Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-02-25
SMALL CAR AND
ITS ADVANTAGES
President of Willys-O Overland
Co. Tells of Its Economy
andLight Upkeep

The tendency on the part of auto
mobile buyers to favor small light
cars this year is said to be due not so
much to the fact that the small car
cost less than the big, heavy machine
at the start but that in the long run
| II is much more economical invest
Iment.
| According to John N. Willys, presi-
dent of the WHY'S Overland Com
pany, the small car virtually pays
for itself when figured on a mileage
basis and compared with the upkeep
and maintenance cost of a big car.
ut is an established fact that the
life of an automobile is not dependent
upon its size or cost" says Mr..
| WHY'S. THE modern motor car of
to-day is built to give long service
regardless of whether its initial cost
runs into hundreds or thousands of
dollars. In other words the majority
of cars average about the same dis
stance in the final count whether
| they be large or small.
Granting this to be true, let us
take as a basis to work upon GER
| tain number of miles say $4,000.
This figure does not represent the life
of car but it will answer the pur-
pose for comparing a few of the diff
ferent maintenance costs between. the
small and large models.
The big car, owing to its extra
weight requires larger tires than are
necessary for a smaller, lighter ma
chine. The actual size of the tires
depends on the car itself, but to give
concrete example l will take a 34x4
inch size for the big car and a S1x4
inch for the smaller car, assuming
that under ordinary usage a set of
tires will last for approximately 5000
miles, nine new sets would be re-
quired by the owner in so, 900 miles
Nf 1rsiNr iFfor Ian To-, seI
not very much-approXimatel nine
dollars on each set, but it represents
saving of $S1 to the owner of the
smaller machine.
THE smaller car also is more
economical in its consumption of gaso-
line. In fact, | believe the unusual
demand for the smaller type of car
is due to large extent to the pres
ent high price of fuel. In a number
of cities gasoline prices have scared
to twenty-five cents gallon and even
higher But no matter what the
price is, the cost of fuel consumption
is proportionately less with a small
car than with big one.
THE average small car will travel
about 20 miles on a gallon of gasoline
and the larger cars from 10 to Is. |
Keeping to our original figure of 50.-
car will consmah $500 gallons of
gasoline willis 1;fe big car is using ap-
proSi:lfdtGfy 3,4O0 gallons. The diff |
ference of 900 gallons, even when |
figured at % cents per gallon amounts |
to a saving of $19S for the smaller
car.
THE value of the larger car also
depreciates much more rapidly than
the smaller, medium priced vehicle. |
At the end of $4,000 miles car that /
originally sold for two or three hun
dred dollars more than another, will |
bring, perhaps fifty dollars more in |
the second hand market.
"All things considered 1t is pretty
safe to say that the smaller car |
actually pays for itself when both
first and second costs are figured up |
and compared with those of the big |
car.
while 1t is true that a number of
car owners may not trouble them
selves about the price of gasoline, the |
situation now is fairly serious and
II the high price continues we will be |
paying twice as much for this item as
we did last year. The large majority .
of buyers do not care about spending !
more money than is necessary to pro-
duce a similar result.
THE trend toward the smaller and |
more economical car is particularly |
noticeable at the Overland factory.
Dealers throughout the country are
demanding shipments of the smallest |
Overland, Model 70, which since its
announcement has proved to be the |
most popular model we have yet ex-
plotted. Its completeness of equip
ment and fine appearance, combined |
with low upkeep cost, is attracting
many buyers of larger cars who have
never before been considered pros
poets for q car of this price class. 1t |
is simply another evolution of the in
dustry and one for which we were
we'll prepared"