MARCH 3RD, 1906.

THE AUTOCAR B Journal publisbeb in tbe interests of tbe mechanirnllr propellcb roa" carriaoc.

EDITED BY H. WALTER STANER.

No. 541 . VoL. XVI.

SATURDAY, MARCH 3RD, 1906.

lPRICE 3D.

THE AUTOCAR.

rJ ;(Published Weekly.)'

Registered as a newspaper for transmission in the United Kingdom.

Entered as second-class matter at the New York (N.Y.) Post Office.

EDITORIAL OFFICE:

PUBLISHING OFFICES :

COVENTRY.

20, TUDOR STREET, LONDON, E.C., ENGLAND.

CONTENTS

Kores: UNDUE CHEAPNESS-FRONT WHEEL BRAKING ..

i 'Af E .. 259-260

U~EFUL HINTS AND T IPS: FooT MATS FOR CARS-ENGINE START·

lNG-PAINT ON NEW CARS-TREATMENT OF CLU'JCHES- ADJUSTABLE BACK LAMPS- COATING CARBIDE-BREAKtf'riG OF WATER PIPES-SPKING DRIVE BELT FOR FAN ,.. 261 THE 60 H.P. DE DIETRICH CHASSIS (illustrated) ... 262 ON THE RoAD. By Owen John 263 FROM HAVRE TO i's ICE ... ... 264-265 THE PARSONS MARINE MOTOR (illustrated) ... 266-268 CONTINENTAL NOTES A?liD NEWS: THE EUROPEAN CIRCUIT-MILAN

A.C. RELIABILI rv TRIALS (illustrated)-THE VotTURETTE ·,,7 TRIALS-AN UNPLEASANT ADVE >\TURE... ... ZCS-269 A CAR FOR THE KING OF SIAM (illustrated! .. . 269 THE NEw 30 H.P. PEUGEOT CAR (illustrated) .. . 270-271 MOTOR ROADS (UNLIMITED). By Owe11 John 271 EARP's TYRELESS WtN AT DAYlONA... 272 BALANCING OF PETROL ENGINES (concluded) ... 273-274 THE ROAD Q UESTION 274 CORRESPONOENC.t; ; EXCESSIVE LIGHT ON C ARS-A CAR W I TH A

VALVELESS MOTOR-ENGLISH ANO F RENCH CARS- SIZE OF EXHAUST VALVES-PALMER CORD TYRES-RACI~G FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF CARS-THE TOURIST TROPHY RACE-CARS FOR Mrn,cAL M~N (illustr a ted) - No1<-DELIVERY PENALTY-AERIAL NAVIGATION-TH& BRITISH MOTOR l.~DUSTRY-MAGNETO lGNITION-AlR-COOLED ENGINES-BRAKES AN D THE CARDAN SHAFT DRIVE-A CRITICISM-DUTIES OF THE PAID CHAUFFEURSUMMARY OF CORRESPONDENCE .. . . .. 275-278 THE BRITISH MOTOR INDUSTRY 279 A T RY FOR THE HRRKOMER TROPHY (illf!Slrated). Lecture by Mrs .

Edward Manville before the Ladies' A C.

. .. 280-~~l

A GIANT TYRE (illustratedJ-ScoTTTSH R&LIABILl'IY TRJAL

282

FLASHES

.. . 283-284

So,i,: QUERIES AND REPLIES ...

THE MANCHESTER MOTOR CAR SHOW (illustrated)

IN THE Haus& OF Co~1M0Ns- CLUB DOINGS

. .. 2b5-286

287

288

"THE AU CAR" SUBSCRIPTION RATES, British Isles, I6s Abroad (thin paper edition), 22s 8d. per annum.

f Notes.

Undue Cheapness. 'l'here is no Yirtue in high price per se, bul at the same time e1·en ·one 1rho has had an,· expenence m buying, whether' it be boots or battleships, kn01rs quite 1r e ll that, speaking broad ly, price and quality go Log,eth er, and that in both there is a happy medium li et1reen the goods 11·hil'h are too cheap to be satisfac tory and those fo r 11 h il'h a fancy p ri ce is charged. Further than that. he kn 01rs that in the long run it is far better to purchase th e article at the fan cy price if there is nothing l >et11·een it and th e so-called cheap a rticle. The matter has been li rought to our notice IJ1· the a nnoun c·ements fr om America about a fourc'. linde r t1rn -seated car 1rhich is to he so lu at about tl;e p~·ice of a good two-cylinder tticar. :\1'0 1r, ire do not belieYe in condemning a thing unseen and untried, but ir e do not hesitate to sa:· that, h01rnver large the numbers may be in 1rhich such a car ma,· be turned out. it is impossible to make it rea ll y 1re ll. , It may suit the .American market. because the god of the American is cheapness, i.e .. taking the Americans as a whole. \\'e kn o11· that there are people ther,e 1rho 11·ill buy the best. irrespective of price. but such people are in a much smaller proportion to the mass tha.n they are here.

This is not all: durability is admittedly noLsought after lw mam· on the other si de of the Atlantic. They 1rnulcl rather buy cheap and often than 1rell and seldom. If a runabout lasts a summer, it is good enough fo r them. It may ernn be the best plan for certain people to buy such cars, inasmuch as m·er the greater portion of the United States the tracks outside the townships, 11·hich are bad enough in summer, are abso lu tely impassabl,e during the 1rinter months. Of cours-e. in time, when the country has deYeloped, roads may a lso be made; but the great difference bet1reen the States and Great Britain is that here the roads 1\'ere made before the railways; but 01·er th e larger porti on of the States the railways 1rere made fi rst, and consequently the roads ha1·e neYer been much more than tracks o,·er the face of the country-passable in g,.;o d 1reather, a.nd almost impassable in bad .

Jt $hould be clearh· understood that ire are not suggesting that no g0od cars are built in America. \\le know from experience that a fe11· .Ame rican cars are thoroughh· good, but those 1rhich a.re buil t for cheapness are usually cheaper ancl nastier than the a,·erage cheap and nasty car. We ha 1·e no reason to anti cipate that the latest fourcylinder rnaffels 1rill be am b,ette r than, if as good as, th e cheap machines ll'hic h ba,·e precede I th em, because the y, too, have be-en marl e in Yery large quantities; and although greatness of output does reduce cost. it has not the l01rering e ffect 1l'hich many peop'e imagine. If it had it 1rn ulcl be possible to produce cars for next to nothing. Further than that, it should be IJorne in mind, again speaking broadly . that the better the car is made the less gain there is in making it in rnst quantities.

We mention the matter not because we regard fourcylinder cars at tricar prices seriously, but merely because it is necessary to point out to people who may be mislecl that such articles are 11·orth no more than the price. For £12 5 odd they wiJl get £12 5 worth of mechanism, and no more. and the1· are far better off 11·ith a good sound si ngle-cl'linder c;r at this price than with a. fou r-cylinder machine which cannot necessarily he so good. Hitherto the cheap American machines ha 1·e been of the single or t11·0-cylinder typ e. and no one has taken Ye ry much notice of them. except in two instances 11"hen the cars 1\'ere cheap, though not ridiculously cheap. \Ve ·shall be li eve in a fo ur-cyl inder ca r at £125 odd 11"h• en we ha1·e dri,·en it 10.000 mil es, and ha,·e found that it stands 11·ork moclerateh· 11·,e]l ; and we do not mind confessing that nothing short of this will conYince U$ that such machines are of an,·