MOTORING.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 11382, 6 December 1930, Page 11

MOTORING.

the benzinian period

"Man" writes Mr Ken Alexander in tlie "Railways Magazine,” lias readied the stage where he views life through a windscreen; the future is wrapped in gasoline, but through the mists of monoxide I see a bowserised biped .boasting balloon lungs and an eve where his hat used to be, for the purpose of overhead observation. The infant of this benzihian period will be born with baby ‘balloons’ on the hips in place of pedals, and will wear two-wheel brakes on his undercarriage He will converse in a series of honks and hoots, and will breakfast at a bowser. Imagine the touching picture of the infant Ben Zino dashing to his mother’s mudguard at forty miles to the gallon, and uttering little honks of baby glee:

Little Ben Zine come honk me your horn, four headlights are dim and your covers and worn, I very much fear if your chassis gets weak, You’ll he under the scrap-pile all of a heap.

Thus the two t.honsand-andv-lhirty model mother will apply the maternal brake to her little one-seatter, when he essays to break the bylaws."

PETROL PRICE WAR

JUICE AT 2.VD PER GALLON!

Petrol at 2ld per gallon! This so far as the public was concerned was the feature of the oil company war that flared up, in California some time ago. e It was an extraordinary afiair. There were accusations and appeals to the-State and Federal authorities,, and to President Hoover. The Independents blamed the trust, and.viceversa, but who was to blame, and who was the cause of the trouble is impossible to say. In ’Frisco petrol was selling at 31d per gallon and in other-parts of the Sfato it was down to 21d. Some dealers threatened, to give •; it away for the actual amout of the State tax.— lid—if the \war continued. ‘To what extent the-public benefited by the war is indicated by the fact that the San Francisco Bureau of Fire Prevention issued a warning to those who, making the most of the (war, were storing “juice” in containers varying from kitchen utensils to bath tubs and milk bottles. The States’ law forbids the storage of more than 5 gallons of petrol above ground in a residence, and insurance policies limit the quantity to a quart.

MOTOR CAR OF.'.HIE FUTURE

Sir Herbert Austjri. . predicts that road, vehicles of the future will have hurfdreds of less parts, and that taxicabs, omnibuses, , and, motor-coaches may have, their engines at; the. rear. Sir . Herbert, who was making, his Presidential addreSs to, the Institution of..Jt»Eomohile Engineers at the Royal .Soeiifcy of Arts, said . that, we had not .reached the millennium\ in automobile . design < any more , than in •other fields of industry. The present position was,, largely the result of standardisation, ynade necessary by, or consequent upon, mass production to obtain, a low manufacturipg cost.. .Various attefiipts , had been made to break, away, from/.this standardisation but .radical/changes had, bepn.d'ew during the Hast fifteen,.years,: and t,o leave the . well-defined Jimits. of present-day practice would require, a lot of courage on the part of a large manufacturer. . , , , ' , . • .All transport would increase in pace riding... <ipd driving comfort,and, become safer, and cheaper, and every ’change in design ; must, follow,, -these directions to;-be successful and permanent; - • ! ‘ '■ i„ .•

"The road vehicle of the. future,” he declared,, "will have many less parts—hundreds of less parts. Even to-day manufacturers bid for public favour by adding each year some further complication. Give me the 'simple life' in .mechanism that }ms to function j and this will be the cry of our future vehicle purchasers.”

TO MAKE JUNKED CAES STAY JUNKED .

The first unsafe automobile has been officially destroyed by fire. . Bought for one dollar, less than it would bring as junk, it participated in a fatal accident. After the mishap, it was inspected by the New Jersey authorities, found to have no brakes, and condemned; its owner was paid one dollar, and the car was finally consigned to destruction by fire, says the "Christian Science Monitor.” The application of the torch to an automobile which has jits usefulness represents a new departure in handling.,an acute problem, one that has vexed motorists, motorcar dealers and manufacturers, and, most of all, perhaps, municipal and stale authorities.

Sending the machine to the junk yard lias,not always been successful. First, there is diflictilf.y in getting it •there, and no- assurance that it would stay there. Besides, junk yards are unsightly, and states and municipalities have had to enact .statutes and ordinances restricting then- establishment:.

So, junk yards for cars are becoming fewer now, with more rigorous official supervision and with the automobile industry itself going into the business. Manufacturers are spending millions to buy junk cars and to supervise their actual junking. But with the number of junked cars already in the millions and growing yearly, the plan will have to attain much larger proportions. More states arc going into the business of outlawing unfit cars t.nrough more rigorous mechanical inspection and by revoking the registration of those which, are clearly umsaie.

If the state laws drive these cars from the roads, and other laws m'viare they must, not be deserted cn state rights-of-way or on the property of another, many feel that the states should provide some method of disposal. It is at this point that the destruction by fire appeals to many as a solution of the problem. One proposal is for the state pounds where sued) cars may be assembled and destroyed in huge incinerators. Burning assures that the old ear will never again invade (be highway. The bod v, upholstery, wheels tires, and othed' parts are destroyed beyond replacement except at, a prohibitive cost. The temper of metal parts is destroyed. The metal is usable only it remolted refempered and recast, as is being done by tbe largest manufacturer, who has inaugurated an elaborate junking program. Those interested ’.in sajety agree that when a car is fit only to be junked, burning ha- undeniable advantages.

THE SPEED MANIA*

SOME PERTINENT OOMMEN’I

••It is doubtful if any worse Act than the new Road Transport Act could be imagined.” writes Mr Douglas Jerrold in the "English Review. •‘The device of removing the speed limit in order to diminish the disgraceful number of casualties from motoring is just the kind of superficial 'cleverness’ which one expects in these da vs. The reason why the present speed limit is ineffective to keep the rood? safe is because it is not enforced, being too high in some puc - es andi too low in others. ••Hut the real defect of the present law is not in regard to the speed limit, but in regard to the penalties for dangerous driving. To send a .man to °aol for stealing and to fine a man £SO for dangerous driving is wicked. There are plenty of excuses for stealing; none for the callous indifference of°motorists to human life; the risks which thev take are purely selfish, and. what is worse, purely foolish. \s for the argument that the pedestrian is at fault the law should not allow motorists to drive at a pace which requires everyone else on the roads to be cool, surefooted and capable of forming quick decisions and accurate judgments of time and distance. ~ “Manv men who possess none ot the qualities necessary to safety in a pedestrian are valuable citizens; few motorists who habitually drive at fortv miles are anything of the kind. Unfortunately the new Act provides a paradise for those people, and a lieu for everyone else. By providing a Qualitative instead of a quantitative test of bad driving it ensures a minimum of convictions and a maximum of casualties. Perhaps this is progress.”