Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-02
CARS OF MANY KINDS
Automobile Club Opens Its Show
in New York.
AIRSHIP EXHIBIT AS WELL
Speciality Being Made of Runabouts
This Year.
MAGNETIC IGNITION POPULAR
Two-Thirds Of the Exhibits Are From
American Firms-Twenty For
eign Makers Participate.
IGNITION POPULAR
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, December LATTER having
received a sort of official stamp of ap-
prevail from the several thousand en-
thusiasts who were present at the private
view for members in the afternoon the
seventh annual automobile show Of the
Automobile Club of America was opened
tonight in the Grand Central Palace, at
Lexington avenue and 43d street. Long
before the doors were opened there were
hundreds of people lined up outside the
doors of the building. while the number of
automobiles and carriages in the near
by streets made the locality resemble the
neighborhood of a theater where some pop
ular star was about to launch a new play.
1t was the opinion of the show committee
of the A. c. A., Gen. George Moore Smith,
William Pierson Hamilton and Alan r.
Hawley. that December was the proper
month in which to hold an exhibition of
automobiles and accessories, which opinion
was acquiesced in by the American Motor
Car Manufacturers Association, which
contracted for a large block of space for
it's members. There are thirty-nine firms
holding membership in this organization of
makers, which assured the success of the
show in advance by taking $4,000 square
feet of space to be apportioned among it's
members. The decorations are simple and
quiet, partly in response to a belief that
elaborate decorations detract the attention
of visitors from the exhibits.
Aero Club Exhibil.
Altogether there are more than go ex-
hibitors in the show, of whom eighty-five
are showing automobiles. In the automo-
bile division the exhibits Of American cars
number sixty-five, the other twenty being
products of English, French, German and
italian factories. The pleasure vehicles have
the main floor all to themselves, and in
fact there some exhibits of machines
of this type on the gallery floor in addi-
ton to those on the main floor. CONNER
cal cars and motorcycles are also shown
on the gallery floor, as well as most of the
exhibits of tires and accessories, though
several accessory firms have been forced
to be content with spaces in the visitors
gallery. The large exhibit of the Aero
Club of America and the moving pictures
of the Vanderbilt cup race and other land
and aerial contests are in rooms above the
gallery floor on the 44th street side of the
building.
One of the most noticeable things about
the show is the great number Of concerns
that are showing high-powered runabouts,
not classes of their regular models
fitted with runabout bodies, but
specially designed machines having
much shorter wheel bases than those
Of the regular touring cars made
by the firms producing these automobiles
built for two" though to be sure in some
cases there is rumble seat provided for
a chauffeur.
Magnetic Ignition.
In direct contrast to the runabouts that
were the first products turned out by so
many American manufacturers, the rum
abouts that are displayed are not built to
satisfy any demand for lower medium
priced vehicle. but In many instances are
catalogued at prices equal to or even higher
than those asked for touring cars Of similar
horsepower and larger passenger capacity.
In the touring car division the machine
with a seating capacity for seven passen-
gers seems to be the most popular type in
cars that have high horsepower ratings,
and are sold for enough money to warrant
the maker in fitting them up luxuriously.
The use of the magnetic for ignition has
made great strides, and a great many ma
chimes, particularly those not Of the me-
dunn or fow-priced variety, are fitted with
either high or low tension gear driven
maRnetOS.