Evening star., 1927-10-02

in finding the make. model
and price that is Just to his liking,
for the motor market is broad one,
where the most eccentric taste IS
gratifed and where the most
dwarfed purse is altogether adc-
quate.
The very perfection of the field
from which one may select his car
is responsible for the fact that the
sanguinary battle which preceded
this perfection has become but a
faint memory, a tattcred fragment
in the consciousness OF the veteran
motorist. But what a battle it was !!
The motor car industry did not be-
come the greatest single enterprise
of the United States without its
wounds. some mortal. all unforgct-
able to those who participated in the
struggle.
There are less than 90 domcstically
manufactured motor cars iii the
United States today. Ten times that
many died that the industry might
live and flourish. But who recalls
those noisy, awkward, but none-the-
less virile warriors of the early days
of motordom when he goes today to
buy one of the refined, tine-feathered,
soft-voiced aristocrats that are their
direct descendants? No one does ex-
Cept those few foes of everything
modern. those who mainta ain that the
old motor car could outperform the
modern automobile just as fatty as
they insist FitzsimmonS could whip
Tunney.
The next time the talk veers
around to automobiles. mention the
.Alpena. the Silent Northern or the
Great Eagle Note the mystihcation,
or worse, the pity, on the faces of
the listeners Good cars i'll their
day, they have passed on. Sur
rounded for a time by the halo OF
success, something happened. Com
petitors outdesigned. outhnanced
and outtalked them. and then came
oblivion, for the name OF once
popular car reappears in the adver-
tising of today as the appellation of
an electric washing machine.
OF this partial list of good cars
that have gone over the Great
Divide. how many of the names are
recognizable by the modern motor
list:
S. G. ", STANDARDIZATION, Rich
1nond, Nance, Marion. Guy, Cecos,
Diles, Maytag, Cartercar, Firestone-
Columbus, Columbus, Flanders. Loz-
ier, Marathon. Palmer Singer, Pope
Hartford. Pullman, Rambler, Comet,
Pan-American.
Some of them will awaken faint
memories in a few places. But it
must be remembered that in the era
when these cars were popular" the
word did not mean what it connotes
today when applied to an automo-
bile. A few hundred sales yearly
were sufficient to justify the manu-
facturer's claim that the public liked
what he had to offer. 1t takes far
more than that today, even in the
higher-priee classes. =
Il X +
The cold figures which prove that
10 cars have died where one has
lived leads one inevitably TO specu-
late as to the causes Of so. high
mortality. What gives car start
on the highway to popularity and
what keeps it going, once it gets
under way? Certain makes have
battled through scores of difficulties
from the dawn of the motor cars day
until now they stand pre-eminent
with no signs of losing their places.
Others fash across the horizon, hold
the stage brief moment, then pass
on as suddenly as they came Old
timers go along, then fade quickly
out. Newcomers achieve meteoric
success and then fortify themselves
against all attacks. What is the diff
ference between success and failure?
Generally speaking, cars that have
died stay dead. Occasionally, after
period of non-production, pulmotor
squads have tested. their technique
in attempts to revive spark of life
in car that has been gone but
short while. Stevens -Duryea was
one. The attempt failed. Mitchell
and Winton were others. The proc
ess has been frutless in a majority
of instances.
The disappearance OF name, how
ever, does not always denote the
disappearance of the car that bore it.
Automobiles frequently find reincar-
nation under a new name a profitable
process. In the midde-pri class
today two cars are to be found that
obtained new leases on life in. this
fashion. The old Z. NJ. F. that
father once thought the greatest
motor vehicle of all times now is Civ
ing son splendid service under its
new name. The old Jeffrey that
looked so good to the generation
that now is sending its sons and
daughters to college holds a high
position in the public esteem and
confidence.
One cannot help but think that
there is something in name when
one compares the appellations of the
dead motor cars with those that are
living. Glance at the name of any
car marketed today. The name de-
notes something definite. 1t fits the
car. Psychological! OF course, but
the effect is lifegiving Some names
denote low cost, others sturdiness