New-York tribune., 1910-01-11
TIM ELY AUTO TOPICS
WANT CHEAPER CARS.
Winner of Vanderbilt Cup at
the Garden Shoe.

II is a mistake 10 suppose tndt the pur-
chasing public will follow styles in motor
cars which created for them without
consulting their own desires. according to
Arthur NJ. Day, president of the A Elliott
Ranney Company The public. as rule,
has way of expressing its desires in ad-
vance in no uncertain terms and the man
who is trying to market a product which
does not meet this average desire must
seek isolated instances in order to make
his sales. and he finds this particularly
bard TO do Mr.. Day added. in talking on
this subject at the show in the Garden
yesterday:
Almost every automobile agent selling a
car around 800 or 5000 has had hundreds
of well-to-do persons come into his sales
rooms, look carefully over the car. ex-
anime it. not only with a critical eye but
with every evidence of knowing motor car
value and tnen go away and buy
they did not believe in making so large
ali investment
When this sort of thing happens several
hundred times-as happen il does in the
course OF a season-it is a tremendous in
centive for the agent to seek high grade
car OF lower price; even to the extent
OF pledging the purchase of several hun
dreds of them to a manufacturer who can
make such cars of standard grade.
The a. Elliott Ranney Company was
identified for years with standard make.
four-cyinder touring car. selling at $3.50.
We were literally forced by the public into
changing our line and selling a high grade
car of lower price Yet we could not find
car selling at a low price of a grade suff-
ciently high to meet the standard which
we feit we had set in the motor car mar
ket, and IL was not until the Hudson Motor
Car Company produced its phenomenal
HUDSON roadster that we found a car OF
the highest grade appearance, design. me-
chanical excellence and performance quality
necessary to our standard, and still selling
al less than half the money of the car We
had been handling.
Harry F. Grant of Boston. who drove
the Alec car to victory in the Vanderbilt
Cup race last fall, arrived at the show yes
terday. and during the rest of the week he
will make his headquarters at the Alec
booth, where the cup and his racing car
are both being exhibited
Grants regular occupation is that OF a
salesman in Boston. but when asked about
the prospect OF. his being in the racing
game next year he said that he expects to
do more racing than ever and hopes TO win
the Vanderbilt Cup second time.
Grant has modest way of talking that
is decidedly prepossessing. He says he
considers that he had an advantage over
the other drivers, because he was not in
any way anxious about a front tire burst
ing and the car turning over. II drove
that same car on the track at Readville''
said Grant, land twice had front tires
burst when I was running a high speed
on the turns. If ever IL was going to turn
over it would have done so then. but IL is
too low built and we'll balanced to turn
over, except in a ditch. Feeling this way
about my car, could drive with no worry
about front tire bursting and with a con-
sequent ease of mind that is as unusual as
1t is advantageous
Two new models al the show which at
tracted attention We're the Riverside and
the Dreadnought shown by Palmer &
Singer. The Riverside is a two-seated run
about. fully enclosed The dash is con-
tinued far up. making strong wind shield,
and the steering tube follows the line of
the dash at an extreme angle. The body is
nodded aluminium and the levers are out
side, the body being curved in to allow of
easy operation. The runabout has only one
door. on the left hand side. The back of
the car is finished in true torpedo lines
with gasolene tank behind the seat, tire
carriers and locker room at the back
The Dreadnought suggests in its lines the
power and swiftness of its namesake. 1t
has victoria top. and is finished in pig
skin. The body is in French gray. with
black streakinss, and has an oil finish.
which makes 1t exceedingly difficult 10
scratch. The car is completely inclosed.
and each of the four seats is reversible
and removable. This allows lunch 10 he
served in the car The control levers are
inside. and the car is fitted with electric
sidelghts and gas headlights.
That New York motorists will velcome
innovation as soon as its practical
side is seen was shown at the show
yesterday, when the big siX-cyIinder
66-horsepower touring landau, on exnibi-
ton at the Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Com
pany's space, was sold soon after the open-
ing of the doors. The car was bought nv
a New York man, who intends to use II for
touring purposes.
The exterior finish of the car is a golden
yellow. with black moulding the interior
being trimmed in brown Cordovan leather.
The car is fitted with all the toilet acces-
sories that might prove useful on long
trips. Among these are a folding wash
basin, built along yachting lines, mirrors
and several compartments for linen of
various sorts. Under the rear seat is q
luncheon kit for six persons At the hack
OF the car is a large baggage boat holding
three special trunks, and two more trunks
find space on top. The chauffeur's trunk
fits into another compartment under the