Evening star., 1924-07-20
VARYING AUTO PERFORMANCES
EXPLAINED BY DRYING HABITS
Lack OF Care Results in TrOuble-Oddities Also
Responsible for Heary Repair
Bills.

! his friends while the motor dled
| ). 20 and - minutes at stretch.
| Naturally his car did not seem to be
as acceptable as that owned by
another driver who always switched
| off the engine before coming to a
| dead stop in parking.
| A habit of forgetting things when
starting out for the day offers a
| mandy way to waste gas. pun down
| the battery and wear out the cars
control. one motoriSt who was thus
afflicted always started his engine
| twice to the average drivers once
| Just because he always thought of
| something he had forgotten just after
! That meant switching it off and
starting all over again when he was
| really ready to so.
| The habit OF forgetting to release
| condition wherein the owner will
/ soon lind his own car doing many
! things other cars Of the same make
and model do not do.
Clutches Suffer Worst.
Clutches have been among the
worst sufferers because of bad driv-
| ing habits. A poised foot on deli
| cateiy adjusted clutch offers just
| enough pressure through weight of
! foot and nervous tension of drivers $
! leg to keep the clutch plates slipping
| a trifie. That creates friction, and
| friction means trouble. But this COM
mon habit is by no means the worst
| habit in clutch use.
Letting in the clutch suddenly car
| ries the trouble beyond the clutch into
| regions of the chassis where repairs
are even more costly. Many drivers
! have no idea how suddenly they let in
! the clutch. With a good grasp on
| the steering wheel they receive but
| small portion of the shock of start
ing. The habit is broken by riding as
| "A passenger with some driver who
| does the same thing.
Many drivers have a habit of try
| ing to SHIFT gears without throwing
| the clutch fully out. Several hundred
| times a day they will treat the city
| to a scraping of gears that just miss
| stripping, and when the spring over
| hauling period rolls around they are
| the first people to have to make
| date with the repairman.
Coasting Is Costly.
One driver had a habit of coasting so
much that he actually weakened the
clutch springs. The clutch had to be ad-
Justed so frequently that finally it re-
quired some major clutch work done.
| He was strong and didn't mind the eff
fort of holding the clutch out. He was
trying to save gas. The results he OBJ
tanned from his car We're naturally quite
the reverse from those obtained by an
other driver who revealed the accepta-
BILE habit of using the clutch as little as
possible, and then only with due cor.
sideration for the amount of work ii
does.
The first driver thought he was fol-
lowing a good habit by trying to save
gas, and this suggests the Importance of
being certain that a bad habit is not
employed in a careless effort to follow
a good one.
Fewer cars would have the repair
shop habit if their owners and drivers
would check over their driving habits
and see where they stand. It's a sus-
geStion to observe closely the man who
has the same make and model of car
and who somehow or other manages to
escape your troubles. It's probably due
to his habit of knowing when a driving
habit is worth having.
downright. 1921