The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1920-08-08
ENGLISH RIDE
MIMIC FLINERS
The Comic Playtbing of
Vaudeville Pressed
Into Use.
CUTE BUT SAVE GAS
Slapstick Automobile Be
comes Reality on English
High Roads.
by EARL c. REEVES

LONDON, Aug. 7. -- Behold the
''eustard pie" automobile. Their
day has arrived. and England Is
overrun with them.
No other term describes them. and
they're "Just the darlingest things. 4"
Youll remember Back IN tho
dim almost prehistoric days ~ the
movie when the Bijou Thcator inter
sperscd very poor vaudeville with
two or three movie pictures of
slap stick type, We all met the "cus-
tRrd pie" automobile.
II was about seven hands high
But ~ could go. oh how II could
go, when the comedian Clamhrrcd
tn. propped his chin on his peaked
knees and started making tho BiiOu
world glad with the tricks he could
play IN his vest pocket motor car.
There could never be such n
imotor car, We thought then. II was
I a bit Of stage property" ono had
been built, to bo sure, for this par
tioular comedian---but there ondcd
tho matter.
II didn't end there. For In Eng
land the all important ingredient
horeabouts known as petrol" and
In the States known as gas" pur-
veys at just under n dollar a gailon.
And In England, class for class.
bmotor cars cost at the original buy
tng at least double the cost In
America.
so the "custard pic" automobile
OF the early comic movie reel has
glided off the screen onto tho roads
OF Great Britain. They are aiil
about seven hands high and chIns
have to bc proppod--more or less
upon knees, and 60 the outsider they
nre still comic. Iiut to tens OF thou
sands ot Iirltishers these bugs" OF
the narrow highways are things
taken In deadly earnest.
They come off the shelf at two to
three hundred pounds sterling ard
scarcely weigh moro. That's $500
10 $1,000. and very cheap Tor any
kind OF n horselcss carriage In these
islands. But more important stlll,
they will do thirty miles or no on a
gallon OF gas,
Some of them have three wheels
only. These are quite wide enough
for two people to sit alongside al
most In comfort. Others have four
wheels, and OF these some are only
"one man" width, with n pocket scat
for Friend wife behind, and some
are oven only one man size, with no
back seat ut all.
Beside these motors that should
be the poor mans friend, but actu-
ally cost middle class price. tho
lordly fllvvor OF our American ac-
quaintance is n giant touring car.
and the real touring car now ar
fected by the bricklayer and
plumbers assistant In the United
States would rank as a sightseeing
charabanc.
Tho start toward lightncss and
far-reaching gallons of gas was
made during the war. The end Of
the war saw "a scramble In indus
trial circles to build cheap" motor
cars. Mostly, the engineers tried for
a car that would be Just size
smaller and perhaps with little
heavier body than the great Amer
lean flivver. They found that such
o car. without solf-atarter or light
ing system, would have TO be
marked Mt 400 pounds
Meanwhile, the blackboard"
school OF motor builders were forg-
ing ahead, The tiny mechanism
that was little more than "A motor
wheels and topped by any kind OF n
seat at all could he built quickly aud
At about half the cost. Some Of
these pioneers carried their engines
chugging away In plain sight. There
was no hood, and the gear was Wis
ible beneath common blackboard
seat.
A little camouflnge has been
thrown around the mechanism now.
and some of the seven hands high
cars have long racing lines today.
IL even increases the comedy OF
their appearance. for they may dart
around n towering horse truck with
the look OF De Palma In full blast,
and yet be moving a sedate eight
miles an hour.
The auto craze has been later by
years In England than IN America.
Construction prices were too high to
permit motor owning becoming
widely nonular