“EGGSHELL” CARS

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30288, 14 November 1963, Page 18

“EGGSHELL” CARS

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, Nov. 13. Today’s automobile was “more of an eggshell than ever it has been,” Mr Justice Tyndall in the Arbitration Court today. He had asked a witness if the lack of a separate chassis in modern cars had anything to do with the fact that after it hit an obstacle one half of the car would go 90 feet in one direction while the other half went 180 feet the other way. The witness, Mr C. A. Manning, president of the

Motor-body Builders’ Industrial Union of Employers, said he agreed that although cars today were lighter than they had ever been in construction, other factors entered into accidents. Higher performance, higher speeds and better roads were also factors in bad accidents. With its box section and five walls the modern car had considerable integral strength, said Mr Manning. Before the court was an application by the Apprenticeship Committee for the industry to am nd its order to recognise chassis fat ication and realignment as a separate branch of the industry. This application is supported by the employers, represented by Mr R. E. Taylor, and the Coachworkers’ Union (Mr A. L. Cloake), but is being opposed by the Auckland branch of the Engineers’ Union (Mr A. J. Neale).