Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-30
1927 MOTOR CAR SHOWS
AMAZING IMPROVEMENTS
SURPRISES Previous Automobiles by Engineers Bet
terment of Old Principles Rather Than
by Radical Changes
by FRANK j. CARMODY

N offering no truly radical de-
VI parture from what has gone
4 Y before.
This is the paradox pre-
scented by the 1927 automobile. more
beautiful, more efficient. more alluring
and more economical than it's prede
cessor. as even the uninitiated may
see with but a casual glance.
The engineer, whose genius has
famed more brilliantly of late in the
Eutomotive than in any other field
has. during the past few years,
achieved many astonishing results.
They have been, in the MAN. the
products of sharp departures from
accepted principle and practice. This
year the engineer has achieved an
effect that surpasses all those of the
past.
Old Principles Perfected.
However, he has done it, not by
blazing a new trail in design, but by
creating a superlative superstructure
on a foundation already well laid. He
has. for the most part, perfected old
principles and improved his earlier
practices. The result is a creation
that is as different as If 1t involved an
almost entirely new engineering idea.
This is the fact that is Immediately
impressive when one looks upon the
1927 automobile, alone in the sales
room or en- masse on the floor of the
exposition hall.
In power speed, fleXibility, safety,
beauty, luxury, color, ease of handling,
economy of operation and low first
cost, the automobile maker never has
offered anything that can compete
with his latest product The automo-
tive industry has not lived for q
rich years for nothing. 1t has learned
that the public buys when its taste is
improved. knowing this it's leaders
ana It's followers have come to the
present year with their greatest de-
termination to improve the buyers
taste. In producing it's latest auto
mobile 1t is confident it has done it's
share. 1t waits with equal confidence
FOR the public to play it's role.
Higher COmpressiOns Used.
Granted that the new motor car does
not offer the ultimate in the high.
compression engine, the single-cycle
engine or any of the radical departures
talked of by those within and without
the industry, what does it offer, then?
III 1t provides no new principle, it
certainly provides innumerable ten.
denotes toward perfection of the old
If it does not give the public the high.
compression engine, for instance, it
certainly gives an engine that exceeds
the compression ratio of the old
1t gives the improved carburetion
and ignition and fabrication that
this higher compression power plant
requires.
A discussion of the mass effect of
the 1927 car undoubtedly must begin
with color. Late in 1925 and through.
out 1925 the car builder came to the
conclusion that black was an intellect
GUS garb for his 1.-THE, snappy product.
He began to clothe his gay motor car
IN gay and appealing colors. Sud
denly he found himself more prosper
Gus than ever, and since then Ameri.
can cars have taken on hues that put
the rainbow to shame
The development of the pyroxylin
finish was the first long step toward
this extremely popular note.
$500 Shades Available.
1t seems futile to attempt to de-
scribe the glorious effects achieved in
the finish of the new motor car No
taste in color will be denied. There
are $500 shades in the lacquer fin
ishes from which the car buyer may
make his choice. This number may
seem incredible, but one glance at the
traffic stream is sufficient evidence that
the number of colors is beyond the
comprehension of the average man.
Efforts to name many of the new
colors have been made. None has
been 40 successful. however that the
companies which produce this type of
finish have been able to get away
from identifying its various products
by number instead of by name.
Green appears to be the predomi-
nant shade this year, according to
compilation at the National Automo.
bile Show in New York On 6S of tx
cars exhibited some shade or shades
of green appeared. These usually
were accompanied by another color In
body bead or window reveal or in
stripe around the body.
Gray is second to green in popu-
larity. 1t provided the basic color Of
SO models exhibited in New York.
Blue was third. with 80 to its credit.
Other models We're finished as follows:
Tan and olive, 15; red, 10; yellow, IA;
black, 8, and brown, 5.
In yenturing into a description of
the mechanical picture of the latest
car one Is conscious Of an inadequacy
of superlatives. Last years car was
labeled the perfect automobile" Per-
lection cannot he improved, but the
1927 automobile has been. The writ
ers who so described the automobile
of 1926 were utterly sincere. The en-
gineer simply has gone them one
better.
Engines More Efficient.
One of the outstanding characteris-
tics Of the engine of all cars today is
it's increased efficiency. 1t breathes
purer air, il drinks cleaner gasoline,
and it is fabricated by oil that Is I'M
diluted and free from abrasive. As
result it performs with unfiagging
energy, and. equally important, with
greater economy. This latter quality
viii be reflected in lower fuel and re-
duced service costs, or the engineer
has missed his guess-and he has not
missed very many guesses in the last
few years.
Addition of the oil rectifier. air
cleaner and gasoline filter in greatly
perfected form has been one of the
car makers greatest contributions this
year.
Crankcase ventilation is another
practice that has won many friends
among the car designers. 1t checks
crankcase dilution and serves To re-
gain some of the fuel lost by leakage
past the pistons. An Idea that this
practice is not confined To amy partlc-
ular price tier is Ia Ice found In the
fact that this SYSTEM is in use on
Cadillac. Oldsmobile, REQ, Buick and
Moon cars--to mention but a few.
Inc principe Oh cIdHhcdSe Neh''i"
tion is simple. BY admitting the car
buretor air to the valve chamber at
one end through louVres with rear
wardly turned edges and conducting II
from the other end to the carburetor
through a pipe. both air-cleaning and
crankcase ventilating effects are at
tanned.
The latest engine will Vibrate less
than its predecessor whether II II Il
-four" six" or an "eisht Bal
ance is more precise and dampening