Auto Gossip

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32274, 17 April 1970, Page 11

Auto Gossip

A. J. P.

by

in, the centre of the dash does not help the problem much; it merely means the driver’s vent refrigerates his left hand, rather than his right. Roof-Mounted? British Leyland's rally cars for the London to Mexico rally suggest ■ another possibility. The swivelling fresh-air vents on the rally cars are fitted to the roof, just above the windscreen and beside the rear-vision mirror stalk. The air is sucked in by rather ugly van-type scoops on the roof, but surely it would be possible in a production car to disguise the air-intake by having it in the form of a slit in the “leading edge” of the roof panel? The system would probably need less “piping” than the present dashmounted vents, but this apparent advantage > might

be cancelled out by the drainage arrangements needed to prevent the 1 system from picking upj vast quantities pf water in, wet weather, and blowing it into the driver’s left eye. It could be just like a ship collecting a wave in an! uncapped ventilator. When the air Inlet is in the bonnet top, on about the same level as the interior vents, it is easy enough to have a hole in the bottom: of the air-intake chamber i to drain out unwanted moisture. But . . when I turned on the heater, it gave a gurgle, a loud gulp.' and filled my left shoe with i dirty water . . .” one: motorist reported. An > autumn leaf had blocked the intake drain-hole, and overnight rain had filled the chamber to the brim. Quote Of The Week “Very short skirts, with reservations, I am all for. The reservations concern legs. In some sad cases, the undoubtable courageous-: ness of a hitch does not mitigate the spreading gracelessness of a flitch.”—! “The Scribe,” writing in! "Autocar.”