The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1915-05-09
Much Harder to Design Low
Z Price Light Weight Cars !.
Than High Priced Ones.

The designing OF 5000 automo-
bile Is merely chfld's play by COM
susrison with the problem OF designing
"a pure sfreamIine, Ave passenger, four
zoylfnder car OF dependable quality
and selling for $685..
If you don't believe il, just look
hack over the past and see how often
lhe latter feat has been performed
SonIy once in the history OF the world.
There are no real engineering prob
1ems In the designing OF 5000 car
we use the figure 5000 simply 10
Srepresent a type, whereas the fig
s5Ires $4,000 or 5000 or $4,000 would
answer the purpose just as we'll
Z We repeat: There are no engin-
aeArtng problems in such a car
Much Aluminium Used.
When the designer wants more
&2rength he simply ADDS more mater
daI. This means more weight, OF
course But, inasmuch as. tne -hrst
ching an engineer would do when ne
began 10 design such a car would be
to make a seventy or eighty or one
.hnndred horse power motor, the item
EOf weight would not. matter. When
The bumps into a problem IN body
Building, he can simply cast the dif-
s0cuIt parts out Of aluminium sup
nose It does cost 90 cents pound
sI0aI 9 a SCldI ltSuI III A1S AAES 10 ~
$4,000, now. isn't 1t?
Then. TOO, the man who buys a
$4,000 car Is a wealthy man-invar-
%iXsbiy. Such an one is not likely TO
scriticfse the tire, gasoline and other
maintenance bills TOO closely-so tnat
Hfesents no problem 70 the engineer
NOV, let's look back. over the past
and see how many concerns nave
been able 10 produce a full Ave pas
senger car; OF sufficient wheel base
TO give plent OF room in the car;
EvSheels and tires large enough 10
make riding easy over any. kind OF
road; with power sufficient 10 take it
anywhere: climb any hill on high
gear: and finally, 10 stand up under
anch usage, so that maintenance cost
per passenger mile is low
First Company TO Succeed.
Think how many such concerns
have been able 10 produce such a car
sell it for $685. and stay in business.
You will find you can count them
on the fingers OF one hand. emitting
4ae thumb, fourth, third and index
Singers. In, short, it has only been
accomplished once-in this Maxwell
eos" small" cars have been made
hut they were not only small, they
~ere little.
j Cheap cars have been made-the
roads of the past are Uttered WIN
the wrecks of the companies that
nHade them For cheap car IS new
er cheap unless 1t proves to be cheap
IN maintenance cost and when AGAR
proves to be expensive 70 maintain.
the manufacturer will surely go out
of business. The buying public VIII
QUIT buying and he must quit.
Here's another angle to The matter:
Did IT ever occur to you that the
s. snCto car is called upon TO Withstand
less III usage. while being treated TO
vastly better care. than Is the low
priced carr Nevertheless. this IS a
fact The high priced car is not only
driven by chauffeur who has oeen
trained 10 a high deSre of. skill in
the factory that made II. but II IS
also his sole duty 10 look over bis
car every morning: make any little
adjustments that are necessary: eaten
the slightest valve wear or gear grow
the minute ii becomes perceptibie. and
make the necessary adjustment 70
to prevent It's gong further; 10 clean
and adjust his carburetor. sparA
plugs, his magnetic. and, finally. 70 oil
every part. including springs ana no
Joints that you would never think o.:
Above. all. 10 keep the car clean or
dirt and grit inside and out
Owners Drive Cars.
No5v. what OF the low priced car?
This is driven by the owner himself
nfuety-nfne times OUT of a hundred
And the care it gets IS such as he
NAV have the skill or the time TO
devote TO it
We have quoted the word care al
visedly- What the average low priced
car gets is not care. but criminal ne
elect, at the hands of its owner. And
what about abuse? On. yes. We know
Won are going TO say the one hundred
horse power-tte $4,000 carts driy-
q at a speed of sixty TO eighty miles
ner hour at times That IS true. But
speed is not abuse TO well made car
especially II there i a skilled driver
at the wheel. and We may assume that
unless there is a skilled driver at he
wheel that car will not make many
trips before It IS left tied in Knot
around telegram pole or tree
Low Priced Car Abused
But the low priced car. or the
other hand. is subjected 20 abuse con-
stantly. Lack of care and abuse are
its portion.
One would suppose that the man
who bought car would want 10 give
- fhe hest care he knew how. And
he does. But the hes care ne knows
how is not care al all. He may think
ne is a skiIlful driver because he is
a careful one. bur some of the most
careful drivers viii do more harm 70
a car than the most savage tester
that ever drove one
why. fully fifty per cent Of the
cars OF this class have 10 perform.
as their first duty after leaving the
4actory, the haza rdous service OF
reaching the new owner how TO drive.
And even II he knows how TO drive.
ne still does not know or knowing.
VII not take the trouble to nurse
his new model for the first few weeks
until the motor and other parts ma