Evening star., 1917-01-07
new YORK MOTOR
CAR SHOW OPENS
Greatest Exhibition Ever Held
in This Country, Is View
in Gotham.
FOUR HUNDRED ON DISPLAY
BY HOWARD S. FISK.

BY HOWARD S. FISK.
NEW YORK. January 6-When the
doors of the Grand Central Palace were
thrown open this afternoon, the largest
and greatest motor car exhibition ever
held in this city greeted the eyes of
thousands of spectators from every
section of the United States. 1t is the
seventeenth national automobile show.
and is being held under the auspices of
the National Automobile Chamber Of
Commerce. with S. A. Miles as the
managing director. The show contains
more than 400 complete cars. while sew
eral hundred tons of accessories of
every description are to be seen. 1t
is expected that the attendance this
year will surpass that Of any previous
show. Last year there were $4,000
paid admissions to the event, and 1t
would not be surprising if the 100000
! mark was not passed. Those who be-
lieve this attendance likely base their
prediction chiefly on the always grow
ing army of automobile enthusiasts.
VINO, while never owning car, are mo-
torists in the making. consistently
OF new cars and the mechanical
changes in the older makes, always
with the idea in mind that some day
they will be in position to own one.
The display this year includes cars
Of every size. color and description,
costing less than $500. and running up
to the mot expensive and luxurious to
the tune of $4,000. There is a great
er variety Of body types revealed this
year than one can imagine Starting
with the regular style of touring car
for five or seven passengers. the list
includes the convertible touring car.
roadster couplet. coupe, convertible
coupe, clover-leaf. sedan limousine,
brougham and landaulet. If one is
unable to distinguish between any and
all of these models, a splendid oppor-
tunity is offered from an educational
"eights," skies and 'fours' are the
engine types embodied in the design of
these cars by the manufacturers. Opin-
ION of car designers is still divided.
and the opinion OF car owners is equ-
ally divided. all of which makes the
exposition all the more interesting.
American Shows Grow.
While the European war brought
about an abrupt ending to the salons
of the French, English and German
car manufacturers the American shows
have been gaining gradually in world
Importance as the barometers of auto
mobile design and construction The
tendency Of American manufacturers
looking to the foreign automobile and
body builders to set the pace in design
Is rapidly being reversed, with some Of
the leading European cars adopting
1 It-kt DN1
ticular item that can be referred to is
the electrical equipment that now can
be found on almost all of the cars made
In this country. The American car
manufacturers were the first to recog-
nize the advantages of a combination
system which took care Of starting,
lighting and ignition. and mainly as
result of their researches and develop
ment work many of the prominent
European machines carry this equip
ment.
Following the custom Of former years.
special days have been arranged on the
weeks calendar. This makes 1t pos
sible for various interests to meet their
associates more conveniently on these
respective days. The calendar is as
follows:
Monday. military day; Tuesdal. pio-
neers' day: Wednesday. society day;
Thursday. Society of Automobile En-
gineers' day; Friday. club and associa-
y,
13. closing day. During the show
period there will be numerous meetings
Of the various associations connected
with the automobile industry. the more
important of which are the following:
Tuesday. January 9, annual banquet
Of the National Automobile Chamber
of Commerce at the Waldorf-Astoria;
me citing Of the standards committee of
tho Society OF Automobile Engineers
Wednesday. January 10. meeting of
boo 80
Automobile Chamber of Commerce !:
meeting of the standards committee
Of the Automobile Chamber OF Com
merce; annual meeting of the Motor
and Accessory Manufacturers. and ninth
annual banquet of the Motor and Ac-
cessory Manufacturers, Waldorf As
toria.
Thursday. January II. professional
sessions of the Society of. Automobile
Engineers at it's midwinter meeting;
mobile Engineers. Hotel Biltmore. fol-
lowed by theater party at midnight,
and board of directors meeting. motor
and accessory manufacture There
will also be a number of business ses-
sions and dealers entertainments by
many of the car manufacturers and ac-
cessory concerns in addition.
"The Temple Of Flowers"
The palace has been fttingly dec
GRATED for the occasion. 1t has been
christened The Temple of Flowers"
the name having suggested itself be-
cause Of the wealth of vines and bud
ding foliage used in adjoining the in
terror. Mammoth lattice boxes con-
tanning blossomlng flowers of variegat-
ed hue have been employed at the
base of the giant marble columns. From
the boxes issue trailing vines which
twine about huge floral baskets of
Roman type.
At the Hotel Astor the thirteenth an
nual automobile salon Is in full swing
and drawing tremendous crowds: Again
this year American cars predominant,
with but few foreign makes on display.
This has all been brought about by the
European war. Sixteen makes are being
shown. which is the largest of any