OLD CARS FOR INTEREST.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20037, 19 September 1930, Page 7

OLD CARS FOR INTEREST.

WHERE NEW CARS TAKE SECOND PLACE. The man who can afford to buy himself a new motor-car every year Is fortunate. He is never more than a year behind the fashion, or the designer of the make> he favpurs, whichever is the more advanced. Unless he covers a yearly mileage well above the average he need know nothing of the symptoms of wear and prolonged service. He heed only observe the usnal precautions for running-in his new cars, and he need only adapt himself to the whims of csr» which will generally be in good adjustment and condition. It is otherwise with those who buy new cars to keep (writes J.M. in the "Autocar") or who do all their motoring in cars of which someone else has had the best. They will be made aware of the gradual decadence of their ears as the miles and the revs, take toll of their efficiency. But, by way of compensation, they find their maihines full of specfci interest. That knock, rattle, or hum must be located, its cause diagnosed and remedied as speedily as may be, and as economically as possible. A broken spring here, a leak there, or a component which has worked loose will all manifest themselves in ways more or less unmistakable. Some troubles, not too fundamental, may elude one for months, and when at last found make one kick one's self mentally for obtuseness in not running them to eHirth sooner. Other troubles are reasoned out swiftly, surely, apd successfully; the owner goes straight to the cause and rectifies it. As the years go by fresh units of the car challenge the owner—rgiven sufficient time, no doubt, -they all would. £«ush type of trouble met and surmounted arms one against its recurrence. Obviously, some parts aro moifO susceptible to wear and maladjustment than others, but not all troubles come with the miles. Exposure, habit, and chance all have their bearing on the matter, and for that reason a road test of 100,000 miles on a new chassis might fail to induce some latent t oublc. A feature of older cars which might repel some users provides an attraction to others. Depending variously uppn, tho el&ss of car, convenience and ease of operation have not always been what they a*e to-day, with the result that dignified progress on old cars makes a bigger demand on driving skill. 1 With these facts in mind, should a ptospfcetive motorist fee advised to start his career on a new car or on an old one! If he starts on a used car which is put,into his hands in good adjustment he will sooner be brought up against those effects of wear and use of which he should be aware. In from three to five years most parts of a car will become due for attention of some sort. He will also bo better able to judge from his own experience what he refilly wants from a car; and his ■ subsequent purchases may be considerably more discriminating than his first. It is good for the industry that most of us shoyld ride in new ears; but old ears for interest. The following notice was "observed recently on a Liverpool motorist's ear: " Steady 1 Bather be home at twelve than be in Heaven at eleven I" Th 6 statue of the patron saint o£ Naples, S{. Januarius, was - recent!}? affected by traffic vibration, and shook in such a way that many of the inhabitants believed that the saint was 'nod-, ding to them and £hat hj« had a message to deliver.