Show Cars Feature Comfort In Driving

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28104, 20 October 1956, Page 11

Show Cars Feature Comfort In Driving

(Bee. 7 p.m.) LONDON, October 18. Trends in motoring seen at the motor show at Earl’s Court, which opened yesterday, are toward easier and more comfortable driving. Apart from automatic transmission, which eliminates gear-changing—now available for most cars—new features to be found are:— Air condition! « systems. A coffee machine and tape recorder included in a car with extensive equipment. A car radio with transistors instead of valves. Heel rests for women. Power-assisted steering. Power-operated boot and radiator lids. The show also gives Britons a peep into motoring of the future. On show are two prototypes of gas turbine cars—one British, the other French. The British car is a sleek 53-inch high Rover two-seater saloon with a 110 h.p. two-shaft gas turbine mounted at the rear. It has four-wheel drive transmission. The engine compartment is lined with asbestos against heat. France’s turbo-operated car is a Renault Shooting Star racing model which reached 192 m.p.h. in tests on 'Jtah’s Salt Flats. Both cars are experimental, but the compactness of the power units indicated that the jet car for private rtiotoring cannot be far off. In the meantime the two-pedal car without clutch, makes driving easier One manufacturer calls automatic transmission “an in-built chauffeur.’’ It is the answer for would-be women

drivers frightened by gear changes. The Ford Company, explaining its automatic transmission, says that it adjusts itself to the style of each driver, the steepness of hills and the speed of the car at all times. The change from low to intermediate gear is made automatically at 8 m.p.h. with light acceleration. With forceful acceleration for a quick get-away, the <' t ,ange-up is made a* 18 m p h. Automatic change-uo to high gear occurs at between 21 and 32 m.p.h. according to nedal pressure. There is increased foreign representation this year, with cars from Italy. France, Germany and the United States The baby among them, and a likely competitor for the British small family car market, in the absence of any comoarable British car. is the Bavarianmade Goggomobi] T3OO which sells in Britain for £494. Weighing about seven and a-half hundredweight, it has a 293 c.c. twostroke engine and does 62 miles to the gallon It has a cruising speed around 50 m.p.h The rear seat is not over-roomy but holds two children comfortably Many Continental manufacturers are turning from leather-tvpe upholstery and covering their seats in woollen textiles Some have compromised by using textiles lor seat top and back rest and covering th~ remainder of the seat in nlastic or leather. Glass Fibre Bodywork At least one British manufacturer has introduced glass fibre for bodywork The whole of the rear portion of the Vauxhall Velox Dormobile estate car is made of glass fibre with

steel reinforcement. Advantages are that it does not rust, warp or corrode, and will not dent or fracture. Holes knocked into it can be easily repaired. The car with a coffee machine and tape recorder is an adapted RollsRovce Silver Cloud saloon. In a compartment in the near-side front door with the coffee machine is also an electric razor and an ice thermos. The taoe recorder is fitted to the rear parcel shelf A radio-telephone is fitted into the near-side facia pocket and other equipment includes a nipe rack, a cigarette case fitted in the rear central arm rest and a combination shooting stick and golf umbrella. Prices of this year’s new models are genorallv sJlphtlv higher, but manufacturers are slashing profits to keep down prices, with material and labour costs rising. The David Brown companies announced todav a substantial reduction in their Lagonda cars. • amounting to more than £9OO on the Lagonda saloon The Laeonria saloon will now cost £1995 <£2993 with purchase tax), representing a total reduction with purchase tax of £907. The Lagonda dror'head coupe will now cost £2250 (£337R with purchase tax), a reduction of £675