Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-01-25


1t is just 25 years young" this jan
uary as an industry. 1t hasn't voted
often enough to know what party it
belongs to. So what are we going
to do about it?
Motorist Favors Progress. =.
The progressive motorist doesn't
want TO see his old car become obso-
lete before he has enjoyed a reason
able amount of service from it, but at
| the same time he favors such prog
ress as the automotive engineers are
able to make with the new models.
He prefers to buy his cars from
manufa cturers who are in sound flnan-
cial condition because of trading on
sound business principles, but that isn't
saying he wants to see the automobile
so stale.
He encourages trends-the big,
healthy variety that make for better,
safer and more efficient motoring. He
| admits there are on the automotfve
counter a large number Of perfectly
wonderful oars, but he knows that
| these cars are not wonderfully per-
feet.
So do the automotive engineers who
are now working on g. half dozen
big ideas that will be keeping the
automobile fan rushing from one
salesroom to another, just as he has
been doing all year. It's progress.
You can keep it in check and help
avoid needless waste. But you can't
stop 1t.
Long study for Experiments.
In order to appreciate what has
happened, what is happening and
what will happen to the automobile
one must raise the hood and delve
into the trends. Improvements in in
70 q
over night, but they are really the
result of months-sometimes years
of experimentation. Thus improve
ments in the average automobile are
a process of trends, but in this the
motorist himself plays quite as i'm
portant a role as the engineer or the
manufacturer.
This is clearly illustrated in the
test the motoring public is now CIV
| ing balloon tires. Here is a develop
ment in pneumatics that was pre-
coded by intensive study and expert
| mentation on the part of tire makers
and car builders, yet the trend is far
| more significant now that the bal
| loon tire has been converted from a
feature on individual cars to equip
| ment on the average car.
When a trend reaches the average
car it is generally considered as hav-
| ing come to stay-that is, until some
| thing better is found to take it's
place. Generally speaking, the ad-
| dition of full balloons, or semi
variety, to cars already in use has
not been popular. Most car owners
have preferred to walt until they
were in the market for a new car,
thereby obtaining balloon tire ad-
vantages without unforeseen disad-
vantages. And the manufacturers
| have been quick to meet the demand.
Shy at Full Balloon.
Virtually all the cars that are
neither extremely light nor extreme
| ly heavy are balloon-tired. These
| low-pressure cords have been par
ticularly successful when used on
cars that are heavy enough to over
come the "jisgling' tendency of full
balloons, yet not so heavy as to over
/ tax the flexible side walls of the four
! ply tire. There are still two promi-
nent manufacturers in this mid
| weight group who shy at the full
balloon, but one is using low-pres-
sure type of tire, and If the full four
ply balloon does not prove success
| in actual service 1t is a foregone con-
clusion that these car makers Will
adopt the modification.
The same applies to the very light
cars as well as to the very heavy
| ones. Spring control devices are
rapidly coming to the fore as the
J solution to the balloon tire gallop,