The star-independent. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1904-1917, 1915-02-13
A SALES CAMPAIGN As tits
BUILT AROUND IA MOTOR Sale
Why the Chandler Company Features
It's Power Plant in ALI Publicity
for the Instruction Of Every
body

Contributed by Andrew Redmond, To-
cal dealer at Harrisburg, Pa, of the
Chandler Motor Car Company.
In some respects the building of au-
tomobiles bears startling resemblance
to the clothing business. You may, for
instance, pay $25 for suit of ready
made clothes that for perfect fit and
general appearance has all the advan-
tages of the. suit for which custom
tailor would charge from SIS to 500.
But the tale is not told until the record
of service is complete. Ninety-nin
times in one hundred, the suit from the
shelf passes into the discard from a
year to two years in advance Of the
tailor-made product. And the purchaser
who bought the ready o-wear article
is frequently money out, because he
failed to look beyond the mere exterior
of things.
Because we believe the motoring
public to be educated beyond this point
in the selection of their motor cars, we
have subordinated talk on the exterior
selling points in our car for the more
important features of the motor in our
publicity of the past year. We have not
only built a sales campaign on our
motor, but nave just finished the most
successful year in our history through
selling the power plant to every pros
pective customer. The policy has work
ed out perfectly in every detail and we
have found the great majority of pros
poets eager TO learn more about the
mechanical parts of the car which have
been so little touched upon by sales
men in recent years.
Our decision to feature the six-cyl-
inder motor was brought about through
the receipt of many letters from Chan
dler owners. We found that the great
est enthusiasm seemed to be centered in
the pulling power, aecelerating quail
ties and hill climbing ability of the
motor ir>these owners letters. We rea.
soned. naturally, that the feature that
appealed to so many owners would
meet like response from prospective
buyers and our advertising of the past
year has therefore centered upon the
power plant of the Chandler Six.
The story of the development of
the Chandler Six motor goes back to
the days of the famous twenty four
hour races at Brighton Beach. In those
days the present executives of the
ents of the six-cylinder type of car
which was just making its appearance
in this country. To back their faith in
the stamina of the six, they entered
two six-cylinder ears in one of the big
twenty-four hour events at Brighton
Beach. The cars finished first and sec-
ond in this gruelling race and estab-
lished a new world record for the
round lthe-clock event.
The Sperfection of the six-cylinder
type ofsmotor since that date has been
mainly along the line of weight reduc-
tion. The old SKIES were perfect me-
ehanically, but the huge separate cast
cylinders, connecting rods, pistons. etc.,
all added to the weight and therefore
the cost of upkeep of the car. The de-
signing of the present Chandler Six mo-
tor is striking instance of the advance
made in automobile engineering methods
since the early days of the industry
When our engineer, j. V. Whit
beck, designed this motor, he was work
ing toward completely assembled car
which must weigh not more than 5000
pounds. How closely he and his assist
ants figured can be estimated from the
fact that tine car weighed just 1870
pounds when finally completed and
placed on the scales. In designing the
motor it was necessary to estimate from
the drawings and plans, the weight of
every cylinder, cam shaft, crankshaft,
valve, gear. spark plug and all COM
ponent parts in order that the com
plete car might meet specifications. The
power plant itself, wefg ghed within three
pounds for the estimate made before it
was nothing more than design on pa
per, which indicates the degree to
which science has entered into the
problem of automobile construction.
In other words there was no waste
full experimental work, no substitution
of makeshift parts or hurriedly de-
signed features to Tighten the car s
weight. The motor was placed in the
chassis and within three hours after
the last parts had been installed, the
tanks were filed with gasoline, the
motor started and twelve-mile test
run was made with the car on its own
power without even a block test, The
car as expressed to New York City and
placed on private exhibition for week,
and its first test run was trip in the
dead of winter from New York City to
across the Allegheny
to Pittsburgh and back to
Cleveland, The running time for that
trip was twenty-six hours and ten min
utes, and although that run was made
over two years ago, the same car and
motor are still in service with rec
ord of over sixty-fve thousand miles.
In the construction of six-cvlin-
der motor five things are of para