~J Y 9TH. 190 .

THE AUTOCAR B Journal publisbet > in tbe interests of tbe mecbanicall\? propellcb roab carriage.

EDITED BY H. WALTER STANE"l.

No. 655. VOL. XX.] SATURDAY, MAY 9TH, 1908.

[PRICE 3D.

The Autocar.

(P ublished Weekly.)

Registered as a newspaper for transmission in the United Kingdom.

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

:;;ditorial Office :

COVENTRY.

Pabl,shing Offices :

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CONTENTS. ~ OTES • .

USEFUL HtSTS A'.'.D TIPS .

THE FouR1Jxc11 RACE ..

f RENC!-1 ROAD ..\0'.'11'.'.ISTR • .\TIO'.' . •

THE SHARPESHOE Hi~L-CLDIB ( [LLL"STK<.\TEOI

A NEW SCOTCH 25 11.P. CAR IJLLUSTl(ATED) ..

VALVE ETTING (lLLUSTRATLD) , .

AN APRIL EXPERIEXCE ( f.LL L'STH. \TlD

CAR FITTINGS AND :\CCES5Ql{IJ·.S

BROOKLA'.''DS RACl:SG CLL"H

Cosn:SENTAL ~OTCS AXD Xcws ( ILLL";,;TH.ATED}

AN lMPORTA:-.'T C ARBURETTER PATE:-JT .•

MAG:-JETO I GNJTJOX ULLUSTRATED)

THE 12 H.P. S!ZAIRE-~ACDIX

CoRRESPONDENCE ( ILLU5Tl<ATEO)

THE HILDIAN·COATALEX RACLI< ILLUSTHATEDJ

THE MoroR u~10'" . .

FLASHES

CLUB D01~GS

THE I RIS!l Ri--:LIABII.11\' TH.IAL • •

FAG£ . . 669-670

671 672-674

674 675 . . 676-678

678 679 • . 680-682

683 . . 6 4-686

6 7 • . 688·689

690 69,-696

697 697 698-700

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British Isles I6s. Abroad (thin paper edition), 22s. Sd. per anm•m.

I

Notes. ~ D isappointment and How to Avoid it.

From letters ,re are receiving from our readers it is evident that there have been some instances of disappointment 01·er ne1r cars. \\° e may take one instance as typical of a numbn. The circumstances have differed considerabh·, but in the main the result: have been similar. An i;1tending purchaser ,·isited the how at Olympia in .\"01·ember, and after trying se,·eral cars whi h came 1rithin his price limit he decided on a particular make mainly on the score of silence. The engine ran \'ery quietly , and the transmission 1rns almo,t inauclible . \ t least that is ,rhat he thought. anti very possibly he ,,·as right. On the other hand he tried an open ca r , and most of his dri,·e ,ms in London traffic. He did not recognise ho11· d cepti,·e this traffic is in forming an opinion of the capabilities of a car, unless one has very great experience of all sorts of cars under traffic conditions. However, he placed hi order on the strength of the test in the streets round about Olympia, and in due time hi ne,r car arrived. He now tells u he is the owner of something \Yhich appear. to him rnstly different from the car he tried at Olympia. He says that the engine will not run sl01rly or quietly, and that the imlirect drives are a ll 1·e ry noisy. He is co111·inccd that the chassis he tried at Olympia was specially prepared for the work, and that while silence was ensured by the adju tment of the carburetter and o forth. th re ,,·as no rea l p01rer in the engine, and that if it had been adjusted to gi,·e power it 11·ould htll'e been as noisy and as coa rse running a. his own chassi. 11011· pro,·e. to be.

There is no doubt that the . ociet,· of :.Iotor :.fanufacturers has done 11·isel~· in a bolisl1ing the. e delusive st reet trials at future shows. It i. hardlY necessan· to sny that the great majority o.f the leading firms deal perfectly honourably in this respect. The cars they ha,·e at Olympia are fai r :pecimens of the a,·erage car the~· turn out. but there are some exceptions. and ,re are afraid that some of them are very misleading exceptions. The engines are not only pecially tuned up to run quietly, but the car is Io,rer geared than usual , and special pains are taken with the gears. Th clutch is adjusted with a care which, for the particular firm, is nothing less than extraordinary, and the result is that the car is by no mean a fair specimen of the a,·erage output. As we ha,·e pointed out before, a car can be made cklightful for traffic driving which would be useless out in the open country, and it is in this re pect that we find the va t difference between the high clas. ca r and the low priced and apparently cheaper ,·ehicle. There are plenty of cars which run 11·el I at slow speeds, but which are no good for power or all round li\·eliness in the country, and there are cars which are very powerful and ve ry fa. t which are so coa r. e in their running that they are a perfect misery to control at 1011· speed . On the other hand. the really good car is delightful at a crawl or at its maximum , and 11·hen running on its lo11·er gea rs it is very quietnot so quivt as \1·hen on its direct drive, but the noise when on its lom::r gea rs is by no means unpleasant.

This al I round suitability of a car for town or country ,rnrk is not the only qualification of a g od car. Some· thing more is required than mere adaptability to rlifferent purposes, and in this respect the difference bct11·een a good and an indifferent car is still more marked. That i. to say, a good car will maintain its delicacy of running and control almost indefinitely, and also its power 11·ill rt >main unimpaired. On the other hand. the commoner ,·ehicle, which may be quite nice when ca refulh· adjusted, very soon lo e its adjustment and sh01rs itself in its true form, and it must be constantly tuned to keep it decent. There is no doubt that makns of goocl ca rs do not rcceil'e anything like