IN PASSING.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 256, 29 October 1929, Page 18

IN PASSING.

SPARKS FROM THE WORLD'S

ANVIL.

GOSSIP OF THE GARAGES,

Mr. Ed. G. Willems, export counsel to the Franklin Automobile Company, is sailing by the Port Melbourne on the 2oth for South America, having completed an extensive study of the New j Zealand market.

The appointment is announced of Mr. H. W. Henry as representative in New Zealand for Franklin cars. Mr. Henry will take care of the organisation of Franklin dealers throughout New Zealand, and will be leaving early in December on a hurried trip to the United States.

The Hawaiian Islands has a motor vehicle for every six of its inhabitants; Canada and New Zealand one for every nine.

Austria, Belgium,fi Canada, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, England. France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States all produce motor vehicles.

Owners of Willys-Knight, Whippet and Overland motor cars arc promised an excellent outing next the management of the Canadian Knight and Whippet .Motor Company have arranged for a picnic run to Ferndale. The idea of the outing is for owners to get to know each other, for the management to familiarise themselves with the needs of their clients, and for a general interchange of ideas. It is also the intention of the management to help owners who have slight difficulties. The latest models of the three care will be displayed at the picnic ground. Driving competitions and sports will be held and prizes will be presented. Owners will assemble outside the firm's showrooms in Cook Street at 10.30 a.m. on Sunday, and the procession will then run on to Ferndale.

Witli the general uss of front wheel brake?, the braking power available to drivers has been greatly increased? In the old designs of rear-wheel or gear-box brakes it wag comparatively easy to get good if harsh braking. But the addition of front-wheel' brakes meant a : further distribution of the actual ipower applied by the driver. Joints, rods, and so forth had to be doubled. Again, the speed of cars Fa?, greatly increased. The brake designer andithe makers of brake linings have ,now toj think in terms of braking down from 50, 60, or even 70 miles an hour. Braking efficiency, however, has advanced adequately with increased general motoring efficiency. Cars that will do high speeds to-day are as safe to handle and in many cases actually Bafer than the much slower vehicles of ten years ago, largely on account of the speed and smoothness with which they can be pulled up. But it is more than the average driver can do to get the best out of the modern type of brake without mechanical assistance. There are now a number of different types of mechanically assisted braking systems in use. In England and Europe the system most in use is that in which the engine assists the driver in the task of putting on the brakes.