BUMPERS OR NO BUMPERS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 154, 27 December 1924, Page 23

BUMPERS OR NO BUMPERS

Most cars in this country are fitted with bumpers, but this is not the case in England, arid a controversy is proceeding ;in motor journals as to the advisability or otherwise of adopting the bumper as standard.

"The Motor" having very properly raised the question of fenders on English automobiles, perhaps I may be permitted, says an American correspondent, to say a few words on the subject—one that must inevitably engage the attention of motorists of this country in the near future. The traffic in certain parts of the country is bad, but not nearly so bad as it,is in many cities of the United States. The only analogy of which I can think is a train o£ freight cars moving slowly. When the , locomotive stops, the cai'3 bump into one another, m a (manner -wa all know Cities such as New York, Chicago,- or Los Angeles have many streets which vi owed from the tops of the buildings, show..a continuous line of cars, following within a few feet of one another. When the leading car is pulled up at the end of a block, it is quite impossible for those farther down the line to see, although they may be expecting it And then one gets the effect of the freight cars, for the whole line may sentlv bump up, one car against the other. Under these conditions, the lamps fondere, radiators, - a nd back panels of a car are not worth a moment's purchase, unless protected. Consequently the bumper, front and rear, althou K h not compulsory—by law—is, from the owners point of view, just as necessary as the spark-plug. I know that motoring in this country has not reached the stage where the number of cars gome into the city is limited, as it is in New \ork now, but it is certainly coming, and then you Enghsh owner-drivers wO fall for bumpers as the saviour of your

To one used to American cars, the

Another correspondent urges a standard height for bumpers, if they «"to be used generally, and tells of a little Hicident apropos of the nee ssity of

While on a business tour in the btatcs recently, I saw the dH f c Mr run „ito another i,, f ront , o£ , liln ' ,1 he cars wci-b fitted with bumpers of varying all.tudc, with the result thai. Ufc luiii.l-.tir ,jf umb Ueuunt l.uukßtt. up in th.c burner of the sthjjr, Xh s f j^|

was intensely funny. One saw two ' solemn-faced citizens of liberty in their' "sedans" —one in first gear and one' in reverse—trying to get away from each other in the middle of a busy downtown crossing. They could not manage it, and the front car had to be lifted by about a dozen men. But surely bumpers are unnecessary for British drivers, although the driver of some of them does not seem to have improved in the past twelve years If bumpers are necessary, then let British manufac< turers agree to fix them at a standard' height from the. ground, and-so avoid the troubles of the American to-day " !

The simplest way to locate a leak in thj carburettor-float is to immerse it in vervl hot water, when the spirit which has entered the float will evaporate and' escape through the puncture showinc -i stream of small bubbles in the water If only a small quantity of petrol is insidd the float, it may be possible to evaporates it all m this manner; but if the quantity is.large, a better plan is to slightly increase the size of the puncture, and make another small hole in some other part of the float. The petrol will then easily drain out and .the two orifices can bo closed with. solder. '* . :

When joining up.electric wires which; have to carry a comparatively heavy cur-s rent, the soldering iron is necessary; mere'twistmg of the wires together will not be sufficient as a permanent job, as a bad contact will cause heating andj loss' of current. The wires should first! be cleaned to brightness, and then twist-' cd together in the ordinary way, and soldered, but care must be taken that the soldering flux is cleaned off before the: wires are covered with insulation tape I because a flux which contains acid anay' corrode the wires and cause further trouble. ' i

Automobilism in Franc* is moving along with a mighty swing. There was' an increase of 85,000 motors in use dur« ing 1923, and an accurate estimate is' that this year the total number of motorsl registered will be 550,000. Up to 1914,. motoring" was a class . movement in' France, for, despite.a brilliant and very! active elite, the masses regarded motoring in quite.an impersonal light. The country at heart was old-fashioned and conservative ; the farmer was not.- ashamed of his smock, nor the workman his' blouse. One of the benefits :of war was; the realisation that the motor vehicle^ could• lighten and - brighten the lives of! thousands of citizens. Hundreds of thou-1 sands of men of middle age,' taken'for the1' most, part from the farming classes,, ob-! tamed a thoroughly practical training in car driving arid maintenance, and manyi thousands more saw how the" motor' vehicle could be made useful to them in! their everyday: life. The cult spread, un-; til to-day France is more "motorised" than any other Continental country, not, in the sense that'every family owns a> car, but that ■ every' family above a cer-i tain elastic social level is' interested in the ultimate acquisition of a ,motor vehicle.

Many people were, and perhaps are' still disposed to belittle the motor-bus' as a. passengers carrier,'because they do not consider there can be .any improve-1 ment iv the vehicle as a type. They quite overlook that the motor, compared' with, say, the locomotive, has just found a footing; it is making giant strides nevertheless. Every year brings many important improvements and among other' types of motors the bus gets its share. We are yrt, to see the six-wheeled motor-; omnibus. They are much used in Paris! and -hv some American cities',' and are being further developed. In a motor exhibition recently held at Atlantic City: (U.S.A.) no: fewer-than ,15 manufacturers* exhibited different types of motor-buses' mounted on six wheels. Photographs of^ the interior of some of these vehicles re-' veal them to be as luxurious as a first-i class Pullman railway carriage. Motor-' bus services have developed in Great Bri-' tain to isuch an extent that, it is pos-: sible' by utilising the linking-up lines be-1 tween cities *and towns to make a jour-i ney of more than 600 miles within sixi days—from London northwards into Scot-! land. :

Registrations under the Hutt Road Act give the most accurate indication b£ the number of motor vehicles plying in and about Wellington it has yet been possible to gain. The complete figures to the end .of October show a total of ,5338 vehicles, comprising: Cars 3283, delivery vans 676, lorries 214, motorcycles 1165. As might be expected, Ford cars are most numerous, with a tally of 716, with Dodge, Buick, Overland, Chevrolet, Essex, Hudson, and Willys Knight next in that order. The only English car which figures high in the list is. the Austin, with 83 representatives icoming immediately after the foregoing.