The Washington times., 1913-02-08
Chap Who Buys One Nowadays
Has Too Much Done for Him
Beforehand, He Thinks.
PLEASURE IN KNACK OF
MEETING EMERGENCIES
Saving Spark Plugs and lmpro-
vising Repairs From TrifIes
Part of Long Experience.

"A cnaD VINO Guys d CIR nO"dudSS
misses half the fun Of motoring" re-
marked the old motorist, as he puttered
lovingly over his engine, In which he
had Just adjusted a new spark plug.
He held the old one up as he spoke.
Take that plug, for instance he
continued. There's nothing the matter
with 1t except it's badly carbonized. and
the points need 10 be separated
little. Otherwise. it's just as good as
new
He put the plug carefully away, at
tached his magnetic wire to the new one,
and went around to crank his engine.
half turn started the engine OF at
steady purr, and he climbed into the
driving seat motioning his friend to get
IN beside him
Tn fix that plug when We get back
holding you up now, but it'll only take
fve minutes. and that's a dollar saved"
why, the last fellow / rode with
took out two of those things and threw
them away" remarked his friend. II
didn't know that they were any good.
and he didn't appear to. either"
We'll, perhaps they weren't" said
the old motorist. They might have been
broken, but It's dollars to doughnuts
that little cleaning and a readjust-
ment of the points would have made
them work Your friend was no old
timer, III wager.
Engine His Old Friend.
That's the trouble with these new
owners. Everything is done for you
before you get into a car. and gen.
orally they're done so well that You
may drive for months and never get
TO know your machine I know every
n hnl II po{,
and I are old friends and there are
mighty few things that can happen.
even on the road, which would send
me TO q repair-shop. OF course break
might lay me UP, but I'll venture
there's no adjustment I can't make as
well az a garage man, and as 20. i'm
promptu repairs on the road, I'll bet
can lay II over any ordinary mechanic.
There's nothing like experience to teach
you"
The car was skimming swiftly and
cas- ly along when there came a jolt.
seemingly from the rear, and the old
notorist pulled up sharp with a pres
sure Of the brakes which halted the
machine IN a dozen feet
g 'Puncture In the rear" he explained.
rs he killed the engine. and jumping
out, started In a busfnessike way 10
jack up the rear wheel. Presently he
and once more the TT p was resumed.
Take that puncture." he remarked
presently. after he had settled COM
fortably back in his seat. That didn't
take us 1--WE minutes. all told. More
OF these modern improvements. De-
mountable rims are certainly great time
savers and trouble savers, but they'll
never give me the feeling OF complete
satisfaction which an old clincher once
afforded me.
Had to Use Cracker Box.
''1 was making run 10 Gettysburg.
my first long run, and among some of
the few things which forgot on that
IT p were an extra shoe and all OF my
tools. Everything went well TIL j got
to Frederick, and then one OF the front
shoes blew out. The wonder was that
I wasn't ditched. for / wasn't much Of
q driver But l kept the car on the
road, stopped II. and hoped out to
examine The damage.
"Pd changed a few tires, and i'd
had couple OF blowouts, so 1 knew
what to do. II was when I came to
90 It that / was stumped. 1 had a
Jack. How l came to remember that
/ don't know. But there wasn't an Z
blowout patch in the car. It looked
70 me as u ! was & up AGAINST It Well.
out for fifteen minutes before I had en
Inspiration. and then ! went over to a
grocery store near by and bought
Scent tin of crackers You know the
been putting out for the last few years: |
] didn't want the crackers. but I did |
want the tin. |
Il took the cover broke off the edgea |
which hac been turned down and we've |
sharp. and then bent my strip of tin |
into a half cylinder. There was as |
good blowout patch as you would |
ask At least II carried me into st ,
Joseph without further trouble, AMI
there got new shoe. l felt as proud
OF that tin blowout patch as Edison
could possibly have felt over the phono-
graph. and It's a sensetion one OF your
present-day motorists could never /
The old motorist was in a rem.nIs.
Il was thinking of the time / got
home on cents worth OF gum and
unused That was In nv very srst
days OF motoring and the chariot which
] used TO spend most Of my time polish
ing was cne-lung affair That car
vas the apple of my eye, and I'll never
Of '''''N 40 '''D''
Used Stem of His Pipe.
IT was on my wsy back from a trip
TO Atlantic City I'd gone all the way
TO Belair ar the little old bus had done
splencidly throughout the trip. l had
reached a stretch of lonesome road
when the engine began 10 spIutter and
finally died out under me. took a look
az the gas, first thing of the reel. for
there had been other times when I'd
neglected this important item. But no.
had all the gas / needed this time
Well, I turned her over g. dozen times
without getting a kick, and then
looked at my batteries. Everything that
! could see seemed to be all right until
noticed stream running down be-
meath the car. II was gasoline, and an
instant later ] discovered that the feed
pipe running from the tank TO the car
bpretor had broken of close TO the tank.
Il tried TO make a repair, but the
break was a jagged one. The pipe
simply wouldn't stay In the hole In the
tank where IT previously had screwed.
The threads we're gone and there was
nothing to hold IL. ! got out all the
stun had In the car without discover
Ing anything ! could Use and sat down
and lii my pipe to think II over. II was
the pipe which gave me the idea on
which ] finally got home. II was