The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1904-09-19

a 6liH IuTIHST QeIitdlQ IOE tIle LouAAll5
car, the four cylinder engine ana more
comfortable bodies all around. This Is
not all, however. ....
= The demand for comfort and ease has
grown with what 1t fed upon and there
are other demands looking toward the
production Of a far higher type Of ve-
hicle. These demands are being heard
and the move OF the makers toward
meeting them is working the most note
worthy changes yet in the general char
acter Of the motor vehicle. First
among these demands has been that for
the abolition OF the back door entrance
to the tonneau and the. substitution Of
a side door, in order that the auton1o-
bile may come up to the curb and the
carriage stone for its women passengers
like respectable family vehicle, In
stead Of backing up for them, as does a
hearse or police patrol, or having
them step into the filth Of the roadway
in order to enter through that back
door which now prevails in touring
cars. The demand for side entrance
has grown with a bound within the
year since some assertive patrons Of the
motor car demanded it and some clever
body builders showed how it could be
done. The introduction Of a side en-
trance to touring car involves
longer wheel base and this works to-
gether with the first demand In bring
ing greater comfort, for with the longer
wheel base the car is made easier rid
ing and the room within the tonneau is
increased.
Most interesting of all the changes,
being presently wrought are those seek
ing the protection of the riders from the
wind and dust and rain, because in this
is found the most marked step away
from the idea Of attomobiiing as
sport, something thatinvolves exposure
and some fortitude. First came the
canopy top. a plain roof on slender up-
rights conferred over the body of the car
in a way that renders it device that
should be of greatest service at noon
day in the tropics, when the rays Of
the sun are absolutely vertical, To the
canopy top were added the adjustable
window in front and the rolling cur-
tains at the side. but as every one
knows who has ridden in clash top
buggy. or, an open trolley car. these
things leak-they leak wind and dust
and rain, or whichever may be most
pressing from without. In competition
with the canopy top there was intro
duced this season the Cape top, named
because of its adoption from the vehi-
cles used at Cape Colony, a huge clash
top, with back and sides in one piece,
which does not leak but frankly makes
! no pretence of sneltering those beneath
it from wind or rain that drives from
in front Furthermore, it lis literal
drawback because of the way 1t catches
the. wind.
In pleasant weather dust is the one
great bane of autonobiling. 1t detracts
SO heavily from the pleasure OF this
mode of travel that a number of those
with wide experience have decided that
there are, about only four months in
the year when automobiling can be
thoroughly enjoyable, and those the
comparatively dustless months Of
spring and fall--April and May, October
and November. = u
None of the popular appurtenances
vet devised affords satisfactory protec-
ton from dust, which filters in through
minutest crevices. The dust pal1opiy.
spread out at forty-five degrees from
the rear upper edge of.the tonneau the
canopy top, glass front and curtains
and the great hood Of the cape top have
all had their uses and yield their motIi
cum of improvement In the direction of
comfort vet have all proved inadequate
to keep pace with the demand for
greater comfort, for ease, for positive
luxury, which is subtly supplanting the
exultation in the hardihood demanded
by a wide open car fsE
Throughout the procession of the de-
vices mentioned there has been in scatit
use a style of automobile which does
sufficiently protect the occupants, but
1t has been scorned as too effeminate
by the general run of, autorno bilists.
Still, In the flush of the first enthusiasm
the type of completely enclosed body
known as the Limousine has been
deemed as fit only for tenderfeet and
women. Yet the limousine type of body
is the only one vet devised for touring
cars of the road that yields real protec-
ton just as the coupe, which has grown
so popular, affords proper shelter for
winter transit about town.
d A few limousine bodies have been
made by American manufactures and.
quite a number imported. They are
more expensive and are generally built
only to- order, and orders for them are
not sought, because to turn aside for
one or a few special styles Interrupts
the rapid progress and greater profit in
factory where certain fixed types are
being produced in quantity. Yet there
is no mistaking that along with the de-
mand for the side door entrance and
other attributes of convenience ana
comfort there is a slowly increasing de-
mand for limousine bodies, which por-
tends striking change in the charac-
ter Of the motor vehicle to be found on
the road in the near hereafter.
1t would seem unquestionabIe also
that if the automobile is to become the
vehicle of permanent utility and gene
raj serviceability which is being conce-
ded to be its province and its destiny,
the notifications must he mada which