Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1910-03-14
SEVERE TEST IS
PUT TO AUTOS
MUCH TIME is DEVOTED TO
FINDING DEFECTS
Designers for Flanders Car Takes
Chassis Out for Road Work
to Note Wear and Tear
on Machine

DETROIT, March 13.-To timorous
mortals the begoggled automobile
tester who sweeps by like a streak
is an agent of the evil one. To those
who know him at close range he is
real flesh and blood man, with
the same good qualities that are to be
found in others of the race. To
the industry with which he is identi-
fed his services the Indispensable
All cars look good on the showroom
floor or in the garage 1T is when they
get out on the road that the real test
comes, and the task Of tuning them
up and getting them 50 they are fit
for service deVolVes upon the tester.
Even with the most careful construc-
ton there are adjustments that must
be made, the motor must be llmbered
up and the performance of the car
carefully noted that there may be no
complaints once il has left the tac-
tory.
In making these tests there is the
keenest sort Of rivalry among the
hundreds OF men thus employed TO
see which can COnjure up the most
difficult feat and in this manner
demonstrate the inVincibility of his
car. The Weatherman has lent valued
assistance the present winter the
season having been the most severe
in the history of the automobile in
dustry. A dash out into the country
from Detroit in any direction pro-
vided road conditions that could
hardly be worse, while even Belle Isle
and the boulevard furnished tests
calculated to try the best of cars. Up
on Lake St. Clair there have been
races and skidding matches, ana IL
any car managed to get by without
having defects shown UP 1t was not
through lack of opportunity.
These tests mean more than the
nublic generally realizes The day of
the doubtful car is over. The pur-
chaser has to be shown, and the only
way to show him is by producing an
automobile that will stand up. If the
ordeals through which a new model
passes before it is put on the market
were known, they would occasion sur
nrise. In one instance when the tests
of the Flanders "20' were under way,
the designer of the car, James Heas-
lett. himself an engineer OF recog-
nized ability, deliberately set out TO
see If he could break the new ma
chine.
Down a cross road that gave no evil
dence of having been traVefsed since
the last SlOIHls llG ljlull6OA IA'N 49,
sduarelv into a snoWDank well above
the frame Of the machine. There was
a slight jar, a gripping as the car set
tied down TO business, and with one
lunge the bank was cleared. Again
and again the car leaped forward,
eager for the fray, and each time II
emerged victorious. There is an eX-
hilaration about battling with the
snow i'm this manner that takes hold
of You. a combination of doubt and
triumph that makes you forget all
about the cold and attendant discom-
forts. The merry purr of the motor
the swaying motion as the Wheels
force a passage, the uncertainty that
is quickly dispelled, lend fascination
to the snort which makes it worthy a
king, and after the first few attacks
so confident do You become of the
cars ability to go anywhere that
drifts half as high as the fence seem
commonplace, and You long for some
thing to battle with that is worth
while.
Designer Hcaslett has driven every
whore under all conditions, spending
entire days on the road and passing
half the night going over the car to
note whether wear and tear was be-
coming apparent. When finished the
car demonstrated its ability to with
stand the strenuous service.