It
AUGUST 29TH, 1908.
THE AUTOCAR El Journal pubhsbeb in tbe interests of tbe mecbanicall\? propellet, roat: > carriage.
EDITED BY H. WALTER STANER.
No. 67r. VoL. XXI.] SATURDAY, AUGUST 29TH, 1908.
[PRICE 3D.
The Autocar.
(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. NOTES USEFUL HINTS AND .. TIPS DRIVING A SHEFFIELD-SIMPLEX THEIR J UST DESERTS THE 12-16 H.P. VINOT CAR (ILLUSTRATED) .. THE Sroco TYRE INFLATOR HORSE-POWER FORMUL.£ FOR PETI.OL ENGINES • . ON THE RoAD. Bv OwEN JOHN AERONAUTICS
How AMERICAN MOTORISTS "Do" Eun.oPc: • • THE DusT PROBLEM SOLVABLE SPARE PARTS FOR MAGNF.TOS .. THE Fomt INCH RACE • • CoRRESPONDENCE • • THE IRISH AUTOMOUILE CLUB HtLL-CLJMB (ILLUSTRATl:.O) AN INCANDESCENT CAR LAMP (ILLUSTRATED) A DURABLE Hooo MATERIAL • • SAMPLING A SIX-CYLINDER STANDARD • • THE l NSTITUT[ON OF AUTOMOBILE ENGINliEl~S FLASHES • , CLUB DOINGS ROAD WARNINGS • •
PAGE
317-318
319 • • 320-32r
321 322-324
324 , , 325-332
333 334 335 · · 336-337
337 338 339-343 .. 314-345
346 3-4-6 347 347 · · 348-350 . . 351-352
353
THE FIRST CAR ACROSS AUSTRALIA-THE ROYAL A.C. AT
NORWICH
35+
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British Isles, I6s. Abroad (thin paper edition), 22s. 8d. per annum.
./ Notes. The Benefit of Motorin~ to the Country. During the recent bitter outbreak of prejudice against motoring it must ue admitted that, while in the main motorists have attempted little or nothing in their own defence, their representative organisations have effected even less. They have simply allowed anti-automobile correspondents and contributors to the daily press to have their own way. If they have done otherwise, their protests have been suppressed, with very few exceptions. Among the conspicuous exceptions is a letter from Sir Martin Conway, which was published in a leadin_g daily paper last week. In this letter Sir Martin Conway noints out that motorists are receiving no credit for the large sums of money which they are spending in the country. This is a line of argument which we 'lssumed · when dealing with the question. o.f the threatened in.crease o.f taxation on. motor cars, and we rertainly think it could be pursued with a.dvantaire.
There is no body of people following any one pursuit i,1 this country who spend so much money as automobilists. If they buy a British built car they art giving work to their own countrymen, and even when they buy a foreign car they are doing the same thing in a less degree. As soon as the car is bought and landed in this country it commences to circulate money. Jf a driver is employed there is work for one man straightaway, and the number of foreign drivers now employed in this country is so small that it can be ignored. Then there are tyres and all sorts of accessories which bring money to the British maker or middleman, as the case may be. As time goes on there is the work in connection with the maintenance and upkeep of the car, which is performed by British labour. and last, but not least, there- is the immense amount of money circulated in. hotels by touring motorists and by the thousands who leave the large centres of population for some country resort every week-end throughout the year.
There is no doubt that the motor car has caused many people who have hitherto spent the greater part of their holidays abroad to spend them at home. These people have long been sick of travelling about their own country by train, seeing little or nothing of it, but beca.use they a.re now by the aid o.f a motor car enabled to really see and enjoy "this wonderful England o.f ours," as Kipling calls it, they remain in their own country and spend their money here. As a recompense for this their own countrymen, or some of them, are anxious to exterminate them, to fine them, or to restrict them by vexatious regulations. Unfortunately, too many o.f the daily papers directly or indirectly lose 110 opportunity of fostering this outcry against motor cars and in.flaming popular feeling against a class which as much or more than. any other tends to circulate money and to provide work for the English people.
In the nast motorists have done themselves good service by endeavouring as far as possible to write letters to the papers contradicting misstatements, and explaining misunderstandings, but of late the campaign against them has become so inconsistent that the vast majority of them have relinquished the attempt to stem the flood o.f misrepresentation. It is, therefore, all the more necessary that the Royal Automobile Club or the Motor Union should organise a special department, which should be established for the sole purpose of regular and systematic endeavour to contradict all misstatements, and explain all fallacies connected with motoring published in the daily press. There is no doubt that if this work were systematically carried out and cleverly handled by an able staff a. great deal would be done to rectify the harm which has been brought about by prejudiced or thoughtless writers. From recent experiences it is evident that one of the first rules of this department should be that no member of it should take his holiday during the silly season, as we think the whole staff would be required to work overtime during that period, and even then it might be impossible to keep pace with the torrent of misrepresentation which finds its way into so many daily papers during the holidav season.
