The Motor World

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17345, 18 July 1924, Page 11

The Motor World

NOTES AND NEWS BY

"RADIATOR"

Tho motoring; associations in the t Jvorth Inland are adopting badges tor ? members. The sum of £305,825 was received from, tees and taxea on motor-cars in to: riney last year. In t lie Bom bay-Poona. reliability trials, the principal hill-climb is up the JBhor Ghaut, which represents a rise oH 2000 ft in four miles. Five States are now m the I ,000. 000 registration class in U.S.A. Those tu'c : .New York, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Illinois. California has the record for the number of population per car. The figure is 3.2, as against an average of seven people per car for the United States. No fewer than 30,059 motor vehicles ©i all kinds were registered in Sydney in 1934. Last year the total was 54 043. These figures do not include mo-tor-cycles. Camping Gully Creek, for a long time the bane of motorists travelling via the Rakaia Gorge, has now been pub in good order by the provision of a concrete bottom. At the North Birmingham AC.‘a hill-climb at Angle Bank, Hutton Coldfield, the Austin seven secured first and second places in the 750 c.c. class, both on time a*id handicap. It is shown upon good authority that too many collisions and accidents are the direct result of indecision and that there must be an effort made to stand by one’s decisions with regard to passing other cars, turning, parking, stopping and starting. The driver who slowly but deliberately drives through a line of uedestrians who won’t obey the traffic officer is much less likely to injure them than the driver who starts to assume his n ight and then changes his mind. Soon as indecision enter* the mind of tho party of the first part the same mental attitude is fountl in tho mind of the party of the second part. There is confusion, and, finally, an accident. The entire village- of Reno. Texas has moved three-quarters of a mile from the railroad to be on a. new automobile highway, preferring the hiyliMray to the railroad. In 1923 there were 44,864 passenger cans in Now Zealand, according to .tracts and Figures, of the Automobile Industry, for 1924, issued by the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce, New York.

The authorities in Wanganui art endeavouring to devise some means o making pedestrians alive to the follj

*>f walking on main highways in places 'where side walks have been laid down. It was stated that many of the accidents nowadays are caused through pedestrians on dark nights elec-tang to walk in the centre of the road instead of on the footpath.

In five years (1919 to 1923) the Union *>f South Africa alone has spent on motor vehicles, petrol and tyres nearly £20,250,000. This leaves out of account lubricating oils and accessories. Of this huge sum, the Union Government took an average of twenty per oent through the Customs. And this is only the first tribute exacted from tho motorist by the State and governing bodies.

•‘Fifty males an hour in any part of London is dangerous. 1 am not p»red bo hold that forty miles an hour is necessarily dangerous.” The MaryJebone Magistrate expressed these opinions in fining J. M. Henderson, of Highgate, £5 for dangerous driving. Mr Muskett, for. the police. >’aid Henderson drove in the Outer Circle, Regent’s Park, at forty miles *vn hour. It was dark, and there were converging roads.

*‘.T. should say that the best form of road construction for Marlborough would be the bitumen penetrative method.” observed Mr J. D. Bruce, North island counties representative nn the Highways Board, in the course of an address to the Marlborough local Lodie* last week.

An endeavour to overcome the dan ger of horses slipping on Shakespeare .Road is to be made by the Napie City Council, £6O or £7O having beei authorised for the purpose, and ai experimental layer of tar and grit i at present on the road. The “Tele

jraph” states that if the grit has t-lu *ffeat of counteracting the slipper! ic*s it will be laid all the way clown

A grant of £SOO for a survey of the Napier-Taihap© Road is to be placed on this year's Estimates, states the Minister of Public Works in a letter to the Hawke’s Bay County Council. This© route, which is at present in a very primitive state, will eventually

give Hawke’s Bay a direct run to th Mam Trunk country and the Tongarir National Park.

The Wanganui Automobile Association has decided to adopt the Petr© family’s coat of arms as its badge. “Petre.” it will be recalled! was the •original name of Wangauui. Wellington City gets its ITiorndon from Thorndon Park, Lord Petre’s seat in iEssex.

The Buller branch of the Canterbury Automobile Association has been formed. with Mr J. J. Moloney as chairman, Dr Foot© as vice- chairman, Mr A. W. Henley as secretary, Mr W. T. Slee as treasurer, and the Rev T. Watson, Messrs J. Caldwell. F.:. Patten, C. D. Betts and F. S. Wood as an executive. Mr W. T. Slec was appointed delegate to the Canterbury Council.

Maaterton Borough Council has decided not to -isspe motor drivers’ licenses to anyone -under sixteen, years of age.

Mr Pragnell, flavor of *Maatcrton contends that at least 20 per cent of t.ho revenue under the Highways Act ought to go to municipalities.

Maintenance of the FeatherstonGreytown road is estimated by Mr Toogood, engineer to Feathers ton County to work out at £1 iS per nme.

The average cost of maintenance of the main highways gazetted in Ashburton County is £35 per mile per annum. This is very different from what many North Island counties have to spend on their main roads.

Complaint was made at the Masterton County Council meeting this week

that the proposed expenditure on the main roads in the county would involve a 40 per cent increase in rates. A special meeting is to be held bo uiscuss the question of main road tenanceGetting down to work! —Members of the new’ .Buller branch ab the first meeting abated that delay was being experienced in the unloading of cars from the Christchurch train, it taking four hours to unload a car and put it on tho road, much to the inconvenience of tourists and others. It was decided that the secretary should ask the Department to provide more suitable facilities. A letter was directed to be sent to the Grey County Council urging that bridges in the county now* painted black and white should be painted whit© owing to th© danger the present colour occasions to motorists travelling at night. Newmarket Borough Council is receiving many complaints about the King Street level crossing. One resident stated that the other day he was crossing at Victoria Crescent, and although a train was w ithin fifty yards, no bell was ringing. A second writer stated when visiting the general hospital lately, he met a young man who 1-ad been severely injured in a collision between his motor-cycle and an engine. In this case, th© victim had heard no warning bell. A motor lorry owner in Waitemaia County, out of Auckland, has been fined £lB i'or driving his lorry containing a heavy load over th© county loads in May, on© of t-lie winter months, in which heavy traffic is pro hibited. The Hamilton Motor-cycle Club has just completed its fifth year with a credit balance of £420. this satisfactory result being largely due to Lb© success oi‘ the club’' race meeting duiing th© summer. A conference has been held at Hamilton at which local body delegates considered “ the unfairness of the Motor Vehicles Bill taxation as ne» tween farmers and motorists who contribute nothing towards the cost of the roads.” Auckland latest motor number plate up to the end of last week was 13,210. Th© ‘ New Zealand Herald,” commenting on Wellington statements i hat Mr Bush. Auckland city engineer, w'as so impressed with the Hutt Road that he was going to put bitumen on top of Auckland’s concrete roads, points out that bitumen surfacing for the concrete was part of Mr Bush’* proposals as far back as 1919. Tt was at first proposed in Auckland to lay wood-blocks on a concrete foundation.

as in Wellington, but Mr Bush pointed out that an asphalt top would still be required and cut out the woof blocks, reducing the cost to about l alf. The question of putting a. bitu men coat on the concrete lias already been carried out on a< number ol streets.

■Loss of power at low speeds may be due to the following causes:— Poor compression—valves leaking. Too rich or too lean mixture. Dirty plugs. Too great tension in vibrator blades. "Weak exhaust valve spring. Air suction at induction pip©. Too small gap in spark plugs. Too much tappet clearance. At high speeds it may bo due to ; Rad commutator surface. Ragged or dirty platinum points in coils. Too great gap in spark plugs. Weak valve spring. Unsuitable mixture.

Judge Harry Puloiier. in the Oakland. Cal., Justice’s Court, has devised a new penalty for speeders. When Mrs Eva, Brown came before him charged with driving forty miles an hour through the village of Albany, Judgo Pule iter sentenced her to refrain front driving her own or any other car for sixty days, adding:—“ At the end of that sixty days you will appear in this court and repeat word for word aJL of the new State Motor Vehicle Act. Unless you can so repeat it you will be deprived of the use of your car until such time as you can quote every Jin© of tli© Act.”

An analysis of the latest American statistics, particularly in reference to taxation, shows that from the 14,500,000 (motor vehicles registered in the U.S.A., a revenue of, approximately £35.000,000 is paid to the American Government. From the approximate total ot 1-0/9,000 vehicles licensed in England at the end of 1923, a revenue oi £15.313.334 was paid into the British Treasury. These are the interest-ing-facts which our analysis reveals:—■ Tii© tax in America is about £2 10s per vehicle per annum. The tax in Great Britain is about £l2 10s per vehicle per annum. " What do you call that? asked the nosey visitor, pointing to a galvanised iron bin in the garage. “That?” said Thompson, who was fed up with queries. “ Oh I I call that the stormy petrol.” ‘ ‘ Good lord ! Wby ? ’ ’ “ Well, you see, it’s where I store my petrol !” Hm !” said the visitor. “Just so? And I suppose yon call yourself the wag on the waggon.” In running in a new motor-car it is a case of “ steady does it”—just like an athlete training for sports. Too much training may run him off the rails. ) oil also want to “ give her plenty oil,’’ right up to the point where she is just on the “ smoking badly ” stage. The “smoking badly” stage doesn’t help—it only wastes oil and annoys other rood users. But plenty of oil is very desirable 'while parts ar«* running in; and if you must err, let your sin end in smoke. An excellent squeegee for clearing away the wet from the floor or wa«h of the garage can be made by cutting a length of old inner tube and clamping it by means of nuts and bolts between two boards 2ft or 3ft long. A broom-handle driven into a hole in these boards will then complete the implement, which one has only to use to appreciate. It may sometimes occur that the plow speed transmission band on a Ford car may break when one is miles away from th© nearest garage. Jt is sometimes possible to restart in top gear, but this is not recommended, and in any case would not be of much avail if a steep hill, requiring low gear, were to be encountered farther on. The

best wav of getting over the difficulty is to remove th© transmission cover take out the broken band, and slide the reverse band off its drum and on to the slow-speed drum. Tho transmission cover should be replaced, and the car can then b© driven normally in a forward direction. A new reverse band can be obtained at the nearest garage.

The Colonial Motor Company, Ltd., which is an organisation devoted to the assembly and distribution of Ford products in New Zealand, chums to be the outstanding mo-tor-car importing and assembling firm in the Dominion. In the course of an interview with a •‘New Zealand Times” representative lecently, Mr Hope Gibbons, managing director ot‘ the company, stated that in this country, with only a million and a quarter of population, this organisation assembles and distributes no less than 750 Ford cars a month — sometimes up to 200 a week in a rush season —or an average of over 9000 cats, a year. The headquarters of the comare in Wellington, where it occupies the largest building devoted to car assembly in New Zealand. This headquarters building took two years to build, and was taken over by the company from the contractors less than two years ago. A year ago four floors of it were to let; but to-day the company occupies the w r hole of the nine floors, with a total floor space of two and a half acres, and soon it will require additional room in which to further expand the business. Air J. Montgomery, of Christchurcn, writing from New York to Mr Crozier in regard to his New Cadillac which he procured at the Cadillac factory, Detroit, states :—“ 1 ran 960 miles from Detroit to here, going a steady twentyfive miles per hour all the wav. My petrol consumption was better than fourteen miles pev gallon (English), i but, of course, the roads were all solid concrete and as smooth as a billiard table the whole way. The traffic was awful. I always had a car in sight ahead and another on my tail the whole 960 miles, and sometimes there were lines miles long ahead and behind. The model 63 is far ahead of I the 57 and the balance is perfect. She ; is a- treat to drive.” When one thinks of diamonds he in stinctivelv pictures a ring, a brooch, o’* some other beautiful form of jewellery. It seldom occurs to anyone not acquainted with the diamond industry that there are two kinds of diamonds, the brilliant ones, which are used for jewellery, and their less beautiful cousins, which are a prime factor in industry. For instance, at the factory of th© Cadillac. Motor-car Company, in Detroit. Michigan, U.S.A., a stock of approximately 25.000.0(X)tlol worth of diamonds are in use at the present time. These diamonds are used for dressing, or trueing, emery wheels, which in turn are used for grinding or polishing the various parts of th© Cadillac car. Naturally, great car© is taken in the handling of these precious stones, and when diamonds are purchased a stock record card is mad© out for each one. listing- its weight, its value, and the department to which it is assigned for use. Just for convenience in record-keeping, i these diamonds are divided into three classes: Eversharp Nibs -and Classes A and B. The Eversharp Nibs never exceed .25 of a carat in size and ar~ employed for the trueing of the small emery wheels, ike Class A stones Yary in size from .2*5 of a. carat to as high as It carats in. size, and are used in dressing the larger wheels, AN hen a Class A or B diamond has been reduced by wear to ,25 of a carat, it is remounted and becomes an Evorsharo Nib. as its usefulness in trueing the larger wheels has ended. Even the Eversharp Nibs get to a point where tlwy can no longer be used, and when this occurs they are dismounted and sold to a diamond dealer* who in turn pulverises what is left and puts the ingredients on the- market for the use of jewellers. Cabled results of the Tourist Trophy road contest motor-cycle races, the premier road contests of England, are to hand. These classic events are*annually decided over a mountainous circuit abounding in hairpin turns on the Isle of Man. Big crowds go across from England to witness the various events, and it is estimated that 70,000 spectators witnessed th© big event, the “ senior.” The winners this year were “ light-weights” (up to 11 h.p.), J. H. Porter on a New Gerrard. He negotiated the three circuits, 113 miles, in 2hr 12min 40 2-ssec, a wonderful performance, as an average speed of nearly 51a miles per hour was maintained. Th© “ junior ” race, for machines up to 3i h.p., was won by K. T. Wemlow on a New Imperial J.A.P. This event was decided over six circuits, and th© 226 miles was covered in 4hr 4min 21 sec, equal to an average speed of so£ miles per hour. The South Australian ciack, A. J. Moyle, took part in this race, bub retired owing to engine troubles. The “ senior,” for machines up to 5 h.p.. drew thirty-five starters, and resulted in a very fast race, the winner being A. Bennett on a Norton. The distance was 226 miles, and was covered in 3hr 40min, giving an average speed of 61A miles per hour, which is probably record time for the T.T. race. Concurrently with th© “ senior ” race, a further event for machines with 3jf h.p. engines was decided, and resulted in a victory for E. Tremlow (New Imperial) with a speed average of 55 2-5 miles per hour. Moyle, of Adelaide, fell in the. latter event, but. was not seriously hurt. Last year’s senior ” was won by T. Sheard on a Douglas, with a Norton in second place, the average speed being miles per hour. Here, then, is a simple reform'which can be easily carried out by ally manufacturer of machines intended for sidecar' work, and which will yet confer considerable benefits. Consideration for the side-car passenger is as necessary as the more obviously essential requirements which concern the power plant or other components of* the mo-tor-cycle itself. An examination of the exhibits which have already come to hand for the AllBritish Motor Show to be held in Melbourne this month shows that many changes in design have been made with the object of giving greater comfort, better wearing qualities and more economy and efficiency. In order to achieve 1 tho latter, it is noticeable that there j is a more general tendency to use aluminium alloy pistons and in some cases j in the construction of botli crank and | gear cases. In one engine four valves I are used in each cylinder, together | with two sparking plugs. This ensures j a gre3.ter cooling surface and less ham--1 mering effect, with the result that the makers claim that the valves do not requiro any attention until 20,000 miles have been covered. In another model the valves, although easily accessible, work in an oil vapour bath. Many of the exhibits will have the movable hoods for the tourers made in such a way that when they are up they will give the car the appearance of a limousine.