CHRYSLER-PLYMOUTH FOR 1937.

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 64, 17 March 1937, Page 12

CHRYSLER-PLYMOUTH FOR 1937.

During Liio week the new ChryslerPlymoutn touring sedan was tested by “Tho Times,” and its performance placed in on the Lop rung of its class, its general behaviour on the road, its riding comfort, and the performance of its engine combined to place it far ahead of last year’s model of the same car. in actual measurement, the body is both wider and longer, and during the test three persons of average size sat in each seat. With two passengers in the front it was not necessary for tho driver to change his position one inch from the most comfortable, and there was no hint of discomfort in the rear seat. The claim is made that there is not a stick of wood in the entire vehicle, and there is no reason to doubt it. The body itself is a complete unit of welded steel, and in the few small points where steel could not conveniently be used it is replaced by heavy bakelite. The main impression left after driving the 1937 Uhrystler-Plymouth was one of smooth comfort with delightful ease of control. The steering, to which the driver looks for the first essentials of comfort, is both light and golid. The direction of the ear can be controlled comfortably with one finger, yet there is a sense of firmness about the movement. Of course, in a six-cyinder car the three forward gears provide all the scope that is necessary to performance, and they combine with them a degree of economy.

?That is the main impression until the driver leaves the smoothness of the main roads, and the test which the car was given during the week was certainly not restricted to the best roads of the province. Over the roughest of

QUIETNESS ON THE BOAD. STEEL BODY COMPLETELY INSULATED.

metalled roads near the city the cai was driven at an average speed. That small section of the test demonstrated in a marked manner the most outstanding development of the year—the complete insulation of tho body from tho chassis. All steel bodies, and this car is all steel even to the roof, tend to act as sound-shells, magnifying all the noises cf the road and sometimes causing an unpleasant drumming. There is none of that with the 1937 ChryslerRiyinodth, On the chassis, fixed as outriggers, are 12 rubber mountings, which absorb all those noises from the steel bolts passing through them as fixings. Further insulation is given by coatings oi insulating materials on the inside oi the panels. The only noises which penetrated the car when travelling over a rough road with a surface of loose shingle was the pattering of small stones on the undersides of the guards, and it would be costly and almost im possible to stop that. There is a feature about the instrument panel of the car which may not be noticed immediately by the average buyer, but it is one of considerable importance. Not one instrument or

“knob” projects from the surface oi the panel, it is very neat, and it is a pleasure to see a panel not a mass of instruments, but its importance Lies in the abolition of danger in accidents. Very often passengers are injured about the hands in particular through being thrown against the panel. With such commodious passenger space it is amazing to find a luggage boot which holds five or six suitcases as well as the spare wheel and tool-kit. The spare wheel lies flat under the Juggage tray, which is itself a few inches off the floor.