Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-05-02
IN MOTOR
CARS A M|SNOMER'
Motor Cars Only Human Says
Elmer Apperson in Review of
Manufacturer Claims

THAT to err is human is, as old as |
human knowledge" says Elmer APP
person, pioneer motor car manufac- |
turer and president of the Apperson
Bros. Automobile Co., at Kokomo, |
Ind. why then this far-flung adver-
tising cry of perfection Read the
automobile sections of any Sunday pa
per- A perfect motor perfectly
noiseless,' no need for\ repair man.
the highest point in motor car effi-
cheney now reached Stuff and nom
sense.
What does the Standard Dictionary
say of perfection? That degree of
completeness in which nothing essen
tial or desira BILE is lacking; the high
est attainable degree of development
And on top of that the philologist tells
us that perfection in anything is mani
festly impossible.
Il believe that we are building an
efficient motor car-one that repre-
sents honest value-but it is far from
perfect. If the Apperson Jack Rab-
bit or any other car were So I'd be
ready and willing to pass into the au-
tomobile discard. In fact, I'd have to-
If built perfect car what further
would there be left for me to do?
Pleasure comes in the hope of at
talnment-not in attainment itself
And frankly, l personally get more
real pleasure out of the struggle to
add some new refinement or mechan-
zeal feature than l get satisfaction
when 1t is an assured fact. If but one
other manufacturer reached perfec-
ton. the rest of us would be dead ones
! in ten days And, If as many ever do
reach that point as already claim that
they have-the situation would indeed
be APPALLING.
But the perfection-attained manu-
facturer argues, This is selling talk;
selling argument. We know we haven't
attained the perfect car-far from it.
We realize our shortcomings. But why
let the public know it? If we can
make them believe through our ad-
VertlsementS that we are perfect
think of the sales value!' Rubbish!
In the first place, I'd hate to think
the American motor buying public is
that many kinds of blithering idiot;
and secondly, there never was SELL
ing argument worth a continental but
what was based on absolute fact.
q Think, too, of the effect on the
buyer and later the effect on those of
us who claim only efficiency compat-
lble with present cay knowledge. Mr..
Jones plteS. he buys perfect car,
paying, incidentally, an extra hundred
for having been so consistently told so.
Jones never had car before. What
he doesn't know about running one
would make the Encyclopedia Brit
tanica look like McGuffeys Fourth
Reader. But he learns to drive quick.
YIN more ways than one. He slams
the car on high at everything he sees.
Figures that first and second speed
shifts are for women only Beats
1t up and down the boulevards at the
limit of speed and power all the time.
Something just naturally has to give
mo matter what--and in he comes to
the dealer with an awful roar. The
dealer tries to pacify him, knowing
primarily that it is the drivers own
fault or carelessness. But says Jones,
you told me this car was perfect
would never give a moments trouble
was absolutely fool proof-all the
company's catalogs and advertisements
say So
DO you get the point? Either the
dealer or the manufacturer makes an
adjustment not fair to himself-or he
doesn't. In either case Jones from
that time on feels that everyone con-
nected with the industry is no less
than first cousin to Munschausen." ;" +!