Motordom

Southland Times, Issue 21581, 19 December 1931, Page 13

Motordom

News and

Notes.

OF GENERAL INTEREST ON THE ROAD AND ON THE WING. THE LATEST HAPPENINGS. British Steel. A statement mads by a candidate at the recent British elections in Lincolnshire that foreign steel is used in the production of British motor cars was denied by leading figures in the motor industry. Mr Victor Riley said, “We use British steel. I Britain can produce the best steel in the | world of economic rates.” An official of the Pressed Steel Company, who supply parts and complete bodies for most of the leading manufacturers said. “The steel used in the manufacture of British motor cars comes mainly from South Wales, the Midlands and Tyneside. Until a few years ago Britain did not produce sheets of steel large enough for making a one-piece car body. But the British steel manufacturers have got down to this problem and are now producing steel in large enough sizes. There is no doubt that this steel is finer than anything that any other country can produce and enables the British motor manufacturer to make his motor cars entirely British, besides giving employment to British workers.” A Pioneer Motorist. Motorists will find a warm champion in the House of Commons in Mr Reginald G. Clarry, Chairman of the British Road Tar Association, who has been returned as a Conservative member for Newport (Mon.) ! his old seat, with a majority of over 8,000, : says our English motoring correspondent. I Mr Clarry was a pioneer motorist himself ; and in the early days drove a Benz with ' tiller steering. Born in Derby, Mr Clarry i was trained in civil engineering and chem- i istry and had a successful business career I before taking up politics. During the war, he had a high position in the Ministry of Munitions, and afterwards became interest- ; ed in read problems. He is a recognized I authority on non-skid roads and last year was appointed chairman of the British Road Tar Association, which has a membership of well over 700 firms and municipalities. The association under Mr Clarry’s guidance has been continually seeking to improve the standard of British roads. Mr Clarry is also Chairman of the International Road Tar Conference. The 0.8. E. A very old-established common object of the seashore is in danger of falling into desuetude; namely the old salt with the ozone complexion who hires out rowing and sailing boats to visitors, says an English writer. He complains that the Saucy Sally and the Jaunty Jane are being rapidly supplanted by the Speedy Sylvia and the Petrol Penelope. The motor boat is the sea-serpent on his horizon. Young people, he says, in his young days were skilful scullers, stalwart sailors and yesty yotters; while nowadays they’re all for speed boats and combusted propulsion. The smell of the foam is lost in fumes; the sea-gull gets giddy—the petrel is gassed with petrol and —think of the poor fish, deafened by explosions! What chance, for instance, hcasks, has a shoal of jellyfish against a propeller? There sits the old-man-of-the-seu on the shinriv shore, vainly bidding the flowing tide of petrol to encroach no further on his ancient and fishlike rights. Cheer up, old Longshoreman Bill! Overhaul your ancient craft and confer on your boats the 0.8. E. (Out-Board Engine) in time for the summer. A Progressive Motor Group. The activities of the progressive Humber-Hillman-Commer Group of companies have been considerably strengthened and augmented recentlj’ by developments in the commercial vehicle field. 'The introduction of the Commer Raider 14 tonner and Centaur 2 tonner marked a big step forward in British production of moderate priced trucks, and now to follow them comes the marketing of the Corinthian —a passenger vehicle for 24/26 seater bodywork. The steady yet rapid progress which has been made by the Humber-Hillman-Commer Group has been one of the outstanding features of the British motor industry during the past few years. As is well known, the amalgamation took effect in 1928, and since then great developments have been made in the organization and equipment of the component concerns. With both the private car factories in sound production, the combine has turned its attention to the third unit—Commer Cars Ltd.—and this old established firm will certainly set new standards in the commercial vehicle world. The 30cwt and 2 ton classes have not hitherto been catered for by many influential British makers, and fo far as the overseas market is concerned it is fair to say that only one leading wholly British manufacturer has made claim to any fair share of the trade. Commer will henceforth be a further determined champion of Britain, for the latest products undoubtedly make as big an appeal to commercial vehicle users overseas as to those in Great Britain. The Lesson of the Motor Show. Pessimists and others who, encouraged by the recent trying times, have hinted at the doom of Great- Britain should digest the facts and figures relating to the 1931 Motor Show. In the first place, contrary to the expectations of some, the attendance figures have been greater than those for the corresponding days last year. The percentage of mere sightseers at an exhibition where the lowest price of admission is 2/6, is extremely low and whilst the financial turnover of the motor trade is colossal at any time, this promise of increased : trade should help to produce the turnover j in the finances of Great Britain which is - required to alleviate the unemployment | problem. Interviewed at Olympia, Mr Leo W. Adams, sales director of the Alvis Car . Company, displayed the utmost optimism ; which has been more than substantiated , by the business secured. Mr Adams stat- ( ed that: “For the 1932 season we have t with the utmost confidence increased the j maximum price of Alvis cars by £lOO. Dur- | ing 1931 the most expensive car in our , programme was listed at £695. We have , now. introduced a super-luxury-limousine at j £795 and because it offers really remark- ] able value and because there is still the , purchasing power, its inception has met | with amazing success. We are already hav- | ing to stipulate ‘orders executed in rota- j tion’ and that combined with the fact that 1 our cheaper models are also enjoying the ( utmost, popularity, seems to justify our ; keen optimism for the future.” t 5 A Bentley Success. 1 c Here is some more information about c the famous 500 miles race. c British-made cars swept the boards in c the recent international classic 500 miles t race, which is held annually on Brooklands j Track, England. Forty-two of the fastest , cars in England and on the Continent com- j peted, victory going to the well-known c English driver, J. L. Dunfee, aboard a J Dunlop-shod Bentley. His average speed t was over 118 miles an hour—the fastest jtime yet established in a long distance track t race in any part of the world. A Talbot car ran second, averaging 112 m.p.h., while a baby M.G. Midget finished third at 92 m.p.h. The performance of the 1 little car indicates to what a state of per- t fection and efficiency the baby car has r

been developed. The 1930 event a 7 h.p. Austin, driven by the Earl of March and S. C. Davis, win at an average speed of 83 m.p.h. A Bentley was second, at 112 m.p.h. and a Sunbeam third with an average of 10-1 J m.p.h. J. L. Dunfee, the winner of this yeaPs event, holds many international motor records, most of them being established on a 6-cylinder Sunbeam car at the Montlhery track, Paris. The previous world’s record for 500 miles stood to the credit of Messrs Marchand and Morel, at 117.7 m.p.h. on an 8-cylinder Voisin and Dunlop. In covering the 500 miles at 92.17 m.p.h., the M.G. Midget added just over 8 m,p,h, to the previous record for this distance—a truly remarkable performance. It is interesting to note that the fastest 500 miles ever put up in U.S.A, is P. de Paloa’s record of 101 m.p.h., established in the Indianapolis 500 race of 1925. Doctors and Mechanics. This paragraph by “Sinik” in The Bulletin is too good to miss: My car, whose innards are as much a mystery to me as my own, suddenly lost power, so I took it to the nearest garage. The boss, after a longish, examination, delivered his finding. The tank was choked. It would have to be taken off and cleaned —a big job. As I couldn’t afford the time I crawled to my destination, where another mechanic happened on the real trouble—a faulty plug. Some days later a terrifying rattle developed. It recurred at intervals, but never in the presence of expert witnesses, as is the perverse way of engines. Knowledgeable men with oil all over them listened while the engine was idling, and agreed that there was a knock. Some said the engine would have to come down at a cost of £l5 or so, others that it didn’t matter. “Carry on," said the latter cheerfully, and told of cars that had been driven thousands of miles with worse knocks. Days passed before a mechanic discovered that a gear-shaft was broken. These, and other experiences of the kind, have satisfied me that mechanics work in the dark. One of them removes the tank to clean it, finds it doesn’t need cleaning, but that a spark plug does, and charges for both jobs to save his face. Similarly, a doctor operates for appendicitis before he realizes that he should have tapped for pleurisy, and the patient never knows, even if he survives. Cars have advantages over human bodies. One doesn’t hear of the gadgets on the dashboard of a car being torn off to cure a choked carburetter. A friend of mine had all his teeth yanked out to relieve his indigestion before the doctors found ho had a gastric ulcer.

BRITISH MOTOR INDUSTRY PURCHASE ENGLISH CARS HELP THE MOTHERLAND. Despite world conditions, the British motor industry is in a flourishing condition. It is now fourth in importance in the whole of Great Britain’s industries, and may assume a place of -even greater importance in the near future. A few years ago the more popular makes of massed produced foreign cars almost jestled the British product off the roads. To-day, actually 95% of the home market is supplied by British factories. What the industry may become now depends largely on the loyalty and common sense of Britons, not only at Home but also in the Dominions overseas. The motor factories of Great Britain, with characteristic British thoroughness, are now catering for overseas markets with a vengeance. Overseas orders placed at Olympia included such widespread countries as Australia, New Zealand, Lithuania, the Gold Coast and Uganda. There arc much sounder reasons for the improvement in the British motor trade than the temporary advantage gained by Great Britain’s abandonment of the Gold Standard. During the past year or two, the British motor car industry has been putting rationalization into practice, while other industries have been talking about it. Plant has been overhauled; programmes have been modified; interests have been amalgamated. Employing Thousands. Altogether the industry employs 206, 000 people and is indirectly responsible for the employment of many thousands more. Its advance in the markets of the world is undoubtedly of national interest and importance. A prosperous motor industry brings prosperity in scores of subsidary industries. Iron and steel reap the greatest benefit, but rubber, timber, glass, leather, cotton, nickel and tin take a considerable share, to mention only some of the commodities of which the industry is an important consumer. Buy British. New Zealand is turning very rapidly to Great Britain for her cars for several very' good reasons. The first of these is that Great Britain is now producing cars and trucks I of greater value for money than those of any other country in the world. They are not only more highly efficient and economical, but they have a greater degree of finish and longer life. When the Briton sets his mind to do something he does it properly.

Then again, a great number of New Zealanders have already realized—and others will realize shortly—that we are directly concerned with the prosperity of Great Britain. She cannot continue to buy from us unless we buy’ from her. Any action calculated to weaken our trade with Great Britain imperils our own safety. On the other hand, every' British—genuine British —car sold in New Zealand means two or three more people back in employment in Great Britain—more people to buy our primary produce and so help the Dominion on the road to prosperity. This Dominion is not yet doing her utmost to help herself by buying all her motor requirements from Great Britain. True, the sales of British care have improved immensely, but there is still room for further improvement. Note the following percentages of total sales in the first nine months of 1931.

January 44.320% February 47.900% March 37.290% April 41.020% May 39.737% June 31.800% July 31.100% August 34.900% September 39.370%

But there it is—the writing on the wall. We must buy more from Great Britain if she is to buy more from us. The trade of Great Britain is our life and strength. As her sea tides rise and fall, like the steady breathing of mother ocean, so they rise and fall in New Zealand. A strong Britain means not only a strong Empire, but a safe New Zealand. The most rudimentary laws of self-preservation, if nothing else, should ensure that we do nothing to deplete that strength, nothing to drain away the life flow from Great Britain’s arteries of trade. Never before has our Homeland needed our support as much as she does now.

SOUTHLAND MOTOR CYCLE CLUB

BEACH RACES. RIDERS' BENEVOLENT FUND. Fixtures. January 16: Oret-i Beach races February' 6: Bluff Hill CSimb. On account of the earlier tide expected at Oreti beach on January 16, the executive has decided that the meeting will commence at 2 p.m., and the lengths of the races will be shorter than at the last meeting. The same number of events that is, six races—will be run, and particulars are as follows:— 4-mile Open Handicap. 4-mile 350 c.c. Championship. 2-mile Open Scratch Race. 6-mile Open Handicap. 6-mile Open Championship. 10-mile Open Handicap. The 2mile scratch race is an innovation locally. On northern beaches the short dash up and down the course is popular with competitors, and the spectators are assured of a thrilling finish. An unusual feature of this race will be that no pushers-off will be employed; engines will be running at the starting post, and a good get-away may be expected. Entries close on Saturday, January 9, and must be sent to the convenor of the sports committee, Mr A. Hobbs. The rules governing the riders’ benevolent fund have now been passed by’ the executive. The object of the fund is to assist injured riders with the payment of medical and public hospital expenses. All payments are in the discretion of the executive, and riders can have no legal claim upon the fund. The fund applies to the following events when conducted by the Invercargill executive: —Grass track races, beach races, hill climbs of all descriptions, scrambles, sporting events and competitions at club runs or elsewhere. It does not apply to reliability trials, treasure hunts, or club runs or pic-

nics. The fund extends to financial members on both the main roll and the Gore roll, when competing in Invercargill events as mentioned above, but not to members of outside clubs. It does not apply to any events conducted by the Gore branch.

Blazers and Holidays. Members requiring their club blazers for the Christmas and New Year period will have to obtain orders from the secretary by Wednesday next. After that date no further ordsrs will be issued until the second week in January. The secretary of the South Island Motor Union, Christchurch, has just forwarded supplies of the hotel and camping-rite lists revised for the holiday season. Motor cyclists who intend to spend a few days away from home, whether travelling by motor cycle or otherwise, would be well advised to carry a copy of each list with them. The lists will be issued to financial members if application is made to the secretary not later than Wednesday next.