The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-02-19
BY HOWARD IL. COFFIN,
Vive-President and Designer, Hudson
Motor Car Company and Builder
nf Eiw Ia m n,iu Cars


of Six Famous Cars.
Behind the scenes during the
creation of new automobile pos
sesses all the fascination of watch
ing the progress of some remarkable
new invention.
There are innumerabIe conferences
over this type of engine and that!
over this type of transmission and
others and over various other parts
of the car--the frame, the ignition,
the myriad types of bodies, the axles.
bearings. lighting and cranking sys-
TENS, wheels, brakes and steering
mechanism. All these ideas are as
simulated much in the manner that a
great case is tried in the courts. They
go on the engineering records.
Various ideas are brought out ana
considered in connection with other
ideas.
Finally, when many different fea-
lures of the car are decided upon,
there comes the work of the drafts
men who draw up cross sections,
front elevations rear elevations and
sketches OF every nut, bolt and part
Of the prospective new automobile.
Then the patterns for each part Of
the new car are MADE.
Putting II Together.
Following this comes the creation
singiy of each part of the new auto
mobile. Then it la put together and
the work for determining its merits
as they shall appear in the hands OF
the motrist commences.
When forty-eight noted motor car
engineers had finished the work of
constructing their composite master
piece. the 1918 Hudson, 1t then be-
came the function OF a well-known
racing driver, to discover the new
creations faults, IL there were any.
Though he started his gruelling
5000 mile abuse of the engineers
masterpiece over year ago, the story
Is now being told for the first time.
With all trade marks stripped from
the car to prevent it's Identification.
the tests were made In comparative
secret.
They have been completed and for
the first time the news of the test
which Is the equivalent of the aver
age motorists 4-year.use of tile New
Hudson "ST," WAS given out.
With the car completed. the racing
tiriyer---wiio has long string of vic.
tories in competition--set out under
instructions to break her to pieces If
you can" Surely no man is better
qualified to follow those instructions
than a daring race driver--who in
500 miles have been known to bring
out a cars defects that would remain
undiscovered through the motorists
entire usage OF the car.
Difference I'm Driving.
Fer II Ia we'll known fact that
the terrific gruelling, pounding and
smashing such a driver can give a
car in a few hundreds of miles is not
equaled by the same number of
thousands of miles in the motorists
hands. And the reason for this fear
full test was merely to discover future
troubles and forestall by proper de-
signing
With fttff load of baggage, he
set out from Detroit for the Allegheny
mountains. He drove at train speed
from Detroit to Pittsburg, $40 miles.
Most motorists take two and some
three days for the same trip.
The route lies over some of the
worst roads In the country. Some of
the, worst grades in America vert
surmounted. The rocky passes with
their terrors for the average driver
were not difficult for the car.
Such famous Pittsburg grades as
Heberton Hill. Center Street Hill and
Union Station Hill were climbed with
ease. Center Street Hill with it's sharp
hairpin turn proved easy. The stamina
of the car was beginning to amaze the
driver.
At the end of several weeks of
steady testing he determined that
upon the return to Detroit he would
give the car such abuse as no car
had ever had before. What lie reputed
to be the worst road in the United
States lies between Toledo, o., and
Detroit. Mich. This was where the