Evening Star Newspaper, August 23, 1925, Page 56

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D! €., AUGUST 23, 1925—PART 3 ard. What is needed Is a comprehen- (used st grade crossings. The psv sive program which would proceed |chologieal effect of a uniform signal n with the highways where g given sum |every crossing of primary highway$ jn DOWN THE ROAD—They Don’t Always Practice What They Preach. DEALERS TAKE UP USED CAR PROBLEM Trade Body Starts “Truth” Campaign—Urges Selling at Fair Prices. Because the used-car problem has assumed such great proportions, au tomobile dealers are endeavoring to place prices on them which are closer to thelr real values, according to a bulletin of the Washington Automo. tive Trade Association, explaining the car truth campaign fostered by the natlonal organization of dealers. This closer relation of price to actual worth, the W. A. T. A. statement points out, is bringing about a stab- ilized used market, with consid- erable benefit both to dealers and pur- chasers. About 2,000,000 used cars must be sold every vear by the automobile dealers of the United States, accord- ing to the dealers, who point out that if the automobile business is to en- joy stable conditions the used cars cannot be sold at a loss to the deal- er, which is frequently the result of acquiring them from a motorist at a price far in excess of the actual value of the car. Three Cars in One Sale. Two, three or four sales are gen erally necessary for an automobile dealer to complete a transaction be- gun with the sale of a new car, ac- cording to the dealers’ assoclation statement. Following the sale of the new car the dealer who has taken a used car in a trade must in turn sell that, and in o disposing of it may accept another used car in exchange. Unless these successive transactions are to be made without loss to the dealer, there can be no inflation In the price which the dealers allows in effecting the exchange. Reputable dealers, the buying public is told, are determined to keep both the purchase and selling prices of used cars as close ds posgible to their actual values. Formerly, it is said, unscrupulous venders of used cars paid more for them than their real worth justified, and in turn exacted a higher price than they were worth to induce motorists to turn in their old cars for new ones. The W. A A. bulletin declares that dealers are going to insist on the discontinuance of such a practice. Fair Prices Urged. To effect a desirable adjustment in the used car market, it has been necessary to lower the price allowed for a used car in trade, with the con- sequence that both the used car pur- chase prices and their sales figures today are lower than ever before. The s say that if the used-car busi- ness Is to be maintained at a profi to the dealer and consequent ad vantage to prospective buyers, every effort must be made to avoid infla tlon in estimating the values of used machines. Unless purchase prices approximate values, the dealer cannot operate a husiness which can offer proper serv- ice to the buying public. nor can the prospective used-car owner expect to get what he pays for, the W. A. T. Al bulletin points out. The dealers’ or- ganization holds that a good business man must figure on the added cost of reconditioning a used car before sell- ing it, and this is an item many motorists are said to overlook in esti- mating a fair price for a used auto- moblile. B o Convictions Easy Without Limit. In the State of New York, where there is no specific speed limit. con- tions for speeding #or reckless Iriving are readily obtained despite the fact that scarcely any of the 478 men on the State patrol force carry s on their motor cycl | = (] ”", Tl il 8 X [ L) Engines Go From One Extreme to Another. Almost every motorist has noticed that for mo apparent reason at all an engine will run from one extreme of performance to another, although evervthing will seem to be in proper running order. Many owners lately have tried making different adjust-| engine but without success. The answer to this perplexing prob- lem lles in the fact that the engine is subject to the vagaries of the fuel| used in automobiles. It doesn’t take | any particular experience in driving | to know when there is water in the | gas, but the newer and more compli- | cated pecullarities of gasoline can | cause no end of perplexity. One of| these is the too well rounded intake | manifold, which encourages conden- sation of the gas at certain speeds, thus reducing the mixture to nearly straight air momentarily. The engine gives a little buck, or skip, for no apparent reason. peculiarities, “Bach car has a speed at which it travels best and with the Jeast amount of exertion. This speed varies with the condition of the car, the load car- ried and the road. Any car will tend to seek its speed level if given a chance. When allowed to drag, or forced beyond its speed level, the car will not produce its best gas mileage. Q s SRS R NN V 2. Y% T l"lu‘nlll ] = — THE OLD s don't T adopt a flat rate sys- tem for the repair jobs I tackle? Well, now, I'll tell you. I'm just old fashioned enough to know that vou can't do the best repair work by watchin' the clock. No two repatr jobs are alike. I can't see chargin’ you the same for a job as I do for a fellow who has made a lot 'f extra | ments of the carburetor when nnllngi work for me by beln’ careless of his |same way. car. What do you think you gain by de- mandin' flat rates? Don't you know | that a good job on any part of a car | may take many hours more than any one can pred Don't you kno that the progressive service stations and repairers are makin' mechanics guarantee their work just because the flat rate idea has cost everybody a pile of money? Here's a flat rate job I'm doin’ over for a chap like you, who thinks that we can eell repair work llke peanuts. The fellow who did this work before me must have just graduated from the job of official oil changer. He got a lot of the valve grindin’ compound into the cylinders and around the valve guides. He didn't even put back the valves in the right places. If you'lk hang around a while I'll show you what goes to make up a good job, includin’ tesin’ for perfect valve seatin’ by paintin’ the valve faces with Prussian blue and seein’ if it spreads out evenly all around on the seat. I've talked with good mechanics all over this part of the country, and 1 announces the appointment of the David S. Hendrick Co. 1636 Connecticut Ave. as Gardner distributors for Washington, D. C. HE appointment of this well-known :;Famzation assures prompt and efficient es and service of an individual character to every Gardner owner and ev tive automobile buyer in this t You are cordiall mglete line of fiYn disp ery prospec- invited to inspect the e motor cars now yed in the modernly equipped an conveniently located quarters of our new tors. ul 1926 Models Now on Display—Lower Prices Smart, new body styles . . . fascinating colors 0 s on. 4 ormance . . . fourteen on the famous Gardner Eight-in-line and Six chassis—with the new 4-door Anniw s COMmemoral ersary 50 years of building well—offered at dtgi lowest price at which Gardner has ever built a car of similar type and equipment. See them! You'll find Gardner the 1926, the 1927 car— today! THE GARDNER MOTOR CO., INC. U e o ST. LOUIS, U.S. A. T L T ez MECHANIC Z oz DRY VACUUM TANKS. | SAYS i know the national sentiment as well. | The younger, newer fellows in the | business are not doin’ the same kind | of work. They don't fit or scrap bearin's any more. They just tighten ‘em up and run the engine. Then! loosen 'em up if they bind. flat rate stuff for you. Flat as a pan- [ dirt, cake. and makes your oline Feed System. There are several is in operation. the vacuum system will connected, the tank is likely to | | Clutch Slips by Overheating. A slipping clutch usually | with an overheated clutch. | cluteh starts draggin heating through enf | poor adjustment; g | comes difficult, then the linin | plates burn and the clutch slip: a ed slipping or [a bit. shifting - be- of the A leaking carburetor . Surfaced roadways ates have heen built at the rate Sinee 1918 motorists have paid the | St Federal Government in the form of | excise taxes on automobiles and |1921, according to the Department parts a total of $779,385,339 { Agriculture, - Dependable vacuum tank going dry while the car | &N I¢ the pin hole in the | piaans, That's | CAP Of the main tank s clogged with |grades, of reducing the hazard to pub-| Leaves you flat on the road | stopped; if the connections for the| pocketbook look the | suction windshield wiper become dis- long time, slowly in high gear. ! ooo hob starts | This usually happens if the tank is| b t il First the |only half filled at the start, assuming | emiios “teat 1 et due to over- | that the carburetor has been leaking | - float valve also will cause a vacuum tank‘ to go dry while the engine is running. in the United GRADE CROSSING SAFETY TACKLED | get from behind the smoke screen and |stop speaking about $19,000,000,000, the A. A. A, Head Urges Adoption of Standard Signal of Warning. Adoption of uniform and standard | signals for the highway traflic con trol at railroad grade crossings throughout the country is being urged as one of the practical means of reducing the toll of death and in- jury at these death traps. The Hoover conference on street and highway safety has been called on by Thomas P. Henry, president of the American Automobile Associa- tion, to put the question of protect- ing ‘grade crossings on the principal highways In the forefront of its pro- gram for the coming year. Grade crossings In the United States totaled 246,161 in 1924, and of this number 208,688 were wholly un protected by signals, automatic gates or gatemen. The casualty list for this perfod at crossings was killed and 6,525 injured. of which 80 per cent involved automobile acci- dents. Four Steps Suggested. The suggested program for remedy- ing the hazards of grade crossin calls for four major improvements— first, the installation of standard sig- nals for traffic control and watchmen wherever posaible; second, smoothing out the approaches to the the cross. ings so that steep grades and sharp inclines that endanger operation of motor vehicles at critical moments wiil be eliminated; third, improvement of the physical condition of the cross ing itself to prevent stalling of ma chines and to ald the operator watch for approaching trains, fourth, development of a plan by States, towns and communities whereby thev may co-operate with railroads to eliminate grade crossings. | “No attempt has ever been made to secure standardization of grade cross- ing signals, and yet here Is a practical field where little effort on the part of safety forces will save hundreds of lives each year.," President Henry of the A. A. A. declared. | T believe,” he said tablishment of a well “that worked out Many Causes for Clogging of Gas-|gtandard system of signals, together | with the standard fixed warning and direction signs which the joint com causes for the|mittee of the Bureau of Public Roads 4 State highway officials are devel would prove the most effective other than separating { oping, be | lic safety. “If we concede that the only ul | mate way to avoid grade-crossing 2 | cldenta ix to separate the grades, then go | start should at once be made on the | dry, and it the car is run uphill for|MOSt dangerous of them. We are con | stantly told that it will take $19,000 or some such huge sum, to Of course, we will take time and money, but the constant prating about the size of the task is one reason why so little progress is being made in elimination and why more grades are being constructed yearly than are eliminated. of| “Iam convinced that after a survey more than 30,000 miles a year since [of the situation it will be found that 00,000,000 would do away with of leven $ 50 per cent of the present haz at lea | the es-| the | will accomplish the most. 1 know of one small city in Indiana, Michigan City, where six dangerous grades were eliminated in a short time through community efforts and as many lives caved in consequence. The sooner we |sooner we will begin' to make real progress in this national undertaking. “One of the things we can do im- mediately is to attract the attention of motorists to grade-crossing danger by the most effective method and to make that method uniform for the country. {To s uniform signals it will be | v to get the co-operation of rican Railway Association, the ate Commerce Commissfon, |State utility commissions and State | highway commissioners. he American Raflway Association drafted what are called standard fications for signals. Some States installed when re-| | placements are On the | other hand, many ave laid |down their own ‘legel specifications. | At the moment Pennsylv der consideration a new system which | {1 understand is not the system in use in New York. This is illustrative of | the situation throughout the country. | “As a result there is at the present | a regrettable widespread lack of un-| | derstanding as to the significance of spe | provide these be every Stats would of itself prove Leneficial in educating the motorists of the country to watch out for this lurking danger in thelr path!” A LIGHT OIL IS BEST. Kerosene Not to Be Used for Bath- ing Springs. When bathing the springs with oil, a light machine ofl, something able for household use or for writers, should be used. If such ell is not handy, engine ofl may be mixed with gasoline. Kerosene should never be used becaume it has a tendenc; to rust the springs. One of the be: lubricants for springs is the diluted oil drained out of the crankcase when the oil in the engine is changed Mibed 26870 Y7215 Fast Turning Drags Tires. With vour balloon tires some turns are easier to make than others. The car usually will turn more easily if turns are taken slowly. Fast turning causes the tires to lean over, spread | out and drag a little more than usual There are 2,893,663 persons direct| employed in the automobile industr: | the varied and numerous devices how 2,149 | HOW TO | 1 | to | ana, | Be AVOID AUTOMOBILE at present ACCIDENTS vourself! | There is no place where com- mon courtesy is more appreci- | | | | we could only re man in the oth ated, yet so often lacking, as on the public highways. | wonderful world it would be if What a member that the er car also has somewhere to go—rather than in- dicate by our driving or actions that he go somewhere. Published by The Star in co-operation with the Director of Treffic of. the District of Columbic and The Advertising Club of Weshington as the rising and setting of the sun J a Peerless Six means. PEERLESS HAS 14th and P Sts. N.W. PIEDTONT MOTOR CO. UST get in and drive any place, any time—downtown, to the club, or a thousand miles from there. That’s what owning For like the sun itself, the Peer- less Six always goes and always comes. Its owners seldom think THE PEERLESS MOTOR CAR COMPANY, CLEVELAND, OHIO The Equipoised Peerless Eight and the Superb Peerless Six PEERLIESS BEEN PEERLESS MOTOR COMPANY ALWAYS Washit DEA ENOS MOTOR COMPANY 1837 W. Broad St., Richmond, V ton Branch LERS A GOOD Main 9850 of the mechanical end of motor- ing. They enjoy undisturbed ease of mind as far as their car is concerned. Beautiful, yes! Fleet, silen vibrationless, economical, y But above all the Peerless Six is dependable! t‘ . CAR CAROLINA PEERLESS CO. Kinston, N. C.