Arizona republican., 1919-08-03
|S PROUD IF ESSEX THAT TRAVELS WHERE
 OTHER CARS FA[TER

Motor car dealers sometimes get | curious letters. Here 1s one just re- ceived by certain dealer, whose name need not be mentioned. It is from a man who lives at Tucson and who has been accustomed for years to drive on rough desert roads.
 The letter states: T am such an old timer at desert riding that a motor car has got to do something unusual to bring a comment from me. How ever, 1 have just made one trip which showed me what a really modern car could do in overcoming difficulties which would stump a more expensive gar.
 Last Tuesday morning left Nogales for Tucson. Thirty miles out we ran into the worst cloudburst that l have ever seen. A cloudburst on the desert usually lasts only a few minutes, but in two washes we had to cross the wa ter was running several feet deep and we had to wait an hour or so for it to go down. Then, by closing my radiator shutters l was able to make the crossing long before other cars less fortunately equipped could get across. At last 1 was brought up short at the Santa Cruz river, which
 
 hours, thinking the water would go down and could get across, but the downfall was so heavy l finally came to the conclusion that 1 couldn't get through on the main road that day. By that time two other cars had made the crossings back of me and had come up to the river ford. We waited for while and then l suggested fol- lowing up the river, as l knew Of an abandoned trail over the hills into Tucson. It was terrifically rough rid ing and we had to shovel down couple of siX-foot banks, crossing Sev- eral side washes, before we finally ne- gotiated the river 30 miles upstream. On one stretch of this going we show eled our way in and out of washes six times in one mile. At the last wash, one of the cars with me landed in | quicksand and was buried in two minutes. Then that rope of mine came in handy and 1 hooked on to him and pulled him out.
 On this abandoned trail there was a stretch of grade so steep that one of the cars following me could not | make it because the gasoline would not run to the carburetor, and l had i to hook on and pull him up. All through | this trip my car had been of such a | tremendous help to the other two cars ] that their owners were thunderstruck and one of them asked me if I did not have some new w-fangled eight-cylinder motor under the hood. They could not believe it possible when I told them my motor was only "29' long, but had | 50 horsepower and was capable of greater performance than anything | they had seen.
 When we arrived at Tucson after | hours of hard work, my car was as fresh as when we started out. I later | learned that mine was the only ma 1 chine that came through from Nogales ! without having hand placed on il l for help. My only regret is that I did not have a camera with me to show l you the terrific driving and rough l stuff we had on that trip. l have driv- | en this car over 5000 miles already | and believe it can negotiate the tough est road in Arizona. This is tribute l to the splendid performance of the car and 1 am glad to write you about l it."
 Needless to say. the dealer receiving
 this letter rs quite proud of it and is
 having copy made for each one ol
 his Essex salesmen, so they can show
 it to every prospective buyer of tha make of machine
 "One of the most vital factors in th'
 purchase of a car" said Cal Messne
 yesterday, is the financial standin;
 and commercial reputation of the com
 pany building the car. This consider
 ation is equally as important as tn
 car itself. The man who is about t
 buy motor car first of all should as himself the question: Of the compa nies I have in mind how many will b in existence five years from now, And how many are ten-year- old com panies now?
 After these questions have bee answered to the satisfaction of tn prospective buyer. he should then talk up the merits of the several cars h has in mind. It is this kind of intelli