The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-01-28
TRADE IN AUTOS
IS INCREASING
A. w. STRONG RETURNS FROM
EXHIBIT IN NEW YORK.
Several Manufacturers Sold Out Their
Entire Output and Turned Away
Would-Be Purchasers-Tenden Is
to Lighter Machines With Higher
Power and Heavier Tires.

"A. w. Strong Of the new Strong Au-
tonoplle Manufacturing company,
VINO has just returned from New
iorK' Where he spent considerable
tlme at the automobile show in Madi-
son square Garden, says that all signs
polnt {. TO the most prosperous year In
the history of the automobile trade.
| The show was the biggest ever
heid In America" said Mr.. Strong.
All the main floor of Madison SQUARE
| Gafden was. filled with machines, and
gallery above was crowded with
more machines and with automobile
speclaltles. Another gallery was en-
tlrely given up to specialties. In q
! pig room at one end of the garden
were the exhibits of foreign manufac-
turers. l should say there must have
oeen sixty or seventy-five of these for
e1gn machines alone. Then there was
an overflow exhibit which filled an
otner large auditorium across the way
from Madison Square.
NOT only was the exhibit the larg-
est ever held in this country, but the
amount or business done was phe-
nomenal. Several firms sold out their
entire years output before the show
closed. Some did only a fair bust
ness, and some did no business at
al, but the good machines always
found ready sale. One agent want
ed to buy 200 machines of a certain
make. He offered to pay the cash for
the whole lot then and there, and ac-
cept delivery whenever the factory
could accommodate him, but the Of
Ter was refusid. That is one in
stance of several which show how
Dig a trade the retail dealers and
agents expect this year.
i do not think, from what T saw
IN New York, that the high water
mark has been reached in the auto
mobile business. 1t will be reached in
year or two, perhaps, and the his
tory OF the bicycle trade will be re-
peated. Automobile factories are
springing up like mushrooms, and
overproduction is bound to be the re-
suit of the phenomenal present de-
mand. [ do not think, however, that
we Will see any such cutting Of prices
as was made in the bicycle business,
because the manufacturer now makes
only a reasonable. profit on his ma
chine. But when the novelty of the
thing wears off, the sale of machines
will decrease.
In the commercial world, however,
the automobile trade is still in it's in
fancy. One of those big electric trucks
will do the work of three teams in
delivery work around the city. Autos
are coming into general use for truck
ing and delivery work in Chicago, and
they will soon become popular farther
west.
The 1904 model autos show a ten
dency to lighter but stronger ma
Chimes, with increased power Steel
is being used in various parts of the
frames where iron was employed be-
lore, and armored wood, that is, wood
protected on each side by a thin steel
plate, also is used to great extent in |
the framework. BY perfecting vari- |
Gus details, and using steel or wood !
in place of iron, machines have been
made lighter without sacrificing
strength.
''The power has been increased also,
and the four-cylinder upright engine
is coming into general use. This is
originally French idea, but it has
almost supplanted the two-cylinder
engine. Two-cylinder uprights are al
most unknown, but two-cylinder op-
posing horizontal engines are still !
used. The public is running to big
ger machines, discarding runabouts !
for the more powerful touring cars
or racers. Tires are being made
heavier this year, the manufacturers
having prof1ted by last years expert ;
ence.
Electric and steam rigs are seen
more frequently in the east than in
Minneapolis, but even in New York
twenty gasoline machines are seen to
one electric or steam, except in de-
livery work. The freight trucks, which
are not obliged to go off the pave
ments, can use electricity, but it has
not been found satisfactory for tour
ing cars which travel over the coun-
try roads. The Edison battery, which
was expected to revolutionize the au-
tomobile business, is not highly re-
garded by New York dealers. The
batteries are much lighter, but it
takes twice as many of them to pro-
duce the same power, so that there is
really nothing gained. The only real
advantage Of the new battery is the
practical indestructibility of the
plates, and this is offset by the in
a ,od &C. lie