,DERN MOTORING.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 86, 12 April 1927, Page 14

,DERN MOTORING.

TYRE CARE. A reniarKable lack of knowledge concl'i'.'i:,!:: pneumanc tyres exists among Xew '/. v.land mntorUis. It results in an eiiorniou* waste of U'oni-y every year. The manager ur one concern estimates j that fully 50 per rent of tyres have ' their iive> shortened by misuse, duo to ' Li'-k of knowledge. j There have, however, been compara- i iively few attempts to educate the | motorist concerning his tyre?, and it is ! felt that the following hints may be o: ; value: — J Consider the pneumatic tyre from the j human standpoint. Air i- the "soul" of the tyre and its vitality is dependent on the pressure. Any tyre that is under-inflated or over-inflated cannot be expected to .rive the sunie service or life as one that is properly inflated according to the n 'ledule laid down by the manufacturer*. Tyre* that are under-inflated are starved, n"-! tyres that are over-inflated are nveriVi.. Pneumatic tyres need only one diet, ■ and that is air, and all users should J see that their tyres are properly fed. ! Xu satisfactory substitute for air has \ been discovered since the pneumatic tyre was invented. There is no better cushion than air. because air will ''flow" with the shape of the tyre in motion, and the pressure will remain equal at all points at all times. The inner tube is merely an air . container and any j special type of tube that is thicker at any one point wil hinder the comfortable running of the car. Test your air pressure regularly, and at frequent interval-, and =ee that even pressure is maintained. Xo one can accurately test the air pressure of any tyre by mere guesswork. This can only be done by using a proper tyre gauge. The air pressure in rear tyres must be equal, the same with the pressure in front tyres although the pressure in front tyres can often be slightly lower than tiie rear. The two rear tyres inflated to makers' schedule and the. front tyres about 21b lower is a good standard. ]\ear tyres with unequal pressure will cause discomfort to passengers and give the car a tendency to skid in one direction. Front tyres with unequal pressure will interfere with the proper steering of the car. In testing the air pressure in your tyres be sure to see that your valve is not leaking. If it is, lit a new valve '"inside"' and see that your dust cap is properly screwed down. Xo car can run properly on deflated tyres, and trouble caused by negligence always occurs at the most inopportune moment, causing extreme annoyance to everyone. AVith proper and daily attention to the tyres every driver should be practically immune" from tyre trouble. Tyre cost is one of the most important items in the upkeep of any car, and a very great saving in the tyre bill can be effected by proper care. In inflating your tyres to the schedule recommended by the tyre manufacturers remember that the schedule for the various sizes and tyres was only finally agreed upon after years of actual j experience under all sorts and conditions I of road and driving. See that your spare is always inflated to the maximum pressure you require for your back wheels. If a change is required for the rear then your spare is ready to fit immediately, but if you are using a slightly lower inflation* on front wheels, and a change of front tyre is necessary, just deflate spare to the required pressure to ensure even running

of tlie car. DEVELOPMENT OF CLOSED CAR. The evolution of the all-weather car began many years ago with the introduction of wind screens. Cars did not always have wind screen?, that is why in old pictures of the earliest cars you gee drivers and passengers equipped* as though they were about to start on a Polar exploration. . Later there followed all-weather curtains. These were very crude at first. They flapped about in the wind, created, instead of stopping, draughts, and they were by no means weather-proof. They represented a stage" iu the development of the all-weather car. Weather curtains have now. however. improved out of all recognition, though they have not reached perfection. They ;ire in most cases absolutely rain-proof, and the best types are draught-proof. They are also rigid, so that they remain in position as a protection against » draughts. In some cases all-weather gai curtains—or windows, wliich they re- 1 semble closely—can be raised and lowered I by driver or passenger inside the car. I The good modern all-weather car is I almost as snug and warm when it is properly rigged as a saloon car. Long journeys can be made in the worst weather without fear of the elements. In the past two years remarkable price changes have taken place. A closed car, which a few years ago would have cost nearly £1000, can now be had at less than half the price, while small family saloon cars are almost as cheap as open cars, various models being available from £300. In some cases the closed car is | now sold as standard, and is cheaper j than the open tourer. | Further, they are in many cases, as efficient and as economical to run as the open all-weather car. There is no need I to sympathise with a small engine I because it is saddled with a -well-fur- I nished closed body. In all probability I that body is no heavier than the open type, and in some cases where fabric is used it i 3 actually lighter. At one time nervous drivers fought Buy oi closed cars. The earlier types were indeed somewhat dangerous, for vision wae restricted by heavy struts v Winds ™ ™d the win•om tt P t 0W ' Wever < the visibility behind when be in reverse. Yes, the day of the dosed i dawned, even i n this part of thi I CHEERFUL. A Vale professor has just invented « new law about the risk of collision Accidents, he says, increase much faster than the number of automobiles Proh ably they increase with the number of times automobiles pass each other which is approximately as the square of the number ot the vehicles them- I selves. ! If there are 100 automobiles m „ citv each has the risk of colliding with the 'other 99. That makes 9900 possible I collisions. But if there are 1000 cars in the city, each of them may collide with the other 999, making a ! total of 999.000 potential collisions which is far more than ten times the risk sustained with 100 cars. The professor has obviously worked ' out his littlL ' sunl °" tlle ,nl?is <>f'n' single straight street, up and down which his cars patrol ceaselessly all dav long- But when one has made the necessary practical allowances, then is something ia ?™at he says, j

SALE OF WOLSELEY MOTORS. 1- Uio Companies (YVindinjMip) (says the • Daily l>;! ■ graph" u f Vchv:i:\vy 10), t] u . Ol Ver ~f Mr. \V. K. Morris, of .Morris .Motors. Ltd., of £37,000 for the assets of NVolsi-h-y -Motors, Ltd., was accepted. The purchase was made after spirited bidding in open Court between Mr. Morris on* the one liand and Sir Herbert Austin and Mr. E. L. Payton on the tit her. Uii'ers for the purchase of the assets had been invited, and that of Sir Herbert Austin and Mr. Payton was disclosed as £030,000. Mr. Morris made an offer in open Court of £051.000. whereupon Mr. Payton, on behalf of himself and Sir Herbert, increased their bid to £052,000. Eventually, after a series of bids ranging; from £1000 to £5000, .Mr. Morris' was declared the purchaser at the figure mentioned above. The sum nearly approached the full value placed on the assets by the liquidator?. The title of the company will remain unchanged, as will the name of the car. This acquisition makes Mr. Morris easily one of the largest employers of labour in the country. lie has already more than 10.000 men on his pay-rolls, and it is anticipated that at k-ast another 5000 hands will ultimately be employed in the YVolseley factories. "My purchase of Wulseloy Motors, Ltd.." said Mr. Morris, in an interview, "has been considerably influenced by the keen desire to further British industry, to assist the unemployment problem, ami to prevent this old-established motor ear firm from passing into foreign hands. It would have been a serious blow to our national prestige if foreign capital had acquired what is one of the four foremost British car-making firms, and one whose car stands very high in the esteem of Britishers throughout the world." Sir Herbert Austin states that his offer was made on behalf of himself and Mr. E. L. Payton, and not on behali of Austin Motors. Company, Ltd.

WHEN YOU ARE OVERTAKEN. Complaints from one motorist about another are always unpleasant to receive. But there is one type of motorist against-motorist complaint which is always cropping lip —and from which we all suffer at times. It is the case where one driver will not let another overtake — without adequte reason for the refusal. C)n some rare occasions a road may really be too narrow for another car to overtake with safety. But the occasions when this obtains concurrently with another car wanting to overtake are very rare. The majority of drivers wait until they can see adequate room for overtaking before making obvious their desire to do so. The unwritten rule of the road in this respect is that which obtains in racing. It is as follows: "The fact that a car has caught you should be accepted as adequate reason for allowing it to pass." An inexperienced driver in 4'ront may think there is not enough room for the car behind him to get by. And the driver of the car behind may know that there is ample. It is just a difference of opinion. When overtaken and there is room to pass, the driver in front should slowdown a little to allow the overtaking car to get through easily and safely. MOTORING CONDITIONS IN ENGLAND. ''Motoring in England would be a nightmare owing to the volume of traffic were it not for the excellent system of control and the efliciency and helpfulness of the police. The A.A. and R.A.C. render splendid assistance by means of their systems of road patrols, and by their co-operation with the police in controlling traffic. The courtesies of the road are carefully observed, and everyone seems imbued with a spirit of helpfulness; casual passers-by will frequently signal to an approaching motorist if there is another vehicle approaching at an intersection, or wave him on if the road is clear. There are few places which impose a speed limit of loss than 10 miles an hour, and the speed is generally left to the discretion of the driver. In most of the larger towns parking places are provided witli a man in charge, who collects a fee of fxl or ]/. No rules are I enforced as to which way a standing car 13 to face; tramears can be passed on either side, whether stationary or in motion, but the driver who leaves his car too long in a busy street very soon hears from the custodians of the law." Thus writes a visitor to Great Britain.

A CAR THAT WINKED. A friend was telliny me the other il.iy about a man who has a car that wink-! Whenever tiio ear iroes over a road that is not a< smooth a- a billiard table, u-ne of t!u' r-ido liirhts I> 1 inks in and out- line day niv friend, while motoring, pa.-sed this i-ar, and took the blinking of the listht a> a signal that iho'.'G wa.- a trap Oil. lie immediately .-lowed down, an! another car overtook him at the speed at which he had been goinp- A few hundred yards farther it was stopped by the familiar blue figure. My friend was, of coarse, very pleased at his escape, and next time he met the owner of the "winking" car lie warmly thanked him. The man said he was very pleased to hear that he had been of service, but. meanwhile, he would like to know what it was all about. It turned out that he had no idea that his light "blinked." and also he was quite iiii.nvaiv that there had been a trap! They tested the car on a slightly bumpy road, and found that it still "winked." Hoth the owner of the car and my friend tried to find the fault in the lamp circuit, but without <i;cee". It still ".Morses," and the nivirr irather perturbed because, he •• . -. :; "might annoy the police." In l!.;rr.e's "Quality Street" one of the ladies says. "1 do not like that man: he slowly cawed his eye-lid and quickly raised it at me."' The man with the winking car thinks a policeman might take a di-like to a car that "closed its eyelid and quickly rai-e.l it at him."' Hut it it did irritate a constable he would probably not expre-s his dislike in the diixnilied manner of Sir James F>arrie's lady. He would more probably rap out a terse adjuration to the effect that he wished the driver to cease blinking that blinking light before he blinking-well took the driver's blinking name and address.

Small town sign: Speed Limit Eight Miles an Hour. Smaller Town Driver (with missing engine): By heck. J. don't think 1 e'n make it.

THE DANGERS OF DIMMING. Thi> vexed i|!u->;ii.ii ..f h.-:i<Uiulit dimming i> airaiu under review a- tlie niiihts draw in. It ran only lie repeated I hut tlie lieee-.-ity for dinimili;.' i< ulivinted if llle headlight « are correct Iv ::d iu-ted. Uoih the Auckland ( ity Council and the Hamilton HorcMi'jh Council have l.y-l.iu-rcijiiiriny that the main beam of the >ha\\ is;it project inoro than ::tt from .thp jrrounil nt a distnnoo of "."ill from tlie vehicle. It immaterial liow l.riirht li-hts are if they rani Kit reach

the eve level of n|i|>roaohin.s driver? .Many inotori-to cannot di>tiitu'iiiM i lietweell luii'llt li::!'t> ;ii:.l d<i//lin: I l'mht>, and wlieii the_\ -ee a I. ri•_; 1 il li-lil j ill the ili-taliee they yivo t!ie -■ •_■ 11;11 t' ' dim in iuii"i:i me of the ta " tliat ;i powerllll li'j!;t may have no dazzle elTeet. v. !'ih> a rather | r re! , ., t tor witli ;i hi^l. ellieieney luilli may produce extr; , ::)! , yliire if not ponv; - t!y lmeliid. s..in« drivers oliject to ad jii>t inu tlieir liuditlicciiuso the ili]i])iliLT deprives tlieni of ;; very f;;r-reaehiti;: lieani for country

ri\in-_'. Tlio ilifliotilty i< ea-ily settled , motori-i< who do imieli country ilrivu- would Uμ. , a -]■■>! 1 i-iit for the iiTtiitlee li-j' ' ":d iel\ .:i l !;.■ pi ■■).. rly 1 !!,iiliei| ii•-:l •1 ] • ■_■ I:" !■. <! • i liiull.ill-M-ilni i-: : ■■'■ 'i" li.is .iu-t r::n >HT a •Uiui ' : For h.-.i\i-:i" ? -.iki . -■■: tin I'an't !>c dour- '.hat's llie ',; ike ) oil ran ever.'