Evening Star Newspaper, January 31, 1932, Page 115

SOUTHLAND TOUR LURES MOTORISTS Good Highways Possess Many irresistable Features. the Southland adorned by bea the days seeming. utois Motaring th over good highways v ufe warn hter longer, proves a lure thi can resist provided care ness world aside. If a new car is & proves that much stronger. th by motor was & some and a eable Highways wer t o hand the at- oc mud hole T t with any degree of it would take to com rs this motor- ists now a h the op- N ¢ and Petersburg section of Virg full of scenic splendors and historic in- terest. If one can I ride sugh the State of Virginia, and read ns record te to mak This rou the capital of N distance from W mak T there a choice E ng directly 100 miles the is quite noticeable the Gulf St 100 miles y degrees now one slready made tt Quaint Town of Georgetown. Yess t m from the road of getown Ge RICHMOND PETERSBURG HENDERSON RALEIGH SUMTER 74 : "%QACKSONVILLE les after | see m Mount Pleasant on is plainly visi- r River, which is g causes of one of the most harbors in the world. The_tri the Cooper Riv in the pe- nt parts of the most unusual and unique structures. This bridge was completed about two years ago, and since then thousands of people have been enthusiastic in their praises of the undertaking. Realms of the Past. Leaving the Cooper River proof of m idge it onc Bridge, immediately realms of the P distance is strik ings and other bu stood for centuries are encountered on every hand. Continuing south on Meeting street or on other sircets in similar direction to the Battery, one passes through an area where almost rery foot of land s of historical in- terest. Charleston is a city of real tharm, and must be visited to be &p- reciated. A few miles north of Charles- Bor %8 s club, a proprietors’ organi- mation, owned by 200 of most prominent men of the cou The distance from Raleigh to Charleston 260 miles this route, which route between the r also having fine ions ngs which have two towns, hotel accommod The road sout 37, leads on thrc the coa tion for another 100 miles, surrounded by forests and en shrubbery, iving the appe of ~ perpetual pring time. S ah, Ga., 126 miles from Charleston. is another city deserving of & Its streets, lined with trees and well cared for lawns, are most restful. Good Road Continues. road continues here ille 1 sec- awaits the trav miles. From t up everywhere beckon the aboun Florida roads open Fast and West Coasts t Good hotels »wn as Route No. via | i Capital two other routes await his | choice. From Richmond he may con: tinue on to Norfolk and make his way | southward through Portsmouth, Suf- folk, Elizabeth City, Edenton, New Bern, Wilmington, Georgetown and into Charleston. ‘The other route continues from Petersburg, Raleigh, Sumter, Waterboro into Savannah. This route misses Charleston. These routes meay be used for the return journey. MIAMI REPORTS | Record-Breaking Traffic Seen by Motor Club Secretary. Special Dispatch to The Btar. MIAMI, Fla, January 30.—Fleeing southwerd before the advance of W ter's bleak forces, motorists by the | hundreds are arriving daily in Miami, | nestling in the tropic sunshine beside colorful Biscayne Bay. Indications that all paved motor | routes from the East and Middle West | Will carry & record-breaking amount [of trafic were seen by Wiliam H | Owen, secretary of the Miami Motor Club. Mr. Owen said the number of cars bearing out-of-State license plates was considerably more than at points along the major highways lead- | ing into Florida pointing to increased traffic daily. Never have the main highways been s time last year, with reports from | Moss-laden trees line the highways leading to F1 THE SUNDAY STAR. WASHINGTON, Good Southern Highways ‘ South.:. It is now possible for the otorist to drive to Miami from East or West without leaving the pavement. United States Highway No. 1 from Fort Kent, Me, to Miami offers an excellent thoroughfare from the large centers of New England and the East to this South Florida resort center. It is ome of the fastest and straightest highways in the United States, and in all of its 2,400 miles from Maine to Miami there is not a single mile re- maining unpaved. From Miami radiate a number of roads which go far towad making the city a paradise for motorists. Most | popular of the roads in this resort dis- trict_are those leading westward across the Everglades and southward over the | Florida Keys to Key West The Tamiami Trail, westward to the Gulf Coast, takes the motorist through | the lonely reaches of the Everglades— | America’s last frontier. | Overseas Highway. | The Overseas Highway, south to Key | West, offers new thrills as it skirts | small islands dropped down in a tropi- cal sea. The Overseas Highway is the | greatest marine drive in the world fol- lowing a circuitous route among palm- fringed keys for 125 miles to Key West. Miami's Winter program will provide plenty of entertainment for the motor- | ist” during his stay here. The sched- ule for the season includes horse racing and dog racing; at least 17-golf tour- naments; tennis tournaments, and sev- nd. r the resident of the National,in such splendid condition through the eral heavyweight fights. | | 4 | against 10 per cent of the total business activities of Washington, the RELATION OF AUTO 10 THE DISTRICT Automobile - Sales Third in Importance for Capital. BY FRED L. HALLER, Washington _Automotive Assoclation. The importance of the automobile as President !a means of personal and economical transportation is universally acknowl- edged, but the importance of automo- tive industry as a contributing factor | to the general economic welfare is com- pletely overlooked by the average indi- vidual, even by those who pride them- | selves on being conversant with com- mercial activities At this time, when so much is being | | said and written about organizing bus- iness enterprises to bring back pros- perity, we believe that you should know how much the industry which we Tep- | resent in Washington contributes to the financial welfare of this city. Asked to name the most important verage resident would probably in- clude the automotive industry among the first eight or ten, not realizing that | the sale of automobiles and their allied their service | products, together with and maintenance, constitutes the third most important business in the Na- tion's Capital. Upon consulting the figures compiled and published by the United States Bureau of the Census covering retail distribution in Washington, D. C., for | the last census year we found that the | total value of retail sales was $331,873,- 844. Fifteen per cent of this or a total of $50,215,080, is credited to the sale of automobiles and their allled prod- | ucts. We also learned that Washington has a total of 5917 retail outlets of all kinds and characters and that the gréup represented by the automobile dealer has 573 of these or almost 10 per cent of the total. The retail outlets employ 39,503 people, of which 3,865 are employed by the automotive group, The ! payroll totals $43,694,510, and of this the automotive group pays $6.202.907, rising to more than 14 per cent of the whole Logically one wants to know whence comes these sums. As might be ex D. Trade | 0, JANUARY 31. 1 a9 32—PART EIGHT q pected, the chief source of these reve- nues is the sale and maintenance of new and used automobiles. Washington spent $30,780,450 with new-car dealers and $1,075,728 with used-car dealers. New-car dealers paid out $3.233,831 for salaries and adding to this the $183.505 | paid to employes by used-car dealers, glves us & total of $3,417,336 paid to 1,924 employes, an average of $1,776 per employe. When one takes into con- sideration the fact that these figures do not include the salaries of officers and owners of the business, this gi the automotive group an enviab! standing with regard to the compen- sation of its wage earners. But this| isn't all. The automotive industry pays to the property owners of Washington a total of $653,051 for rentals on prem- ises which it occupies. Nor is this all Other essential expenses, not including income taxes, cost of merchandise or | return on capital invested and allowing | officers and executives only the salaries | of ordinary full-time employes, total | $2,790,601. We see then, that from the | sale and servicing of new and used cars | alone that the sum of $6,860,988 is ex- | pended in wages, rents and other es- sential expenses, or more than one- | fifth of the total sales income. In addition to the above figures, Washington has more than 450 mer. chants selling repairs, _gasoline, oil accessories, tires and batteries, all of which are fmportant providers of pay- rolls and rentals. Of these there are | 106 garages, paying $379,806 for rent and $206502 for other expenses, em- ploying 506 workers who earn $768,961 Also 120 accessory dealers, paying | $204,269 for rent and $329,283 for other expenses and_employing 435 workers who earn. $667.672. The filling s | tions pay $524,241 for rent, $851,875 | for_expenses and_employ 975 _people, | | who earn $1,313,459, other unclassified | automotive outlets add another $40,000 to_the above payroll figures. | | “Now let’s add all this up. It reaches | the aggregate sum of $12,141,830 spent | | by the automotive group right here at home and plainly proves that the | Washington autoiotive industry is an | tmportant business factor of the and justifies the continuance of liberal patronage that it has received in the past. Safety Not Ignored. Safety factors have come in for mu consideration this v motor car manufact | non-shatter glass | struction all-steel is gaining over | posite _wood and steel constr The all-steel welded body has for rapidly ahead in recent years and som striking effects have been achieved in | steel body design, due to ability of the body makers to | methods of metal stamping | bodtes are obviously safe and stu 1so have very low centers of gra it | the 'AUTO INDUSTRY MAY ADOPT NEWER SALES FEATURES Detroit Takes Stock of Present Method of Putting Motor Vehicles in the Hands of the Public. Realizing that the automobile as a | hinted at for years without realization piece of mechanism has made advances at a pace far beyond that of the busi- ness of selling it, Detroit is commenc- ing to engineer a few revolutions in merchandising. You buy a very dif- ferent car today, but tomorTow you may buy automobiles in a very differ- ent way. New sales methods are on the way. The automobile business has been going along in much the same rut for years, but in the present effort to put on a more profitable basis_innova- tions are the trend. Automobile row jump out of the rut and at the same time give the car buyer new op- portunities. Drug Store Idea Used. That the automobile business will go the way of the drug stores seems (o be the opinion of many In this plc- ture the typical automobile dealer will 1l everything from film for your va- cation movie camera to the tickets that | entitle you to have your car shipped by rail across the continent. Some- where among the thousand-and-one items of travel merchandising will be found samples of the particular cars dealer has for sale. It won't be a one-line business A plan that is receiving serious consideration involves a more scien- tific type of salesmanship. Specialists selling to certain classes of buyers represent a number of cars and their clients calm deliberation in 12 a decision. Such a sales rep- 1d aim to develop busi pe who are too busy a number of salesmen for ent makes General Belief. seems to be a general bellef automobile men that a fortune individual satisfactory offer mak ‘There means of selling hout the present unwieldly Many are convinced that overhead economic seives purpose. In it is said that more pros- new cars in the service sta- e show room ling of cars has been d is or firm that can | | Direct factory celling. automobile own- ers feel, lacks the personal contact. Good service and fair dealing have made the agency system essentlal to | the marketing of cars, and it is for | this resson that the manufacturers | themselves look with more favor on | any plan that will enable this system | to function more profitably and more | | efficiently. Efforts are being made st the pres- ent time to develop separate used-car organizations that will take care of the cars buyers have to trade in so that the new-car derler can operate on a more reasonable basis. Without being | forced to take a loss through buying |an old car when he should merely selling a new one he would be able to devote more attention to service. There would be fewer dealer failures and fewer cars without local sentation. Serious Stumbling Block. A serfous stumbling block to the development of new owners is the fact that the man who makes a “clean” | purchase does not get as good a deal as the man who drives a bargain with | the aid of a used car which he wants to_trade in. The fact that there are more people without cars than with them encour- | ages the industry to plan for the fu- ture prosperity. 'If the agency system is to be retained it must be strength- ened with more new features. If it is | to be superseded by some more effi- cient method of placing new cars in the hands of the public, that plan must prevent general | with cars. Many a poor make of car | has been reasonably satisfactory for | the owner simply through the personal efforts of the dealer and his service force. How does the public want to buy its cars? That is a question the industry also considers. Are elaborate show rooms necessary? Does the buyer want metropolitan service stations or subur- ban cstablishments? Does the public want to pay for all service indirectly threugh the initial price, or directly as an expense which commences imme- ! diately after the purchase regardless of About March 1st NASH Will Announce 5 New Series of Cars = Embodying features that will not only be a revelation to the indus- try, but will also be the greatest value ever offered to the public. In the meantime, and for the next 30 days we will conduct a BARGAIN SALE of all new first series 1932 models as well as all used cars we repre- | dissatisfaction | 21 who is to blame mechanical trouble? Should there be special sales chan- nels for motorists who have had suf- clent experlence in operating cars as to feel they need no free service over [ the period of guarantee? This ques- tion has brought the industry to & | realization that the method of selling cars is perhaps not flexible enough Compared with the varleties of con=- tracts by which one can buy life in- surance or annuities the selling of ears seems unreasonably conventional. Try to buy an automobile anywhere ‘m America and you find it necessary to do 1t In & uniform way. About the | only element of variation offered is the option of purchasing the car at the factory at the list price which theo- retically saves only the freight charge. Many other products can be purchesed on a variety of plans, each with some special advantage One of the most intriguing prophe- cles concerns the matter of the demon- stration, which today rates as one of the most costly and least efficient fea- | tures of the automobile business. Few pcople are able to judge a car intelli- gently from a demonstration, and com- parisons are often worse than odious. A prospect will compare the riding of a car he tekes over the boulevards with another that he slams over a shell~ shocked road. Invariably he fails to compare cars under the same condi- tions of temperature, weather and load. End Waste Element. To eliminate this element of waste it has been suggested that a suitable demonstration machine be developed on which a prospect will be able to make a quick, concentrated test of any cars in which he is interested. Such a ma- chine would be similar to a brake= testing device and would reveal power, | acceleration, braking ability, riding qualities, fuel consumption and any- thing else of importance which cannot | be judged by other than mechanical means. Quicker sales by such a meth- od would be assured. The intelligence that has been pour- ing into the car itself is now being directed to the business of selling that car. When sales power matches horse- power the automobile industry wi turn the corner at a speed never be- fore approximated. New Cars Look New. This year's crop of automobiles goes far to obsolete 1931's models. The new cars are much different in appearance. They are lower, more graceful, have better lines and embody a large num- ber of improved mechanical features. Last year a new automobile differed little from a 1930 model. But within & month or two when the new models have had a chance to get on the streets and out on the highways, motorists will soon realize that their old cam really look their age. for have in stock - - at very substan- tial net savings. If you are con- sidering a new or used car here is a great opportunity for youw = NASH-ORR MOTOR CO. 1522 14th Street N.W. Decatur 1460 Distributors Authorized Washingtow Nash Dealers Williams & Baker, Inc. B. D. Jerman & Co. 1507 14th St. N.W, 2819 M Street N.W. Potter Nash Motor Co. Silver Spring, Md. Nash Rohr Barsky, Inc. 1367 H St. N.E. Linking the coastal highway near Charleston, 8. C., this newly sompleied span provides am interesting study.