EXCELSIOR!

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19783, 5 March 1927, Page 10

EXCELSIOR!

MOTOR IMPROVEMENTS BIG ADVANCES IN 1927 COMPETITION IN AMERICA (By “Spark”) The year 1927 is going to be a busy twelve months for motor designers and builders, and publications that have lately reached Wanganui disclose that an amazing variety of refinements and improvements are predicted by leading manufacturers. In New Zealand the pressure of active, business in the motor industry may not be so acute. At the present time there is evidence of caution in financial circles, and this must reflect on tnc number of cars sold. Nevertheless all interested in cars—and who is noti — will look forward to the arrival of new models with a sense of pleasant anticipation and the trend of design anu development will be eagerly follower. Nowhere is competition in the motor trade more intense than in America, where the axiom that only the fittest can survive rules with an iron hand. Hence there are many instances of the failure of concerns not adequately equipped for the battle. Cars come and go, even in this age of capitalism, and the roll of the automobiles that have gone under in recent years contains many names that made automobile history during their brief reign among the automobiles of the day. Filching From the Continent Though they pride themselves on their enterprise and inventiveness, American automobile designers continue to go to England and the Continent for new ideas, and the claim in many advertisements that “this car is Continental in design and performance” reveals that the American pubr>c regards the continent as the real origin of the best in motorcars. Where England and the Contine-.t fail is in mass production to meet the means of the average man. Everyone is aware that in massive dignity, originality, and that subtle, imperious arr which few can capture, even the higherpriced American automobiles must bow down before the foreign product. Tms is the reason why the dowagers of Fifth Avenue buy Rolls-Royces, Hispano Suizas, Farmans, and similar swanky motor-ware, in preference to the standardised products of their own country, and it is also the reason wny American advertisers place stress the fact that a new principle they have adopted is Continental in origin. These practices are now new. The rubber engine mounting popularised by the Chrysler was introdued in the English Alvis long before. The Stutz worm drive has always been employed on the Daimler. The Argyll and Isotta-Fraschini built four-wheel brakes before the Buick thought of them, and the eight-cylinder principle was popular in several Continental cars long before it was boomed in America. But where Uncle Sam scored was in his prices and publicity. He let people know, in a manner unmistakable, that he was putting these innovations on to low-priced cars. The Battle of 1927 For the battle of 1927 America is to the fore now with new ideas, new colours, new design; also with ancient theories dressed up as new, and garnished with the palatable sauce of catch advertising. Yet who can deny that America is producing the goods? The goods—that is—for which the average buyer can pay. It is one thing to admire a noble chariot with a bonnet 12 feet long, futuristic fenders, and a crest on its richly enamelled door; but who, in these distant lands, can pay for such a car? Admittedly there arc plenty of English and Continental light cars floating about at cheap prices. But few of them are impressive in construction. The Fiat and Morris are striking examples of an Italian car and an English car risen superior to the environment of high costs, but against them must be set some genuine peculiarities. A G.W.K., an English car seen lately in Wanganui, was one British job which certainly could not have been classed with the aristocracy. On the other hand America builds such cars as the Essex, Ford, Chevrolet these are just casual examples—builds them at' easy-selling prices, and floods overseas markets with convincing publicity. Naturally few Englisn cars can compete with them, and the remarks made at last week s mectirig of the Wanganui Rotary Club by Dr. A. H. E. Wall lend colour to the theory that Britain has to adopt more vigorous production methods before she chw hope to compete. That there is littv» amiss with British motor engineering principles is generally accepted. But the bodies in which many good engines are placed are often antediluvium tn character. Weakness in structural design, lack of attention to personal comfort, and faulty production methods — these weigh against the English builcrer in the race for supremacy. The New Models Having dissected the world’s car business, showing that America can adopt outside principles and get away with the prictiee, and that few BritTsh builders have yet caught the idea of appealing to the outside market, one can get on with the business of reviewing 1927 models. “The Motor,” the American trade classic is full of them —the new ancr speedy Hudson, the better Buick, the Erskine, the dashing “Little Mar-

mon,” the convertible Cabriolet Chrysler, the beautiful Chevrolet, and the super Duescnbcrg, built to order *or 20,000 “dahlars. ” Of all save the last of these cars it can be said that they were built with an eye to the overseas market. The passenger car business in America is not expected to boom at present, as the saturation point is close at hand. The junk yards all over U.S.A, arc filling up with cars, and two cars per middle class family is the accepted thing. To New Zealand that is luxury, but it is Uncle Sam’s necessity.

Against the attractive products from the land of the stars, stripes, and bootleggers, English builders arc still striving to develop a cheap ear. There are many smart new models in English trade publications, and there is evidence of a deeper appreciation of overseas requirements. That being so. dne may voice a pious hope, for more English cars to justify, with something more than sentiment, the slogan, “Buy British and be. proud of it.”