Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-29

In q pinch woman can explain heI
trafac mistakes by saying she has Just
had the car washed and can't do q
thing with it.
A woman of several years experience
in plotting an automobile has just en-
countered what she aptly terms "dou-
ble-cause trouble" At her service sta
ton they found pitted breaker points
which could cause the engine to miss
They corrected this condition, but when
the engine continued to behave the
same way. they also found that the
fuel line needed cleaning. The trouble
had two distinct causes.
When the men folk 60 shopping for a
used car. better remind them that ap-
pearance Is not everything. saw this
demonstrated when a friend tried out q
slightly used' custom Job from New
York. The machine. looked like a mil
lion dollars, about the only visible evil
dence Of use being a little fragrance of
face powder from one of the vanity
cases. The demonstration. however, re-
vealed the car to be as loose as q well
used taxi.
The true story of it was that the ac-
| treSS who owned the car had enjoyed
| only q few spins around Manhattan.
Her chauffeur, however, had taken a
couple of night trips to Montreal.
Being less mechanically inclined than
men, women have been tempted to
fuss with the car in the garage after
the engine has been started, but little
more interest in the cars mechanism
would, nevertheless, serve as a still more
effective safeguard against being gaSSed
by carbon monoxid. She should know
that having the breaker points kept in
condition speeds the start and decreases
the danger.
II more drivers could be on the out
side looking on, instead OF on the in
side looking for trouble, there would be
fewer difficulties in Winter motoring.
have In mind the situation where q
woman will continue to allow the rear
wheels to spin around in the snow in
stead OF getting out and slipping some
thing under the wheels to give them
traction. A wheel that spins not only
digs deeper into the snow, but polisheS
the surface until there Is no chance for
traction.
Are you just learning to drive, and do
you feel inclined to look down on the
floor to be sure Of your positions of the
gears? Car makers once took the fig-
ureS on the floor so drivers would get
over this habit. but some cars with
four-speed gear sets now revive the Gus
tom. The way to break the habit is to
mark the positions on the top Of the
shift handle.
One driver pasted on small paper
numbers, learned the positions quickly
and meanwhile avoided taking her eyes
entirely on the road ahead.
After q woman has mastered the es-
sential process of manipulating car
she Is certain to speculate as to the
exact function Of the spark control. 1t
becomes a source of considerable inter-
est to her to know just what happens
when she retards or advances it.
The spark Is one of the most compli-
cted things about a car, yet one of its
most simplif1ed. This paradox is ex-
planned by the fact that it is q matter
OF timing. and timing always involves
the din1cult business Of accuracy. In
each cylinder Of an engine the spark
must occur not later than the time each
piston reaches the top Of its stroke
when COMPRISING the ready-to-be-ig-
nited gas vapor. In practice the spark
Is timed to happen q little before this
point Is reached-and 1t Is this degree
OF advancement that produces such wide
differences in performance.
When you adjust the position of the
spark control you simply produce a