CAR DESIGNS CRITICISED

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 4 November 1933, Page 12

CAR DESIGNS CRITICISED

AN EXPERT’S COMPARISON BRITISH AND AMERICAN MODELS SOME MERITS AND DEFECTS. Criticism of Amercian automobiles as viewed through the eyes of British engineers has become public as the result of the visit to the Society < f Automotive Engineers’ International Congress of Mr. L. H. Pomeroy, mailing director of the Daimler Co., Ltd., makers of the European car bearing this name.

As a critic from oversens, Mr. Pomeroy lias had the advantage of living and working in America prior to assuming the position he now occupies. The name Daimler also is associated with initial development and use of the “Suid flywheel” gear-chang-ing mechanism, which is among the all-British types of automatic transmissions. This device now has found its way to America, and adoption for it is being sought. Mr. Pomeroy in telling the American engineers about the fluid flywheel as an innovation that might be acceptable on this side, cited general opinions of American cars that he had solicited from friends in the Old Country. Here they are as answers to a, question: “What is wrong with the American car?” (1) Nothing. (2) Very ‘little the matter, but a total lack of interest in driving them; they leave nothing to the skill and imagination of the driver. (3) Nothing wrong with the American c|ar. It’s O'.K. until you drive it too far. But, though it may seem funny, they give by far too much car for the money! (4) The American car is typical of the commercial materialism of its authors, and neither taxes the imagination nor stimulates the spirit. (5) Running costs too high; cars lack refinement and are all too much alike. (6) Rapid depreciation caused by big horsepower. (7) Bad springing and steering at. over 50 miles per hour. (8) Bad road holding at over 40 miles per hour. Too much nervous strain to drive at 60 miles per hour (speedometer), actual speed 52 miles per hour, Indifferent brakes. Electrical system defective through use of six-volt system All American cars have the same appearance

Adding to this from his reading of current American engineering opinion, Mr. Pomeroy said he learned that engines of American cars are in the wrong place, that the bodies are too low for a tall man to sit in, and the windows too high, that the body is the wrong shape, the tyres are too highly inflated, and the suspension needs radical improvement. TOP-GEAR PERFORMANCES. On the reverse side of the argument, Mr. Pomeroy found high technical authority for regarding the American car as one with spacious body accommodation, capable of very high speeds, propelled by an engine giving a higli power to weight ratio of tractive effort on top gear to total weight. As a compromise, in view of the conflict . of opinion evident in this country, die British engineer spoke of what is j known as the British ten (rated) horse-power car of which the American Austin is a transplanted prototype adapted for use in this country. “The top-gear performance of" such cars,” he said, “is of course very largely in favour of the American car, but I submit that by paying due attention to transmission improvements which are being made, notably the four-speed gearbox, the time is ripe for a recast of the philosophy underlying American design. During my own reasonably long residence here top-gear performance was a sine qua non. It is not less so now', but has been coupled with high maximum speeds. The British car is efficient and cheap to run. The American car is the triumph of effectiveness over efficiency. I There comes a time when the economics of a motor-car has to be studied in relation to other items of the domestic budget. “HOSTAGES TO FORTUNE.” “I know it is the fashion to say that cheap gasoline fuel consumption ( does not count, but this I doubt when I read of the agitation caused to the American mind by the suggestion oi an increase in automobile taxation. Unhappily, acceleration and maximum speed are expressible in figures to the joy of the publicity departments, and, like most statistics, need regarding with caution. It is very easy for high maximum speeds to get out of scale with the car as a whole. When cars weighing 25001 b, designed to give a comfortable ride with two passengers, have maximum speeds of over 80 miles an hour, I think hostages are being given to fortune ‘

‘T.n Europe we know something about high-speed touring cars, and know that sustained high speeds on average roads call for rigidity of spring suspension in the interests ’of safety, accurate steering and road holding that would not be tolerated for a mile by the Normal American driver. Add to easy springing still softer tyres, and the 80 miles per hour American cheap ear becomes an automobile illcalculated for the safety of either youth or ignorance. In 'a word, is the Aniercian car to hitch its wagon to the star of top-gear perfoimance for ever, in spite of engineering develop ments which make this wasteful and unnecessary?”