The sun., 1919-02-02
SAYS POSTWAR CAR
Is TO BE LIGHTER
MarmOn Viee-President Gives
His Idea Of Present
Tendencies.
~ r. p. MosKOvICs.

Woe President Of the Nordyke Mar
mon Company.
On November IL ,ne arnistlce was
signed. and UP to that moment no con-
Germ which was truly patriotic and which
followed the orders from Washington
could possibly have designed and devel-
oped an automobile. DO not forget that
craftsmen, tool makers. tool designers
and, in fact, every metal artisan. from
the designer to the finished tester. was
bnsy with war. Therefore any concern
which claims during the period OF war
il designed and developed postwar
car admits on the face OF II that II
verged very closely to being exceedingly
unpatriotic.
Hear IN mind the element OF time can
not be divorced from the design and de-
velopment OF a motor car. Any car that
10 to be worthy OF the name postwar
car" must have in II lessons gathered
: from the war The war was not over
until November IL.
No designer In the world can design
and develop experimental models. try out
these models, then turn them over to the
factory and have the factory put them
into production without considerable
time. This varies from one year in some
factories to several years in others; but
lutely necessary.
Now, considerable will be asked as to
what is a postwar car. l am going 10
refer to some extracts from an article
entitled Mars Shapes Industry's Trend.
written by one OF the best authorities in
, the automobile industry. II. A. Taran-
tous, in the January number of Motor
. First among headings he brings out the
following:
The Hot Spots.
Makers have learned better produc-
ton and manufacturing methods.
Developments OF regular products re-
tarded because of war work.
"Work now In progress will result in
cutting Of car weights to startling de-
gree
aluminium and pressed steel will come
in for greater use.
"Metaliurgcal knowledge gained in war
period will be reflected in the cars of
~ near future.
~ngine and chassis fabrication will be
much improved
Designs will be altered to lend them
selves to the lighter constructions.
Fuel problem not so troublesome as
imagined.
Briefly those cars will be much
lighter than our present ones: they will
use more aluminium and pressed steel
parts, they will have better bodies. be
more comfortable, far more economical,
cheaper In price and show a general re-
fnement In detail all through.
Aluminium has had quite a bit to say
during these past few years. Though 1t
IS known that a number OF mapufactur-
ers have worked out aluminium engines
with view to tightening the chassis and
getting better cooling. there seems to be
no especial virtue in the former move
unless the rest Of the chassis is lightened
accordingly. The aluminium engine GER
tainly saves a hundred pounds or so of
weight. but l do not believe that there
ever will be any great number OF such
engines In American chassis. What the
maker must do is tighten the whole
cha sis.
Admittedly our chassis in general are
too heavy. A certain few are enor-
mously heavy as compared with others
That these cars must be so heavy Is an
admission of a waste of materials. and
inability to get riding comfort without
that weight.
Lighter Construction.
aluminium and pressed steel must
come into greater vogue as chassis ma
terials, and in addition to the greater
use OF lighter materials. the design must
be altered to lend itself to lighter con-
struction. The average seven passen-
ger car Of to-day is highly inefficient
when one considers the ratio of its load
10 its weight. The trouble is in many
cases that the entire chassis will have
to be redesigned and this most makers
hesitate to do. 1t is supposed by a
great many that the heavier cars ride
easier than the lighter ones, but that is
because Of a misunderstanding Of the
fundamentals underlying easy riding. 1t
IS not a result OF weight. though to be
sure any very heavy car will ride easy
1t Is not meant that every light car Is
better than the heavy one-quite the
contrary. but It is stated that the whole
run of chassis are entirely too heavy
and II has been shown II IL possible to
tighten them by many hundred pounds
and get even better riding qualities
with the lightness comes better fuel
economy. tires last longer, the engine
need not be so big and powerful
TN order TO obtain the desired light
resa not only the larger parts Of the
chassis such as the axles frame, en-
CINE, &C, but the small parts OF these
units must be attended to also. Pressed
steel and aluminium parts will further
find their way into the chassis with the
result that our cars OF n few years from
now will be on the average some 500
10 700 pounds lighter"