THE PETROL TRAIL

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 15, 5 October 1929, Page 4

THE PETROL TRAIL

OPEL TRUCKS PURCHASED FOR HOLLAND. After having subjected the automobile trucks of several leading f 01 ~ eign manufacturers to a six months test, the Post Office (Department of the Netherlands decided to purchase thirty-two mail trucks from the Opel ;Works) of Russelsheim, Germany. Sales made at the recent motor car show in Amsterdam indicate that the future motor car expansion lies amoriy the more comfortable farmers outside the already motorized provinces of North Holland, South Holland and Utrecht.

SAHARA DESERT PICKED FOR RACES. Two important motor races are to be run next year from Algeria to the Sudon. The more important ot the two will bo known as the ‘Grand Prix du Sahara’. These races will be a landmark in the history of the great African desert; they will shou the world how the actual means of communication across the sandy hilts or along the stony wilderness, have been made easy. New tracks have been created and the old camel caravan. ones greatly improved. The tracks over the Algerian Sahara now cover about 3,000 kilometers. FRANCE BUILDING MORE MOTOR CARS. France is now building 31 per cent, of the European production of motor-

cars, the equal of England, and secoiilv only to the United States as a manufacturer of cars. Last year--200,000 motor cars were made hi. France; this year the number will be between 250,000 and 280,000. The; number 1 of workers employed in manufacturing of motor cars in the country is more than 200,000.

Melbourne Motorists must PAY FOR PARKING.

Motor-car owners in Melbourne* must pay for the privilege of parking their cars. The City Council, in an attempt to restrict parking, has adopted new by-laws' permitting parking only on certain streets throughout the day. The revenue derived therefrom goes into the municipal treasury. Parking fees arc a shilling a day, one pound a month, five pounds ton shillings for six months, and ten pounds ai year.

HOW THE PURCHASER BENEFITS FROM CHEAPER AND BETTER CARS.

A trip through any motor car factory will readily reveal to the visitor why manufacturers have been able to produce bettor cars, year by year, and - sell them at eontinuouisly decreasing No matter what car, from the cheapest to the most luxurious, certain improvements have been instituted in the process of manufacture that- have combined to' benefit the motorist at less expense. These points were brought out by Mr. Me Hardy Forman, Managing Director, General Motors New Zealand Limited, who at all times welcomes visitors to his factory at Petone, and will be glad to see anybody interested, conducted over the- operation.

When a large plant finds a way to dispose with the necessity of keeping immense stocks of material on hand for future production, tin :! it can regulate its* assembly so that there is not a moment’s waste of time oi- effort, when it can keep all its pails moving at nearly every period in the mamnfailure of its cars, when finally it can reduce the human element or error almost to a minimum and yet furnish a greater variety of finer cars than has been offered- the material benefit to the consumer is obvious. When, for instance, Chevrolet goes to the trouble of building an entire experimental plant to lie sure of its proper production of the new six and then builds its factories for large volume production, the reason (his company can afford to offer “a six in the price range of the four’' is clear. Thus, it is evident how manufacturers can continue to incorporate additional refinements and improvements in their products without charging them up to the ultimate buyer.

NOTES AND COMMENTS

SPEED FREAKS, Freak races such as those between motor cycles and aeroplanes, motorhots and dirigibles, and cars . and trains, till recently a monoply ot the United States, have lately become popular in France. In America these contests usually took place on the runs from mlaml towns (and finished at fa#nonahlo seaside resorts. Now that the craze has .spread to Europe, several trains that were famous for their fast trips have lost their laurels. In the recent MdanVsan Remo reliability trial for tourling cars the train was hopelessly beaten.

SLOW-COACH NUISANCE. “'Baulked and Bored 1 ’ writes as follows to a Sydney journal: “So far as I have seen, charges °f “Driving to the danger of the public” are" only preferred against drivers who speed, but it is trine that some of the slow-coaches who b ock the roads and are even greater clangers were treated the same way. i am nob a ‘speed hog”, X have been Ikonrllimr si. ear for too many years

to want to risk my life to save a few minutes, but I do object to e jug hung up 'behihid other w 181 motorists who crawl along m the middle of the rood and will not drive where slow traffic should drive, on the left edge'of the road. L««t Sunday there, were a number of Hus nuisance on the Windsor-mad, and the icsult was a crowling procession for miles and miles of unused road in front of them. Scotching those posts should make useful week-end exercise for the motor cycle police who patrol the mads looking tor speed merchants, but consider that drivers of the other extorne are sale. I surmise that they cause more accidents than, fast drivers, when exasperated motorists who follow them ’ try to get past and strike trouble.

heverse action.

NEW SERVO BRAKE, A Swiss engineer is the iuveutoi of a- 1 new servo brake which is the reverse in operation to tnat geueiaiiy

fitted to cars. The orthodox plan for braking by

a vacuum caused by the engine is inverted, the springs winch usually puli the brake off being the force which applies the new brake. The mechanism is so arranged that the brake pedal operates an atmospheres valve which releases the vacoum. The brake is then pulled on by the springs. Varying degrees of braking pressure can be exerted by the driver, who can feel the extent to which, lie is retarding the oar through the pedal. The outstanding advantage of tue now brake is that braking power is not lost through stalling of the engine. Provision is made lor ioleasing the brakes independently in the event of the engine stopping. RIGHT OR LEFT. jRLILE OF THE ROAD. According to a bulletin from the National Geographical Society there a\-e sixty countries in the world which favour the right side rule of, the road, while forty-three keep to the left. Most of, the countries of America keep to .the right, there being only a few exceptions.

It is in Europe that the need for a uniform rule of the road is apparent. and overlanding motorists in that continent find the rules reversed whii much consequent confusion with icvcry country ■ whose borders they

i cross. ! ,T!ie influence of tlie British Army | in Iraq is shown by the recent chan- | go there from the left to tin* right j hand sii y. The rule was changed >u ! iho war yeans to suit military .trajisj port and has just been reversed. | CHICAGO’S PARKING GAN, [TRAFFIC FASTER, ! A no-parking restriction which has | been in force in the shopping sec- | tion of Chicago for a year has had unexpected results. A check showed that with an ah- ; solute parking ban. accidents wer< I reduced 1 ]() par cent., iralTic had in I creased 20 to 30 per cent. . nd the ; speed of .trams increased I— the J same amount. It is propose I to e■■ j tend the ban to other cl is 1 riots in ‘ Die city.