THE AUTOCAR B 3ournal publisbeb in tbe interests of tbe mecbantcalll? propelleb roab carriage.

EDITED BY H. WALTER STANER.

No. 588. VoL. XVIII.] SATURDAY, J ANUARY 26TH, 1907. [PRICE 3D.

THE AUTOCAR.

(Published Weekly.)

Registered as a newsp3.per for transmission in the United Kingdom.

Entered as second-class matter in the New York (N.Y.) Post Office.

EDITORIAL OFFICE:

COVENTRY.

PUBLISHING OFFICES :

:10, TUDOR STREET, LONDON, E.C., ENGLAND.

CONTENTS.

PAGF.

NOTES . . Usit,uL HIKTS AND TIPS: ON REPAIRS AND ALTJ:RATIONs THE NAMES OJr MOTOR CARRIAGE BODIES .. MOTOR CA RRIAGK Boov DxsIGNS (ILLUSTRATIONS) To ENCOURAGE ECONOMICAL DRIVING {ILLUSTRATED) . . A TRlAL OJ' THE 20-22 H ,P, BROWN CAR (ILLUSTRATED) .. CARELESSNESS IN REPAIRS (ILLUSTRATED) A SHOW R&STIU CTED TO TRIED CARS A PROMISING CAR F ROM SPAIN (ILLUSTRATED) .. A NOVEL MATCH

105 - xo6 , . 107 ro8 -109 IIO-II.5 , , 115 II6-II7 . , II7 II8·I20 I2l-I22 . . [22

CONTINENTAL NOTES ANO NEWS: FRENCH WORKMEN AND AMERICAN

CARS -THE DECENNIAL SALON-FUTURE OF THE: TOURING CAR-THE GRANO PRIX ..

123-124

CORRESPONOSNC& (ILLUSTRATED) , . 25 H.P. FOUR-CYLINDER SPi:EDWELL CAR (ILLUSTRATED) AGooo WEEK'S WoRK OF THE CLUB FLASHES ..

A VALVELESS Two-STROKE MOTOR .. CLUB DOINGS-TWICE SOLD MOTOR CAR .. ACCESSIBILITY AND CLEANLINESS . . THE BIRMINGHAM MOTOR CAR SHOW

• 7• '°'~ ;~;," ::••o•) , ~ ,a """"""

" THE AUTOCAR " SUBSCRIPTION RATES:

125-130 131-132

·, 133

, . 134 . . 135 . , 136 , 37 ·138 . . 138

A Show Restricted toi, d Cars. In our last issue we dealt briefly with the suggestion ti.rst voiced by The Times that the motor show at Olympia should be in future restricted to cars which had undergone a 4 , 000 mil es road trial under the official observation of the Automobile Club. We expressed the opinion that such a proposition was excellent in princip le, but that it would be found unworkable in practice. As the matter is one which , so far as its immediate settlement is concerned. must re main in the hands of exhibitors, we have ascertained the opinions of a number of leading members of the industry (see page 118). As might be expected, many :u e opposed to the idea, not because their cars would not pass such a trial satisfactorily, but because they regard ~uch a test as unnecessary, and therefore a waste of time and monev. We must sav we think th e most ,·ita l objec-tion 'urp;ed against th~ proposition is that

4,000 miles is not a sufficient test. This is true . It will find out the bad points of an indifferent car, but one which is not very much above this class may pass through it fairly well. It would, therefore, be necessary, if the tria ls were to be any rea l guide to potential purchasers , that each car should be subjected to a most careful examination as to the condition of a ll its vital parts after the trial. Even then, the distance is not sufficient, because plenty of cars would run 4, 0 00 miles- with little or no trouble, but show signs of undue wear if the distance were doubled.

In the main it is the quality of resistance to prolonged wear which distinguishes a good car from the indifferent or bad one. owadays there are very few positively bad cars. but plenty of indifferent ones, many of which may be fairly good in the main, though some particular parts may give trouble at any distance between 5,000 and 8 , 000 miles. However, we would be the last to deny th at 4 , 000 miles is an infinitely better test than no test at all, but if ar.ything should come of the suggestion, it would be very necessary that a condition should be made that the certificate granted by the Club or an exact facsimil e of it should be exhibited with the car; otherwise a vehicle which just gets through the 4 ,000 miles after many stops and a large amount of work upon it in the garage would be regarded as favourably as a machine which went through with a clean record. Then , again, it does not seem necessary that firms which have been established for many years, or at any rate long enough to have secured a well deserved reputation for their cars . should have to undertake a long d ista nce trial to ensure inclusion in the exhibition .

After all the main idea is that new and untried cars should not be placed upon the same level as those which have won their spurs. This, after all. is the crux of the whole matter, and the 4, 000 miles test will not necess arily weed out the indifferent new ca rs unless very strong precautions are taken to ensure that the machines submitted for trial shall be absolutelv stock articles. This in its turn would raisP almost innumerable difficulties , as it wm1ld shut all the newest of the new machines out of the test with one swoop, inasmuch as there would probably be onh two or three of the new firm 's cars made . In other words, the test machine could not be taken from - stock. because there would be no stock. Although we think the suggestion applied universally is unworkable anrl most unlikely to be adopted , we believe that good will result from its discussion . A separate section devoted to cars which had in the previous twelve months undergone a Club trial of at least 4,000 miles would be an excellent feature. There would be no need for the firms of established reputation to partici pate in these trials unless they wished. No doubt ma,w of them would do so , but it would be a work of supererogation on their part. The establishment of a tri a l section is as far as the proposition should be carried. If it were carried further it would rob the exhibition of interest , and result in the sfrengtbenin~ of some riv:i 1 shn"' where ~llc-h tests were not impo~erl .