Evening star., 1924-03-09
PARIS SHOW AUTOS
EMPHASIZE BEAUTY
Utility Is Subordinated in Ex-
hibitS-Standard Designs
Favored Here.

''The characteristic love of beauty
inherent with the French people is
Strikingly eXemplified by the Paris
automobile show, which easily ranks
as the most beautiful exhibit of mo-
tor cars in the world. Beauty is
stressed TO such Il degree, however,
that ! do not believe it would satisfy
the more practical nature of the
american public" says r. X. Jack,
chief engineer. Olds Motor Works.
This difference in the method of
displaying automobiles was one of the
most striking things noted on re-
cent European trip, which included
visits to the Paris and London auto
mobile shows and 10 the principal
motor car factories on the continent
md the British Isles
, AT the Paris show every foreign
ear on display was Il special job,
making ii impossible to conceive ac
"Ir3tely what the regular stock cars
"s the various makes look like. 1t is
the point particularly that l think
would not please the automobile
public Of this country. Here those
interested i'll cars prefer to inspect
standard models, hut the French pub
lie evidences a keen interest in this
type of special exhibit, and it is my
'iiIiou IUdl inns feature is eSStNlldl
10 the success and popularity of the
annual Paris exhibition.
Utility Gives Way 10 Beauty.
Where chassis were shown. all the
metal was frosted and FURNISHED, pre-
Senting a most beautiful appearance
but hardly that of practical auto
mobile. Virtually all the bodies were
Ut freak design. not lending them
fact, they were what We in this coun-
try term custom built jobs. and which
are used on less than one-half per
cent of American cars in use.
Many of the open cars were of the
"boat' design, While the closed bodies
We're largely of the collapsihle type.
The bodies appeared unsuitable for
iautomobile conditions in this country,
where long runs and tours are popu-
lar with virtually all car owners.
THE exhibit of General Motors cars
the Oldsmohile, Buick. Cadillac,
. Oakland and Observation-Disclosures the
conventional lines of displays at
american shows. being composed of
regular stock cars. For this reason
the exhibit was IL unique part of the
show, but the cars attracted much
favorable attention.
AT both the Paris and London ex-
'hibits the great halls drew capacity
crowds. plainly showing the keen in
tnreSt OF Europeans III :utoInoUlleS
In fact the atte ndance. both in size
and interest displayed, reminded me
uf the New York. Chicago and De-
troit annual exhibits While there
We're many SightSeers-as there are
~ all exhibits of this character-there
also were many who had more than
an academic interest. | understand
that there were ii substa ntial number
of orders booked. particularly during
the afternoons of the shows.
"AS to the mechanical features of
the cars displayed there We're no
striking Innovations. Several fea-
lures that have been discarded by
american automotive engineers We're
Still seen on some of the cars. while
the newer refinemcntS displayed have
already been placed on leading makes
Of cars in this country.
None of the foreign factories Wis
standard production methods in use
l,ere Many operations that can be
much NOR" economically performed
by machinery are still done by hand.
In fact. if we in this country had to
duplicate the European methods of
manufacture. one OF two things nat
urally would result-either the cost
"f automobiles would he beyond the
reach OF the average American citi
zen, or the level Of living now en-
ioyed by the American mechanic
would have to be lowered to the
standard of the European workman.