New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-11-09
STREAM LINE BODIES A
DOMINANT SHOW FEATURE
Have Been Studied and Bettered
in Many Ways for the
Coming Season.
NO CORNERS TO BE FOUND
Entire Effort Has Been to Pre-
sent Rounded Surfaces, with
All Hinges and Locks
Out of Sight.

That there has been a considerable step
forward in many lines affecting the auto
mobile cannot be doubted, and evidence
Of the progress made during the last
year will be revealed comprehensively at
the Palace Show during the week OF
January to TO- Mechanical improve
ments Of many sorts have been added to
the 1914 cars. and these, together with
the wide variety Of bodies which car
manufacturers are offering on their new
tvpes undoubtedly will be the features
which will attract the greatest attention
at the show.
Charles T. Duryea, a technical expert
who has been identified with the automo-
lille industry since its inception, has
made a brief forecast of what the makers
will offer in body improvements for next
season. Says Mr. Duryea:
'In the early days Of the industry the
automobile was a single shape and style
vehicle. A car had to be red and had TO
have a rear door or IT was not admitted
in society circles. The gasolene ana
electric propelled machines were then
purely vehicles for pleasure and display,
and their use was confined principally to
good roads in fair weather. AS the mo-
tor car became more widely used II was
fitted with bodies adapted 10 daily use.
and the process has been going forward
ever since.
ITO many motor car users the body Is
the whole thing. This they see, ride in.
talk about and enjoy. The faithful en-
CINE that pulsates under the hood may
be more necessary to their enjoyment
than the body, but, being out of sight 1t
Is out Of mind.
This year bodies are being given more
attention than ever. Inside and out, fore
and aft, top and bottom. the body is be-
ing studied and bettered. Perhaps II Is
only a line changed or a shade Of color
has been modified. Maybe little OF
the width at the seats has been added TO
the dash or the curves have been made
more graceful.
The half top OF last year has become
the full top of this season. The crude
protection from the weather of other years
has become the finished product OF this.
The quick detachable, or folding, curtains
form a noticeable contrast to the separate
and detached one Of the past, when one
got wet trying to get up his curtain that
he might keep dry.
1T may be that most Of these things
are only details, but perfection Is made
up Of details, and the seeker for infor-
nation concerning the product OF the com
ing year must be prepared TO see Infinite
pains taken with details. Only In this way
can superior goods be built UP. Motor
cars for 1914 are simply step forward
over all that has gone before. They
must be seen side by side in order that
their comparative beauties may be fully
grasped and appreciated.
an general, bodies have been rounded
out, until there is,hardly corner or pro-
lection in sight on the outside, yet there
is not the freakish boat or fish shape
commonly supposed TO represent stream
lines. The dash has practically dsap-
peared, so far as the outside Is concerned
There is, Of course, a break at the juno
ton Of the hood with the cowl, but the
tendency is TO obliterate this and present
a smooth surface to the air as the vehi-
Gle speeds on its way. The body sides
and doors have been brought up till even
the seats are not prominent, and the sides
Of the body form an almost straight line
the full length Of the body.
The hinges and locks are OF the con-
cealed variety, and even the vacuum once
formed at the rear has been largely re-
leved by filling this space with an ex-
tended rear end, in which tires and sup
plies are carried. No longer does the
tire al the side suggest tire trouble nor
does II interfere with ingress and egress'
II interfered with stream lines. ana ID
much better out Of sight at the back.
Pans underneath and tops overhead all
fall into this general scheme or smootn'
rounded beauty. Harmonizing with them
is the finish. Quiet colors on beautifully
smoothed surfaces. brought out with JUST
a touch OF nickel seems to be the thins
nowadays. No longer does the gaudy
brass prominent at every joint oifeno
both the eye and the sense OF fitness.
Nickel is practically non-corrosive,
and, with a white finish to the parts that
must be made with metal fnish' is not
only more beautiful, but is easily kept So
The general effect in motor cars is 10
combine beauty. taste. service, speed ana
ether desired features in one harmonious
whole.