NEW DESIGN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 73, 28 March 1933, Page 14

NEW DESIGN.

LATEST AMERICAN CAR. ■m TWELVE-CYLINDER CHASSIS. HORSE-POWER DEVELOPED, 100 (From Our Special Correspondent.) DETROIT, March 4. The modern automobile in de luxe usage is assuming specialised form embodying new controls, conveniences and style that widen the scope of motoring utility. Now has come the super-custom-built type of car in which special equipment add individualised variety to body design aside from beautified coachwork. Working out new ideas along these lines, ine company recently built up a single body type in which numerous advances have been exemplified. It has

been mounted on the 12-cylindcr chassi developing 100 horse-power, with max mum speed well over 100 miles an Lou The car as it stands is the individue conception of Edward Macaulcy, desig engineer and manager of the atylin division or the company. His idea represent not only those of the youngc generation, but also progressiv advance that keeps pace with researc and the changes it brings in car evolu tion. Under Mr. Macauley's direction th styling division, with 1933 streamlinin as the motif, lias originated practica features that supplement etreamlinin, and add precision to operation as dis tinct from the standard production cars The car has been viewed by invite< groups in Chicago and at the factory ii Detroit, but not elsewhere. In appear ance the streamlining has been con toured to give tho car a longer, lithe: shape than is shown by any of th< models eo far produced for 1933. Th< effect is distinctly European, but goc; *he foreign body designers one better ii carrying the hood all the way back t( the windshield without interruption foi the usual cowl. Car Described. Finished in an opalescent, gun-meta: shade; the body colour is given brilliani contrast through the use of a painted radiator shell, chromium plating on hub* and wire wheels and the grilled front end. Such parts of the running gear as are not concealed by the front fender skirts appear in bright maroon of a tint one degree away from high red. The rear end-represents a new interpretation of what can be done in elaborating this unusually negative portion of a car in design possibilities. It has been tapered to a long streamlined tail, with the rear wheels sheathed in "pants" not unlike those or aircraft, or as seen in the rear end treatment of Sir Malcolm Campbell's Bluebird 111. Each of these likewise has been brought to a rounded tail point, creating a fan-like spread as the car is viewed from behind. Space in the tail' has a lidded compartment in which there is stored a top with collapsible bows for mounting when needed. The windshield slopes backward at a 45 degree angle from the long hood, and windshield wings concealed in the door panels can be raised or lowered at will. Instead of being cut in the prevailing angular style, the doors hang straight. Vertical louvres, let into the splasher panels, carry out the straight line effect. It is in the instrument board that the elaboration of controls and conveniences has been centred. A array of knobs and dials begins on the left with a dock, which has split second as well as hour and minute hands. Next to the clock is placed a bi - ake pressure control, by which the power braking system can be adjusted to any of four positions the driver may select. The Dashboard. In tile centre, the speedometer is the large, clock-faced type. The tachometer, which is the precision indicator of speed, shows crankehaft per minute, from which exact miles per hour rate can be determined -accurately. Dials show oil pressure, fuel and oil level (in one), with the layout completed by ammeter and engine temperature gauges. With this group there is also a radio control knob and a cigarlighter attachment. The radio antenna is underslung beneath the chassis. On the extreme right there are two more dials that supplement the usual' equipment. One is an altimeter that registers height above sea-level while travelling in mountainous country. The other measures vacuum pressure in the intake manifold. This one is the telltale of accurate cylinder, valve and piston functioning, now considered essential in car operation at high speeds. One more gadget completes the ensemble —a thermometer dividing the windshield into right and laft sections; The model is a wide two-seater, with the position-of the steering-wheel-adjus-table in combination with leverage for the forward or backward movement of the seat cushion mounting.