Evening Star Newspaper, January 22, 1922, Page 57

1922 Automobile Tendencies. *“Underslung prices, better co-opera- tion between the intake and the outgo systems, and a general rearrange- ment of designs and rates. so that a motorist gets more miles to the mort- gage than at any time in the past are the outstanding features of 1922 motor car design as shown by the twenty-second annual national auto- mobile show. C - - Designs in auto show salesmen are about the same. They still wear eve- ning clothes with the manner of men who could wear them while changing a tire, and are equipped with the vacuum feed thorax, Eiving great smoothness of speech with a mini- mum of carbon in the grammar. Styles in visitors are about the same. They will take great pleasure standing in front of the open-face chassis and peering into the works for hours to see where the vermiform appendix Is with relation to the over- head tonsils, climbing into the luxu- riously upholstered sedans in a vain attempt to do it naturally, and finally confiding to the wife that “we'd bet- ter pass up a car this year and stick to the flying horses.” * x *x The value of a brand-new sedan body for recording thumb prints is being demonstrated as never before, and it {5 understood all the car bodles ‘will be turned over to the Bertillon So- cley at the end of the show. * % kX X The drop in prices is the outstand- ing feature. How to make two cars grow where but one grew before has been solved, but the wise buyer, af- ter picking his car, makes a final trip to the booth before leaving the show to make certain no further price cut has been made while he walked around the building. 3 * % There is a general tendency toward CRIPPLED TIRES COME FROM NEGLECT IN GARAGE ‘Water, Oil, Grease and Light Are Rubber’s Worst Ene- mies. An Inspection of crippled tires in the collection of any repairman will reveal the fact that a larger percent- age of the trouble comes from neglect in the garage at home. If stones, ruts and road roughness were the only things that wore out tires repair bills ‘would be cut to half. ‘Water, oil, grease and light—rub- ‘ber’s worst enemies—work in a ga- rage more actively than on the road. In washing the car, the rims are liable to become rusty and eat away the tire. A coat of graphite or common stove polish will prevent this and keep the tire from creeping. Oil or grease should never be ‘al- lowed to stand on a garage floor. Small cuts or bruises on the tire sur- face, say Miller tire men, should be repaired at once. If a tire has been smeared with grease, it should be washed thoroughly with cold water ‘and a little soap. The spare tire is often forgotten while the other tires are giving good service and neglect sometimes causes it to deteriorate rapidly. Always it ould be protected from rain, and dirt by & cov: Once in a while, change it with one of the tires on.the car, so that the rubber will not hard- en from disuse. ‘The weight of the car should never left on a defiated tire. Such treat- ment is as bad as running on a flat tire and is certain to crack the car- cass. Jack up the wheel, or take off the tire entirel: By H. 1. PHILLIPS Mghter models. The aim of the man- ufacturer is to get them so light a pedestrian will hardly notice one on his neck, chest or-thighs, and that the effect on an arm or leg will be rather pleasing if not extremely de- lightful. * x * X Indeed, the sensation of passing under the light sixes threatens to become 8o enjoyable that there mu be a demand on the part of ped trians to be run down. * *x ¥ To make it even mone agreeable, engineers are now considering doing away with bumpers and substituting a mechanism in_ front of the car which slips the pedestrian a hot choco- late and a pillow as he passes unger the car and an arrangement on the rear end which gives him a shower bath, towel and new suit as he Dasses out from underneath. * % Perhaps it Is in “fittings” that the high note is struck. The dash of some models looks like a cross between the engineer's station in a submari the Jewelry counter at Woolwortn There are cigar lighters, coupon clippers, ash trays, vanity cases, tele- phones, writing desks, upper and lower berths, mirrors, toilet sets, etc, and there is talk of putting a compartment in_the de luxe models that will hold a chiropractor, a mani- cure, a “still,” and a bootlegger. * % % % In the old days it was necessary to drive a car to enjoy it. Today there are enough objects of interest inside any ear to keep anybody satisfled just sitting in it in the garage. * ok k% There is nothing in a museum of art that isn't in a de luxe sedan, ex- cept the stalrways. * * % % As a matter of fact, if you insist ;xnpon the stairways they will be put in. AUTO BATTERIES NEED ATTENTION, IS WARNING Let an Expert Lock It Over Oc- casionally, Is Good Advice. No matter what definition you give to the word “battery,” remarked E. R. Keene, local Westinghouse distributor, you must keep in mind the fact that it needs attention. The military bat- tery won't keep firing without oil and ammunition; the base ball battery can't keep on with no-hit and no- error streaks very long unless the men slack up a bit to get restocked with “pep” and energy. Every motorist knows this, yet too many seem to feel that the military and base ball namesakes on their cars can go along week after week on a few ounces of distilled water and the faith of the drivers. It can't be done. Water must evapo- rate; soon there's a quarter or a half inch of plate above the fluid level in the battery. The solution then is not only too strong, but the submerged part of the plate is forced to do the work intended for the whole. Ulti- mately the lead plates get hot, the filling becomes soft, falls out, and it's “goodnight battery. A motorist needs to run out of gaso- line & a hundred miles from nowhere only once—and he’s cured. He runs short of ofl once, and does enough damage to make him carry a can of oil in his toolchest for a year. But he seems to forget all about, taking care of his battery. If he would only keep ! an eye on it every week or two and let an expert look it over occasionally, there is no reason why it should not 1 MINNESOTA SPENDING $100,000,000 ON IDLE Men Come From Blizzard Section to Work on Farm Roads. ST. PAUL, January 20.—Minnesota is using more than $1,000,000 on need- ed road improvements under the win- ter plan to relieve unemployment, ac- cording to a bulletin issued this week by the state highway department.. A typical pay roll, listing 388 farm- er-road workers, came from the ex- treme northwestern district of the state, toward Medicine Hat, common- ly known as the place from which emanate inclement weather and bliz- zards. The Minnesota Red River Val- ley Development Association furnish- ed photographs of one crew as evi- facing and grading on about 350 mile: of trunk highw; and plans to use $4,600,000, including federal the winter highway program. contracts cover fifty on which materials are being distrib- uted and stock piled to furnish jobs for needy settlers and farmers. Ci tles are joining in the winter-work plan and using additional funds. Contractors to date are bound to finish the big part of the projects by April 1. Bids for grading and gravel- ing averaging one-third less than those of the last regular season proved aid, on Other ‘WHAT ENERGY WILL DO. Two hundred and sixt foot pounds of energy—power more than three times sufficient to lift for a distance of one foot the great Japa- nese Mutsu dreadnaught. This is no greater than the amount of work re- quired to give an average 5.000-pound car momentum sufficient to carry over 10,000 miles of average roads. momentum is transmitted to the car through the rear tires. Tire test men say these figures take no account of possible exceptional mileag TIRES THAT SKID. - Tires that skid their way to de- struction are unusually common about this time of year. A sudden and ex- cessive application of brakes, say tire men, plays havoc with any casing whether it Is of cord or fabric con- struction. Careful and sensible driv- ing is perhaps the only teal solution to skidding. UNLOADING GRAVEL ON STATE TRUNK HIGHWAY, EAST OF CROOKSTON, MINN. the advantage of hauling on hard, frozen grounds, and, in many cases, on sleds. dence that highway building in winter is both practical and advantageous. Charles M. Babcock, state highway commissioner, already has awarded contracts for $922,000 of gravel sur- . rural use have been developed, to give sary Passenger comfort and poed. alifornia has been a leader in rural bus operation. The city of Los Angeles has a union depot for the scores of passenger buses that run on raliroad schedules to clti such as San Diego, Bakersfield, Rive: slde, Banta Barbara and San Fran- clsco. Several of these bus lines give an average speed of forty miles per hour. You can book your seats in advance, and on long trips, such as Los Angeles to S8an Diego, 128 miles, dre mid-distance stops for lunch and passenger comforts. Have Complete Statioms. Other Pacific coast cities are erect- |Ing passenger stations for bus serv- ice, and these stations have all con- such as restrooms, restau- newsstands, az (MOTORBUS USE BEING EXPANDED Long, Rapid Trips With All Conveniences Supplied in Vogue in Many Places. BY DAVID BEECROFT, President of the Society of Autome- tive Engineers. A new department of the motor in- dustry is springing up in the manu- facture of motor buses for city and rural use. Great Britain has since the war wit- nessed an expansion of motor-bus service that is now spreading over the entire area of the country. It is now possible for a party in England to book a passage by motor bus for distances of well over 100 miles. Seats can be reserved in advance, much as we do in our Pullman railroad travel | of today. There are now so many bus | Maurice M. Stone, a tire dealer of routes operating out of London that New Rochelle, N. Y., reports a United you can reach many scores of other ' States Roval cord tire which has cities any day by motor bus. Bus given 52,000 miles. have been designed that equal the| “I don’t expect you to believe this." comfort of the motor car, and bag-|he said in a recent letter, “as mos gage-carrying facilities add another | experts would probably claim it im- necessary factor in travel. | possible. But I can praduce the tire Special types of motor buses for'and two sworn affidavits.” ules exceed the railroad schedule. The development of a modern highway system in California has made such a bus service possible. It is only by the use of pneumatic tires that such speed schedules are possible. In other sections of the country, like areas such as New England, the de- velopment of the motor bus answers, in short, renaissance in highway transportation. It is one of the de- velopments of the age. 52,000 MILES FOR TIRE. Col. Arthur Woods Harding’s conference on unemploy- ment has been furnished, at his re- of President | quest, with the Minnesota plans, to convince other states that winter road work is feasible and economical. o A Year Ago $1,285 To Insure Volume Production! To Insure the Permanent Success of Gardner Dealers! To Insure Russell E. Gardner’s Successful Policies! The Gardner Motor Company is making this drastic cut in price and giving a written One-Year Guarantee on the Gardner Car backed by more than 40 years’ successful manufacturing experience and a present financial position of over half a million dollars cash in bank and no debts. THE GARDNER MOTOR COMPANY, INC. y 3 ST. LOUIS, U.S.A. GA@JER Wayne, Smith & Company , ' Distributors L ; 22nd and M Sts. N.W