Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-02

Man is foolish enough to criticize
the woman driver ahead but is Just
wise enough to keep out of the lime
light by staying behind.
When you buy your new car. or
assist hubby in the task. you are apt
to hear lot about one-way and two
way shock absorbers. There's even
a three-way kind, so a little school
be apropos at this time.
Shock absorberS are not properly
named because in their present form
their chief function is to control the
action Of the springs which are the
cars natural absorbers Of road shock.
With or without these devices spring
naturally congresses when the car
strikes a bump and recoils afterward.
1t is the recoil. or rebound. that fur
nishes the jolt. so most of the control
devices act to check this. They are
the one-way "shock absorbers."
A two-way device adds the feature Of
controlling the compression Of the
springs. It makes for a still easier ride,
and any device that operates on this
principle does absorb some of the shock
itself
A three-way device Is intended to al
low the springs to act free when the
car Is not going over rough pavements.
Recently q woman asked me what
she would do II the engine stalled on
q steep hill and the holding brake did
not work well eiough to keep the car
stationary until the motor was re-
cranked. 81 need the right foot to
press the starter button" she explained
'How can press the foot brake at the
same time?"
Some time ago I explained to another
woman who asked a similar question
that the trick could be accomplished
by transferring the left foot to the
brake pedal as the right foot Is moved
over to the starter button. After the
engine is cranked the transfer of feet
should be reversed. The whole pro-
cess is quite simple and can be done
in less time than it takes to tell about it.
Some of the upholstery cleansers are
also useful for cleaning and polishing
the window glass. Never use any gaSo-
line with tetraethyl lead in 1t for
cleansing purposes.
"My car made an extremely loud
noise when I cranked the engine the
other day." says a woman of about a
years experience at the wheel. I
should almost call it an explosion and
there was a great volume of black
smoke from the exhaust to make II
seem very real. Is there anything 1
can do to prevent this from happening
again? I must admit it frightened me-"
There is no need to be fearful of an
explosion in the muffler. It's noisy
but harmful only to the muffler. It's
the result of accumulation of unburned
gas in the muffler suddenly igniting,
and since such a condition may occur
under varying circumstances there Is
little the driver can do to prevent 1t.
The thing to beware is the genuine
backflre through the carburetor which
is never more noisy than the familiar
pop" and sometimes merely ''mushy"
kissing accompanied by smoke under
the hood. This is the situation that
often results in fire. It's usually due
to operating the engine with too lean
a mixture.
There is designer of smart frocks in
New York who gets her inspiration for
color combinations from the latest hues
extracted from the rainbow by the GUS
tom body builders. That's only fair. be-
cause the automobile industry has bor-
rowed many an idea from the delicate
clash of colors in the most exclusive
evening wrap. incidentally. high hat"
Is being taken out of names for special
hues. An $4,000 car now comes in
1.-TWO shades Of tan" Just plain tan.
America sings praises to sunshine to
the extent that most automobile owners
are tempted to forget that a car can
have too much ultraviolet as well as
too much aqua. We rush to get the
car out of the wet but seem to feel
that 1t is entirely safe standing in
direct rays of the sun. Sunlight is
particularly harmful to cars finished in
maroon.
A carefully balanced diet of sunlight
and moisture is best for any car. Many
body noises are simply the result of too
much dampness while many others are