Evening star., 1927-10-16
MOTORING
Dy.sf springs looseIeaf variety have
heen
BY WILLIAM ULLMAN.

and complete ContfOl place inc uIlNeI
in a hazardous position at all times.
He may be able to reduce the cars
speed in such a way as to suggest
that his brakes are exceptionally fine,
but if he cannot stop promptly, after
starting to stop, he is in constant
danger.
What makes car comfort? Easy
springs? Deep upholstery: The
ability to drive over rough roads at
any speed one likes?
One car owner takes different
view of it. He interprets comfort as
freedom from expense.
Perhaps genuine comfort really lies
in a general freedom from jolts, men,
tai as we'll as physical. There is no
real comfort in owning a car that
has to 60 to the repair shop every
few days. regardless of how easily
it may ride. A car that will take the
bumps with ease may be very un-
comfortable car on the pocketbook.
Comfort, then, appears to be some
thing more than bodily case. Incl
dentally, some cars are more COM
Portable for the passengers than for
themselves. This is not genuine COM
fort for passengers, because it means
that they will have to spend more
time in repair shops, in changing
tires and in doing out money for
this, that and the other thing.
Preventing automobile accidents by
watching the little things that are
likely to cause trouble is the current
thought in safety work. No one
knows just how many collisions have
been the result of bees getting into
the car or of coat sleeves catching
the door handles when quick changes
in the course of the car are essen
tial, but motorists are beginning to
consider them.
Many drivers are apt to step on
the accelerator as we'll as the brake
pedal when trying to make quick
stop. Just because the two are placed
so close together. A half-lowered
window may be the contributing
cause of an accident if the driver
needs to make a hurried signal to the
person behind. A rear-view mirror
that isn't properly adjusted for the
driver may cause a serious smash.
One of the unexpected trends of
the day is the increasing demand for
cars of larger seating capacity. Why
is it, one may ask, that in these days
of unprecedented registrations it is
necessary to provide bodies that will
carry more than the owner and a
passenger or two?
Manufacturers are going right
ahead with production on seven
passenger cars and there is said to
have been definite slowing up in
sales of those non-sport cars which
do not have large enough seating
capacity. Even the sporty coupes
or roadsters must have commodious
rumble seats. Trunk racks also are
provided on these cars on the as
sumption that the rumble seats al
ways will be occupied.
4 4 ~
Just one of the details in car con-
struction that 60 10 make for safety
is the quick-working body part. To
lower window quickly may be the
difference between life and death,
and it is with this idea in mind that
engineers have devised the window
that can be raised or lowered in
twinkling. At the speed modern cars
travel, there is no time for fussing
with windows in moments of emer-
gency. Many accidents have resulted
because drivers could not lower win
dows quickly enough to give signal.
The idea of safety in body con-
trols has been extended to the cowl
ventilator. In most of the new mod
els this can be opened or closed with
one movement of lever. An effort
should be made, however. to place
this lever where it can be reached
without requiring the driver to lean
over or otherwise take his eyes off
the road.
Motordom certainly travels in cir
cles. For 1928 we are being offered
many of the old mechanical features
such as high compression, arched
springs, four-speed transmissions,
glossy finishes and the like, but i'll
addition some of the old customs as
we'll Time was when every auto
mobile that was used for anything
except the transportation of goods
was called a pleasure car. Later
some one thought that was not ex-
pressive enough and suggested the
more dignified term. passenger car"
Now we are talking about pleasure
cars" again.
***
From the Department of Labor
one learns that the general average
wage in the automotive industry is
$28.73 per week. Only the anthracite
coal miners outrank the worker i'll
the automobile plant with weekly
earnings of $2o.42 each. Laborers in
the lumber industry work 57.5-hour
weeks and earn only $l7.7. This
explains, in part at least, why the
automotive workman is an automo-
| bile user.