DURABILITY AND DESIGN

Hawera Star, Volume LI, 13 September 1930, Page 13

DURABILITY AND DESIGN

TICKLING THE PALATT-

“The American woman has moved from the back seat to the front,” remarks a scribe of the United States.

‘ ‘ She drives well, and her opinion about

more beautiful cars have made the r highways look more cheerful. How she isrpressing her demand for a more durable type of car.” i This sums up a situation that has become very pronounced in the motor world. The old idea of a car to run a year or two and then be traded in for a new one was excellent for owner and manufacturer alike, while the car was still in its infancy and undergoing development, but the stage nas been reached when the equality of material and mass production is such that cars remain fit to run on the roads for quite a number of years, not only mechanically sound but sufficiently good in appearance to satisfy ordinary people. The consequence is that second-hand cars now far exceed the market demand ; the trade-ins of the past continue on the roads, and the trade-ins of to-day are mo...anting up on the dealers’ hands; the whole business is unsatisfactory and unstable. The bulk of cars placed on the market truly should be of a more durable kind, not durable from the point of view of material alone, but in point of style, of convenience in driving, of comfort and general arrangement Houses change in .style from period to period, but everyone does not demand a new house As often as not people prefer the old, its architecture and arrangement, and decry the new. The time has come when the same might well apply in the case of the car. Manufacturers keep changing tree style to attract custom, but the buyer should demand a product that will stand the- test of time.