MOTOR CARS IN 1908.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20811, 2 September 1929, Page 7

MOTOR CARS IN 1908.

WHEN G. B. S. LEARNED TO DRIVE; (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, July IS. ' Certain letters of Mr G. B. Shaw hare been sold at publie_ auction this week. One amusingly describes Mr Shaw’s experiences when learning to drive a motor car in 1908, “ I have been learning driving,” ho writes,, “mostly in the Strand and Regent street, to the. detriment of,, my nerves and the danger of traffic generally” That was in 1909, when the motor car was.young. Here are so.me experiences. Of collisions: First, “the port bulwark” anjd then “ the starboard sponsor ” were knocked off,, though he had, a smart driver, “very like Gwenn, who played i the chauffeur in my * Man and Superman,’ and his wages (50s) are nearly as high.” s Of a sticking accelerator pedal; “To get it hp you stoop and pluck it like a mushroom.” Of the gear control: “So I shall probably start on the second and go into fourth at the first change.” “Under these circumstances the car should have -ja pair of shafts for the horse,” B. S. declares. The Gabriel horn defeated him; “Why don’t they take a hint from the harmonium and fit a knee swell?” • As for the head lamps, “the placing of the acetylene is beyond profanity, - . . though .they throw the light too high for signpost reading, they are admirable ■ for detecting policemen concealed in trees.” Mr Shaw admits “ about six accidents, several of them my fault, and the rest fairly, distributed between my wife, my gardener, and the expert”—but a good deal has happened to the motor car since 1908.