The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1908-12-05
AMERICA SUPREME IN BUILDING OF
LIGHT MOTOR CARS, SAYS EXPERT

"In small. light motor cars American
manufacturers have chance OF lead
ing European makers. In the heavy
the United States"
This was the statement made yester-
day by David Beecroft. chairman of the
Motor club. after watching the interna-
tional automobile races at Savannah.
1T was evident In the contest or
small cars, raced of the day before the
Grand Prix at Savannah, that had the
American manufacturers taken the
most ordinary precautions to have their
machines In shape for the struggle an
American car would have WIN. Ameri-
can cars had greater horsepower than
the foreign entrants but were handled
miserably.
Take. for instance. the case OF the
Chalmers Detroit. entered by Bergdoll.
OF Philadelphia. Under the rules OF
the race. issued months before the con-
test was run, II was founu that the
not meet the specifications, being too
large. Instead OF hustling and getting
new cylinders made I'm time to brc~k
them In on the car before the race,
reach Savannah until the day before
the race and the new, cylinders were
not put on until the night before.
"of course, the engine heated when
pounded at the speed needed for such a
race. IL Is no discredit to American
cars that they overheated under these
conditions; II Is the makers themselves
the only offender in failing to take ad-
vantage OF his opportunity. There were
some others who tried TO work In new
cylinders for the first time when the
race started and soon had to drop out
on account of overheated engines
On wednesday evening the Flat
Automobile Co gave a dinner In New
York city in honor Of Louis Wagner.
winner Of the Grand Prix race at Sa-
vannah. Ca, and his teammates. Felice
Navarro and Ralph DE Parma. All or
the foreign drivers Ina the city at the
time, most OF whom were TO sail for
home the next day, were present. In
cluded In the number being Hemery, Du-
ray. Rigal. Szisz, Hautvast, Cagno.
the distinguished guests Wvre Sig. @.
Coltelletti,. delegate TO the race from
the Royal italian Automobile club;
Cesare. Cont. the italian banker: l..
the correspondent who accompanied
Prince Borghese on the memorable au-
tomobile trip from Pekin to Paris; VIC
tor Breyer. OF LAuto. Paris. and Robert
committee OF the Automobile Club OF
America. Russell A. Field acted as
POSTMASTER.
italian. French and English, WAS one
of congratulation to the Flat company
for Its victory and praise for the perfect
handling OF the race at savannah.
Before the dinner the Fiat company
presented Wagner. as reminder OF his
victory. n beautiful solid gold huntin z
case watch suitably inscribed.
Ford catalogues In Russian, In Span
fish. I'm French. and In Dutch for the
straits settlements. have already been
received by the. editor, while cata-
logues for several other nationalities
are in course OF preparation. We have
also received a copy OF the English
edition, printed In London. Ford cars
are sold In more languages than any
other car. but In all languages it's
"Ford."-Ford Times.
A letter from the Goodyear Tire A.
Rubber Co. says: II - =
We are rather interested In an
article you recently published entitled
Air Expands, Explodes Tires which IN
misleading and erroneous for the rea-
son that YOU make no distinction be-
tween Initiating bottles or tanks which
contain gas and those which contain
compressed air.