FEMINISATION OF THE MOTOR.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19889, 28 March 1930, Page 9

FEMINISATION OF THE MOTOR.

"PERAMBULATING PAVILIONS." This year of grace ushers in, for -America at least, the era of-• women's complete domination of. - motor-car manufacture, especially from the aesthetic viewpointParadoxically ' enough, man;, the. natural' tinkerer, seemed content .witn the ugly, inefficient" Cars of the prewar period,- when a speaking, or squeaking', .-acquaintance with _ the complexities under the bonnet demanded as pre-requisites unbounded - patience ■ and energy- and- ■ an ■ academic knowledge of mechanics. • ... Women at that time were satisfied to sit prayerfully in. a badk seat and the bread-winners have the upper nana in matters automotive. Other times, other customs. The cars of to-day are bought by women, and. hence, bifllt and caparisoned for women. . If any further evidence was needed it was forthcoming <writes the ' Motors Amerioa'n correspondent) bv a casual promenade displays at tap first session •'of the 13tn annual National Automobile Show, at the Grand Central Palace, which closed on January 11th. . It was sufficient to convince the most sceptical that man has been relegated to the. back Beat. The mammoth hall itself Resembled a Cecil B. de Mille perversion of a Babylonian boudoir, Sntf the colour schemes and trappings of the cars themselves were prodigies" <>f : cfaromafcic indulgence. Gone are the bull-dog roadster and the scrupulously : plain touring car affected by the, sterner .sex of yesteryear. Enter the perambulating pavilions designed for the collective person known to tha fashion writers and other fanciful fellows as "milady." Daszling rayons,, like a Capri sunset. knick-knacka : and bric-a-brac, encrusted instrument boards and a general atmosphere of voluptuous elegance, all these appurtenances to an

, . • ** *j «|>SI very practical rot"- MIMMBW. _" to any appitwS degci.' 9S3BK -Tf •