Evening star., 1925-03-29
BY WILLIAM ULLMAN.

bH
Motorists finally are beginning to
discover that any automobile needs a
little encouragement if 1t is to pay
full dividends in transportation value.
lust as courtesy has been found to
be the answer to safety in driving, so
kindness appears to be coming to the
fore as the answer to excessive car
depreciation and repair costs.
The junk heaps tell the story.
There the investigator will find cars
that have never delivered a tenth of
their possible utility. There lie the
discouraged brothers of the cars
which, through kindness, are still
giving service to their wise owners.
On the junk heaps one finds the an
swer to the question, What does 1t
matter if 1 abuse and neglect the
carr"
Kindness was the keynote of good
driving in the days when Dobbin ham
died the family's personal transpor-
tation. You had to treat Dobbin
kindly or you walked. Thousands of
motorists are doing an unusual
amount of walking today, but they do
not appear to know that kindness
didn't go out of style with the horse
and buggy.
Cars VIII Grow Feeble.
Your car will stand for lot. You
can slam on the brakes, let In the
clutch with a bang. shift into reverse
before 1t stops rolling forward, race
the engine when it's cold. run it
without water, forget to lubricate the
spring bolts or most anything else in
the way of neglect, yet 1t Will prob
ably be ready for you tomorrow. You
could go few days without feeding
Dobbin, or even steer him away from
the watering troughs and he would
live. They are very much alike in
this respect, and you will find that
the similarity runs even deeper. Your
neglected car will grow old and feeble
just as quickly as the abused animal.
Imagine waking a horse out of a
sound sleep, hitching him to an un-
CREASED wagon and expecting him to
dash UP a steep, slippery hill with
out putting. Sounds ridiculous. No
sensible horse owner would think OF
IL. But what about the automobile
and the automobile owner?
Here are the pistons, cold and con-
tracted. Compression is low, oil Is
CONCEALED, bearings are dry. without
even the kindness to crank over the
stiff engine few times by hand
crank, the driver steps on the starter
and lets in the clutch the instant the
motor shows the first signs of re-
sponse. Out he goes, tearing over the
because the engine would stall in
high, heading for the steepest hill he
can find, because he wants to warm
1t up"
Get About Half Service.
1s It any wonder that the average
car has about six months in which to
give good service and be happy? Is
it any wonder that owners are not
getting half the service Of which
their cars are capable?
Failure to treat cars considerably
ID largely a matter of misunder-
standing. This is said in the belief
that the average person would not
be SO foolish as to rob himself will
fully of the pleasures and comforts
the car can give him. Misunder-
standing offers satisfactory. answer
to what would otherwise be a great
mystery.
Take the matter of warming up, re-
ferred to above. Nine out of 10 driv-
ers think they are warming up their
motors when they race them. This
reveals plain Ignorance of what goes
on under the hood. Racing the en-
gine stirs up the cooling system, and
also enables the fan to blow more
cool air over the block. Any friction
created by the bearings remains in
the bearing to burn it out independ-
entIys anu lS not transmitted TO the
engine itself in terms of heat. In
order to keep the engine running fast
the driver invariably advances the
spark, not stopping to consider that
the engine runs cooler with the spark
that way.
Sometimes drivers will even run up
to high speed soon as they get
started. believing that by SO doing
they Will get the engines tempera-
ture up to good working degree.
They do not stop to consider that
many engines actually run cooler at
40 miles an hour than at Is. One
make of car employs fan throw
out so that above 40 the engine will
be given an opportunity to run little
warmer.
A few moments of idling or mod
crate speed will warm up the engine
quicker than any other way, and such
consideration for it's handicaps will
be returned to the owner in assur-
ance Of longer engine life and fewer
repairs. An engine in starting is
under great handicap, and it is only
logical to give it opportunity to ad-
just itself.
The man who handles his car gin
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