El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-10-26

~ buying an automobile the first
consideration is. or should De-
Il service. In other words, the care
- t,,var will figure out calmly and
5eIiberateIy: What do I get IN return -
20 nv money2 What car viii give
me the greatest amount Of service an
satisfaction for the price an 49,
ing to pay2 Before you can reach
a conclusion it will be necessary "
determine lust what is meant by tASR
word service and satisfaction
The writer recently heard man
who was asked how he liked ms car
He replied it was fine and Ihat ne
was well satisfied with It. he was
then asked how long he mad oWhe1
it and his reply was about a year
Being asked whether he hao ever 10 10
it overhauled he replied, three
Now this owner either had very
peculiar idea as to the meaning OF me
word satisfied, or else ne 49, lq ~
know what real automobile satlsIac-
ton was. His knowledge Of autoIlOI5
biles was limited, otherwise ne WouIu
have known that a car which hao 70
be overhau1ed three times IN one yea
or twice in that time, was lar rom De
inc what owners would regard as
fine" or satisfactory.
Things are good or bad, satisfactory
or otherwise, only by com l.oii /
Years ago the automobile which Wouia
actually run even some Of the time
was great and the owners were en-
thusiastic over it. The same peopIe
TODAY would not have the same car as
a gift on the other hand there are
stiU some people who are satls1led
with that kind of a car, Tor the very
simple reason that their experience
has been confined to that class OF
car and they have not gone deep
enough in their Investigations to dis
cover that much better cars are 10
be had
nv leans and bounds. It has grown
more rapidly than any other in the
worlds history The demand for auto
mobiles has been much greater than
there have been good automobiles 10
supply the demand, and the result
has been that many concerns started
in to build cars who had but a lin
tied knowledge on the subject and
when il came to giving the service
which the buyer was naturally en-
titled to, the cars were found sadly
wanting
There is no piece OF machinery or
article Of commerce Of any kind to-
day which requires greater skill and
manufacturing ability than the con-
struction of automobiles. Yet you see
evidences OF inefficiency, shortcOm-
ings and disappOintments on every
side. There are in America more
than 200 producers OF automobiles
Some are producers in fact, who actu-
ally manufacture the car; others-and
the majority are here incIuded-simply
buy the parts, here, there and every
where, and simply put them TO-
As Indicated at the outset, an auto
mobile is bought primarily for serT-
ice-fOr what it viii do and what II
VIII give in return for the money paid
for it-and the satisfactory manner
in which that service is rendered. New
automobiles can be bought at almost
any price the buyer wants to pay,
from few hundred up to $1,000 or
more. Practically every one Of them,
to hear their makers tell it. is the
best" but as they cannot all be best,
somebody must be wrong.
I win not attempt to go into details
as to the merits or dement's Of the
various cars, particularly when ii is
well known that I am one of those !
who claim to have the best" and L |
may not be so far from the truth !
when considering the fact that there I
are many people who agree with me; /
but the object of this article is to give /
information why it is better to buy
high grade used car, particularly one
which has been thoroughly Overhauled
under the dealers supervision, than a
new car at equal price. I therefore re-
peat, the actual value OF an automobile
IS determined by the service it will
render and the degree of satisfaction
in which that service is rendered
You cannot get something for nothing.
cheap automobile is a cheap auto
mODlle. IN the very nature of things
it cannot be anything else. It is in
tended to be sold at a low price and
1t must be made accordingly.
The high grade car is equipped with
a high grade engine, and with mod
crate attention such an engine will
give years Of faithful service. The
materials in such engine are the best
that money can buy, are properly Sc
lected, constructed by skilled mechan-
les and what applies to the engine
may be said to cover the entire mech
anism Of the car. Parts are made
with the idea to reducing friction
brought down to one-thousandth part
of an inch of perfection-a mechani-
cal accuracy almost ineonceivable, yet
an absolute fact.
When such car has been used for
two OF three years and is given 2
thorough notwithstanding tight
ened, parts renewed where required,
repainted and the upholstery gone
over-such car is virtually as good
as when it first left the manufactUr-
er's hands and is good for many years
of service-hard serVice-reaI service.
The matter Of adjustments to COM
pensate for year in automobiles is a
vital feature In it lies the difference