Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-07-28
KING CAR MAKES
NONSTOP RECORD
Continues For Seven Days
and Nights, Covering
Almost 5000 Miles

Two thousand seven hundred and
thirty-ive miles in seven days and
nights of continuous motor running
without mechanical adjustments oil
repair, except that due to a collision
is the Northwest record established
by seven-passenger eight-cylindeI
stock King motorcar.
The cars motor never faltered
from the time that w. G. McAdoo. Sec
retary of the treasury, gave the boys
the word GO" at the Saint Paul
Hotel, at Minneapolis, MINI.
The conditions of the test were spe-
cihcally designated to approximate
those under which the owner oper-
ates his car.
Through rain. sunshine and shadow.
night and day for 16S hours, this King
Eight touring car with driver and
observer, and sometimes passengers,
swept forward
During the seven days and nights
of running. the motor was not stopped
once. Nor was any adjustment made
upon 1t. except the change of a fan
due to a collision.
Everything that happened to the
car, down to the most minute detail,
was recorded by the observers. who
were continually on duty for the 16S
changed. and the tires, which started
with Detroit air. finished with the
same kind of air, giving all the tires
so far over six thousand miles of
usage.
The car used had 29,550 miles to it's
credit when it started in the grind
between st. Paul and Minneapolis and
at the finish the speedometer showed
that in all it has travelled 32,2S5 miles.
In all, the car made lis round trips
between st. Paul and Minneapolis,
besides travelling 1894 miles on day
light ride outside of st. Paul. The
total number of car stops was 105
consuming IA hours 10 minutes of
time, but the motor ran all the time.
The total gallons Of gasoline used
was 221, giving the car approximately
thirteen miles to the gallon of .gaso-
line. The oil record establishes a
precedent in that only rs gallons
were used, or a record of 1,45s.66 2-S
miles to the gallon.
AS the car had to remain within
the speed limit, at all times obeying
the law. the total average of miles
per hour for running. excluding stops,
was 1897; including stops, 1925.
The car was in no way made spe-
cial for the grind. 1t came to st.
Paul having a long record behind it.
Making an international nonmotor
run on the Sheepshead Bay. motor
speedway and the highways of Long
Island under the official sanction
and supervision of the American Au-
tomobile Association. this registered
stock King rolled up 10,S4S miles in
336 hours of running without once
having stopped the motor.
The test between the two cities was
fraught with excitement. Announce
ment was made before the start of
the test that it was to be educa-
tional and not spectacular. 1t was
not spectacular in the method of the
majority of automobile contests, but
il was otherwise 1t was used by a
police officer to answer an emergency
call; it narrowly averted an early
morning collision in Minneapolis with
a reckless joyrideri and it came near
coming to grief in spectacular ac-
cident in st. Paul.
Automobile history. it is believed,
will not show where any other car
as badly damaged as this was able
to have the replacement made and in
less than seven hours be back on the
road. resuming it's test. without the
motor stopping at all. The time lost
in making repairs caused the motor
to idle considerably. This was called
to the attention of the officials stag
ing the test, because such a long pc
riod of idling naturally would eat up
gasoline and cut mileage down, but
this did not deter the officials, who
seem to be made of the same kind
of human endurance that the car pos
sesses mechanically.
The test was observed by officials
appointed by the st. Paul Daily News
and the Minneapolis Daily News. The
referees for the contest We're George
Flynn, of the Minneapolis News, and
II. *. Edwards, of the st. Paul Daily
News.
The test was staged and conducted
by f. r. Boutell, inc. distributors for
the King.