rrt a,r EotToF Maurlce A. Smith D.F.c. SPORTA EOTTOR Peter Garnier a8atETANT EDtToRa Leonard A. Ayton, Ronald Barker M!DLAND EDITOR EdWATd EVEE ART EDIToF Howard Vyse ro APRTL t964

mANAOtNO DIBEOToR H. N. Prlaulx rn.a.e.

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Steamed Up About

No Heat

TT is scarcely conceivable that today we should need I to write .g"io .Uoo, heaters on cars exported to I cold countries, but we continue to receive complaints, particularly from the United States and Canada.

This urinter we have tested a number of cars in England some of which had heaters barely adequate even for our 0-5 deg. C. climate. Not all the fault lies with the heaters; part of the trouble is the slow warmup of the engines and the fact that in winter they seldom exceed or even reach the low mark of the normal running temperature band on the gauge. On the other hand, the heater of the American Ford Falcon we tested in December was pushing out a stifling amount of heat within a couple of miles of a cold start. We wrote, in December, that its blast should qualify for a name such as Hilda or Geny, like a hurricane. The heater on the big, beefy Kaiser Villys Wagoneer now in our car park is like a small gas turbine exhausting into the car-minus the JP.3 fumes, of course.

Since, to quote from letters, the absence of an efficient heater has iust lost rwo otherw,ise firm orders for cars, one cannot doubt that prospective owners in America feel very strongly about the matter. Canadian sales organizations have also sent us copies of letters that they have written to the manufacturers they represent, pleading for better heating. This week we have been sent a copy of a letter from Milwaukee to a reader in this countr5 who had asked his American colleague why he did not purchase a British car. Here are extracts from the reply:

" The basic problem is that the standard English heater is inadequate for this climate and the manufacturers refuse to fit adequate heaters which Smiths have available." " The starter is generally inadequately powered for our cold." The writer adds that he has had experience of M.G., Hillman, Jaguar, Sunbeam, Austin-Healey, Triumph and Vauxhall cars. He continues by mentioning a German car which he had considered but which also "does not have a real heater " and says that he has bought a Volvo. He concludes: "the reason I explain all this is the hope that $ome day the word will get back to the British manufacturers, loud and clear, so they will rectify the

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Mighty cold in Maine situation and I can revert to my inclinations [to buy Britishl."

There does not seem to be anything for'us to add, except perhaps to mention that if, for some reason, it is still impracticable to fit a more powerful heater as standard equipment on cars exported to cold countries, there are precedents for offering an auxiliary heater as a listed and approved extra.

CO'tTEilTA

Holtdoy Trovel Tolk E. Africon Sofori Report .. Sunbeom Tiger 250 Rood lest; Ford Zephyr 6 Automotlc Old Curtositles IIIGB ond Victor Cutowoys Colour Comero Spreod " Ports of Holland " . Comping ond Plcnic Equipment .. Disconnected Jottings New Products .. Correspondence News ond Views Ihe Sport .. Pou G.P. G.T. Ford .. Circuit of lrelond . . lmproved Cor: Shorrocks VW 1200

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