The Washington times., 1929-07-03

with tools especially designed
pairs and upkeep as the factor.
# the motorist viii but stop to-
think OF 1t, specialization has not
caused him any Inconvenience. II
does not mean that he has to so
to this place for carbon cleaning
lob, another for bearing replace.
fnent, and still third for taking
rattle out Of the floor boards or
squeak out of the door.
Specifications Linked
| The whole Of car upkeep may be
and is, often, conducted under one
roof, but the floor space will be
divided in such a way that each
its individual quarters, especially
laid out for its best finctioning
and equipped for its individualized
I task.
It IL that way now in virtually
l al first class service Adjustments.
Efficiency paralleling that Of the
/ factory is coming into being.
Body maintenance, obviously, is q
natural field for the specialist,
many point out. Whereas the rest
of the car is mechanical, the body
Is not. It represents coach-work,
cabinet making, carpentry or some.
thing Of that nature.
In It's nature, manufacture, and
maintenance it necessarily must be
different, they say.
The changing attitude toward car
bodies on the part Of motorists Is
another vital factor in the revised
upkeep processes.
'Body Consciousness"
It used to be, SO the industry
says, that the car buyer was by no
means as 'body-conscious" as he
is today. So long as the car would
pull the hills and looked fairly
graceful, that was all that was
asked. SO far as squeaks ana rat
ties went, the attitude was that
they eventually arrived and there
was not much that could be done
about it.
So far as the mechanical stats
Of service and repair shops went,
they did not need a body man in
those days.
What body repairs were neces-
E SdIy, alHlOSL any OF the Sn0p 8
handy men could make.
Then, the industry suddenly got
''eye.appeaT' minded. It began to
turn out beautifully designed bodies,
vfvfdly colored, and sturdy, indeed.
It proved more popular than the
most optimistic had anticipated.
1t was q beautiful, sturdy, silent
body that his car had and the car
owner determined to see that it
remained that way.
Lacquer Influences
The Inevitable result was the
growth Of body departments in
dealers service establishments on
an sides and the springing up of
independent body shops which did
nothing but this kind of mainten-
ance and repair work.
Now come the body makers them
selves, to facilitate the work of
these agencies by providing special
training. special tools and special
parts.
The development Of the lacquer
finish and its univeraI use was an
important factor in the trend, so
many say. As 1t revolutionized the
factory finishing program so it
1dO1CdI4y SA4dllSC0 LILO OdL OWuCI Q
disposition with regard to keeping
the car beautiful.
That developed business.
The business brought revenue
that, in turn, brought enlargement
Of tho body division and body shops.
These bigger abIishments had q
better service to sell and naturally
more car owners have been ready
to buy it.
One illustration of the owners
patronage of body maintenance de-
partments is cited almost universally.
1t has to do with tenders. For a
long time, motorists treated fender
dents as fender dents and did moth
ing about them.
Then they discovered that the
service station had gone beyond its
fairly crude earlier methods of re-
\ pair and had reached a stage of
perfection that enable 1t to repair
the most seriously damaged fender
in such a fashion that there was
no trace Of damage.
Fender Work An Example
Tenders are dented at a great
rate these days, despite bumpers.
But they do not remain that way
long. It is too easy to have them
repaired, and the bills are too small
to justify the marring of appear
ance.
What he can do the fender that
has been mangled in traffic, the