~ARCH 7TH. 1908.
t13oul'nal publisbeb tn tbe intel'ests of tbe mecbnntrnll~ Pl'opeHeb l'Oab cantnge.
EDITED BY H. WALTER STANER.
---=====-==== -- - ---
SATURDAY, MARCH 7TH, 1908. [PRICE 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 (H.Y.) Post Office.
Editorial Office :
COVENTRY.
Publishing Offices :
20, TUDOR STREET, LONDON, E.C., England.
CONTENTS.
• · 335-336
l!'< THE HOUSE OF (OM.llONS • •
CSEFUL H1:-.r ASO TIP • .
MOTOR R .\ ClSG FOR AMATEURS-A DE D ION 60UTON CHALLENGE
336 337 338
~IOTOH BOATS FOR CUSTOMS SERVICE {ILLUSTRATED)
T1-m ROYAL A.C. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
339 339
THE \\"E!GEL GRAND PRIX RACING CAR (ILLUSTRATED) • • , • 3.Jo-3-4 I
1)1:.voN AXD CORNWALL l\lOTORlSTS OPPOSE TAXATION
ON Tilt ROAD. BY OWEN ] OHN
CONTINENTAL .?\OTES A'.'lD NEWS (ILLUSTRATED)
DETACHABLE \\'HEELS IN THE GRAND PRIX • •
3.p
342
• • 343-344
344
THE FLORIDA RACES-THE HUMBER PEED T ESTS AT BROOJ...-
LANDS- THE 2,000 MILES TRIAL
TAxAr10...--T1-1E RoLLs-RoYcE CHALLENGE • •
(ORRPiPONDENCE • •
~lY IDEAL (AR. BY THE AUTOCRAT • •
345 346 · · 347-351 · · 352-353
THE IDEAL l\loToR CAR-TRANSM1s51os AND TYRES-THE
2,000TH FRENCH CUSTOMS FORM-IRISII A.C. RELIABILITY TRIALS • •
SOME QUERIES AND REPLIES • •
THE ROCHE MOTOR (ILLUSTRATED) .•
FLASHES
354 355 356 . . 357-358
A NUMBER OF THINGS. '{HEIR EFFECT ON TYRES (ILLUSTRATED) 359-364
Subscription Rates :
Untbh Isles, 16s. Abroad {thin paper edition) 22s. Bd. per annum.
( Notes. The 1utocars of 1908. To-day we publish the first of the two special supplements which make up our Appearance K umber. The plan of compilation has been to take our Buyers' Guide, which we issue upon the eve of the show at Olympia, to bring it right up to date so as to include any new cars or alterations that have been made since Olympia, and then to illustrate every one of the nearly 500 models of which the tabulated detail wer given in the Buyers' Guide. lt has not been po sible to quite attain this ideal, but in this particular instance neither we nor our readers need have any regret, a to ome extent the Appearance Numbers have erved as elimination numbers. They have brought to light the fact that there are a few cars included in the Buyers' Guide which .. -a.Te so rare as to be practically non-existent. This refers almo t entirely to the largest and most expensive foreign cars, and of some of these it has been impossible to obtain photographs, and consequently they are omitted from the Appearance 1 umber. In addition to this, there have been a few English firms who furnished u~ :vith particulars of four or five entirely separate models in )l°ov ember, but who do·not yet appear to have built complete cars of more than one power.
There have been a very few other instances in which photographs have been received too late for inclusion, but with these exceptions all 1908 cars on the road in this country are illustrated by front and side view .. As far as possible we have confined our ii lustrations to those of cars with open bodies, so as to make the comparisons between each make as direct as possible.
To keep the front views large and easily recognisable we have, when necessary, sacrificed the superstructure of the car. It is not without interest to mention that some of the radiators have been extremely difficult to reproduce without to a certain extent destroying their individuality. This only applies to comparatively few, in which the honeycomb radiators have been almost precisely the same in "grain " as the block itself, and under these circumstances a little of what we might call the individuaUty of the car has been lost. Luckily this loss is never sufficient to rob a car of its identity.
The classification of the cars is by price. Where chassis price only is given £100 has been added for a body ; that is to say, if the chassis cost £450 the car has been placed in the class of £500 to £600, as that would be the cost of it with body complete. Of course, in most cases bodies would cost a great deal less for small cars, and if of elaborate and special nature a great deal more for the larger ones, but we have used the round sum for a good general method of classification. In the classes themselves the cars have been subdivided by number of cylinders and then alphabetically arranged; that is to say, the single cylinders come first in a class, then the two-cylinders, and so on up to eight-cylinders.
In conclusion, we should like it to be clearly understood that these illustrations have been made and particulars compiled entirely for the interest of our readers. None of the firms whose cars are illu trated have paid direct y or indirectly for their inclusion in the guide. 0Li · one aim has been to make it as complete as po ·sible. Motor Racing for Amateurs.
From time to time we have pointed out that the amateur motorist has been neglected by the majority of the promoters of motor races and competitions. A few ha\·e made some ort of provision for him, but the majority have only allowed him to enter, as it were, on sufferance, all the conditions and regulations of the events- being obviously framed for competitors connected with motor car manufacture. The position has always struck us as extraordinary, because the buyer and user of motor vehicles have been overlooked in favour of the manufacturer and seller. In the main the reason for this is because it has been believed that
,,,.
