed slow- ly up the steep pass, inching and the writer, Mr. G. Rold, and an

bouncing our way very carefully over the rocky track with a sheer enthualastic. motoring friend MALIP'S DRIFT

drop of hundreds of feet at the volunteered to undertake a

From Chuniespoort our mop trip

thirty-five miles from side of the car. One bad. skid planned

by the Pan-African instructed us to take the malu Chunlespoort, we had our first would have been the end! Touring Club of Johannesburg to road to Lydenburg for a distance exciting glimpse of the Lost Val- The run down the other side of subject an English car to a gruel- of sixteen miles, then to branch ley-a Lovely, green Isolated the mountain to ling test. A little-known route to off on a secondary road in order paradise buried deep in the heart only twenty miles

Ofcolaed, now the almost inaccessible Lost Val- to reach Malip's Drift. From the of the Strydpoort Mountains, an considerably easier.

away, Was ley in the Northern Transvaal turn-off to Melip's Drift-a mat- off-shoot of the Drakensberg REMARKABLE PERFORMANCE ter of five or six miles--the road range sprawling east of Pieters- Throughout the day the engine became little more than a track. burg Secre-

bad performed with a degree of amusingly-named place of Ot-was the first Morris Ten to have its low horse-power and, des- coloco-a distance approxi-1 come that way, our track sud-[pite the considerable variation of

was mapped out by Mr. Freudenberg, Organizing

A.

Comfortable tary of the Club, and the car It was from this point to the As we were wondering if ours efficiency quita remarkable for

Safe

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chosen for the trip was a Morris Tea.

AN EARLY START

According to plan (quotes Mr. Reid) my friend and myself left Johannesburg before sunrise

оп

Ta lovely South African morning, We made good time, arriving at Witbank for breakfast at 8.5. then on to Middelburg, enteen miles away. seventeen

After enquiring about our road into the unknown, we left Mid- delburg at 9.30 a.m.-our destina. tion for the day being Tzaneen, approximately a further 240 miles away.

After making several enquiries for the road to Stoffberg we were at inst directed correctly on to a rond which we could see winding up over a

a large kopje away in the distance.

Stoffberg was such Д large place that we passed through without even noticing it.

FIRST REAL CLIMB

Shortly after leaving Stoffberg

we came to the foot of a moun-

yards went

The 25/20 h.p. Rolls-Royce

Silver Wraith. Coachwork-in by H. J. Mulliner & Co., Ltd.

we

tain with the road winding up- wards like e snake. Herë Our mately

seventy miles that denly ended on the Morris settled down to its Ars: the real test of endurance lawn of a lovely homestead. WOR to be expected. Here would pass through, the fabulous DESTINATION REACHED Lost Valley. D(

In a few moments the carne out to great us; he Up till now we had encounter-firmed that we were right ed almost every type of road sur heart of the Last Valley. face one could expect any car to tackle now we began to brace hazardous heights

From here our, drive to ourselves for worse to come,

began second gear at twelve miles hour over big stones. This

real climb, and after 100 от во in third gear, we down to second with plenty reserve at about fifteen miles an hour. The gradient appeared be about 1 in 7 and the end of the climb WAB reached

ascending some 700 feet,

10

after

25

The going was often stony but by no means uncomfortable troublesome to the car.

With Monsterlus our next des- tination, the road

suddenly widened and straightened,

After heading away from the and river the road became increasing- this, together with a big

imly stony and provement in the surface,

I bumpy, with such en severe gradients that low abled us to return to our Дету had to be used and care miles per hour cruising speed.

Consulting the map we gather ed that soon we would be ap-real proaching the heights and downs of the Lost Valley.

gear

taken

aken

to maintain traction on the loose Conditions changed little as we surface. Our Morris was certain- passed Nebo and drove on toly being tested to the utmost and Pokweni. From here we sought was standing the main road to Pietersburg, Grinding up gradients of 1 in 4, up beautifully. which passed through Chunles- the engine showed no sign poort some Bfty miles farther overheating. Steering and brakes

also proved very satisfactory.

on,

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FIRST-As for as available records reveal, the first motor car was imported into the Colony of Hong Kong in 1911. It was an OLDSMOBILE single-cylinder which

Was owned by Mr. Knax, who was at that time connected

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TRIANGLE TRADING COMPANY.

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of

саг

unfenced, altitudes up to 4,000 feet through which we had' passed, we had not found it necessary to alter either the ignition timing or the owner buretter mixture, the power be- in the throughout with barely discern-

con-ing more or less

consistent ible pinking. As we subsequent- ly proved, the engine had used no In old or water, and petrol consump on Lion turned out to be twenty- was nine miles per gallon, which we The considered oxcellent in view of

conditions

the

mountain climbing! rough track was hewn out of the the gruelling mountain sidoa wonderful en-gradients.

Rolls-Royce A Motorcar Meeting Alarm

pod

when

The sum of 4671,191 was avali- In these days when cars are able for disposal for the trading nearls beyond price, and year which ended in December even the elderly pre-war vehicle 1948, it was announced at the costs more than when new, the annual meeting of Rolls Royce, car thief is definitely not a per- Ltd. This was a record in the bon to be encouraged. Arm's history but reflects a very much smaller turnover.

Resumption of car production alter the war proved costly and notwithstanding the fact that a

de.

Equipped with suitable keys, etc., the car thief is waldom do- layed very long by the "average door or ignition lock. There is, therefore, quite a demand for de vices 20 per

cent dividend was

which will lossen the chances of one's precious vehicle clared, supplies and bodybuilding vanishing if left unattended. difficultles and now the load of Runbakens have recently pro- д double purchase-tax-have duced the "Alert" саг alarm, caused consternation. A the which causes the

horn to sound chairman said:-

intermittently as boon as anyone "The Chancellor (of the Ex-tampers with the car. Measuring chequer) has said; his aim is to about .in. x 2 in. and. of a stimulate exports, an aim, with convenient size for installing in which nobody can quarrel. It is strument panel, it is operated by cubby hole or under the in- however, generally agreed that a healthy home demand is a first mercury, awitch enclosed in a

vacuum tube. essential to the promotion of an export business, and the imposi-will tion of a further discouragement to the home buyers may well de feat the Chancellor's purpose.""

DIFFICULT

TO PLAN AHEAD

"It is extremely difficult for Industry to plan ahead", says Sir Graham Cunninghara, chair- mán and managing director of the Triplex Safety Glass Co., Ltd.

Commenting on. the abolition

coni~

the

close the switch and Eren slight rocking of the car plete the circuit either to normal, horn or to a special hora In a concealed position. Owing to the sensitivity of the device, it not only protects the car but also its contents.

The Alert" is made by Run- baken Electrical Products, 71-78a Oxford Road, Manchester.

A NEW EPOCH

The British motorcar indu

of the basic petrol ration, Blry is on the threshold of a new Graham, says --

epoch, In the opinion of its Na. tional Advisory Council.

In this atmosphere of uncer. In a recently published re- tainty, it is extremely difficult

for industry to plan ahead. The port, the Council saya: drunk, continual changes of polley and The industry is now more panic measures are an interesting open than ever before to major contrast with the methods of technical developments." The private enterprise.d

report goes on to emphasise the "In private enterprise, plans importance of the specialised are made well ahead and sub. production, maintained in' Dri- stantially kept. If this is an ex-|-tain, good quali amplo of State enterprise, no The value of British motor- Industry...........could follow it and car exporta le not to be men- sured by the numbers of In addition to his other oc- vehicles. The export of one cupations, Bir. Graham lak|çariat: #1,000 is of as much member of the Government's value to Britain as the export Economic Planning Board.

of five cars at £200 each,, "and" the market for the specialist TYRE SHORTAGE quality car, although it must Prosent tire shortages in Briway be restricted, is one in tain are not caused by an ex which Britain has shown itself cessive number of lirus being peculiarly well atted to occupy exported," stated “Big Henry a prominent place which- Kenward, president of the Tire would be folly to abandon Manufacturers Conference, In

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