MODERN MOTORING.

Waipawa Mail, Volume LI, Issue 112, 16 June 1930, Page 4

MODERN MOTORING.

HUTTI by the way,

SHORT CIRCUITS.

VIBRATION A PRIMARY CAUSE.

HAVE NO LOOSE WIRES,

Electrical faults in motor cars arc not frequent nowadays, but when they do occur they are primarily due to vibration. Wires which hang loose or sag will, under the vibration of the car, rub against metal parts of the engine or chassis. This movement and consequent friction will wear the insulation and a short circuit in the current will result. Very often this “short” is intermittent. When tested with the ear at rest there may be no lenkage. But when the car gets on the road the “short” is continually being set up. This is often the cause of a discharged battery. The current, perhaps in the wire from the battery to the starter switch or the lamp circuit switch, “shorts” intereittently. If it is in the lamp circuit it may be discovered by flickering of the lamps when the car is running, while they burn steadily when the vehicle is at rest. Such a condition very often denotes a loose wire, which, by vibration, comes in contact with some part of the frame, becomes chatcil and allows a short circuit to occur. The remedy for these troubles lies in a proper support of the wires and proper insulation. Much of the trouble arises at places where the wires are led through holes in the frame or mudguards. A very usual place is in the valmice between the ear frame and the running-board where the hatter) is carried on the latter. The valance is thin metal and the hole through which the cable passes has shaip edges. These will in time cut the cable and cause trouble This “short” may be intermittent. It mav be continuous. Tt may not be a real “short” in dry weather, but it mav become one in wet. It can se up all kinds of puzzling troubles with the lighting and starting installation, and has been known to result in what might almost be called a “trickle” discharge from the battery, soon running it down.

MOTOR IMPORTS,

THE QUARTERLY ANALYSIS.

STATISTICS SHOW DECREASE

During the first quarter of 1930, motor imports into New Zealand were a good deal below the number for the same time last year. For three months the total dutiable values amounted to £711,109, compared with £1,077,6(14 last year. The 1929 period was regarded as phenomenal. In 1928 the first quarter’s total was £521,G23. British products on the financial basis show a slight increase on this year’s first quarter. The drop is shown in the imports from the United States and Canada. For comparisons in every case the dutiable values are simply the current domestic values in the country of origin, plus 10 per cent. In any estimate of the real expenditure on motois, duties and costs incidental to the assembly and distribution of the cars and trucks in the Dominion must be taken into consideration. Dutiable values of cars, chassis, and all classes of trucks, vans and buses imported during the first quarter of the years 1929 and 1930, are:— 1929. 1930. United States .. £l-12,236 £284,191 Canada 447,557 248,714 Great Britain . 184,572 189,581 Belgium 3,299 1,264 France

Totals ...£1,077,664 £724,109 COST OF PLATES. FUSS ABOUT A TRIFLE. Some of the farmers still appear to be harping on the old subject of the cost of renewing the number plates of ears. The saving of a trifle always seems to have an appeal to our countiy friends—and also to many of the people in our towns—hut it would be easy to demonstrate to most motor owners that they could more than save the cost of theso plates by a

little attention to the well-being of their car even on a short run on any single day of the year. As has been pointed out over and oyer again, the money saved by abolishing the system of new plates would he swamped by the heavy costs that would he incurred by the authorities in checking up on license renewals, and quite apart from this heavy expense—it would necessarily be heavy —there would be the annoyance of being held up from time to time to prove that one’s ear was licensed for the current year. Some distinguishing mark of license for the current year is necessary; it must be something easily recognised day or night, at any speed and from any angle throughout the whole twelve months, and therefore it must be substantial, prominent, and not easily damaged. All these requirements are met by the number plates. The plates are cheap, they have to be on the car iu any case, and they are not disfiguring. Moreover, the system promises to become world-wide in use. It has thoroughly yroved itself in America, and it has proved itself in the Dominion. Police, traffic officers, and the public alike can tell at a glance whether a eai has been registered or not; it is impossible to drive an unregistered car without immediate detection. Is it this that disturbs our friends? The cost itself surely is ton trifling to he worth so much fussing about.

A DANGEROUS PRACTICE. “CUTTING IN.” IVith the slogan “Cutting in is a driving sin” the California Committee on Public Safety conducted an educational campaign during the early part of last month, with the co-operation of the Press, radio stations, service clubs, and theatres. Emphasis was laid on the foolishness and dangerous nature of the practice of cutting in sharply ahead of other cars on the road. “If the other driver is not quick enough to swerve aside or apply brakes, the ’cutter-in,’ in all probability, will he involved in an accident for which he or she will be responsible. Even if this is not the result, the act of cutting-in is discourteous to other motorists. Often it results in the other car being swerved to a col lision with cars or objects alongside the road.” The legal department of the California State Automobile Association pointed out that the State law regarding overtaking a vehicle says simply: “Any vehicle overtaking an other vehicle proceeding in the same lirection shall pass af least two feet to the left thereof, and shall not again be driven to the right side of the highway until reasonably clear of such overtaken vehicle.” —(N.B. — Their rule of the road is the opposite to ours).

ALL-OUT DRIVING. THE CAR’S LIMITATION. The great Italian racing driver Caracciola, winner of the Tourist Trophy race last year in Ireland and prominent throughout the 1099 miles road race in Italy a few Weeks ago, with one of the biggest cars that took part in this famous and thrillng event, threw an interesting sidelight on motoiing the other day by remarking to one of the Englishmen present that there is no car in the world that will stand driving really fast, all out, for thirty miles, along one of Italy’s Autostrada. An Autostrada is one of those great motor highways which Italy is constructing from point to point, reserved entirely for through motor traffic, all other roads being carried cither under or over, and on which speed is unlimited. Even on the i powerful car he drove in the 1909 ( miles race, Caracciolo declared, he had to lift his foot oil the accelerator pedal in order to avoid over-driving it. The Autostrada are toll roads, but are subsidised by the Italian Government on account of their great military vnlue. As to the. effect of all £ out speed it may be added that every Sunday scores of cars may be seen stationary at the side of the roads, their engines wrecked through overdriving.