DRUG ON THE MARKET

Northern Advocate, 23 September 1927, Page 8

DRUG ON THE MARKET

CARS COST LITTLE. §EVEN-SEATER FOR £2O. HORSE SALES RECALLED. (Special to “Northern Advocate.”) AUCKLAND, This Day. • Replace the odorous tan with an asphalt floor, and the stable smell with the stifling fumes of burnt petrol, and yesterday’s sale of used cars at the Cadman garage, on behalf of Dominion .Motors, Ltd., was very reminiscent of the almost defunct weekly horse sale, which used to be characteristic of Fridays in Auckland. There were the same varying degrees of age in the offerings, and the same jocosity at the expense of elderly cars which used to greet the aged neddy. ‘‘‘Cars are a drug on the market;

people have no money to spare,” said ! one of the onlookers, and the prices in the earlier stages of the sale bore him out. First came a big eight- ; cylinder Oldsmobilc sports model, not unfamiliar on Auckland roads. It was said to be insured for £350, but only started at £ls, and could not got •further than £47, at which it was knocked down. A seven-seatcr Chand--t ler launched at the same figure found a new owner at £2O. When a start of £IOO was asked for an Overland, no longer in its prime, there was a guffaw. Kicked off with “a fiver,” it stuck at £24, and at that figure was knocked ) down. y/ Then followed several Essex coaches, AC new or demonstration ears, of which the price new rvas said to be £205. was passed in at £170; two others •Vfbund purchasers at £l5O and £l7O. tourer of the same make, 1024 b.A, - model, reached £llO. A Bean fivej|i|fc T ’geater, used for demonstration, price ■pV'fiew £535, started at £175, and after Bfcmuch exhortation a buyer was found |||X|at ’ £242 10s. There was sonic kconfor .a Fiat five-seater, which reaeh'the sellers refused to let W it/ jgo at that figure. A 1930 new \ Hudson ‘had no 'difficulty in being at £4OO, the proper sale price / ng announced as £555. number of other makes were the prices did not indicate demand, although they yi|ieulousiy low'in many cases.