HIGH ROAD AND BY-ROAD

Waikato Times, Volume 105, Issue 17750, 29 June 1929, Page 23 (Supplement)

HIGH ROAD AND BY-ROAD

GROWING OLD. . HOW TO AVOID IT. Always drive fast out of alleys. Always race with locomotives to crossings. Engineers like It; It breaks the monotony of their jobs. Always pass the car ahead on curves or turns. Dont use your horn; it may unnerve the other fellow and cause him to turn out too far. Always demand half the road—the middle half. Insist on your rights. Always speed; it shows people you are a man of pep even though an amateur driver. Never stop, look or listen at railroad crossings. It consumes time. Drive confidently, Just as though there were not 18 million cars in service. Always lock your brakes when skidding. It makes the job more artistic. Always pass cars on hills. It shows you have more power; and you can turn out if you meet a car at the top. In sloppy weather drive close to pedestrians. Dry cleaners appreciate it. Never look round when you back up. There is never anything behind you. i '* ‘ SPARKS. The General Motors Export Division has 22 overseas assembly plants in almost as many countries.

A total of 507,110 v motor vehicles were sent overseas from the ports of the United States during 1928.

The use of aluminium paint by the C.A.A. for colour route signs on the road to the West Coast is praiseworthy. The paint shows out well against the hillsides and trees at night. * * w • I Nearly £400,000 worth of motor cars were sold at the automobile show held in Melbourne a fortnight ago. * «■ * *> It is estimated that motor bus lines in the United States transported 1,825,000,000 passengers last year, as compared with 1,575,000,000 in 1927. # * * * The annual 500-mile Memorial Day motor car sweepstakes on the Indianapolis speedway will be known hereafter as the Grand Prize of America. # * * * On the 50-mile road in India a motorist is given a timed strip and Is forbidden to complete the journey in less than four hours. # ❖ * ♦ “How did your wife persuade you to buy a new car?” “The old one didn't match this year’s number plate." # * * • The longest continuously improved highway in America is U.S. Highway, running nearly from border to border, through California, Oregon, and Washington. It Is 1500 miles long. It is all concrete or asphalt, w,lh the exception of 95 miles, which is gravel surfaced. • * • * There had been a car smash. One of the drivers climbed out in a fit of temper and strode up to a man standing by, whom he thought to be the other driver. “Say, where the devil’s your tail light?” he roared. The innocent bystander looked up at him. “What do you think I am—a lightning bug?” Of # Of * The craze for electric or vacuum operated devices continues. The latest application of electricity is for Ihe operation of a direction indicator by magnetism. A dashboard switch is moved to left or right. The swinging arm lifts accordingly, and is electrically illuminated at the same time.

“It will do for a spare,” is often heard relative to a weak tyre. When a good tyre punctures reliance must be placed upon an unreliable spare, and if that fails to function the driver has a I puncture to mend on the road. I think a good spare is as important, if not more so, than reliable road tyres.

A car for £75 has been produced In France. It has a vertical twocylinder two-stroke engine. The clutch and gear box are normal, but no differential is fitted in the rear axle. Four-wheel brakes are standard. The wheelbase is seven feet long, 4£ inches, and the track is three feet four inches. Only two-seater bodies are fitted and a maximum speed of 48 m.p.h. is claimed.

If your car has for some reason begun to lack “pep” and has gradually got “wolly” and difficult to start, try fitting a complete new set of plugs, it may work wonders. Some experts recommend the fitting of a complete new set of plugs every 10,000 miles.

Twenty-nine per cent of the United States nickel market is accounted for by the automobile industry.

To make a spring washer serve more effectually as a means of locking its nut, the upward and downward projecting edges of the split ends should be sharpened by rubbing the end faces on an emery stick, oilstone, or piece of carborundum. If this be done, the sharp edges dig into the nut and the metal below when the former tends to unscrew.

The springs inside the bonnet catches of many cars benefit by occasional application of a few drops of thick oil. This can quite easily be applied by entering the nose of a force-feed oil can through the top of the barrel of the spring catch, just beneath the lifting handle. Without oil the spring may rust through and break, and as the fixing of the bonnet catches are riveted the replacement of a new spring entails a certain amount of trouble.

It is wise occasionally to remove dynamo brushes and clean them and the commutator segments. In most dynamos the brushes are held in their guides by spring triggers. By raising the trigger with forefinger the brush can be withdrawn, being careful not to pull off the flexible stranded-copper lead. Stray carbon may be removed from the commutator by a soft wad on the end of a pencil. * V * *

When cranking a cold engine with the electric starter, keep the clutch disengaged. This allows the starter to turn the neginc alone, without turning the clutch and the idler shall pinions, and consequently prolongs the life of the battery.