FIRST MOTORING

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 128, 26 November 1938, Page 28

FIRST MOTORING

SECOND-HAND BUYING

WORTH CONSIDERATION

There are advantages in buying a second-hand car, rather than a new ont;, when making one's first acquaintance with motoring as owner-driver. The old car has been thoroughly run in, and provided it has been well looked after and reasonably well handled, everything willl be in smooth working order. Wear and tear are always very heavy on new car, even v the most expert hands. The whole machine—not the engine only—has to find itself. With the old car any lack of mechanical skill on the part of the driver is imposed upon a model already accustomed to its work, and any damage caused is not only fairly certain to be light but, at the worst, can be rectified at the cost of the damage itself, and not to the same detriment of capital value as would be

the case if the car was a new one. Driving a car is not learnt in a day, nor even in a year. One of the fallacies about driving is that new driv-

*s are dangerous. They rarely are. It is when a driver begins to feel that he is really becoming competent that he becomes really dangerous. He feels that he "can let himself go." The consequence is that he lets the car out, and before he realises what has happened it is beyond control. The experience comes at varying periods, but the average is probably round about nine months for uncommercial operators.

There is danger, however, in buying a second-hand car unless one knows what one is doing. Many firms can be trusted and their word taken that the vehicle is what they represent it to be, but over-reliance should not be placed upon this. The car should be subjected to thorough examination by an independent mechanic, particularly with reference to the state of the steering mechanism—every aspect of it, including the linkages and box —and wheel alignment. The brakes also should be opened up and examined, the state of the clutch should be known, and also the state of the gears. It is unlikely that a car will be offered for sale when the engine is radically at fault. Such, of course, could happen, but it would be difficult to get such a machine past even a cursory examination on the part of anyone at all acquainted with motors. The usual thing is to start up the engine to show how it runs. This should not be taken for granted, how.ever, but the mechanic will certainly look the engine over and a trial run will do the rest. . Faults in steering, brakes, and alignment do not necessarily make themselves sufficiently evident from a trial on the road unless the trial is . severe one. A sericus fault in the engine, however, will reveal itself almost with certainty, and in this connection it would be wise to include "fumes." Fumes are the outcome of defects in engine assembly very liable to be experienced, as the engine may have been, as it were, put together again with old gaskets that should have been discarded arid bolts and nuts that have ceased to hold pr perly. It is even possible that there may be cracks in the exhaust piping. A properly assembled engine will not leak fumes. Another main point to note in buying second-hand is the state of the tyres. If the tyres no longer show a good tread they should be treated as scrap in valuing for purchase, reckoning being made of the basis of a complete new set. A set of tyres on an old car may easily look better than they are by reason of being out of commission for some time. Tyres always last better in use.