DESIGN FOR 1927.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19502, 4 December 1926, Page 10 (Supplement)

DESIGN FOR 1927.

ADVANCES SINCE 1924. The trend of automobile design is best appreciated if a comparison is made with the situation several years ago. By merely looking back one year it is impossible to see the full significance of popular tendencies. To review the American market only does not give a comprehensive impression of all schools of design. The best revelation of modern tendencies is aflorded each year at the British Olympia where cars of British, American, French, Italian, and Belgian origin are displayed. A survey of over 300 cars on the British market for 1927 affords interesting comparison with the trend three years ago. The most signal advances are in the preference for six-cylinders and the almost universal adoption of fourwheel brakes. Quarter elliptic suspension is giving place to semi-elliptic springing, and coil ignition is becoming more popular Disc clutches have replaced the cone type, and more cars are using four speed gear-boxes The great increase in the proportion using four-speeds is, of course, not due to American design Overhead valves have replaced side types'in the favour of designers. Following are statistics comparing the features of cars of all origins on the British market for 1927 with the ten dency existing in 1924 J 1927 1924 Per cent., Per cent.

TESTS OP SIX-WHEELERS. Cross country tests of the new siswheel chassis were carried out near Aldershot in October by the War Office. The vehicles were required to carry loads of either one or two tons. Eleven Morris six-wheelers were tried out. In the heavy i class were two Thorneyorofts, one Guy, and one Karrier. All carried the simple chain creepertrack equipment approved by the War Department. It was fitted around the pairs of back wheels in a few minutes, thus converting the drive into a caterpillar. The course was laid over undulating country covered with bracken and heather,. there was an abundance of depressions and concealed tree stumps, and the steepest gradient was 1 in 2. Subsequently the vehicles demonstrated that with the creeper chains removed they could attain 40 m.p.h. on an average road. The tests were very satisfactory from an army point of view and the War Office will undoubtedly acquire large fleets of six-wheelers for use during practices in rough country. TWO £IOO CAES. . | _ •. . . The two £IOO cars, the Gillett and the Waverley, which have been produced in Great Britain, should be of interest to colonial motorists. Nearly half of the cars sold in the Dominion are light American makes in the price class below £250, and there is a wide field for any Briitsh car which can be placed on the local market at a really low price It is to be hoped that some * enterprising agent will oner these new cars to New Zealand motorists, and thus bring com petitors into the class at present exclu sive to American makes The duty on one of these £IOO cars would be less than £2O, so that they should be sale able in the Dominion for £l5O or £l6O. There must be many potential buyers for a light British car at this price, and al though it is fairly obvious that neither of the £IOO cars will be suitable for ex tensive use in the country, they should meet with the requirements of many city residents. The Waverley car is equipped with a water-cooled, horizontal twin engine mounted in the rear The body is of the four-seater "chummy" type, and the rating is 7 h.p. The friction drive provides four speeds, and there are four-wheel brakes The Gillett _ar is more orthodox in design, and has a four cylinder engine in the usual place There are overhead valves, and the bore is about the same as that of the Austin Seven. The front tubular axle carries expanding brakes. The Gillett car is also known as the British Ensign. TYRE MILEAGE. Statistics compiled by the Goodyear Company show that if we take 100 as the tyre life in Great Britian, this figure has to be reduced to 80 for the same car running in Germany; for Belgium. Hoi land, and Switzerland it is 75; for France it drops to 60; on Spanish roads the mileage is cut in half; in Itnlv it di minishes to 45; while in the Balkans 30 is the average figure. Comnarisons with the .United States are difficult,, but in the Eastern States, where good concrete roads exist, the mileage is estimated to be the same as in Great Britain. It is probable that the New Zealand figure is about half the English average. .

ENGINES— Four-cylinders Six .. • • • Two . . »• • Others . * «• • 54.G 36.6 6.2 .1.6 1.0 74.0 18.0 3.5 4.5 valves— Overhead .« • Side .. . • • Sleeve ,. >• » Other3 • • • 47.3 41.7 7.8 3.2 37.0 54.0 6.0 3.0 GEARS— Four . * t» « Three .. »« • O'.liers ». • 60.6 3S.2 1.2 53.5 44.5 2.0 BRAKESFour Wheels Two .. «- « 8S.0 . 12.0 28.5 71.5 CLUTCHES— Disc .. •• Plat s .« «• Cone Others »i • 55.4 26.4 16.6 1.6 34.0 . 27.0 38.0 1.0 WHEELSWire . • • • • Steel ., ' .. • * Disc * • Wood .. . .. 40.0 28.3 17.8 13.9 31.0 34.0 24.0 11.0 FRONT SPRINGS— Half elliptic .. , Quarter Others . • » 91.0 4.6 4.4 81.5 14.0 4.5