New Britain herald., 1929-11-09
Tiny Autos Have Their

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 Experiments of Sylvester B. Dis cenza. Hartford inventor. and Nels Nelson. local mechanical genius, with Dscenza's new car, the Dis cenza Special" may we'll develop into a financial success. local peo- signed the car that Nelson built, a tiny machine with a motor that he believes will develop wonderful power and run around 50 miles on q gallon Of gasoline. Everything about the machine is proportionate- ly inexpensive. also, apparently pro- viding transportation that will Of fer strong competition, if produced commercially. to the coming advent of two new small cars.
 An English. machine, designed to cost less than $500. certainly does not appear to possess all the quail ties, when viewed in advance show ings, that the "Discenza Special" offers To begin with it is exceed- ing unlikely that the English ma chine will ride as easily as the Hartford mans car. It is doubtful that it will develop the power that the locally developed machine has already demonstrated it possesses. The tires on the English car are smaller. the engine is smaller prac- tically all proportions of the car, ey. cept the body are smaller than Discenza's auto. The English de- signer sacrificed size and streneth in his effort to confine his machine to small wheelbase. Discenza and Nelson apparently have not done so.
 The second car to be produced commercially Is even cheaper than the English machine. It is design ed to do away with springs entire ly, supporting the weight of tho body and the passengers on elastic alrplane cord The promoters in sist that the cord will wear for years. and when worn out can b,, replaced at an expense of no more than dollar or so. Discenza's car has springs and airplane tires. which are certainly larger and like ly to provide moro comfortablo transportation than those on eitho- Of the other machines These point. apparently. are somewhat in favor Of the local mans car. To produca the machine commercially, of course many frefnements and changes might have to be made, particular ly if the inventor tried to build a sedan on the chassis he has at pres ent' but these points could undoubt- edly be worked out.
 All of these baby automobiles however, may find that the market IS not as eager as they suppose when and if they place their mod els m the field. It is doubtful that the average motorist will seriously consider buying car that offers so little chance for argument ovor the right of way. Imagine a timid motorist. in the tiny English car in the path of a five ton truck Imagine his dismay when he sees q limousine, about block long, bear ing down on him. Figure out whether he Is going to risk landing somewhere in the next county if he Is hit by a real automobile, and you will get some idea of what his men, tai reaction is likely to be when he considers buying a dwarf auto.
 Of course there is another side to the argument. Men still ride mo- torcycles and many of them escape mutilation and death. The motor cycle is not as popular as 1t used to be, but it is still sold Its factor of safety is probably increased by the fact that it can squeeze through a small hole in traffic, but decreas ed by it's tendency to skid or turn over when its equilibrium is dis turbed. The motorcycle is special ized transportation, of course. It does not appeal to the average au- toist because it will not carry q sufficient load as comfortably and as safely as an automobile.
 In comparison the motorcycle and the baby auto probably elimi- nate each other. The man who would buy a dwarf car would not be interested in the motorcycle, i'll most instances. And in the sarn number of instances, it probably will be found, the man who buys full sized auto will not be inter- actad 1T, ah1,rauiatad edition nf