Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1910-04-01
The Car and What it viii! do.

WITH the crack of a pistol at nine o'clock Of a
" bright, calm, crisp Autumn morning on Oc-
tober Is, 1909, forty-seven automobiles left Her
aid SOU ire with Atlant, the center of the awak-
enlng South, for their goal. Of these cars thir-
ty-eight were contestants and nine non-contes-
ants or officials.
Among the contestants were nine cars in the
Sc, 900 class; four in the 81, 900 class seven in
in the $1,25O class. Each passenger was we'll
prepared, for he knew that it meant a ten-days'
struggle with late fall weather and a battle with
roads of the best and worst, and all the inter-
mediate varieties.
PIONEE OF PROSPERITY.
Unusual in a touring contest of this sort, and
indicative of the interest and enthusiasm with
which the South has taken up the good roads
movement, were the many entries by the cities
along the route and by their boards of trade.
Atlanta, Lynchburg, Va, Charlotte, N. c., Roa-
noke, Va, Moultrie. Ca, Anderson, Ca, Spar
tanburg, S.. c., W~inston-Salem, N. C. and Com
merce, Ca, all were represented in the chug.
ging caravan. All became forerunners of an
era of prosperity and activity, and of free intel-
course with the neighbOring states.
The route covered LOO miles through New
York. New Jersey. Pennsylvania, Maryland,
West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South
Carolina and Georgia The remotest sleeps and
wilds of the Blue Riege Mountains were scaled
by the good roads tourists to the end that the
supremacy OF the American built cars on rough
and rugged American roads might be main
tanned, And, might be expected from a brave.
hardy and big-hearted people, the worse the
roads and the severer the trials the more vocif-
erous were the cheers of the inhabitants of sun
ny Dixie.
A word about the motor RELIABILITY side, and in
the final analysis, this, after all. is what the 1910
buyer of motor cars is essentially interested in.
Under the rigid rules of the contest. and owing
to the severe tests made of all competing cars,
only twenty-six of the thirty-eight starters fin
ished with a perfect road score, twelve contes-
tants having either withdrawn from tee contest
or having been heavily penalized. This is nearly
at a ratio of one car failing to every two cars
which finished with a clean road score.
Among the cars in the $50 0 class that with
drew reluctantly from the strenuous contest was
a big s. due to a broken steering gear and other
mechanical troubles. An o. was heavily pen
allied for miscellaneous road troubles.
In the $4,000 class a T withdrew because of
a broken steering gear and other mechanical
test on account of mechanical troubles.
A big X IN the $4,000 class withdrew be-
cause of a broken throttle rod and miscellaneous
road troubles, and a big o. in the same class
withdrew early in the contest because of various
complications.
Other cars in the $1,000 class either with
drew or were heavily penalized for broken axles,
broken transmission gears, wheels and springs
including other serious defects, thus proving the
car-wrecking test to which every car was Iut
in the ten-days' grind of 1, 100 miles.
THE CLEAN SCORE CARS.
A word about the 26 clean-score cars. Many
of these cars imped into Atlanta with broken or
injured springs. Others had either strained AK
les, wobbly wheels, dilapidated bearings and
gears and various other mechanical blemishes.
The new model $1,25O fOur-cylinder REQ was
awarded a perfect score at the finish, but more
than that, it was in perfect mechanical condition.
1t made the entire run Of 4, 100 miles, through nine
Mr.. Shannon had Mr.. E. E. Jacoway, expert mach;
this car, and his report is that for the.price the car can
W w CHA