The sun., 1917-06-17
MANY WONDERS FOUND IN
OVERLAND'S SERVICE HOME
7Great New Ten Story Building Has Every Modern
Improvement for Rapid Work of
All Kinds
by EDWARD MOTT wooLEY.

We drove down West Flfty-seventh
street. and stopped at the ingoing rum
way OF the mammoth WHY'S Overland
service station, near Tenth avenue. II
lowered above US ten stories high, dwarf
ing every other garage In the world. II
ID block deep and almost as wide.
Drive In" said a service salesman
who greeted us at the curb.
1t was vast concrete room in which
ws found ourselves. with automobiles
here and there about 1t. Some Of them
were spouting clouds OF carburetted gas
olene fumes and making noises like ma
chine guns In battle. To me this sort of
thing is music indeed. Its rattle and
thunder fire me with the fierce Joy Of
motoring.
imagine that John North WHY'S had
something Of this Joy when he planned
his new service station in Manhattan.
To him the odor of gasolene must be the
essence OF inspiration. Out of fire liquid
and smoke clouds he has built his ro-
nance. colossal romance 1t is, that
Overland plant at Toledo, and here on
West Fifty-seventh street I found an
other chapter Of tho story. and the big
ness Of the settings amazed me.
Il was Mr.. Willys who asked me to 20
there and spend day. He wanted the
Impressions Of an outsider And truly
what saw there Is difficult to put into
words. 1t is bigger than words.
Yet when you analyEe II a ten story
service garage Is only the logical se-
Quence of plant that turns out at the
rate Of 100000 automobiles year. Au-
tomobiles. like locomotives, must be
maintained, yet for the most part the
philosophy OF service to automobile own
ers has been strangely crude. More than
. million cars q year are put on the
market in this country. yet real automo-
bile maintenance IL one of the most dif-
ncuk things to buy. Most people are
willing to pay reasonable prices for be-
ing served honestly and efficiently, but
imitation service tinctures the sport Of
motoring with gan.
Like people. automobiles will get bill
sOuA Jaundiced, rheumatic. Their blood
orsssure runs high and their circulation
oets poor. Sometimes they breathe stem
eoricusly and their hearts are bad. Neu-
rAsehenia Ii not uncommon among them.
No mako Of cars II exempt from these
aniictions. Everything in this world
wearv out. especially people and ma
chinery.
On the ground floor, I say, were cars
being diagnosed. I saw pretty girl
IN blue driving suit who seemed almost
fearful as she showed twisted fender
to . sympathetic but lanky mecha-
nfcian. dressed in grease. Some road
pig. she said. had done II. Was It past
all help?
He wiped more grease on his face
and reckoned that Il wasn't observing.
however, that in most garages It would
b thrown on the Junk heap.
There was square towled tourist a
httle further along who had come there
with . smashed body, luckily, his car
body. OF course It was the other fell
loV's fault: It always Is. Some dare
desU had como around q curve at a
eortsN-miis pace without sounding his
horn.
Near BY was q car that belonged to a
red faced man In . bucltskin coat He
talked Nsery loudly and Dragged that he
had dri ven tho car twenty thousand
miles without washing It He. opned
that what It needed now was painting.
ON that p>Nint I was uncertain myself.
because all could sec was mud
A large woman was there with q car
whose battery was leaking: and another
who wanted an overhauling.
This ground floor really was the re-
seeiving room CT the hospital.
But that wtSsn't all I found on this
floor. There Is planning department,
compri4ng a group or men whom l saw
back Of . long glass partition. 1t Is a
Rfe bet that you don't know what a
planning department In garade may
be. never saw ono myself until i
came across this.
Leave 'er hero and we'll see what
ais 'er," they say to you at most
garages; and you get 'er in a week.
maybe, with a bill that reduces you to
melancholia-
Tho planners here at the big WHY'S
Overland station are quite unique in the
service world, yet factory planning is
by no means now. Many great plants