Auto Gossip

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32879, 30 March 1972, Page 14

Auto Gossip

by

Hooray for tapes Having at last made a long, solo trip in a car fitted with a stereo tape-player, I am convinced that if long, solo drives were something I did every week, I would undoubtedly join the carstereo enthusiasts. I’m also convinced that as I do not make such trips every week, and most such systems seem to cost well over three figures (plus of course, the fairly nigh cost of pre-recorded tapes) I can restrain any such enthusiasm quite convincingly. The system I tried was a new one, which may appear on the market here, and which combines a very neat cassette unit with a radio in a normal car-radio-sized unit. I am sure this will be more acceptable to many buyers than some of the large, somewhat cumbersome units designed to be screwed under the dash.

Music soothes On the occasions during my trip when I passed into poor radio-reception areas, and on the more frequent occasions when none of the stations in range were broadcasting other than ravings for the latest hits, newest pimple-creams, and fastest horses, I found the tape most enjoyable. As it was a demonstration tape with only four tunes on it, it got increasingly less enjoyable as time passed, but you can’t have everything. If the tape-radio unit I saw can be marketed at a reasonable figure, it should do well. Personally, I like music when I am driving alone—l think it soothes and even helps one pay attention, although I can understand those who find it. distracting. It is just that Ido not—nor do many other motorists I have spoken to. It has to be something light, though—anything requiring too much attention, or providing an irritant—like some advertisements, and raving announcers—is no help to the driving. I have heard of one car-stereo owner who classifies his music according to use: he has favourite tapes for slow driving, fast driving, traffic jams, night driving, and for other situations in which you might need music in a car. Worn aerials Did you know, by the way, that eat radio-aerials

A.J.P.

can wear out? Radio experts tell me that the average aerial is good for only three or four years before corrosion and what-have-you start to interfere with its efficiency. In most older cars, they say. poor reception and odd unwanted noises can usually be traced to a faulty aerial, and a replacement will work wonders. Automatic reflex On the general subject of noise in cars, there is no doubt unexpected noises can have a remarkable effect. I was recently a passenger in a car driven by a very competent driver, with whom, the previous evening, I had been discussing traffic officers and their ways, fair and foul. It must have had a deep effect on his sub-conscious. As he accelerated, a trifle more briskly than an enthusiastic officer of the law might regard with favour, a truck going the other way emitted a loud gearbox whine—and in tenths of a second my friend had come off the accelerator, dabbed the brake, sat bolt upright, and checked all mirrors. Nothing wrong with his reflexes.