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Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 92, 19 April 1930, Page 23

BACK TO MOTORING

OLD-TIMER'S IMPRESSIONS WHAT IS WRONG WITH CARS ".(By "Hie Ego Qui — [')' Just as no man canl get and give a ■better impression ..ef the. changes, time has wrought in.places.; and people than one who sees them after long absence, so with motorijig one who takes it up again after the lapse of many years can distinguish more clearly the progress made and assess its vaule more accurately than the constant. motorist to-whom the passing of time is marjted chiefly by more cars, of newer models on better roads. To -one who motored. more than twenty, years ago, when cars were few and far between, and motoring was an adventure of driving on what wo should call now very rough roads, the change is, of course, very great. There was nothing then remotely approaching the modern scenes on the Hutt road on. Sundays and race days, with processions- of cars travelling at high speed for miles.", There were no motor regulations, bylaws, and parking rules that one can rcinomber. There was a pioneering; simplicity aliout.it all then, and a trip to Auckland by ear. entailed genuine pioneering over the unmetailed.portions*1 in wet weather. The Main, Highways Board has changed all that, and <me need never leave a firstclass road on' any of the main routes now. ■ , ■ . LITTLE REAL CHANGE. In .fact, when one comes to look at things a little more closely, the transformation has 'been mostly in the road, and very little by comparison in the car. It is here that an old-timer must express disappointment. There seem to have been hardly any radical improvement., in modern cars, which have not been gained at the expense of simplicity. In its essentials the modem car remains-almost precisely the same as the car of twenty, eyen thirty, years ago. The engine, with its valves and cooling system, including the still fragile- radiator, the electric ignition, where the battery and coil system is replacing the really. simpler and more reliable magneto, the clutch and the gears, are all much the same. It is true that they have all been improved in. detail and .are probably more efficient in their operation than the components of a. generation ago, but they are still there with their troubles. lit jg. s^iiar a tremendous. tribute to

the early inventors or a reflection ou tho ability of thoir successors that so little real change has taken place. It seems remarkable that nothing has been discovered to replace the sliding gears, tho use of which without harsh noise and damage is more a matter of the skill of the human element in the driver thau of originality in design. As far as-one knows there is no other piece of machinery in wide use where gear ratios between \power and work are so crudely adjusted. To the average,man tho electrical equipment of a modern motor-car, with the wiring diagrams furnished in manuals and instruction booksj look as complicated as the switchboard and transmission lines of a great hydroelectric station. One wonders how many owner-drivers could really look after the electric side of their- cars without professional assistance. Tho combination.of generator, battery, selfstarter, and ignition system'strikes'-one as fearfully clumsy. If tho battery by any chance runs down, one cannot even get a spark to set the engine going. . THE OLD TROUBLES STILL. Tho pneumatic tiro in essentials remains • really tho least-changed of« all the various' parts of a car.. The puncture trouble has not been overcome, and tires "blow out more frequently than they used.to do, while the necessity of maintaining a regular air pressure within narrow limits is certainly a greater worry than one used to. have with'the old high-pressure tiresi Four-wheel brakes .are :a-decided improvement, but they add to the complications with their links and rods and compensating gear to keep in ,order. Springing has not changed much, though, shock-absorbers mako for more comfortable riding and save tho springs from fracture. Steering, is easier, but is still subject ftp -wear and tear that requires fairly regular adjustment. To the owner-driver, who has to look after fiis v own car, little appears to have-been done to ease his labour in keeping the running gear clean and

ship-shape. . There.is. still, tho old bugbear of havingto get iuider tho vehielo to get at tho mechanism. "Get out and got under" is still tho cry after all theso;years, only it is even worse now, with extra parts to grease and oil, some in most inaccessible places. Oho could continue this chapter of complaints much further, but it would bo unfair without duo recognition of the credit side to tho balance-sheet, such as tho beauty and comfort and convenience of - the bodywork .of the modern car and'the materials of which it is built, the refinements in tho fuel supply system, ignition,-braking, steering, and suspension that do make for greater case in driving and reliability in use. HINT OF THE IDEAL. What : ono: would like' to sco some day-would be a ear built in' such a way that sill moving parts would bo accessible from'• tho top;without' having to crawl underneath; with a<niuch simpler engine, smaller and lighter,-with valves possibly of 'the,slcevo type,: ,_ and an uncxposed radiator; non-oleetricnl selfstarter, possibly. ..lay, compressc.d air which could bo. utilised ...also for keep : iiig tires pumped up to "standard pressure:. •>^-.independent'" 'suspension of wheels;' •■driving and ■ steering on all four ..wheels; -simpler- and -in orb ..adapt-, able body with/moro room which could bo gained by setting the engine lower in front—preferably an enginel with horizontal-cylinders. ■: ' ■' These- and •many other improvements pne could mention are not beyond the capacity of ' inventors and designers. The'difficulty-..i5.-'not in making such a car, but iu;;getting- it, oifthe market. Manufacturers can-hardly afford.to attempt radical changes, so enormous is the capital, and'feuch "the rineHia of the world-wide interests '^ concerned withtho car as it'is'"or as it wi-ll be next year and the next with a few minor refinements to make a new model. It is the old story of a-product becoming commercialised, when it gets out^ of the hands of the engineer and into those of tho salesman. • ; RADICAL CHANGE RISKY. Henry Ford had a chance when lie turned over from the good old. model T, but here again the financial interests of the vast capital involved and the very livelihood of tho tens of thousands of workers at stake precluded any commercially hazardous venture into the 'unknown, and thus Ford had to' compromise with the conventional. It is a great pity, but' nobody could blame' Ford or any other great motor

concerns of America 0r... Europe for proceeding by cautious stops along the. road of progress. Motoring has long passed out of the purely, engineering stage, and probably looks sell a car to-day as much as anything. All the same, one would .like to have a few thousands to play with' and see what could be done. In the meantime, lot us bo thankful, for what we have.