The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1916-04-06
BUICK MAKES new
GASOLINE RECORD

The following clipping Was taken
from the Sunday, March l9. issue of
the Seattle Post-lptelligencer, and
handed to the Glacier by E. W. birRe,
Of the Heights garage. local distributor
OF the Buick cara:
With the price Of gasoline ever
mounting, and the end not yet even in
the dim distance, the automobile deal
ers Of Seattle are beginning to get
down to cases in the matter Of miles
per gallon Of gas used by their respect
i've machines.
The Northwest Buick Co. on Satur.
day, March IL, made an official run
with one of its model D-45 little skies
over the Pacific highway between Sc
attle and Tacoma. with the astonishing
result Of an average Of 25 2-10 miles to
the gallon. This test was made with
George E. Purdy, road man of the
Buick agency. driving. and James e.
Fenton, sales manager for the concern
Fred Wagner. auto editor Of the Times.
and d. Shelor. auto editor of the Pest
lntelligencer. as observers.
Leaving the intersection of Fourth
avenue and King street Saturday after
noon at Las o'clock, the little six
seemed to know that it was out on
dress parade and performed like vet
eran. The miles began to reel of on
the speedometer in rapid succession,
and when the 20 mile mark showed on
the face Of the registering instrument,
at least two In the car commenced to
get nervous and wonder whether or not
every part of the car had been thor.
oughly examined for extra connections.
Soon this question became the topic of
conversation, and when the final spit
was heard and Purdy slapped bis foot
on the brake, all hands rolled out of
the machine and commenced to 20 over
the connections for the second time to
be positive that there was no auxiliary
supply Of gasoline. The speedometer
for the first gallon read "a lilo miles.
Fenton remarked at this stage, "Not
so bad, eh?" Well. all fully agreed
that was a pretty good showing. but
when told that the car would show
greater mileage on the next gallon, the
doubling Thomas began to work.
| True to the prediction of Fenton, the
second gallon carried the four passen.
gers with total weight Of 600 and odd
pounds. distance of rs 1.l0 miles, just
one mile farther than the first. This
second part of the trip was in and out
of the city of Tacoma, with several
stops and tieups on account of traffic
conditions, which is always hard on
gasoline test. The most desirable test
will always be when a car can be kept
rolling around rs or 30 miles per hour.
When it is necessary to start and stop
number of times on account of traffic
1t naturally cuts down the mileage con-
siderably and lowers total mileage OBJ
tanned.
The third gallon even showed bet
ter mileage than the first two, bring
Ing the car back on its homeward Jour-
ney to..near Orilla, distance of 26 4-l0
miles. When the gallon tank that had
been placed on the outside of the car
was again filed, Purdy insisted upon
showing the observers that no special
gearing had been placed in the car for
the purpose of making the test. He
thereupon stepped on the throttle. and
| would hesitate to put in cold figures
just what that speedometer showed
when a curve loomed up and it was
necessary to slow down. Approaching
by way Of Fourth avenue. turn east
on Seneca street was made to show the
hill climbing ability of the car, and it
went over the top Of the hill in high
at the limit of speed allowed by law.
Notwithstanding the fact that gaso-
line is going up in price every week or
so, this test has proved In a way that
no other demonstration could, that the
present day machine is more economi-
cal with gasoline selling at l8a cents
gallon than the car of few seasons
ago, when gasoline was selling around
10 to Is cents. A few years ago
mileage of eight to ten miles to the
gallon on car of the Buick size was
considered a wonderful performance.
With present day high efficiency motors
car must be guaranteed for better
than Is miles before the public will
give it the least consideration.