Evening Star Newspaper, June 8, 1930, Page 51

In the Mo tor World BY G. ADAMS HOWARD. The effect of the motor car upen the lives and habits of the reople of this country has been remendous. With the possible exception of the electric light, there probably has not been any single mechanical development in the past century that has so changed the mode of living of sthe people as has the motor car. The automobile has become pretty much of a nuisance in the city, and undoubtedly will remain in that unfavorable category until something really conclusive is| done to allow for the absorption on city streets of the vast number} of machines that the factories are pouring into them. In the cities the automobile presents a problem that has the foremost minds of | the country, from the President | of the United States to the most humble of this Nation's citizens, frankly worried. It is a Franken-| stein—a monster that must have .its ever-increasing toll of human | lives to appease its gruesome appe- tite. The country has paid a price | beyond belief for the conveniences | of motor travel that have been| opened. But it is in the outlying dis- tricts that the motor car has come into its own; where it has become | a gentle, efficient, tractable and invaluable asset to the better liv- ing of this life. ‘The motor car is taking the city | folks out into the country—not on Sunday afternoon jaunts among | the fields and woodlands—not just | on vacation journeys—but out| into the country spots, the almost rural suburbs, to live. It is put- ting the man of the city back on the land again, getting him close to the soil, giving him a chance | to do a little digging and hoeing | and planting, giving him the joy | of seeing the seeds from his hand blossom into flower and fruit, bean and berry, cabbage and cauliflower. The motor car is giving to the children of the man of the city a place wherein to run and play among the flelds and woodlands. It is giving to a new generation to come the small-town upbring- ing that child specialists all over the country have been crying for lo these many years of crowded, unsafe and insanitary city streets. For many years now the cry has| § been that there are not enough! farmers on the farms; that an un- economic condition was arising in the exodus from farm to city. The last census has dealt that old cry a body blow, Ask any city man today whéther he'd rather stay in his apartment in town, or in his town house crowd- ed up against his neighbor, or whether he’d get out into the country if he could. In nine out of ten cases the answer would be in favor of the country. Census figures bore out that all over the, country. Many cities, including - Wash- ington, turned in disappointing census figures in the last census. There was a great hue and cry from the trade bodies and the| merchants. They wanted to know how come, and threw all sorts of accusations at the census takers. Maybe the census takers did miss a few—they always lose a few names along the line—but that was not the trouble at all. Where- as the city directories, for which the downtown offices are can- vassed as well as the residences, showed a vast increase, notably in Washington, the residences canvassed by the census takers simply were not there. Where, then, were these people? They were right out in Mary- land and Virginia, digging lustily in their backyard garden patches, glaying their games in the open elds between their and their neighbors’ houses, watching their children at play also in those fields. ‘The automobile put them there. ‘The busses, the street cars and the railroads put a small quota there, but the private automobile, which the owner drives himself, comfortably, safely and swiftly, in and out of town, carries the big burden of urban-suburban-rural movement. The movement of city residences to the open spaces about town + had been noted by many, but very few, until the census came along, realized to what an extent the movement had gone. The movement is going to ab- sorb a great many more automo- biles from the humming motor factories of the Nation. That elusive thing, the saturation point for automobiles, that motor man- ufacturers have been trying to pin | down for many years, only to find it expanding and expanding be- | yond their fondest dreams, has a whole lot more expanding to do before it finds itself trapped. Into the city in the morning, on broad, superspeed highways, will speed the city workman, and out on those same great thorough- fares in the evening will he go in | his automobile to be with his fam- ily—out where there is room to |breathe; where cool Summer breezes are not choked in narrow avenues, flanked by skyscrapers; | where the air is not smoke and |soot laden, and where, even in Winter, with all of the modern comforts of the city, his home |amid the open fields is as snug and cosy as any apartment in the city. éicy planners, who have be- | come more and more suburb plan- | ners, call this tendency to spread out a great boon to the American city of the future. They see in the future a great flattening out of the cities, with most of the city space devoted to the varied pur- suit of the almighty dollar, and the country space, where there is room for application of their ideas of beautification, convenience and efficient layout, a place where better lives can be lived with the dollars gained in the cities. And they hail the automobile as the instrument which makes all this a probability. The time nears for the facing of the Mall triangle parking prob- lem. Cars already are crowding about one of the new Government buildings, and another of these buildings is fast nearing comple- tion, with plans going forward as rapidly as possible for erection of more of these buildings. Just exactly what is to be done with the vast number of automo- biles that in a year or two will be crowding into the triangle area has not been definitely decided— with all concerned admitting that the parking problem here is a knotty one, with the triangle pr(;blem having a few extra knots in it. Some officials here go so far as to predict that the days of down- town parking in the Capital are numbered. Pointing out that adequate Southern approaches to the Arlington Memorial Bridge are es- sential to utilize this structure in handling the flow of traffic into Washington, the District of Colum- bia Division of the American Automobile Association has en- listed its support in behalf of leg- islation pending in Congress to provide for a survey as to loca- tion and probable cost of these highways. Edward 8. Brashears, chairman of the committee on co-operation with the National Park and Plan- ning Commission, declared that it was the intention of the original sponsors of this $15,000,000 memo- rial bridge across the Potomac to have approaches connecting it with traffic outlets to the South. “However,” he continued, “ex- isting legislation does not provide for these approaches, and unless some immediate steps are taken the bicentennial celebration in 1932 will find this bridge across the Potomac without its maximum value as an artery of travel. More- over, the thousands of visitors by automobile will become enmeshed in a historic traffic jam, instead of driving into the Capital in an orderly way. “Under the pending legislation,” continued Mr. Brashears, “which has administration approval, the Secretary of Agriculture is author- ized to use any available person- nel, which includes the Bureau of Public Roads, to handle all pre- liminary details looking toward the construction of the approaches. When this survey is completed the Secretary is authorized to con- sult with the Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Park and Planning Commission, and report his recommendations to_Congress.” He continued: “The State of Virginia, which has been urged by the Govern- ment to :f»eed up highway con- struction, is in building these approaches, but has been forced to stop work. The aid of the Government is essen- tial, due to the fact that the ap- proaches must be built on Federal- owned land.” LR, Workers Need of Auto. There are 4,700,000 workers depend- ent upon motor transportation for their livelihood, according to the District of Columbia division of the American Au- tomobile Association. MOTOR DON'TS DON'T START A LONG TRIP WITH NORMAL TIRE The movement must naturally | be slow. 0 such movement was | apparent when the next to last census was taken. There was suburban development, to be sure, but not the sort that is going on| today. Then, too, the movement | into the cities greatly offset this' development—at least, in population figures. City planners believe the time will come when the city-proper| population figures for fast-grow- | ing cities like Washington will actually start declining. The cities | will remain, they think, in the fast-growing class. They will have their daytime populations, accord- | ing to the fast-growing classifica- | tion, all right, but when nightfall comes a vast portion of that pop- ulation will be at firesides 10, 15, maybe 50, miles away. { MOTOR OIL. “BEST OIL IN THE WORLD" Autocrat Motor Oil pen- nd adheres to the or pores of the metal—becomes an integral part_of it, so that every i every bear- PRESSURE ! FRICTION AND HEAT INCREASE THE PRESSURE IN YOUR TIRES MANY POUNDS - SO IT WOULD BE_A GOOD POLICY To START A SUMMER DRWE WITH SORG POUNDS LESS THAN USUAL . Nothing is more important thaw thorough Iubrication. AUTOCRAT—THE OIl. THAT 18 DIFFERENT FROM ALL OTHERS, Beware of Substitutes Try Awtocrat the mext time you meed oil, awd judge its advantages for yourself. At the Better Dealers 100%PURE - YLV ] (4 BAYERSON OIL WORKS, COLUMBIA 5228 ready to do its part! THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D..C, JUNE 8, DOWN THE ROAD—Things Our Forefathers Missed. THE FOOT-THROTTLE~ &) /'/’,1") / 2 (A 1930—PART FOUR. —By Frank Beck M. Qa7 Yd/’/a% r74 (’{1}, il by VIE" 8 ) <= MILADY’S MOTORING BY FREDERICK C. RUSSELL It won't kee] from running ing road. the clock on the dash lown to drive on a wind- Women who occasionally get out an old bonnet only to find that it has somehow or other come back ‘into style again might bring the fact to the atten- tion of friend husband when he is on the verge of signing up for some flashy hued gig. He will doubtless argue that color is the keynote of the times, but| you can remind him that chromium glnlng, which is flashy in itself, has rought black, blue, maroon and dark green back into vogue again. ‘The other day I found it necessary to stop while an instructor took the wheel of a new car to help a woman be- ginner pull the car up on the road from the ditch. It gave me time to realize what a mistake the instructor made in allowing her to turn around in such a way that the rear of the car could go off the road. Every experienced driver— and competent instructor—keeps the resr of the car to the center of the road, risking the ditch with the front wheels. Most cars are of the rear drive type, and the trick is to keep the rear wheels on the hard surface of the road. Another instructor who seems to have rather poor Juck teaching people to drive muffler plates clog with carbon of course the back pressure increases. One of the newer muffiers allows the gas to go straight through without in- terference, but there are various pockets arranged radially around the passage- way into which gases can expand. This is the same principle used for a gun silencer. Speaking of ‘mufflers reminds me of the case of a woman who drove her son’s roadster and found it a little nois- ier than she would have desired. No one had advised her that the car carried a semi-cutout in accordance with a vogue at present among the younger set for cars that bark a little at the exhaust. She could have switched to the full muffier by operating a suitable valve from the driving compartment. Sky's the Limit. From the Wheel. | Cop—Pull over, baby, you're pinched | for speeding. She—Don’t be absurd, I can go as fast as I like. Cop—Oh, yeah? She—Yeah! The man I bought it from told me that after the first thou- sand miles, the sky’s the limit on speed. RULE STILL IN FORCE. “Keep to Left” Retained by Eng- land, as in Few Countries. Great Britain still clings to the “keep to the left” rule of the road, despite the fact that the “right” is general'y accepted throughout the world, accord- |ing to the foreign travel division of the American Automobile Association. Aside from Great Britain, says the A. A. A, other countries which have the left rule are: Alderney, Czechoslo- | vakia, Gold Coast, Guernsey, Hungary. |India, Irish Free State, Jersey, Malta, gonhem Ireland, Rhodesia and Swe- en. COLOR CONSCIOUSNESS GAIN SHOWN BY AMERICAN PEOPLE BY HOWARD KETCHAM, Director. Color Advisory Service. Some colors lack that elusive some- thing that we shall call personality, for want of a more descriptive term. It wasn't 50 very many years ago that most people were satisficd to make general use of three primary colors. plus black and white. Porch furniture, typewriters, bathrooms and motor cars were offered in a restricted range of colors. Since that time, a steady development of the color consciousness the American people has led to an apprectation of fine coloration and we learn that just a red, yellow or blue automobile is not suffi- cient. It must be a very pleasing shade or tint of red, yellow or blue and fur- thermore the shade or tint of the base color must harmonize with other colors that may be used with it. Cars built for sport or informal use will never look stolid or stilted if dark, subdued, nullifying colors are avoided. Colors Have Characteristics. All colors have individualistic char- acteristics, just as people differ from one another. Some blues are cold, modest and retiring. Some greens are business-like, crisp, fresh and lively. Violet is sad, depressing. Certain reds are active, warm, exciting colors. Yel- low is a delicate, warm color, usually of high luminosity. It has long been re- marked that the right colors judiciously distributed in wearing apparel, enhance the personality effect of the wearer and provide appropriate atmosphere for the occasion for which the costume was designed. The body lines and contour effectiveness of an automobile are like- wise accentuated by a proper distribu- tion of the correct colorings. Certain greens and some reds com- plement and enhance the appearance of the blonde individual. Smart, stimu- lating colors of high chroma contribute an air of flamboyance to certain auto- mobile body types designed to achieve just this effect. The work of the pres- ent day automobile colorist comple- ments the creations of the design engineer in achieving maximum effec- tiveness for the model. Open and closed Cars Contrasted. Open-car models require an entirely different color rendition than do closed cars to heighten their effectiveness. In this connection Maris, a brilliant, scin- tillating, clear yellow green for the | body color with ‘moldings and fenders in sport green, a dark, rich shade, to- gether with wire wheels and stripe in Bengal yellow will make an exceedingly attractive roadster color scheme, from | the standpoint of vivacity and good | taste. Another interesting green open car color combination includes body ard wire wheels in soft Cairo green with moldings and fenders in Mojave Public Declared no Longer Satished With Car That ks Just Red, Yellow Or Blue. |8reen, a darker shade of the body |color. ‘The striping accent calls for very lplle gold bronze, Still another new, deep, rich value | that should prove of timely interest to the open-car fan with a refinish prob- lem to consider in connection with the advent of Spring., is Bar Harbor tan, | a light, golden hue that will serve as | an admirable dustproof body color that can be suitably accentuated by Bengal yellew for moldings and wheels. | Lively Reds Are Popular. Lively reds of moorish hue are prov- ing very acceptable for smart open sport models. Body and wire wheels /i Tampa red with moldings and | fenders in light fast Maroon No. 1 will | supply a refreshing new eolor note. Open cars have an air of fleet aban- | don when appropriate, lively pastel ftints are employed. With color, it is | quite possitle to typify speed, grace, energy, tranquillity or dignity. Conse- | quently it is of utmost importance to ex- | press in_color language, as well as in | design. the type of transportation the car was intended to serve. | GET SCANT COURTESY. ““Hogs” and Jaywalkers Disciplined on Prussian Highways. BERLIN (#).—Road “hogs,” jaywalk- ers and other trespassers on public highways in Prussia are treated with scant tolerance by traffic cops. Last year, in Prussia alone, more than ' half of police prosecutions were for traffic transgressions, awheel or afoot. Police have orders to enforce strict street discipline, and cases of fines in- flicted on offending Berlin pedestrians last year were more than doubled com- pared with the previous year. Some of them were allowed to be paid in install- ments. HIGH COST .STRUCTURE Approximately $13,500,000 will be re- quired to finish the uncompleted bridge on the overseas highway from Key West to the mainland of Florida, according to a report flled with Congress, says the American Automobile Association. ‘The A. A. A. statement is based on the estimate of the Bureau of Public Roads, which has surveyed two alter- nate routes. Route No. 1 is recommended, which would cost $13,736,695. That includes: From No Name Key to Knight Key, $8,630,590; Grassy Key to Long Key, $3139,497, and from long Key to Lower Matecumbe, $1,966,607. 'The good EIGHT invariably puts the beginner at the ‘wheel as soon as they start off. This is just like throwing Willie overboard to teach him to swim, and just as inadvis- able. The instructor should take the wheel himself for 10 or 15 minutes while }hlel woman beside him watches care- ully. Of course you have got to have some- thing worth Wwhile imitating, ‘There is a very useful rule to the effect that as you enter a private garage s0 shall you back out of it. All of which means that if you enter the garage with the front wheels headed in anything but a straight ahead line you are quite likely to take off a door on the way out. Jim Tully, the master of vagabondia, warns the woman at the wheel against offering to pick up school children who beg rides from passing automobilists. He feels that a subtle harm is done these children on the Emersonian theory that the highest price one can pay for any- thing is to ask for it. By asking and receiving these children return home slightly demoralized, in his opinion. He may be right. A woman doesn’t have to be mechani- cally inclined to remember that most of the annoying squeaks around the driving compartment can be traced to the hood lacings which need a little vaseline smeared over them. ‘The gears of the modern automobile shift so easily seryice men are some- times puzzled when a woman complains of difficulty pushing the shift lever back into neutral, or out of one gear in anti- cipation of meshing with another. Look- ing into just such a complaint I found that it was the result of not pressing the clutch pedal far enough down while trying to shift. Without releasing the engine of course there is additional pres- sure on the faces of the gears and con- sequent difficulty in shifting. If some of the units of the automobile were more logically named they would be far easier for every one to under- stand. ‘This Is especially true of the “muffier,” that very important unit that Is inserted in the exhaust pipe. ‘This device does “muffie” to a certain extent, but if it were 100 per cent eff- >fent it would simply act as an expander, which is its real function. When burned gas vapor is expelled through the ex- haust it is rushing to expand. If we let it out directly to the air, as they do in racing cars, there would be the familiar racket. But by providing for a slower rate of expansion we are able to elimi- nate the noise. Some mufflers divert the passing gases in various way and often force the gases to expand through perforations in metal discs. This cuts the noise, but produces a certain amount of back pres- sure that is not desirable, though it is no more inefficient a process than many other things about a c: When_the Prompt, efficient, cour- teous service at mod- erate prices. Gas, oil, greasing, crankcase service, Fire- stone tires and acces- sories. One Square South of Penna. Ave. on 12th STAR SERVICE STATION N BeRhi of LOW COST_ ____ When your motoring taste turns towsrd owning an Eight, you naturally want to pay no more than it takes to insure that you will get a good Eight. Sound reasoning of this kind leads sensibly to the new De Soto Straight Eight. Here is an Eight of good name, fine quality, delightful performance, charming smartness, rich com- forts —and withal, the lowest-priced Eight in the world. Luxury and economy; a fine Eight and a low price—an irresistible combination! mN L O W E S T W _ O R L DISTRICT MOTOR COMPANY Garner Motor Co. Leonardtown, Md. 4-Door Sedan (3-window), 8625; Coupe, $590; Road- ster (rumble seat), 3610; 1. 0. b. factory. D ° S (INCORPORATED) 1337 14th St. N.W. Potomac Y 1000 Roney Motor Co. Frederick, Md. NOW ONE OF PLYM SOLD BY DE Macks Service Hyattsville, Md. SOTO DNEALERS oro STRAIGHT \1 s>~ EIGHT ‘1 | e W ¢ L. W. White Norbeck, Md. L. . L.l Lo Lawmn. L, L. Lo sills and all supportink d C D O. R. Blanton, Prop. 33 New York Ave. N.E Metropolitan 9225 W. E. Moncure Quantico, Va. THE LOWEST-PRICED CARS IN THE WORLD OUTH O'D V€ T VERYWHERE 4 "6 AND UP—F. O. B. FACTORY v WITH THESE FEATURES Unisteel* Construction of Chassis and Bedy Down-Draft Carburetion Impulse Neutralizer Full-Pressure Feed Lubrieation Mechanical Fuel Pump—Fuel Filter— Air Cleaner Thermostatic Heat Control Hydraulic Brakes Hydraulic Shock Absorbers Rubber-Cushioned Spring Shackles Double Cowl Ventilaters Non-Glare Windshield Rust-Proof Parts *In the Unisteel type of construe- tion, the body and chassis are de- signed as a unit, eliminating body other wooden parts. The body is bolted directly to the chassis, so that the two become mutually and mutually flesible. CHRYSLER MOTORS PRODUCT Copyright 1930 by De Sote Metor Corperation E I 6 H T NATIONAL AUTO SALES CO. Moreland Motor Co. Waldorf, Md.