DEPRECIATION.

Southland Times, Issue 20002, 16 October 1926, Page 17 (Supplement)

DEPRECIATION.

HOW CAR VALUES DECLINE. Depreciation, although unseen, hes frequently been described as the heaviest item in rhe expense of running a motor-car. The advice was once given to the purchaser of a new motor-car to make the very best of his first drive in it, as it was going to cost him £lOO, and that in many cases will be found to be a fact. The question of depreciation affects car owners in more ways also than the mere loss of value for resale purposes. The great motoring organisations are even now engaged in negotiations with the Income Tax Commissioners on this very point, as the authorities named will only allow an absurdly low percentage for annual depreciation on motor vehicles used for business purposes. It is mainly the great reduction of value to the first owner that a few miles of driving make that is of the widest interest to the average private owner, however. Writing on this subject to the “Autocar,” one of England's pioneer motorists, Mr Warwick Wright, says that if depreciation is determined solely by wear and tear the value of a car would decline steadily and comparatively slowly, as good design and lubrication methods have reduced that characteristic to a minimum. Neglect plays an important part, therefore, in depreciation, and if a car has not been taken proper care of a sharp fall in value must be expected, even if the car has only been in use a short time. A large car which has been driven always by an expert chauffeur will, therefore, not depreciate to the same extent in proportion to its original cost as will the small owner-driven vehicle which has not had the same attention externally and internally. Another great source of depreciation in value to the private owner was the habit of some manufacturers to issue new •models every year. This, however, has been discontinued by many of them nowadays, and in consequence the fact that a car offered for sale is of a model which has just been displaced by a new one announced with a great flourish of trumpets is not so frequently found to affect the value in the market. Mr Warwick Wright states that, after considerable observation of the movements of used cars, he has come to the conclusion that a good British mediumpowered four-seater car has a depreciation of about 15 per cent, in the first three months of its existence, and about 25 per cent, at the end of six months. From then the depreciation is slight for the next 18 months, at the end of which time it will probably pay the owner to sell it, as the value falls more rapidly, probably because of the introduction of a new model by its makers. NEW DEVICE SHIFT GEAR BY • \cruM. An automobile equipped with a new gear shifting device which totally eliminates the present gear shifting methods, completed its initial run from Boston to New York last month, says a New York exchange. Several motor car experts who inspected the new device said it was the most important equipment brought out for automobile driving convenience since the introduction of the self-starter. The device is actuated by vacuum from the manifold of the car. The operating mechanism is placed beneath the steering wheel and is operated by the foot. After •releasing the clutch and starting the car, the gear shift can then be operated by a slight pressure on the operating lever for first, second and third speeds forward, neutral and reverse—five changes, all of which respond at a touch for the required changed. The car equipped with the device is a ; Chrysler six-cylinder touring car. The vacuum gear shift was installed at the factory in Larchmont, where manufacture of ' the device has just begun. As the Chrysler ' has the regulation gear shift lever, the right arm of the driver was manacled to : the steering wheel to prevent him, in an unthoughtful moment, from using the customary gear changing system.

MOTOR TOURING. BENEFITS TO HEALTH. EXPERIENCE IN AMERICA. The automobile is helping the United ; States to become a nation whose citizens ■ are becoming healthy and strong. Reports from the National Forest Service indicate that the attendance by motorists at national forests increased 36 per cent, in 1925 over the previous year. In California, for instance, more than 6,000,000 motorists was the total at national forests, while in Colorado. Oregon and Washington the number was well over 1,000,000, and the total at all national forests was over ! 14,000,000 in twenty-nine States. It is not difficult to see that such prac- ! tices on the part of the American people . cannot but tend to better health conditions, j says a writer in the New York Herald- . Tribune. When one contemplates the large | percentage of the almost 20,000,000 motor ■ vehicles registered in the United States ' which frequently take groups of people i from the stifling and steaming urban streets I out into the refreshing air of the open country, it is even more easy to appreciate the enormous health benefits which are . bound to follow’. THE MOTOR CAMPING IDEA. So tremendous has been the development of the motor camping idea that there are now well over 10,000 motor camps in the I nited States. These range in size from the Denver Municipal Camp which accommodates 1000 cars, to small places where half a dozen or more automobiles can be taken care of. California leads in the number of these camps, having approximately 1000. There are another 1000 in various national forests and about 300 in national park camps. Over 1,000,000 motorists visited national parks in 1925, in 368,212 automobiles. An outstanding activity of the automobile owner is the week-end picnic and camping party which provide healthful recreation for 1 the whole family. This not only brings the ■ bl&om of health into the cheeks of his wife I and children as they enjoy the out-of-door j fun, but it also tends to keep the family together as a unit. The whole family goes on these outings and z thus gets into the ' habit of doing things together. This makes j for happiness and contentment in family | life which in turn makes for better health. [ For happy folks are less likely to become ill than those who are upset and under the strain of family jars. MANY THINGS OF INTEREST.

In touring around the country there are e many things of interest to see. These keep the mind busy and are an education to s those who study such places. If the mind is kept busy on such worthwhile items it is likely to dwell on personal ailments which, although largely imaginary, do become a menace to health if the mind continues to concentrate on them. r In getting out into the open on camping a parties, many people are finding out for the . first time that they can breathe night air t | without suffering any serious consequences, j Perhaps they have been sleeping all winter , ■in rooms with closed windows. When they t get a taste of the greater rest and better _ I feeling which comes from sleeping in the f ' open air they like it so well that the stuffy air of a closed bedroom is repulsive to ( . them. Consequently, as a result of their r motor trips, they form a healthful habit ’ i that is continued. ’ When it comes to folks of poor appetites the outdoor life that the motor car makes ’ possible stimulates their desire for food, so . for the first time in months things to eat taste good, no matter how poorly cooked ■ or how much dirt gets mixed with the [ victuals before they are served. The motor takes people out in healthful i and restful clothes. Folks dress for comfort ■ when they go on a motor tour. Of - course, they ought to dress for ease always. But they think this is impossible when in civilised communities. However, out in tne wilds they do not care. Here again i they get a taste of comfort in dressing, and many never do go quite so far back into i some of the barbaric present-day unhealth—- | ful dress absurdities.

The owner of a car gets a good deal of physical exercise in handling his machine and repairing it that he might not get in any other way. After he has pumped up a few tyres and crawled around, over and under and inside his motor he has used a good many muscles, probably some he never knew’ he had before. Reliable statistics are given to show that the people of the United States are living longer than in years past. There is every evidence that the motor car is a factor in this increased longevity. DOMINION IMPORTS. The Customs returns disclose that the value of cars chasses and commarcial vehicles imported into New Zealand for the first seven months of this year was £2,395,236. There were 13,274 cars and car chase’s and 1,635 lorries, trucks and buses. Of the cars, 3,669 were imported without bodies. This is over one-third of

f the total imports. Canada supplied 3,070 j of the chasses without bodies, the United 1 States 457, Britain 81, Italy 49 and France > 12. Only 10 of the 1,635 commercial ve--1 hides were imported with bodies, the ex--1 perience being that it is cheaper to build : bulky wood bodies in New Zealand. Motor imports were low in July and only 1,317 complete cars and 17 car chasses were > passed through the Customs. Commercial r vehicles w’ere well represented in that 1 month, a total of 377 being imported, as compared with 139 in June. Only one commercial vehicle w-as imported with a body. Tyre imports declined in July, the value being £54,261, as compared with ; £84,517 in the previous month. The value ; of tyre imports for the seven months was £592,693. ■ ' \ THE GLUT OF USED CARS. ' i The retail trade of the motor industry in Great Britain is beginning to feel a pinch

which has hurt for some years in America. Customers are being drawn more and more from the ranks of existing motor users who will not buy new cars without being given an extremely generous price for their old models. Traders complain that it is impossible, as a rule, to give anything like the price which the customer expects for his old car without sacrificing a large proportion of their legitimate profits. The matter has now reached such a pass that in at least one important centre the traders have organised a scheme which provides for all of them giving no more than an agreed figure for used cars in accordance with a scale which has been drawn up and which takes only the age of a car into account. The glut of used cars which this state of affairs indicates, and which shows signs of increasing, will tend, in the opinion oi “The Light Car and Cycle-car,” to make it still more profitable to buy a good quality car in the first instance—a car which will last for several seasons and thus save repeated losses due to depreciation.

HOW TO RETREAD BALLOON TYRES. DITJICTIONS FOR OBTAINING GOOD RESULTS. How shall I retread balloon tires? Repairmen all over New Zealand are asking this question, wondering what is the right method of doing the job so that the results will be entirely satisfactory in every way. First, of ourse, (says the Goodyear News) the repairman should be certain that the tire is worth retreading. But if you’re satisfied that the carcass is sound and worth the retread, here is the method that will insure business-building results:— Trim off all the tread. An even edge at the tread line will insure a neat job when the tread is applied- The next step < is to buff the surface from which the tread was cut. Use a wire brush to get down to the cords, but be sure the cords are not injured in the buffing operation. On the

edges of the sidewall where the union of the new tread and the old sidewall will take place, the shopman should use a rotary rasp to roughen up the surfaces. A good test for sufficient buffing is to be sure that all the knife marks resulting from the cutting operation in removing the tread ate buffed out. Thorough buffing means sure unions. Blow and brush the tire clean and wash it with a good solvent, then apply 1 two coats of cement, allowing each coat to dry from . half to three-quarters of an hour. If the day is damp and cloudy, drying time ms- take longer. The tire is now ready to be built up, so place it on a mandrel, and with a narrow piece of Holland cloth measure the circumference of the tire exactly on its centre. This length, plus one inch, is the length to cut the camelback retread. 1 Remove the holland cloth from the cushion side of the tread and stitch the cushion down and prick out all air blisters. Then

centre the tread on the casing and stretch it around the tire just enough to take out all the slack and fit snugly. Be sure that the splice of the tread is thoroughly stitched down. The next process is stitching the tread down either by hand with a roller or by means of a tread roller. Start from the centre and work toward the edges. Then trim down all the edges of the tread, so that it matches the sidewall. This trim is very important. If done correctly, and a good smooth job is made at the edges, there will be no overflow in the cure. The ti. ■ is now ready for cure, and should be cured the same day that it is repaired. Be sure the sandbag is centred over the splice, and that the pressure over the splice, and that the pressure bar is centred over the sandbag. Dust the mould out with soapstone lx*fore placing the tire in the mould. In tightening the clamps, start with the middle one and work out toward each end.