Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-10
MEN AND MONEY
BY NJ. S. Rukeyser.
(Copyright. 1927

The largest diversified automobile
company in the world has invested
81 700, 900 in a debunSing plant As
miles from Detroit near Milford, Mich.
At this / .t00-acre racing field in the
rich farming country OF lower Michi-
gan. the claims OF enthusiastic sales
men sales managers and advertising
writer's are compared with the actual
performance of automobiles of all
manufacturers. The General Motors
Corporation calls this great fact-find-
ing laboratory, which was conceived
two years ago and which is not yet
wholly completed, the proving
grounds"
O. r. Kreusser. a tall, handsome
engineer of massive frame and friend
~ demeanor, is in charge. He has
dark brown hair and brown eyes.
His voice is deep and melodious. In
his new work Mr.. Kreusser is coming
to know more about the behavior of
automobiles than any other man in
the world.
Putting on Mileage.
Expert drivers, in different shifts,
are putting mileage on the clocks OF
automobiles "a hours in the day--in
rain, shine or sleet. In four months
the average automobile at the proving
grounds does as much work as in
four years in private family. One
essential function of the proving
grounds is to conserve the time ele-
ment. In January more than 100000
miles were driven at the. proving
grounds, and Mr.. Kreusser told me
that when the last of the new tracks
now under construction has been
finished the drivers will average $780,
600 miles a month.
To justify the corporate eXpendi-
ture, the proving ground serves the
General Motors Corporation in TWO
ways. 1t tests its models and com
pareS them scientifically with all com
peting. observing the strong and weak
features of each. Thus. the General
Motors engineers can see in unmis-
taxable form an indication of where
it's own products are strongest and
where they are weakest in a com
petitive sense. The second function
of the proving grounds is to submit
new General Motors models or in
ventions to rigorous tests of expert
ence on the road.
Other companies will also probably
develop their proving grounds. The
Studebaker Corporation at South
Bend has already done so. Before
the advent of proving grounds, auto
mobile companies did their testing on
the public highways. AS a. result
there were many Interruptions from
congestion on the streets and from
intersecting traffic. Accidents some.
times destroyed models on which engi-
neerS had been working for months
and thus seriously delayed industrial
advancement. On the proving grounds
there is only one way traffic of q
minimum speed of 45 miles an hour.
A driver in special French car re-
Gently Travelled 80 miles an hour. To
run in the upper part of the slanting
track a minimum speed of 20 miles
an hour is required.
Investigations Impartial.
| discussed the significance of the
work with Mr.. Kreusser, who said:
our investigations are impartial. We
are not trying to reveal the weak.
nesses Of our competitors, but to dis
cover their elements of strength. No
single model can excel in all respects.
because in the nature of things vari.
Gus qualities are related. A high de-
veiopment in one direction, such as
Iuel economy, is likely to result in
some curtailment in another. such as
hlli climbing. Thus. the designers of
q car must occasionally make choices
or even better still to compromise. AS.
result or our road tests, in which
cars run $4,000 miles, we know how
lie IeadIng competing cars of General