jANUAltY 18TH, 1908
THE AUTOCAR B Journal publisbet > in tbe interests of tbe mecbantcalll? propelleb roab carriage.
EDITED BY H. WALTER STANER.
N 0. 639. VOL. XX.
SATURDAY, JANUARY r8TH, 1908. [P RICE 3D.
The A utocar.
(Published Weekly.)
Registered as a newspaper for transmission in the United Kingdom.
Entered as second-class matter in the New York (N.Y.) Post Office.
Editorial Office :
COVENTRY.
Publishing Offices :
20, TUDOR STREET, LONDON, E .C. , England.
CONTENTS. N OTES • •
PA GE 73·74
U SEFUL H I:sTs AXD TtPs : To PREVENT LAMP GENERATORS
FR£EZI~G-FROZE:S PUMPS AND (ARBURETTER j ACK.ETS- L EAKY PUMP SPI'.'-;DLES-R E -ESTABLtSHING B RUISED S CREW TttREADSL ooSE~IKG TIGHT BOLTS OR S TUDS 75 THE SI X- CYLINDER BERLIET M t XTE ENGINES (ILLUSTRATF.D) . . 76-77 A NEW P ORTABLE VUI.CANISER (ILLUST RATED} CONTI!'JENTAL T OURING F ACILIT IES THE P RIX D 'AvtATJON (ILLUSTRATED) • • THE 2 ,000 MILES T OURING CA~ T RIAL . . THE SILENT K NIGHT E NGINE (ILLUSTRATED) • . Q :,.r THE GRAND T RUNK R OAD ( ILLUSTRATED) H ORSE AXD T RA~I A CCIDENTS CHAUFFEURS' PROFICIENCY COMPETITION THE 0RMOND-DA YTONA B EACH MEET . . THE A UTOCARS OF 1908 • . E xAMI NA.T ION ExPERIEKCFS THE ImsH R ELIABILI TY T RIALS .. CONTlNENTAL NOTES AND NEWS . . THE NFW P ATENTS ASD D ESIGNS R ULES MUJ.TU~t I N PARVO (ILLUSTRATE D) CoRRESPO:-JDEKCE .. THE 8 ROOK!..ANDS A UTOMOBILE RACING C LUB • • C LUB OotsGs
,8 78 79-80
Bo 81 82-85
85 86 86 . . 86-87 , . 88-89
89 . . 90-92 · · 93-94
· · 95-99
RESILENT R OAD \.VHEELS • • S OME QUCRIF.S ASD R E PLIES
100 101 . . ro2- 103 . • 104-107
108
Subscription Rates :
British Isles, 16s. Abroad (thin paper edition) 22s. 8d. per annum.
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Notes. Misunderstandings. It is unquestionable that comparati,·ely few motorists understood the relationship which existed bet1Yeen the Royal Automobile Club and the Motor Union till their severance the other day. There has been a kind of hazy idea in the mind of the a1·erage a ffiliated clubman that somehow or other the Union has been considerably helped by the R.A.C. , but it is quite obvious the extent of this well-dese rved help has never been recognised. As an instance of this, there is nothing more convincing than the cool suggestions which were made by a member o.f the Union General Committee that the Club Journal should be improved. He and quite a number of his fellow committeemen were seemingly perfectly oblivious of the fact that the Club Journal which they criticised was actually paid for and posted to Union members by the Club without a farthing of expense to the Union.
The fact is the Club has not been altogether wise in the past. While it has so largely fin anced the Union, it has allowed itself to drop into the background so far as the affiliated clubs of the Union and it individual members a re concerned. Ho\\· many members of these clubs recognised that they were a ffi liated both to the R.A.C. and the M.U. They regarded themselves as Union clubs, and never recognised that hitherto the Union has been but a department of the R .A. C. \\'e do not blame them for this in the least, as the Club has undoubtedly been very much too reticent in these matters. It is now pointed out on its behalf that, in addition to paying 5s. per year for each member of the Royal Automobile Club into the funds of the Motor Union, the Club made monetary grants to the Union as follows: 1903, £325; 1904, £360; 1905, £980; 1906, £1 ,078 ; 1907, £610 ; and 1908, £850. The Club has also defrayed half the cost of speed limit enquiries, £500 towards the fond for coll ection of evidence for the Royal Commission on Motor Car Traffic, half the cost of the A~tomobile Handbook, while, as we have already pornted out, it has given its J owrnal free, including postage, to a ll members of the Motor Union.
Despite all this, there appears to be a very current ~elief among motorists that the Club is : (1. ) To all mtents and purpo es a London club run bv Londonen for Londoners, who over-ride and veto the· opinions of pr01·incial motorists whether right or wrong. (2.) That the R.A.C. is dominated by those of its members who a re connected 1rith the motor industry. On the other hand, it is also assumed that the Union is not dominated by the Metropolitan members, and, further, that it is an association composed entirely of amateur automobilist . We can only say that, in our opinion, these idea concerning the respective virtues and vices of the Club and the Union are ridiculous. So far as the associates of the Royal A.C. are concerned, they will elect their own representatives, and it will depend entirely on the provinces whether country rep resentatives a.Te more numerous than those representing the district immediately surrounding the Metropolis.
The Business Element. As to the suggestion that appears to be very often r peated that the Club is a trade body and the Union an amateur associat1on, we can only say we a re absolutely unable to account for any such opinion . They are both amateur bodies in the broad sense of the word. That i. to say, the majority of the members of both are user. and not manufacturers or ell ers, but in both societies there are numbers of representatives of the motor industry. Any part which they take in the management of the Club or the Union is only possible when they have been elected to serve on the committee by the membership at large, and it is, therefore, in the hands of the members to say who shall sen ·e them, and it is as inaccurate to saY that the Club is not mainly an amateur body as it is to assert tha.t the Union i::; a purely amateur organisation.
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