Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-09-11

] \
Labor day as something Of signal
to contine their driving to the city
| limits should lose no time in getting
out into the open, if only for an
afternoon. Then they will under
stand why veteran motorists declare
Autumn TO be the finest motoring
time of the year.
This story points no moral; it ism
supposed to be funny; but it may be
, interesting. and it may serve to in
| dictate once again that you just never
can tell.
A local car owner started off to
New York at l2:l5 am. last Sunday.
At 8 80 am. he was halted by fiat
tire and the discovery that he had
nothing to repair it with. (Thcre is
a moral, at thatO
He hailed passing motorist, who,
evidently afraid that he was a high
wayman. whizzed by without even
diminishing his speed. This happened
several times. and that, added to the
fact that fog had descended and
was getting heavier every minute, in
no way cheered him at all.
There he was. stalled. fog-bound.
apparently friendleSs, hungry-and
at 4 o'clock by the watch.
BY that time he was getting to
that precarious mental state which
means absolute helplessness. and
when the sound of the exhaust of
another car away up the road came
family to his ears, he just about de-
cided to let it go by.
What's the use of being taken
for thug still another time?"
But. when the car was stones
throw away he mustered up his
dropping spirits for one more try.
He gave vent to one last, despairing
shout, and, to. his amazement, the
passing motorist slowed down long
enough to look at him.
It was his next-door business
Dangerous curve ahead; Steep
hill. descend in low gear" Caution,
road under repair; DO not park op-
posite white line"-these and similar
signs along the tourists strange
route merit his respect and obcdi-
ence. They are placed there. in most
cases, because experts who have
made a study of the existing situa-
ton know it to be dangerous.
Unfortunately. it is not always re-
spect and obedience that are accord
ed the warning signs. Whatever the
reason, one does not have to travel
far to see fellow motorist attempt
TO take the dangerous curve" at As
or so miles an hour or to go down
the steep grade in high gear. And.
furthermore, one sees this fooihardy
motorist get by" with his indiscre
ton.
The point is. they do not always
get bv Here is an illustration:
where's the steep hill that was
supposed to descend in second gear?"
asked motorist as he pulled up to
filing station located in the Ale
gheny Mountains.
You just came down it," said the
station attendant.
well, what's steep about that
hill?" asked the motorist.
"Nothin'," replied the attendant,
enigmatically. except that FIVE peo-
pie were killed in a car that over
turned on it last night. The driver
prob'ly wondered what was steep
about it, too"
Some interesting facts from the
automotive history book:
Motor cars have been approx
mately Is years in the process OF
being lowered to a reasonable dis
lance from the ground. Few car
owners of today realize that once
high cars were considered necessary
because of the influence of horse
drawn vehicles. All wagons were
high in order to afford the occupants
an opportunity to look over the
horse and see the road ahead
Back in 1895, when pioneers were
experimenting with the first and the
most crude of gasoline-propelled
horseless vehicles, there was no such
thing as a carbureter. The gas tank
itself was relied upon to convert the
fuel into a vapor. When the fuel
wouldn't vaporize, thankful of diff
ferent variety was substituted.
Some of the pioneers used to util-
ize trolley tracks as a roadbed, pre-
ferring them to the mud and mire
of the early roads. An automobile
in those days was a sufficient nov
city to make street-car motorman
stop when he found one of the con-