MOTOR AND CYCLE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 30 December 1924, Page 2

MOTOR AND CYCLE

SHOW AT OLYMPIA

FfRST LMUREsStONfi

jiVv 'll. Massac Buist.)

(Eroin Our Own Correspondent.)

LONDON, October PA Tho Eighteenth IntevUalfo'fiU Yetlrly M-otne On; Show iS iUnv 'being held at Olympia Loudon, under the. patronage , ,bf (the King. The public shows no intention of abstaining front the exhibition because a general election is in progress. If is interesting *t! iibite. now evident by £«»■ <lie 'majority of visitors foreknow b'eture they ,-enter the building exactly the types of .machines which will interest them. In short, by no means everybody wanders along from stand to stand gazing at everything from the largest to the smallest vehicle dis- : played. On the contrary, by far the majority seem to devote their attention to particular classes of cars, 'Hitts, in regard to the Very popular two litre engined class, in which many new schemes are. introduced, you will see a type of man who will scarcely have walked half-way down one of the circulating 'avenues before almost any salesman is able to tell at a glance that that class of machine, and none other, will interest him. The Same thing applies tci the man who wants a four cylinder engined machine of £lO 'tax, or less. It..is somewhat a new phase in regard to these shows, and j may be due, in part, to the sheer immj her and variety of the exhibits taken in conjunction with the time factor govj erning the, ease of the r individual visij'toix Of course, since the earliest motor * shows, we have been accustomed always to the class of person Who would look at none other than the largest types of town carriages, and who passes disdainfully by all other machines as if the stands containing tlienr were devoid of 1 exhibits. But this extension of -the • process, whereby the 8 h.p. or the 10 j h.p. car enthusiast declines to rccqgnise ! the existence of your 50 h.p. or vour 1100 h.p. machine, is very interesting : Jo note, indicating, as it does, the 'trend . of what, one might call the majority class. of .motoring. INFLUENCE OF THE KING'S CAR The day before the private view, the King look delivery of the three remaining 5 7h.p. six-cylinder, front wheel braked Daimler chassis, one equipped wjtli a ■saloon,'and tho other t wo with shooting-brake bodies, thus completing. I the' order ho placed with Messrs Strat-ton-lnstonc nearly twelve months ago for four of these vehicles to supersede his thirteen and fourteen-year-old machines, tho last of which was in use as recently - as Monday week. Tho influence ■ of'this now chassis design is very plaip 'at the exhibition,- despite the fact, that there area only a\ltilablo three other chassis exactly like the King’s in the ' world: Thus, the £52 tax 45 h.p. front wheel braked 18ft 4in long, 60in track Daimler Laudaulette do Luxo at tho show at £2OOO complete costs about half the sum of the dearest car

in the recent, Paris F.xbibitioii, despite, tin; Ditljitltii UeiUy. Lite hugest _ veliteb; siaikhU'dised. It has been designed i/i l.iie light of experience gained with till' King's fcftiS; and is attracting a deal of attention by reason of (he iFiiiiii’k'Rfls width of the door, the low entrance, achieved without any ' sacrifice of head room. The long plirelbox 20 h.p. .Austin “Carlton” type, also lias a low entrance. very wide doors, generous head lentil liitd nlieUminonlj- good interior lights. Likewise, more than the ordiilary degree o( curiosity is being manifested in connection with the Barker and Hooper bodinft nit Hilt Ichljj Wheelbase) four Wheel brake I 40,50 ii.p. Rolls-I’liVee machine, of which I had the earliest experience on tin road last week when we j found that, when travelling, ;\t 35 miles an hour, the car could be brought to a stop in its own length without the occupants of the Selllß I'xptTit.'lteitifC <nny tendency to slide out of them. They are the Smoothest really effieieflt front wheel brakes t have experienced) prncticiihptiiiils in cdiillectibii wiili them in-: eluding the fact that- when the. pill' turned to- take a curve, you can take 'vour hands off the (steering wheel and apply tho brakes; when it will be brought- to a stand promptly while, 'nevertheless, pursuing the precise course you set. it. When you are going down 'a steep pitch and apply the brake!? sud--'rletlly, US lit iili elitei'gbilcVj ttj bl'Ulg the 'Vehicle quite to a stand from, say 45 miles an hour, this is done within ex traorditmrily brief space without any tendency for (lie rear to rise and .the front to dtp, as it, tv ere, which is very often experienced with four wheel ' brakes. Bv reason OF the servo being 'designed, by n patented systoih, to op'crate as well when the cor is running backwards as when it ifi trayglliilg forwards, with this six wheel brake svstcin, one has a. two fold insurance of safety. It, adds 200 per cent to the previous brake efficiency of the Rolls-' Boyce. . MORE QUITE NEW t’HASSIS Front white) broken are oil evidence all over the J}lniwb lit' addition tb llttj bib tircly new British-built chassis types, one finds, four other notable new contributions in the two litre engine category. One in the 14/40 h.p. side valve, aluiuiuiiiin-cngihed, tour speed Beardmote chassis with I’eryot, system front wheel brakes and spiling modification!? of interest to withstand f tile twisting strains involved'. This chassis is provided with -.clever Tsehcmes for dealing with the' temperature of the air employed in connection with carbumtion. Thus, the Zenith'carburetter, bolted to the ollsidc' of the cylinder block, draws the air supply from a port adjacent to the exhaust manifold, which discharges forward, thus beeping the heat away from the'driver’s -acaf. By means of a valve controllable, from the driver's scat, .it is possible to regulate the temperature of ttie air induced by allowing a eertuin amount of cold to mix with the hot air supply. By slots provided in front and back of the sparking plug cover, th, carburetter is able to draw warm air through a. passage which helps to cool this accessory. In this category, there is also introduced the two litre engined 14 h.p. four speed Clulcv, with 16in. diameter rear Ora lie drums, the 4/5 seat four door vehicle costing £395 com-'' pletc . In the same category, too, are the £l6 tax nominal 15 45 h.p. sixcylinder engined Caithorpe chassis with Rubery contracting band front’ wheel brakes at £315, and the'£l3 tax 12,24 h.p. 1954 c.e. Calculi with front wheel brakes, listed at £320.

KtONT WHEEL BRAKE SITUATION

One recognises frankly that this is a year in which much boldness is being manifested in regard to adopting various systems of front, wheel brakes. Evidently the public is much in them. Nevertheless, orders are not being lost because ceitain well-known cars lack these accessories. The,fact is the public and some manufacturers arc more cautious than is tho average salesman m regard to approaching this problem. It has engaged the attention of a few linns for a decade or more.

Judging from the many ears introduced -wilh f.w.b, this year, however, it can scarcely have engaged the attention of some of their sponsors for ten days. There will be trouble during the coming year if these machines' are brought- into use, there ai’e-proper ways of doing the job even on the smallest and cheapest car: instance the expending shoe type of f.w.b. brake standardised on even the 8.3 h.p.' Renault oil again, the excellent system .standardised on the ‘ new 6 h.p. four-cylindci*.'; overhead valve engincf! Fiat-, which’ is not Vnown in this .counfry, for the sufficient reason that the'firm will Hot -'be in. production with it until the middle of next .year. But one notes that the contracting band- type of brakes, which had disappeared' entirely front .Continental and had practically disappeared from British automobile . •engineering practice, is being revived Jp connection with front wheel .broking in, this country. But more examples i/EthJf Mormon and the Studebtil ter and sundry entirely new American cars—inducing the Rolliii—” biought forward with expanding shoetype front;,wheel brakes, proof of the fyet- that, by no means all trans-Atlan-tic manufacturcrfi even of'cars marketed ■ o-i the. principle of providing extraordinary value for money, arc equipped' .vitli contracting, bapd type of four i.vheel braking. Studehaker, favours hydraulic control, together' with expand-' ing shoe principle. It scarcely needs a.

prophet to foretell Unit in a. fw years the majority of middle scale and of Irirgel /■fir builders >»> America will lie employing the expgndFfig shoe type of four wheel brakes.

No, one method of const ■/■fiction is universal ( for (In/ sufficient te'/ison that we are but at I Ho* f >W'gi bn i rig Of this proposition. So far, ge»/eV',T>IK f the best results have been obtain#!. OT. very expensive practice, which if is fio'vionsly impossible to exploit on the cheapest eepatyuefions. Doubtless, the history pf this UivisHt bin will be that, of most other iu.eelifiiiicui fieVctfipWente; ,wc shall have to do this job iff co'sfby fashion to beijiri, Nyifii.- the'h',- fis ('xpei'/e/ieu is’ gained, \vf iSili/fl fold out boy' to 4o it satisfactorily niuW ecou'onliea'Uv. Meantime, then is no short cii( in really safe and . scientific four Wheel brakingThe- policy of some British autOfhobiie manufacturers in this matter is in sti’ik- , lug contrast with the principle exploited ill I'V'/illce, veil ere nearly all cars have frorif®wiieel brakes Unless they have quarter elliptic springing, which is unsuiiable to tiijte tliii strains of such lotahs of dhcoleratioh. In America, too. genei"illV ■rf ciiv is sta'iidffi'disied with ffpt.it wiieel bi'rlfees; fir' you cannot have them. In this country,.. We h/iVe front \yheel brakes standardised now' on the 12 b.t). Arrbl-Jobnston, Oil the 7 h.p. the 12 h.p. and the 20 h.p. Austin, the now 14/40 li,p, Beardinore, both LanciieStei' types,, (he 40/50 hip. It.oils-. iloyctb the 15/40 h.p. Hover, tile 3-litre ; Bentley, Ute’'23/flO lj.p. and the 30/9d Vauxhall, and the 24/55 h.p. six-cylin-der Woislev, among many others; vhereasi, by contrast, you ettn have front wheel brakes at option at extra erst fill certain Armstrong-Siddeley, Ciossiey, Daimler; MorritnOxford, Standard grid other widely pcpularychassis. Ct)ACH WORK OF TO-DAY AND TO-MOKKOW v 1 Something has happened, iii . France that is exercising a pronoupcC'd effect l on coach-building. Fabric bodies are ho! longer the only notable cheap forms ,of 'construction, Dodge has long exploited successfully the all-steel enclosed body,, ftild the,'adriiirable Ci freon all-steel saloon siio-t'ii ill section constitutes one of the greatest gt{r;/ctioii.s‘of the show to the average visitor', Hitherto, Italian, Belgian anti. French Cell' builders have been content, to produce the ehasS'.s only. But the 'example of America and of this country, where the greater jibfli'oh 1 of bodies arc built by the big chassis -maker# themselves .without any intention that they rboivld. in any way supersede bespoke coach-built carriages, is being taken up by several ' French chassis builders, and apparently has spread' consternation among the ranks ox the excel! mt French coaehbuilders, who have been almost universally ' accepted as, leading, the fashions in expensive carriage-work from/year ’tfi year. .Olympia to-day, however, houses cars' "with bespoke British built carriage-work By Ilurkeiif; Tlirupp, HrWpeiy ‘Wendover j tiiid. others, which is/ vastly superior to the majority of the exhibits in" the' Paris ' Show by the foremost carriage-builders. It is quite obvious that' tlie basis of the change is the fact that. French' f cat'-, riage-buiiders in', general arc striving t.o produce).bodies ;it' .prices' tthtcii;thcy-Jcal- j eulatc.it will inol -pgy-.tbe, chassis build- > res to attempt. British.-conch-buijders, wild were' ne.vjpr represented to> .better j advantage; may.be thte gainers, ‘ • | Of course, there are shown at* Olympia ; many, clever sports type bodies, perhaps the most striking, being the , model streamlined white “Weiisum” Vauxhall type. The new metliod of upholstery for provi ling comfortable support as well for the shoulders as for the midclje ; of the back, typified in the smart new “lied Ilover” scheme, and the use of sell' controlled pneumatic upholstery by ; Singer, are other coachwork' features of 1 note. , *' ' /

Other features of this very interesting exhibition w ill be; dealt with in N a leview in these columns next week.