El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-03-25
BIC DEMAND IS
FOR SMALL CAR
WHY'S Figures Small Cars
Save Their Original Cost
in $1,000 Miles.

The tendency on the part of automo-
bile buyers TO favor snail, light cars
this year is said to be due not so much
to the fact that the small car costs less
than the big. heavy machine at the
start Dut that in the long run il is a
much more economical investment.
According to John n. WHY'S. presi
oent OF the WHY'S Overland company,
me small car virtually pays for itself
Wneh inquired on mileage basis and
compared with the uplIeep and main
tenance cost Of a big car.
IL IS an established fact that the
life OF an automobile is not dependent
upoGn its size or cost" says Mr.. WHY'S.
"Ihe modern mtOOr car of TODAY. is
built to give long service. regardless
or whether its initial cost runs into
hundreds or thousands of dollars. In
other words. the majority of cars
average ABOUT the same distance in the
small.
Granting this to he true. let us take
as basis TO work upon a certain
number Of miles-say so, 500. This fig
ure does not represent the life of a
car, but II viii answer the purpose for
comparing few OF the different main
tenance costs between the small and
large models.
Big Car Needs Big Tires.
The big car, owing to its extra
weight. requires larger tires than are
necessary for smaller, lighter ma
chine. The actual size of the tires
depends on the car itself, but to give
n concrete example I Will take a 34x4
inch size for the big car and a 31x4
inch for the smaller car. assuming
that under ordinary usage. a set Of
tires will last for approximately 50OO
miles, nine new sets would be required
by the owner in $4,000 miles of driving
The difference in cost is not very
much, approximately 50 on each set.
but it represents a saving Of sSl to the
owner OF the smaller machine
"The smaller car also is more eco
nomical in its consumption of gasoline.
In fact, believe the unusual demand
for the smaller type Of car is due to a
large extent to the present high price
OF fuel In number OF cities gasoline
prices have scared TO % cents a gallon
and even higher. But no matter what
the price is. the cost of fuel cOnsump-
tion is prOportionately less with a small
car than with big one.
Gasoline Consumption.
"The average small car will travel
about 20 miles on gallon Of gasoline
and the larger cars from 10 to Is.
Keeping to our original figure Of So
zoe miles, this means that the small
car viii consume 25OO gallons Of gasO-
line while the big car is using ap-
proximately 34eJ gallons The differ
ence 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 a car that orig
inally sold for $500 or $500 more than
another. will bring, perhaps $50 more
in the second hand market.
Small Car Pays.
IAN things considered, It 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 # is true that a number OF
car owners may not trouble themselves
about the price of gasoline, the situa-
ton now is fairly serious, and if the
high price continues we will be paying
twice as much for this item as we did
last year. The large majority OF buy
ers do not care about spending more
money than is necessary to produce
similar result.
The trend toward the smaller and
more economical car is particularly no.
ticeable at the Overland factory.
Dealers throughout the country are de-
handing shipments Of the smallest
Overland. model rs, which since its
has proved to be the
most popular model we have yet eN-
plotted"