The New York herald., 1921-01-09
MOTOR CLUBS KEEP
PACE WITH AUTO
Progressive Associations of
Car Owners Rival Indus
try in Progress.
by JOHN GREN.

A striking feature of the automobile
world is the expansion that has come
in the activities of the clubs in recent
years A brief survey will quickly show
that the phenomenal growth of the in
dustry itself has been paralleled by a
corresponding increase in the facilities
placed at the disposal of car owners by
the great automobile clubs of the coun-
try.
Some of these organizations date their
beginnings back to the earliest days OF
the 'horseless carriage" but by keeping
fully abreast of the times they now stand
as models of efficiency and usefulness,
planning greater things for the future.
The oldest of them all is. of course
the veteran Automobile Club of Amer
lea. whose clubhouse on Fifty-fourth
street west of Broadway is known TO
all New York motorists. Other organi-
Zations that led i'm the movement 10
bring car owners together for mutual
benefit are the Automobile Club OF Mas
sachusetts. in Boston, the philadelphia,
Chicago, Buffalo, st. Louis and Cleve-
land associations and the Long Island
Automobile Club. all of which are
"going strong" The American Automo-
bile Association has also done very GOOD
work. In later years the clubs OF the
Far West have shown remarkable
strength. and the California, Washington
and Oregon clubs are splendid examples
of what the Pacific coast can do along
these lines
To a motorist who is not In close
touch with any of the modern clubs the
number and variety of their activities
will come as a surprise. One of these
progressive organizations will garage
your car through the winter. furnish
dead storage in summer. make repairs
OF every description, including painting
and upholstering, sell you all your gaso-
lene, tires and all other automobile sup
plies, accessories. motor clothing, &c IL
will provide complete insurance coverage
through the best companies and arrange
for shipping your car to any point at
home orsabroad. If you are going on
tour yo9r club will supply all the data
needed, including motor guides. maps
route cards, full description of all the
roads traversed. lists of the recommend
ed hotels and garages along the line !;
when travelling abroad your way is
made smooth in numberless ways through
the information furnished and the intro
ductions given to the clubs abroad These
are a few examples of the service pro-
vided by the Automobile Club of Amer
lea. a typical modern club in its fullest
The public activities of the various
clubs through which every motorlst, re-
gardIess of club membership. BENEFITS.
are almost without end. They include
sign posting the roads. publishing maps
and tour books, inspecting the highways,
publishing bulletins and reports of road
conditions, making studies OF trafflc
conditions in the congested centres Oh
travel, influencing legislative bodies In
behalf Of better laws and regulations
affecting automobile travel
Many of these clubs publish their own
magazines as, for instance. The Car. or
the Philadelphia Club; Motor Travel or
the Automobile Club of America De-
troit Motor NetrS, of the Detroit Cluo
the keystone Motorist, of the Keystone
Automobile Club, and the American MO-
torist. of the American Automobile AS
sociation.
The biggest men in the country have
been glad to count themselves active
members of the clubs in their own sec
tions, and they have been generous OF
both time and effort toward the upbuild-
ing of their organizations.
Hero in New York city the roster of
the A. C. A. reads like page out of
'Who's Who" and the men who were
called on to serve as governors or Off
GERS have invariably been among the
leaders of the city's social. professional
and financial life.
The clubs have indeed, been of great
help to the automobile. They fostered
the car in it's cradle days and waged a
vigorous warfare against the interests,
powerful and strongly intrenched, that
were opposed to the self-propelled vehi-
Gle. They also fought the greater enc
my-narrow-m minded prejudice, that
threatened to hamper by endless legal
restrictions and red tape the full use of
the car for recreation.
Those days have passed and the clubs
now busy themselves with other things.
but their usefulness is as great as ever.
and every motorist will get more SER
vice out of his car and more pleasure
out OF his motoring by connecting him
self with one of these associations.