Evening Star Newspaper, January 25, 1925, Page 77

Automobile Section — he Sunday Staf Part 7—16 Pages WASHINGTON, 1925 Ma D. C, SUNDAY MORNING, JANUARY 25, rks Milestone in Mot 192: or mber Industry Fifth Annual Automobile Show Presents Remarkable Achievements of Twenty-Five Years’ Endeavor---Beauty and Utility Keynote Auto, Key to Progress,‘ Health And Riches, Takes Stage Here Annual Show Reveals Enormous Part In- Played in Economic dustry Ha Advance of Nation. BY WILLIAM ULLMAN. Creator of national health and happiness, builder of industry, tor of transportation, the American automobile comes once to the Nation’s Capital in a new garb to bid for that public support for which it, in turn, is indebted for its amazingly rapid be mor and overwhelming success Another year, a nity an opportunity. Wi th the at in part tinued story cular- There are m force in the affairs of the Nation The automobile different yes It will he Ereater c more will will make 1925 a etter year than 1924. b surround you wit forts, additional blessings, happiness. And these be t They ed to and blessings will not be atisfaction mart sedan home. You blessings in the conduct of yc in your liv- ing « in your civie develop- ment and in your social life. It tful whether any one sin- glo article of utility has ever dug deeper Into the fundamentals of a na- tlon or ¢ red it greater promise of seneral betterment. The explanation There was never a more tin practical commodity. 1t fails to terest the ral public is proved by the popu- the annual automobile shows become an event and an every progressive That it is overwhelm- strated daily is doing for the en- &ib our a brand-n seein business, s dou bett That larity o which have opportunity Am practical things it tire natior When the autor down and think You simply look about you and see its $nfluence every hand. You see your own city g to work in the auto- mob u wide, well-paved streets and roads that have been buile because of the antomobile. You a shut-in population getting out and about, stimulating business and stimulating health. Benefits Endless, »u speak of the benefits of »u do not have to sit what it has done. It i3 endless. You see people build- ing comfortable homes in those out of the way places where the city toiler has always vearned to spend his leisure hours, and you know that the automobile is the development that makes possible his daily trans- portation facilities You ses the most ignorant people learning plicated trafc regula- tlons, reading warning signs and be- coming skillful in the care and oper- ation of a complicated piece of machinery. And lize automobile is raising the level of in- telligence among all Stepping e bank John Jones deposit day’s profits, you see John Blank arrange for & loan that he may extend his business, you see John Brown meeting his ob- ligations promptly, and you know that the automobile is developing in every community a trade that is rap- 1dly becoming an important factor in its business life More than all thi the spirit of Amer alert, practical classes into you watch the automobile It is alive, It promises a lot, bug, makes certain to fulfill these prom- ises. It is restless, but always with a definite objective in view. It even offers a little jazz just for good meas- ure. Stimulates Optimism. It will be a sad day for the Ameri- can people when they can no longer flock to the automobile show and have re-born that spirit of optimism and progress which the automobile has never failed to instill. any one anticipates such a day, nor conslders it possible. It is mentioned as a warning to those folk who feel occasionally that the saturation point in automobile utility has been reached 2nd who sometimes allow themselves to imagine that the automobile is £oing to settle down to a dull reality, such as moderd plumbing. Not that | 1ther automobile exhibition, another opportu- y for the motor car to attain new heights of utility! Washington show has become more than an annual event. automobile has done for America—and for Wash- story in itself, but nevertheless a con- 1y new chapters to be written, and the year now unfolding offers what many believe to be the great- est opportunity thus far for the further development of the great things the automobile alone makes possible. It is not enough to think of the automobile as our handy means of getting to the office quickly, the bulwark of our Summer vacation or the basis of our Sunday’s recreation. that theof the early days, it must be said of | |ing but the fact that the automobile | tions. The It is It is a great It gives us new worlds for old. No one can afford to forget that the American motor car stands a long chance of motorizing the entire world. And when this happens the most portant changes are going to place right here in America. Our laborers, our engineers, our bankers, our business men generally are cre- ating these cars that are being sold to the rest of the world. These men and women cannot prosper without helping the entire nation to attain newer and higher goal Competition Is Greatest. Every motorist knows what the automobile has done to stimulate American ingenuity along mechanical and sclentific lines, but we are prone to overlook the effect of the automo- bile upon other lines of human activ- ity. These cars, these automobile shows, and these annual models are educating the nation to new levels of selling ability The competition in the automobile business has sur- passed nything in this line that has ever existed in any other busi- ness or industry, and with this com petition there has developed a new keenness of judgment and selling ability that is becoming national. It is the result of the nation’s schooling at the hands of the auto- mobile that enabled one new force in the automobile field to do $50,000,000 worth of business in its first vear. Such records are becoming rather common in the automobile fleld, and they are naturally spurring the en- tire manufacturing group of the nation to_follow suit. What is even more important, the public iteelf is stimulated to a point where it Is quicker to make decisions and less reluctant to progress. The sale of approximately 4,000,000 auto- moblles in America annually does not depend entirely upon a high type of selling organization, advertising and publicity. but Involves the public's willingness to buy, to experiment and to step ahead. Represents United Considering the tates Spirit. troublesome cars the motorist that he has always been | willing to take a chance on the prog- ress which the automobile seemed to offer. But back of his willingness to gamble we must recognize the auto- mobfle’s {nherent ability to attract, to fascinate. This attraction was noth- represented the spirit of America. The automobile has revolutionized factory methods and working condi- Some of the most modern labor plans have been put into practical operation by automobile manufactur- and it is dificult to find any fac- tory unit of an automobile plant that is not thoroughly up to date in every respect. All this has had a grea moral effect upon industry in gen-| eral. A higher type of workman is re- quired to build American automobiles than is required to manufacture many other products, and the efficiency be- ing practiced in many of the automo- bile plants is such as to develop wit, muscle and ingenuity. One cannot| train the 3,105,000 persons who are | employed in the motor vehicle and| allied industries along lines of | greater group and personal efficiency without affecting general labor con- ditions throughout the country, and affecting them favorably. More than 50,000 concefds are en- gaged in retalling passen Pt carsand RSN trucks throughout the country. Pub- lic garages number 59,989. Supply stores number 64,233. Salesmanship is a leading feature of most of these enterprises, and we are finding sales- manship taken out of the drudgery of the counter and fused with the com- munity as a vital business force. Automotive retail assoclations have within the past few vears made im- portant strides in minimizing busi- ness failures and in educating retail- ers to better business methods. The automoblile dealer is rapidly becom- ing a leader In civic retailing and it is obvious that his smart showrooms, his well equipped service station and his business methods are already hav- ing a value effect upon retalling in general. The automobile has called for the services of 67,828 service stations and repair shops, employing thousands of men of all ages, who are rapidly becoming more skillful and more pro- ficient. Had the automobile been a simple mechanism the public would not have found it necessary to en- courage the training of skilled work- men. Had the automobile bLeen as simple a matter as feeding Dobbin the corner grocery store would still be the popular rendezvous and the bustling garage with its modern servicing equipment would be un- heard of. Touches Wide Field. To consider all the allied industries which co-operate in the creation, the sale and the use of the automobile would be to touch upon practically every phase of industrial activity The automobile has reached out into every conceivable direction, so that today many industries are beginning to_revolve about it. Where the automobile achieves this great distinction is in offering Amerlica the most modern and at the same time most convenient form of transportation. And transportation, the world now recognizes, is the cor- ner stone of progress. Here the public comes in for mo- ment’s consideration. While the au- | tomobile is busy offering, transporta- tion facilities the public i3 busy avail- ing itself of them. This ‘produces an endless chain of progress. More cars, more buyers; more motorists, more extensive traveling; more trav- eling, better roads. Isolation Vanishing. Radio has been praised for its abil- ity to make the Nation smaller, but what of the automobile? Radio re- minds the man in Maine that the man in Elgin has hotel music, dancing, college professors, and so on. But | the automobile takes the man from Maine out to Illinois and shows it all to him first hand What Americans have learned about America througn ihe medium (Continued on Seventh Page.) RECORD ENGINEERING CHANGES ARE DISPLAYED IN NEW CARS Visitors at Auto Show Will See Many Improvements. Innovations Pointed Out for Those Who Take Interest in These Features. Never before in the history of the automotive industry, which this year celebrates its silver anniversary, have the new-season cars incor- porated so many unique and advanced engineering achievements. There- fore, a visit to this year’s automobile show is going to be a rare delight for those motor fans who are mechanically inclined. For those visitors who want to examine the cars under the hood and who crave something more than to loll for a bricf moment in a luxurious tonneau, it is suggested that they don't overlook— Auburn’s swan intake manifold; Cleveland's system system. Buick's automatic Chrysler's engine block heat indica- control. tor. Cadillac’s four-wheel brake system.| Dodge's rear springs. Chandler's traffic transmission. Durant’s tubular backbone. Chevrolet's new -piston pin oiling| Essex's patented chassis. method. Flint's seven-bearing crankshaft. “one shot" lubrication carburetor heat Getting More Out of the Show Tips From an Old Timer That Should Make Your Visit to the Automobile Show at Convention Hall More Worth While. BY A. VETERAN. The auto show isn't so much what you see as what you hear. Ask the salesman. Don't think you've seen a car just because you've noted the lines. Get the habit of looking into the detalls. & Don’t spend all your time on one car. There are too many other things you can’t afford to miss. Don't discuss the financial standing of the manufacturer with the salesman. You can get the facts on that at the office or at your stock brokers. The show’s the time to get a line on the car. If you don’t see the model you want, ask about it. Maybe there wasn't room for it at the show. Maybe it's just getting into pro- duction. Just because you have looked over the chassis of a six-cylinder car is no reason why you shouldn’t study the next six-cylinder one you meet. No two chassis or engines are alike. The firing order of one popular six is 1-5-3-6-2-4. another one, just as popular, is 1-4-2-6-3-5. the point above. Don't ask for bids on your old car. It takes up a lot of valuable time you might be spending in finding the car you would want to own regardless of trade-in allowances. Learn to note specific things about cars. Don't say, “Some car.” Say “There's a car with 10 leaves in the front spring,” or “That's the fifth car I've seen with a left-hand_emergency brake lever.” Sit down once in a while. You've got-all evening. of shows have intermissions. o Get a general picture of the show first. Then take up the details. The order of That will illustrate The best Ford's own accessories. $ Gardner's brakes on the straight eight. Hudson's explanation for the smooth running “super six. Hupp's method of cleaning the air on the elght. Jewett's self-adjusting drive chain. Jordan's self-dumping Kissel centralized chassis cation system. Lincoln’s electric priming device. Marmon's anti-wrapping provision on the front brakes. Maxwell's new engineering refine- ments. Moon’s radiator finish. Nash's valve tappet adjustment. Oakland's simplified controls. ©ldsmobile's check valve to insure oil pump holding its prime. Overland’s Chadwick type changeable main bearings. Packard’s cable-operated wheel brakes. Paige's water thermostas Peerless' “equipoised” V- tor. Pierce-Arrow’s reason for placing lamps on the fenders. Reo's location for the starter-motor. goRickenbacker's fuel and ofl recti- er. Rollin's European power plant. Star’s engine improvements. Stearns’ 3%x5 six-cylinder Knight motor. Studebaker's own Ideas of a hy draulic brake system. Velie's lubrication system. Wills Sainte Claire’s camshaft. Willys-Knight on the four. front-end crankcase. lubri- inter- four- eight mo- overhead Lanchester balancer NEW AUTO xumioox OUT. The National Automobile Chamber of Commerce has issued its twenty- second annual Handbook of Auto- moblles, including 193 makes and 795 models, with {llustrations. Specifica- tions, which are grouped in_ sections, cover 116 passenger cars, 62 commer- cial cars and trucks, 6 taxicabs and 9 motor busses which will be pro duced this year. | =] HAS MOTORIZED LIBRARY. Hibbing, Minn, has a motorized library, which carries 700 books, a librarian’s desk and a reading room for 12 people. It travels in the min- ing section near the town. —e FOLLOW THE GOLDEN RULE. Every motorist is a pedestrian part of the time and should exercise the same consideration when at the wheel as he would Ifke to bave given to him when on foot, NG Curb on Onrush of World’s Finest Cars on Display of Radical Changes in Autos Is Fought Retail Sales Groups Want to Stabilize Cars. All Improvements Are Result of Deep Research by Engineers. . BY FREDERICK C. It bas been a great year for RUSSELL. the man who likes to feel that the automobile has been completely revolutionized every time he reads the glowing announcement of a new model. has only just started. But the fun There is a determined effort being made out in Detroit, and by every retail sales organization throughout the country, to stabilize the automobile endeavor to build the automobile to stop the onrush of new and radical ideas, to that we now have a little better and to make the automobile a fixed product like pianos or phono- graphs. It is common sense. The automobile s still in its youth. It is just 25 years “young” this Jan- uary as an industry. It hasn't voted often enough to know what party it belongs to. So what are we going to do about it? Motorist Favors Progres The progressive motorist doesn't want to see his old car become ol lete before he has enjoyed a reason- | able amount of service from it, but at the same time he favors such prog- ress as the automotive engineers are able to make with the new models. He prefers to buy his cars from manufacturers who are in sound finan- cial condition because of trading on sound business principles, but that fsn't saying he wants to see the automobile 5o_stale. He encourages trends—the big, healthy variety that make for better, safer and more efficient motoring. He admits there are on the automotive counter a large number of perfectly wonderful cars, but he knows that these cars are not wonderfully per- fect. So do the automotive engineers who are now working on a half dozen big ideas that will be keeping the automobile fan rushing from one salesroom to another, just as he has been doing all yvear. It's progress. You can keep it in check and help avoid needless waste. But you can't stop It. Long Study for Experiments. In order to appreclate what has happened, what {s happening and what will happen to the automobile one must ralse the hood and delve into the trends. Improvements in in- dividual cars appear to come about over night, but they are really the result of months—sometimes years— of experimentation. Thus improve- ments in the average utomoblle are a process of trends, but in this the motorist himself plays quite as im- portant a role as the engineer or the manufacturer. This is clearly illustrated in the test the motoring public is now giv- ing balloon tires. Here is a develop- ment in pneumatics that was pre- ceded by intensive study and experi- mentation on the part of tire makers and car bullders, yet the trend is far more significant now that the bal- loon tire has been converted from a feature on individual cars to equip- ment on the average car. When a trend reaches the average car it is generally considered as hav- ing come to stay—that is, until some- thing better is found to take its place. Generally speaking, the ad- dition of full balloons, or semi- variety, to cars already in use has not been popular. Most car owners have preferred to wait until they were in the market for a new car, thereby obtaining balloon tire ad- vantages without unforeseen disad- vantages. And the manufacturers have been quick to meet the demand. Shy at Full Balloon. Virtually all the cars that are neither extremely light nor.extreme- ly heavy are balloon-tired. These low-pressure, cords have been par- ticularly successful when used on cars that are heavy enough to over- come the “jiggling” tendency of full balloons, yet not so heavy as to over- tax the flexible side walls of the four- ply tire. There are still two promi- nent manufacturers in this mid- weight group who shy at the full balloon, but one is using a low-pres- sure type of tire, and if the full four- ply balloon does not prove a success in actual service It is a foregone con- clusion that these car makers will | 2dopt the modification. | The same applies to the very light | cars as well as to the very heavy! ones. Spring control devices are It is good business. particularly for the lighter cars, t there still considerable speculation as to the balloon situation with the heavy cars. Some are using a spe- cial six-ply type of tire that has less of a bulge at the side and therefore less possibility for excessive friction between the layers of the cord. Others are still being offered with conventional cords which, because of their large size and lower inflation, seem to be satisfying owners. This is doubtless due to the fact that our fine American cars are so well de- signed, as to render the type of tire a secondary consideration in the mat- ter of riding qualties Will Become Universal. Here s where the balloon tire trend dovetails with the most im- portant trend of the automotive times. The balloon tire—the type that gives the greatest possible ease —wl{ll become universal because the car of the very near future will be lower, shorter, smaller and lighter This Is no new prediction. It has been sald a thousand times by those engineers who are thinking in terms of 1935. You have excellent fn- stances of the trend on the streeis of any American or European city. But it is given new vigor when coupled with the balloon tire trend. When you can put a set of bal- loons on a $1,600 car that is design- ed for them, control the balloon and spring action by means of any one of a number of excellent devices for this purpose, and then get a ride that parallels what you thought could only be had with something In the $6,000 class, the smaller car idea takes on a new meaning. Looking Ahead Difcult It's strange how much difficulty we all have in looking ahead. When the lighter car prediction first dawn- ed upon motoring, wiseacres pointed to the trend toward closed cars, and said that the latter would puncture the former completely. Just a few years later we wers to be shown the coach type of closed model and are now witnessing its immensze pop- ularity. By actual measurement the coaches are a little heavier than open models mounted on the same chassis, but they are lighter than the open models we used to drive but a few seasons ago. They are trim, built like a single unit and compact. And then when you equip them with balloon tires they display a certain fleetness that makes you know for a fact that we are golng to obtain wonderful results from lighter cars, If we have not obtained them already. The most interesting feature about trends Is the way one influences an- other. I have cited one instance, but if you will look at the steering gears on cars at the shows vou find one of the best cases of this I know of. It isn't so much that ratios have been raised to 11 to 1 In_ order to make it easy to park with balloon tires, but mainly that steering gears have actually been strengthened at a number of vital points. This was done because the balloon tire has been viewed as & big, bulky article that would strmn an ordinary steering gear_assembly, whereas the fact is that in cushioning the car the balloon tire actually saves steering gear strain. Loosening Is Avoided. The balloon tire is having an even more Interesting effect upon trends. After driving a new car sevaral thou- sand miles the man with balloon tires finds that he docs not have to go ov the chassis with wrench and serew- driver. Everything is tight. The neer observes it, too, and the result is that there is a definite trend in the direction of efficiency devices on the newer models. When tires carried 90 pounds of air rapidly coming to the fore as the solution to the balloon tire gallop, (Continued ou Thirteenth L'agee