Motors and Motoring

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 51, 23 November 1928, Page 7

Motors and Motoring

DAY-TIME PARKING SPECIAL STORAGE GARAGES The time is rapidly approaching ■ when motorists will willingly pay a reasonable charge for the proper housing and care of their cars during the day (says the N.Z. Motor Trade Association’s magazine, “The Radiator”). The parking of cars in the street has become a habit, and as such may be difficult to break, as it is undoubtedly convenient and is also regarded as cheap. If, however, the loss by theft, by damage from other car owners, and depreciation from weather is correctly estimated, it will be found that open air parking is not economical. The motor trade in New Zealand has never pressed for the abolition of free parking in the streets, as they know that garage accommodation is inadequate and is fully utilised in the servicing and repairing of cars. The time is now near when garages built especially for the storage and cleaning of cars will be a practical and payable proposition. Such garages are required handy to the busy parts of a city, and the principal drawback is on account of the high price of land in such centres. Necessity 'is overcoming this difficulty, and garages are being erected on comparatively small sections of land, which will house a large number of cars, which can be handled expeditiously and safely either by ramps or elevators. There is an opening for such garages in some of our main centres, and there is a fair, field here in which well-planned enterprise is fairly sure of an adequate reward. Auckland already has made a start in this way, and although the enterprising owner has to follow the path of most pioneers, the progress in motor transport is so rapid that we feel sure his pioneering days will be short and his example will soon be followed by others. OLYMPIA SHOW The wide range of type of the Brit-ish-made car is evident from the fol- . lowing recent report of the Olympia ■ Motor Exhibition, London: — • “The International Motor Exhibition 1 at Olympia, London, is the twenty-see- 1 ond of the series organised by the So- < city of Motor Manufacturers and Trad- 1 ers. It continues to be, without doubt, ' representative of the best products of ' the world’s private car factories and 1 to occupy the premier place among > motor exhibitions. The total number ’ of cars exhibited is greater than ever 1 this year, and the price ranges from ' £llO to £3500. The horse-power varies between 7 and 45 among the cars ex- ■ hibited, and is developed in from 2 to 1 12 cylinders. Besides, the cars, however, there is a magnificent range of : coachwork, which incidentally emphas- 1 ises the predominance of closed bodies, and, again, a most comprehensive dis- 1 play of components, accessories, and equipment.” i

HUMAN EVOLUTION WILL WE REVERT TO TYPE? ’ Following on a recently published J article regarding the future appear- > ance of motoring women, an English > medical practitioner writes to the "Au- ' tocar” as follows, giving his views coni cerning the build of the male passenger , of years to come:— "With reference to a paragraph recording a prediction of the ultimate . type of the human species, I think that I can tell you, at all events, what the male passenger motorist will develop into from long contemplating what the “slenderly fashioned” creature is going to do next. "The extraordinary similarity In outward appearance between the two sexes of the human race, characteristic of the present era, is merely a passing phase to be followed by a deviation which will become more and more accentuated until at length the male and female human will scarcely be recognisazle as belonging to the same species. "To start with, certain leg muscles in the male, through constant though futile pushing upon footboards, will become abnormally developed, particularly the extensor longus digitalis. At the same time, the male foot will become broader and flatter. This tendency will be accentuated by the custom which will become common to both sexes, of driving bare-foot in order to have a more sensitive touch on the pedals. This custom will, in general, have a good effect upon the feet, toes becoming long, prehensile, and capable of rolling cigarettes; but in the case of males frequently changing over to the position of passenger and being driven by a female, the feet, no longer restricted by shoes, will spread. “The ‘far-set-back eyes’ of the longnecked female will have their exact converse in the eyes of the male, w’hieh will come forward a bit to have a good look round; this peculiarity may be noticed in some of the larger crustaceans. Concurrently with the forward development of the eyes, independent sight will certainly come about. Just as certain present-day cars have, according to the ‘Daily Mail,’ independent steering to each front wheel, so the male eyes of the future will be capable of separate rotary movement, as in the chameleon. The natural corollary of this will be a double-acting brain. One eye and one-half of the brain will allow the male to regard his greyhound-like companion and indulge in light conversation (speaking eves being still in fashion), whilst the other eye and what we might call the business half of the brain will watch out for an impending crash. Lastly, the continual, violent application of brakes by the female has, even in our days, produced a desire sor some prehensile organ which will avoid facial contact with the windscreen' A tall is indicated and a tail will be redeveloped in this case—simply a matter of reversion to type.”

FAULTLESS GEAR CHANGING NEW AUTOMATIC DEVICE Attached to the steering wheel of a new model of an English car is an automatic gear changing device. This

consists of a small quadrant on the wheel, bearing numbers to represent the various gears. When the driver desires to change gear he presses a foot pedal and moves the dial indicator to the gear number he wants. The car proceeds at its established speed under whatever gearing it is set. The invention not only simplifies the gear-changing process, but makes the changes accurately, so that there is none of the rasping which is the bane of motoring to inexpert drivers. The device was tried over a road tour of. 25,000 miles, under all conditions,, before it was put into general service. A feature of the design is that the gear control takes the form of a short lever, similar in size to an ignition lever, which is mounted at the top of the steering column and can be set t > any desired position while the car is running without affecting the gearbox until such time as the clutch pedal is depressed. The gear is then changed rapidly and silently. Thus, when approaching a hill in top gear the driver can move the lever to the third speed or second speed position in readiness, so that when on the gradient he has only to declutch in order to effect a quick change down. Another marked feature of this gear-box is the extreme quietness obtained on third gear, which is scarcely distinguishable from top gear.. In any epicyclic eear-box the braking mechanism employed to hold stationary certain parts for gear-changing purposes is almost as difficult to design satisfactorily as the-gear trains themselves, because it must work very smoothly and must not allow any pos sibility of slipping.

INDIVIDUALITY DISLIKE OF THE POPULAR CARS It has taken the motor industry many years to discover how to build chassis each one of which shall give the same performance as all others of the same model. Standardisation has proved a boon to the motor owner in this respect, and it has also enabled cars to be.built much more cheaply for given material, workmanship, accommodation, and achievement, than is possible when machines are designed more or less to individual requirement. The story of the first quarter of a century’s endeavour of the automobile Industry reveals that in Europe it was devoted to improving the reliability and performance of the vehicle; whereas the American industry’s main effort was directed less to giving an ambitious exhibition than to standardising results. Inevitably there have been exceptions. ■ In America the public is accustomed to having everything standardised for it. On the Continent, and in England, in general, the expression of individuality has ever been held desirable. In the Old World, at the beginning of the industry, and until after the war, the output of each car type standardised was relatively so small mainly because evolution detail by detail was so rapid, that even a successful model was not seen on the roads in sufficient numbers to suggest want of variety. For about nine years some manufacturers in England have each built tens of thousands of cars of a given type, and many private motorists have been heard to declare that they would not own sucli and such a car merely because so many other folk have cars exactly like it. That feeling is also growing in America, it is reported. TYRE MILEAGE Even in these enlightened days there are many users of pneumatic tyres who do not realise why some, of their tyres give considerably greater mileage than others, and should one or more outer c~ ers fall earlier than expected, the reason is very often attributed to faulty manufacture, and the makers are discredited accordingly. ' So far as the leading makes of pneumatic tyres are concerned, methods of production are so standardised and supervised that variations in wearing qualities between covers and tubes of the same size and pattern are very 'much less than was the case when pneumatics were first made. If, therefore, disappointing results are experienced, it will usually be found that the conditions under which the tyres in question are run, or their treatment, are responsible. Following are some of the reason for decrease in the mileage of tyres: Underinllation, wheels not in correct alignment, bent or rusty rims, brakes not properly adjusted, tyres not properly mounted, reckless driving, tread cuts not promptly mended. If these faults are watched for and remedied promptly tyres will give satisfactory and consistent mileage.

WHY NOT IN NEW ZEALAND? The worthy inhabitants of Berlin arc annoyed by the noises made by motorcyclists In that city, and they have given voice to their grievance in no uncertain manner. The result is that the police are stopping all motor-cyclists and examining their machines. If the machines are not found to be in proper order the riders are politely conducted to the motor traffic office, where an expert tells them what must be done to render their motor-cycles at least reasonably quiet. If the riders are caught again making too much noise they suffer the dire penalty of having their licenses withdrawn. Some motorists do not yet sufficiently realise the necessity for correct inflation of their tires (says a tire expert). Until they do fully realise this fact, they will not get the maximum mileage from tires. Under-infla-tion causes rapid tread wear and fabric breaks, and also magnifies the effects of other forms of misuse. Motorists should always test their tires every week with a reliable air gauge, and inflate them to the minimum pressure for their size of tire. If the pressure is allowed to drop more than three pounds below that minimum, rapid tread wear, fabric breaks, and other tire troubles result.

FLOTSAM AND JETSAM OF THE ROAD THE ODDS AND ENDS THAT FALL FROM MOTO. VEHICLES ' Take any main road which carries a heavy load of traffic and glance down at the surface (says a contributor to ■'The Motor”). One will frequently find that it is studded with metal parts pounded into It by countless wheels. They are more or less crushed out of shape, but still recognisable as having fallen from motor vehicles. There are plain ..uts and castellated nuts and .hers of all shapes and sizes: there are parts which are easily identifiable as headed bolts, while screws of wood and metal can be counted by the score; some of the parts can be recognized as split-pins, although flattened out of their original shape. In fact, all sorts of odds and ends that have dropped off passing motor vehicles lie embedded in the surface of the roadway. The wood-paved London streets show the greatest collection of this flotsam and jetsam of motor traffic, and, indeed, near a busy bus stop one will often count more than a dozen such pieces to the square foot. Looking at thi; collection, one cannot help thinking that perhaps some have dropped from vital parts. 'Who knows but what an accident has been caused, a wheel coming off or a steering failure occurred through a splitpin loosening or a nut having been shed, although, of course, the majority may be quite unimportant. A study of the road surface of busy highways

should remind every motorist of the importance of occasionally going over the chassis to see that no split-pins have worked out or nuts have loosened and been lost. A regular inspection of this kind will almost invariablv lead to the detection of the urgent, need for a spanner and very often prevent trouble of a serious character developing later.

BEWARE OF THE TRAM Since the tram tracks are frequently under repair in the Wellington streets, motorists would do well to act on the following advice: —• Firstly, beware of being top close behind. Remember you cannot see what obstruction there may be in front of a tram, and that, in emergency, the tram can stop so quickly that you would probably be caught unawares if following too closely. Drive always with a good “margin of safety.” Secondly, remember the driver of a tram never, looks behind for signals. If you know the tram route well it is a very wise precaution to note the tram’s destination. You are then ready and prepared for any sudden turn it may make. Even if the route of the tram is not known to you the possibility of the tram’s turning suddenly across your path should be constantly borne in mind—the curving rails will be a warning that will help in the avoidance of accident. A tram is stronger than your car, so treat it with respect.

PETROL GAUGES A petrol-gauge fitted on the dashboard which the driver can see easily is an exception in the equipment of many modern cars. Quite a number of quantity indicators are fitted on the fuel-tank; but then the driver or other occupant of the has to get out and walk to the rear of the vehicle to inspect the indicator. Although it gives the approximate amount of petrol in the tank, there is no chance of really gauging the consumption as one travels, which is one of the main dvantages of fuel indicators. Also, while many cars are fitted with a threeway tap, in'order to keep a gallon or two of fuel in reserve, this is of little use unless the gauge is in front of the cft-iver, to warn him to open it on the reserve supply before the vacuum tank is empty. If the petrol gauge were supplied a-d fitted where it is most needed—in view of the driver—it would save considerable trouble, at times, and would also be an admirable check on the fuel pump.