Evening star., 1924-06-29
Phases of Character as Seen
When Business Man Buys Car

mers replacements of broken parts
without undue delay? All this is go
ing to be vitality important during the
later life of the new car and the
dealers status is easily established
by few inquiries made among own
ers of the make of car he sells.
Face to face with the car itself.
the first thing for the intending pur-
chaser to settle is the size Vehicle
that will best serve his needs. The
bride and groom who live next door
to a man with seven children had
better not buy a seven-seater. Com
mon sense will rule here. The pros
pect should certainly be careful to
try the seats, all Of them, to see that
they are perfectly comfortable. A
long legged man in a car with
comfort. II the buyer is to do the
driving, he should be sure that the
pedals, and other controls, are placed
with reasonable regard for his phys
ical limitations.
MeehanfcaI Emciency Test.
Having examined the external
qualifications Of the car the buyer
should next proceed with an investi-
cation of its mechanical efficiency.
And right here we would emphasize
buyer securing the help of some
qualified expert on whose integrity hc
can rely to help him weigh the me
chanical merits Of the vehicle under
prospect is qualified to decide for
himself through past experience, he
will need no outside assistance.
First, as to the performance de-
To begin with, local conditions will
somewhat govern this factor. If the
car is to be used in a hilly country, il
must have plenty of superfiuous
power And no matter where it is
To he
turn of speed. good acceleration and
fexibility. This later qualification
means that 1t must be able to throt
tie down to slow speed while in
high gear and must also be able to
travel fast. A range of speed on high
gear of from four miles an hour to
fifty or sixty would be good f1exibil-
ity. These three factors and the hill
climbing ability of the car should be
brought out in the road demonstra-
tion, and a motorist of experience
should be in the car with the intend
ing buyer, unless he is a veteran, to
three conditions. While on the road
with the salesman it is a good plan
to ask him to run into, a coal or 1um
ber yard and have the car weighed
And now we come to the vitality
important matters that lurk under
the hood. 1t should be aseertained
that all the parts, particularly those
Indt dI Ger TLdln TO neeQ cleaning or
adjustment, are easily accessible. Are
the eiling places easily reached for
adjustment and refilling? Can the
differential housing be reached to
drain, flush and refill it at the inter
walls that this is necessary? Are the
brake adjustments easy to make?
Getting down to the more technical
details Of the mechanism, it should
be ascertained that the car under
consideration embodies parts that are
big enough for the work they are
called upon to perform. This applies
to gears, bearings, shafts and similar
parts. Obviously, determination of
these is beyond the average car buy
er. especially if it is a first car In
quire about among owners of the car
in your neighborhood See il there
is general or frequent complaint of
a certain failure or breakage. If there
is you may put it down that the We
hicle has a structural weakness. The
principal thing to remember is that
appearance Is not the only nor the
ruling desideratum in a motor car