New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-01-14

TN 1917 CARS
Duryea Describes Points
Revealed by the
Show
IMPROVEMENTS
STEM TO STERN
Engineer Looks Over Dis
plays and Reports
His Findings
r~ruARLES +. DURYEA

Pointed radiators have been before
I the public some years, and their as
! sistance in making the body lines more
/ boatlike goes without saying, but an
/ inspection of the cars exhibited at the
auto show which closed yesterday IN
Grand Central Palace indicated that
makers get somewhat the desired ap-
pearance by shaping the radiator smell,
/ leaving the core fiat AS before. rms
adds TO the appearance while retaining
the simplicity, low cost and good arr
receiving qualities Of the fiat core. In
some cases the shells are advanced at
both top and bottom. IN others only
at the top. In some the advance or
pointedness H. quite marked, while m
others the trademark or name plate rs
a raised figure. which gives this effect
/ TO the centre Of an almost Hat shell.
But I'm any event the appearance gains.
Following the tendency toward
bodies having boat hull lines, we ind
rapidly growing use Of runboard
aprons which drop directly down from
/ the body and then turn out 90 meet
the runboards. To permit this close
setting there are now in use many
brackets which fasten to the under side
of the frame channel instead of on the
outside as In the past. The apron IN
such cases lies closely against the
frame, and it is but step from this
form to the frame which is deep
enough to take the place Of the apron.
Thus again do we find progress making
almost infiniteslmal advances.
Time was when the extra tires or
tire found Judgement on the runboards
in plain sight of every spectator and in
9 he Of na 80. hg Fo
that side. IF makers had desired TO
say to the public that tires were so un-
reliable that extras must be carried
lest tire trouble stop US tLey could
hardly have called the matter TO the
pubic's attention more forcibly. I'M
doubtedly such advertising deferred
many a timid buyer from purchasing,
and a better practice should have been
found long before. To-day this practice
has all but ceased. The extra tires are
slowed under the floor or in the back
OF the rear seat, or on racks at the
rear, where they do not seem so much
out of place and where they do not
hinder entrance to the car.
In the early days when every effort
was being made to induce buyers TO
buy and tour many touring cars were
fitted with large and heavy trunk racks
at the rear, but so seldom does the
tourist take his luggage in trunks that
these devices failed to find favor and
the show found very few representa-
tives of this former habit. Instead
the bodies are far more roomy inside,
and suitcases and similar luggage find
ample room inside with the passengers.
To one who looks at the 1917 car
from the outside there is practically
no hint Of a dash. The hood runs into
the cowl with such an easy sweep that
the dividing line is not visible at a
short distance. Few, however. realize
how fully this same elimination has
gotten rid Of the dash inside as well.
The inclined floors now reach well up
the engine and the instrument board
depending from the cowl covers all
view of the top Of this inclined floor,
so how it is finished does not much
matter. As a result. piece of sheet
iron is often found. which, being very
thin, does not take the room that the
thick wooden dash formerly required,
but in reality adds another inch to the
total leg room between the front and
rear ends of the passenger space. Thus
each year we find the passengers gain
ing and the mechanism being releRated
10 smaller and less valuable space,
which movement is as 10 should be and
is bound to continue further
As bodies become more rounded out