Evening Star Newspaper, September 12, 1926, Page 66

FUTURE OF AUTO TRADE IS PUZZLING PROPHETS *Zd AL 52 The automobile business has TR T /fi/p"f‘/l‘ 7 (< sthing approximating logic. Sone s sees e guess see hS s to be as illogic ieaders Gueesing Whether Small Pro- ucers Will Continue in Competition ith Industrial Giants in Next Few Years. BY WILLIAM ULLMAN. This is the conchusion reached by. observers of motoring trends vho fail to find in the predictions of the autor tive wise, men any- Every busine o the future, both near and far. of automobile manufacturing, and 1 as another. There are, at present, two distinct lines of thought on motor TH —— N MOTORS g i | its prophets stumped. ader is guessing as ematters. One is that the mastodons of the industry are going to sgobble up the entire trade, killing off all competition from the semall concerns, The other is that while there will be a reduction ¥in the number of manufacturers, the style element will continue Sto dominate and the smail manufacturer will continue to disrupt Nall carefully prepared plans of the giants. _ Will some pigmy of the industry slay some giant producer with a great mechanical innovation or a whirlwind body change? * 3 & What will happen when the giants Nget to struggling for each other’s “husiness, as they already are begin- ning to do? Would the Nhe idea of make of car Adrives” W& How Sacturer attain Mbility to keep his ’S@# his competitor: “Will the low pri on American cars and the increased prosperity of the people turn them to a considera- 1ion of higher priced, hetter made European products? Giant Feeling Pressure. The industry is wondering about all these matters and does not appear 19, be guessing any too well. Already -»% ant is tasting the penalty of too much power. At the same time, sev- eral of the clever makers of cars are finding. to their great surprise. that the style element in automobiles is not always the first question in the car buyer’s mind Several manufacturers are proceed- ing on the assumption that the pop- Vlarity of some of the so-called pro- ductlon cars i& but temporary and that the giants of the industry can be conquered by the mere introduction of a mechanical innovation or a styl change. They assume, for instance, that by making an innovation like a supercharger standard equipment on .their products the public would flock the new models and prom desert the quantity producers. manufacturers, however, overlook the fact that production still is amon, cars and that American people relish motoring in the same that everybody else big a production can a manu- withéut “rigking in- product as modern - four-cyl some of the most sub- tamial sales galns this Spring were made by cars which do not boast of four-wheel brakes The quantity producer may guessing equally as wrong as the clever car maker, according to the new view of the industry's attitude toward the future. The big produ ees (he little fellow trying t the automotive *world with innova tions and new styles and at the same time séems to see the automotive world a bit_inclined to abide by the judgment of those who produce cars in greater quantity. But some day the big producer Suess Wrong. Some day the clever car maker may =pring a surprise that will catch the public’s fancy and result in a land- clide toward the new development. When the quantity producer is ask- ed 1o consider this point he The little fellow will annoy me a few months while the public flocks to his new model, but he will have to become a quantity produc lefore he can become real compet tion, and he cannot enlarge his capa ity for production as quickly as we can change our models to match his snnovation. be for Promises More Surprises, To this the little fellow repli “Ry the time yor into produc. tlon an the new model to mateh onrs . surpri We o with vou on iy hasis don’t want to sell many ecars as vou are capahle of lling. Al we want to do is kil the opularity of vour car so we can et our chare of husiness. Besideg there are a ot of us littie fellows, We anri don't want Too man: ot that are hranded as m: ‘¢ nothin’ but the t oof e repa work. TPec ple are more inciiped to blame ihe ke of car they drive than the fgnorance of the men who servica the machine, there is stirred fip a lot of nnnecessary dissatisfaction, and every- hody pays a big bill for it. Even good repairmen have to suffer because car car s owners get the notion that their cars | can't be fixed The other day a woman came to me ith a tale of woe ahout a knockin' in he engine in her car. Whenever s| ad the carbon removed the knoc disappeared. but returned ag: quickly that she figured it must due to somethin' more seri k repairer who did the car wa stallin’ ne of 40 bucks Well. I looked the situation over, tested the engine to see if shé wa pumpin’ oil, and came t6 the oconclu- sion that the knock was carbon that had never been removed. Her réepairer had been burnin’ out the carbon, which is impractical with the engine in ques- tion, ag is the case with a large ntum- ber 1 job it i8 necessary to on rings to the tune BUY THE NEW IMPROVED N \ super-cars. ‘can switch to new models quickly; in | fact;- while you're thinking about it |we'll have .the new things on the | market.” | Apparently the idea that the small- |er producers eventuallys will be con- | fined to the fine car field does mnot {hold water. The motoring public is divided into two groups: Those who | buy what is known to be a successful |car and those ‘who buy for the sake of experimenting. The latter class | | of buyer iz in the market for both low and high priced cars. A new car, or a new and radical version of a | | lesser-known make, can break into| any price class so long as it has suf- ficient appeal. There always will be | a certain type of motorist willing to try such a product, according to one observer. The other type of prospective buyer keeps away from the newer, lesser- known cars because he feels that if certain popular car makers are not turning to certain new trends in de- sign these trends cannot be so desira- ble. But this type of motorist has his | faith shattered occasionally. Not a | few millions have discovered that their favorite manufacturers were be- hind the times. In order to remain popular -with the public, experience demonstrates, a car must be kept up to date. The public does not seem to be willing to pay a penalty for quantity produc- tion. Nor does it favor paying the bill for experimentation. Somewhere between the two extremes run the successful makes of cars It history continues to repeat itself, | some of the most popular cars of the | | moment will be out of existence with- | in the next five years, while some | |of the least-known makes will e at the height of popularity. The giants are lahoring under tremendous handi- caps. The smaller manufacturers may be better off than they imagine. | One misstep on the part of the| | ziant means a terrible tumhle. The | glant tells himself that while he may {be a bit slow in revising his plant to | | meet new demands. he is &0 powerful | that he will whip the little fellow at +his own game eventually, What the | big_ producer fails to consider is his real competitors—the other giants of | the industry. If one giant turns| about quicker than the others he will run away with the business, because, unlike the smaller producer, he is equipped to handle a tremendous in- crease in business. Some of the enormous producers | of motor cars in America never have | rated at capacity. - They are en- | nz their plants and planning on | | increased production. Suppose one of | senses the inroads made by a lier producer of a more modern car before the other giant gets around to business? What will the other | glanis do when the super-giant gets action on the car the pubbc | are the questions troubling men of the antomobile in- The crash-of hig companies camething to worry abont. 1t may not he simply a case of thinning out the little fellows. The pigmies may | he working hand in hand with the | more clever giants toward the deve | opment of the super-giant producer of | | Srihasa | the wise Austry (Comyrieht. 1026.) | remove the head and scrape the pis- ton tops, valve heads, seats and the eviinder head inside. All the repairer | did was to provide a little temporary | relief by takin’ otit the excess carbon. Some drivers have chronic brake trouble because they never have good | repalr work. The brakes seem to burn out, become nolsy and useless. They run to the repairer and demand a rush job. Instead of -usih’' great care to See that the linin's are abso- lutely smooth, these repairers start at both’ ends of the linin’s, riveting’ to- ward the center. This starts a buck- 1in' and causes uneven wear. Soon the brakes are in ‘as bad condition as ever. . Stopping Blocks in Garage. Many car owners fasten blocks of wood to the garage floor near the rear wall. This is done as a means of stopping the car should the driver fall to apply his brakes quickly enough aftér driving in. Where the flooring of the garage is concrete the blocks can be joined to the end of a brace which rests on the floor and ex- tends to the rea CASH MONTH el SeclanS1829! $35% STEEL BODY. 24 HoUR SERVICE BAKED LACQUER FINISH. BALLOON TIRES. i DOWNTOWN ReauLArForo Rerair “1.9970 AL Work UARANTEED) ILL&TIBB! 301-14-th. St. N.W. ipped to Sevve, sy Best | operate buss " AFTER YOU HAD TOILED' FOR " HOURS OVER THE MOTOR, THE ° BUS TERMINAL BUSINESS BETTER THAN EXPECTED Baltimore Union Enterprise Finds Excess Patronage Will Call for New Quarters. The business of Baltimore's Union Bus Terminal, which opened June 30, is reported to have far exceeded ‘¢{he | So | expectations of {ts organizers. great have been the demands on the facilities of the terminal that the need | of finding new quarters within the next six months already is being seriously considered. The terminal started as a center for lines making 21 trips daily and at present there are more than 60. With the exception of a line to Laurel, every motor bus line in the ,city Is now using the new station,” and. a number of these are sald to be com: templating extensive enlargement. The Unlon Bas Terminal is an in- dependent company which doés not nd, according to Ed- mund J. Wachter, its president and general manager, has no intention of engaging in that end of the business, Its revenue is derived from furnish- ing the facilities of a modern railway station t6 patrons of {interurban motor busses. It also sells gasoline to the bus companies and to the general public. MAKERS ASK STANDARDS FOR RUBBER PRODUCTS Tests to Establish Definite Quality For Floor Mats, Tubing, Ete., Held Needed. Standard specifications for rubber ducts, proposed by the standards divigion of the Society of Automotive Engineers, are urgently needed, in the opinon of more than iwo dozen lead- ing automobile manufacturers. Suche specifications would relate particutarly to the life or durability of vuleanized rubber compounds as used in floor mats, weather stripping, window channels, tubing, bumpers and so on. Considerable attegtion to the desir- ability of tests for ®he establishment of such specifications has also been given by the American Society for testing materials, and if they are undertaken it is likely that the two societies will ¢o-operate in the inv tigation and the drawing up of specl- fications. PASSING TRUCK ON HILL. Safest Time Is When It Is Slow- ly Ascending. There are appropriate times for passing different types of vehicles on the road, but it is important to re- member that the best time for pass- ing the most difficult obstruction— the motor truck—is when the latter is astending hills. Here the truck is running at its lowest speed and is capable of maximum deceleration in event of a congestion of vehicles. Never try to pass a truck going down hill, for it is then likely to be running at a high rate of speed and Is not easily controlled. The mediocre automobfle driver must save the traffic situation in our large cities today, according to a, na- tionally noted traffic expert. The inferior and perfect drivers, he points out, are causing all the difficul- ties and are responsible for accidents | and traffic tie-ups. | 1t is not difficult, he says, to under- stand how the inferior driver causes accldents to his own and otheér ma- chines, but the “perfect” driver ap- pears too perfect to be blamed. The “pérfect’ driver never gets into an accident himself. lates a traffic_rule. He never gives vociferous traffic cops a chance to en- jov themselves at his expense. The ‘“perfect” driver careens down the -street just to and not exceeding the maximum ‘traffic speed lmit. Pedestrians see him a block away, and even if they have the right of way they hesitate to cross the street ——ee PROTRUDING BAGGAGE CAUSING AUTO MISHAPS Dificulty of Allowing Space to Pass Especially Noted at Night, Say Experts. Despite frequent warnings, the chronicles of 1926 ,Summer touring are filled with minor accidents and some more serious as a result of the itinerant motorist failirig to see that Juggage did not protrude heyond the lines of the fenders on the left side of the car. This practice, according top traffic experts, merely is annoying during the daytime, but at night it is A men- ace both to the driver of the baggage- carrying ear and opposing traffic. It often is difficult for the driver of |the car traveling in the opposite di- | rection to see that the load on the machine coming toward him extends far beyond the lines of the' car. Col- lisions or serious damage when the opposing car brushes against the dis- tended luggage too often are follow- ing the results of such carelessness, officials report | OWNERS PAY LOSSES.. Insurers Settle for Negligence, But Rates Are Increased. The question often is‘raised by car owners as to whether their insurance applies If their automobile i8 stolen when they have neglected to lock it. A number of motorists always are wondering whether it voids the in- surance to leave a car standing out all night. Others ask “What if the car is stolen from a garage where the owner does not use the lock ac- |count of preventing. the car frofn be- |ing_moved in event of fire2” | The answer to these queries is an smphatic but subtle “yes.” The fnsur- |ance companies invariably pay- the claime, but the car owners pay for their negligence. These unnecéssary losses are reflected in the high rates which all must pay. DAMAGED CARS REPAIRED " Expert Fender v and Body Work Done in a Most Modern Plant Seat Covers—Tops Recovered— ~ Upholstery—Wood Work WE USE THE GENUNE ONLY!: Satisfaction Absolutely Guaranteed The Acme Auto Top and Body Co. I 141 N ie 5 0 1421 Iroi Columbia 5276 General Manager ng Street N.I". WIFE , GLEEFULLY D TROUBLE 15 AN EMPTY : GAS TANK. SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C. SEPTEMBER 12 1926— PART 3. ISCOVERS THE ILOSS BY DEPRECIATION VITAL TO AUTO OWNERS ]Resale Vall-xe May VBe Increased by Exercising Greater Care in Car Selection and Maintenance. That depreciation assumes much the same aspéct as a regular operating expense and that it can be reduced appreciably through the introduction of similar economies is the conclusion reachéd by a large number of motorists. \Ways of cutting the cost of running: cars have been substantially augmented by the discovery that de-, preciation can be reduced by the exercise of greater care in car selection and maintenance. And dealers and manufacturers are agreed that one of the most importaht matters in the motorist’s mind is the resale value. ‘ ¥ i The main thought of every buyer today is, “\V hat wilt T get for the car I'm going to buy when I bring it to the second-hand market—as T eventually will?” Thi§ thought is now being fol- lowed up with a determination on the part of wise motorists to He never vio-{ Perfect Driver Is Most Disrupting Influence in Traffic, Expert Says as the “perfect” driver speeds toward the crossing. However, hé makes a "“‘pérfect” sto) Just to and not beyond the danger line, breaking no traffic laws Qut frighten- ing pedestrians go that they fear to cross the street’ while they have a chance. J The ‘'perfect” driver turns around corners with amazing accuracy and disagreeableness. He winds in and out of traffic with a skill that drives other motorikts frantic. He is always immediately behind some automobile, honking for them ta speed up or‘get out of the way and passing them at t)q‘ most {nopportune moment. 'he ‘“perfect” driver 1is always right. He is so absolutely and reck- lessly right that other drivers and pedestrians fear him. He s the most disrupting element in the traffic situa- tion. & have the actual the finest cars fastest stock cars NORTH CAROLINA PLANS MORE PAVED ROADWAY Motorists Advised of Sewenteen- Mile Stretch Which Is-Estimated to Cost $1,000,000. Motoring through North Carolina in the vicinity of Asheville soon will be enhanced by the opening of a stretch of 17 miles of paved roadway which is being constructed jointly by Asheville and Buncombe Counties at a cost of $1,000.000. The new road will be 30 feet wide | and will provide mountain panoramas | in the Blue Ridge that will be unsur- passed. This loop.starts from Beaver | Lake and ascends EIk Mountain, | finally emerging at Sunset Mountain | by way of Mountain Meadows. Work Is progressing on the con- crete highway from Sandler to Mount Pisgah. Moforists may climb a mile above sea level on this ¢oad and drive through picturesque wooded country. put into immediate practice certain effective economies in depfe- ciation. These drivers are buying with a full understanding of the fact that the ap- pearance of any article is one of the greatest factors in the desire to own. Thus they are coming to buy for “lines” rather than for trimmings and color schemes. The two latter fea- tures can be changed to suit prevail- ing tastes, but it is impossible to alter the lines materially. Owners Looking Ahead. Car owners are looking ahead more and more to the future of gheir cars in the used market, and they profiting accordingly. stability of tite manufacturer is of great importance in the used-car mar- ket. is that present high not an infallible guide. cars which have little standing in used market now may favor later. The reverse of this also has been demonstrated within the past few years. Here, obviously, the motorist must look ahead. In effecting these economies in the depreciation items, wise motorists are reaching some very interesting con- clusions. In keeping an eye on the used-car market it is customary to assume that the type of person in the market for one's car favors a make that is represented in every town and for which parts are readily obtained. But this assumption does not apply in all instances, otherwise there would be excessiva depreciation facing the man who now buys a car produced by a small production factory. Accordingly, it is coming to be recognized that there is not merely a general used-car market but a number of individual markets as well. There is the market, for example, for the speedy car, another for the sporty type and another for the car that can”supplement a high-grade family car. There is even a lively market also for the limousine, maintained largely by the private taxi and livery companies. The date of purchase Is another im- portant factor, and here again it is heing noted that the process is indi- vidual rather than general. At one resale values are Some of the e are | The matter of | An interesting feature, however, | be in great time in the history of motordom vearly depreciation dated from the first day of the calendar vear, usually at national automobile show time, but within the past few years the situation has changed materially. It is now truer to say that the depreciation date comes at Midsummer, but 1t most em- phatically does not apply to all makes of cars. For those makes of cars which are improved by degrees rather than at stated intervals the calendar year more nearly regulates the yearly de- preciation, though there is much to complicate this hy reason of the pre- mature offering of new models by manufacturers. In problems sort motorista must ba guld ! ed largely by tfle caliber of the struc- | tural changes made by the #hanufac- | turers at the release dates ‘While gosd care is perhaps fhe greatest single economy in the de- | preciation expense, it is very closely followed by proper driving. The best of lubricating will not make a car immune to actual depreciation through wear if it is carelessly or un intelligently driven. Thousands of car owners are throwing money away. for instance, by letting in’the clutch suddenly upon starting. Sudden ap- plication of four-wheel brakes will lessen the “quiet” life of car bodies, and careless gear-shifting is taking a heavy toll in machine life. Factors in Mileage. The matter of productivity. also a factor in depreciation economy, | relatively unknown, vet it is obviol ! 1f a motorist obtains more than the average use of his car he can afford to sacrifice more in the way of de preciation, although the facts usually | show that he does not have to make any such eacrifice. A car that is | traded in or sold on the open market after delivering 20,000 miles in one vear will bring as muth as a car that has delivered only 10.000 milee. | assuming that the excessively used car has heen well cired for. There are many buyers who look with sus | 7 ontinued on Seventh Page) OU will find those very features upon which you most insist, de- veloped to their fullest in the great new line of Cadillac cars. If you emphasize power and speed—you comparative tests with all of Europe and America., The results show Cadillac to be one of the in-the world. If you place beauty foremost—the Cadillac holds irresistible appeal not only in distin- guished, rich luxury, but even more because, with 5o Body Styles and Types and 500 Color and Upholstery combinations, it has completely individualized the motor car. If you insist that your car be a sound in- . vestment \'alue—~cnmparc the Cadillac in what it is and what it does and the way it does it—compare it in first costs and in re-sale value, * Outselling all other cars at cost and in after or above its price —two to one—Cadillac today appeals to the family of moderate income from the stand- point of sound management, quite as much as it does, through sheer excellence, to those whose purchasing power is without practical limitation. OLPH JOSE, President Franklin 39Q0, 3901, 3902 -~ PIVISION OF CENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION * The Washin%}on Cadillac Company 4 . e R O —