The Washington times., 1909-09-27
AMERICAN AUTOS
THE BEST OF ANY
R. D. Chaplin, of Chalmers
Detroit Co., Compares Ma
chimes Here and Abroad.

r. d. Chaplin, treasurer and general
manager of the Chalmers-Detroi Motor
Company. has Just returned from a two
months trip abroad in the course OF
which he visited various automobile
I factories. and studied conditions gen.
/ orally in the automobile industry. He
also attended the ~aeroplane rarnfval at
Rheims.
Our business depression Of 1901 af-
fected the automobile INDUSTRY in
Europe rather seriously. as or course
the panic was reflected in the business
Of ali European countries" said Mr..
Chaplin. The industry IS again just
coming into it's own over there. how
ever. n the big companies which are
producing wel-made cars are all busy.
L went through the facto or almost
every large manufactures IN Europe,
and found that as a rule they are
equipped with very fine machinery. and
apable of turning out Pfgh quality
cars. Almost without exception the
plants are Of single story construction
whereas our most modern type OF
American automobile factory cOnstruc-
ton is OF the REINFORCED concrete three
or fOur-stOTied type
Unfortunately for the European man
ufacturer his home demand is limited.
and IL is very hard 10 attain a large
volume Of business. The figures 1 gave
them as TO the size of the production of
some OF u large manufactures seem
ed incredible. and il was hard 10 convince
them that the American public would
buy such a tremendous numbe o. cars.
over here, every American thinks he
must own some type Of automobile.
whereas sales on the other side are
confined 10 the Weather classes. For
this reason, the European manufaC-
turer today hnds it difficult to approx
mate the value for the price in his
cars which IS 10 be had in America.
Volume of Business.
This result the American makers OBJ
tain through spreading the overhead ex-
pense Of their factories over a great
production. so that the actual charge
per car is smaller compared with u
foreign brothers. Nowhere is this so
much in evidence as with our light
American cars sold at a moderate price.
Tor where our factories make thousands
OF cars yearly. theirs make hundreds.
ina a decided tendency 10 use
CHASSIS OF small horsepower for closed
cars. The closed car is used entirely
for town work. and they figure that
the motor Of moderate size affords am
pie power for town requirements.
Few new types of cars are being
produced Standardization seems to be
approaching. The SIX~-cyIiuder motor
does not create as much interest rs
IT did two years ago., and the most
prominent manufacturer of six-cvlinder
cars over there Is today producing
pFOOdOtE from TWO 70 three times as
many fou~r-cylinder chassis as he is
Of six.
I was much impressed with the great
variety OF max in which the fou~-
cylinders were cast together. Almost
all of the small cars of the prominent
makers have their cylinders made IN
this way. I anticipate that the Amer
lean designers will use his conSuruc-
ton more and more every year. Amony
those who are building cylinders cast
IN one piece are the Panhard. Fiat,
Napier. Hotchkiss. Darracq, Charron,
Clement, and the IsOtta.
Taxicabs IN London.
everybody knows. the streets Of
London. Paris, and Berlin are flooded
with taxicabs. Rates Of fare over there
are cheaper than with us and. owing 70
the rapiditv Of this means Of lOcOmotion.
tsXicabs are exceedingly popular.
European manufacturers and mer-
chants are more progressive than those
in America in the adoption Of the com.
mercial car. I should say that more
than - per cent Of all the motor cars
i'm England and France are used for
commercial purposes Motor Omnibuses
are seen everywhere in the larger cities
Motor trucks are rapidly replacing horse
drawn trucks here and the quick trans