Evening star., 1934-10-07

enough on their shoulders.
These inspirational folk have q
philosophy that works especially well
in the service station. Their message
is one that ought to be carefully con-
sidered by car owners who go to
service station with the thought that
they won't be able to have the trouble
cured
Like the measles, success is catch
ing When a customer has complete
confidence in a repairer the latter
seems able to do better work. 1t isn't
all mental. A certain experienced
woman always sets out to help her
mechanic when taking her car to his
shop for help. She gives him his
tory Of its behavior, suggests possible
causes and stands ready to answer
questions. Owners who do not expect
results walk off and return later in the
day expecting to find things exactly
as they were in the first place. They
usually get what they expect.
Today's wider tires call for special
handling of the car should it get of
the hard-surfaced portion of the road.
Most drivers feel that they should i'm
mediately steer back to the road, but
women who understand the situation
will take their time, allowing the car
to run along on the soft shoulder until
its speed is checked and it can be
handled more easily. To cut back too
sharply will result in bad skid.
have often wondered why she
always took the trouble to mark down
the license numbers of the cars parked
just ahead and behind hers. It looked
like lot of trouble for nothing, but
now know otherwise. When she re-
turned to her car the other day to
find the radiator grille pushed in she
had little trouble locating the car that
had been parked ahead. The attor-
ney for her automobile club reported
that the other car showed marks on
its luggage carrier evidencing just
such a collision. Its owner explained
that he did not have time to wait
around for the woman whose property
had been damaged and did not voice
any objection to admitting his care
leSsneSs.
Her complaint that when turning
out to overtake another car the steer
ing wheel wanted to spin back to the
normal position too quickly is one that
leads to a solution of the problem.
This spinning back of the wheel is
regulated by the pitch (camber) and
caster of the front wheels. Changing
the Gambler and caster degree or so
will make marked changes in the
steering characteristics, but the work
should be done by an expert in this
field who is guided by factory in
structions.
Any normal driver knows that it is
important to keep a safe distance
behind the car ahead, but it is sur
prising how many people keep
constant distance behind regardless
of the speed Travelled, the condition
of their cars or the braking power of
the car ahead. This weeks sermon
cite is the simple suggestion to in
crease the margin of safety-the space
between cars-in proportion to the
speed Travelled.
Whenever I see a woman struggling
to adjust the position of front seat
where the entire seat moves can't
resist the desire to stop and suggest
that she move over to the center and
pull on the dash. Many of these
seats won't slide easily If pulled from
one side or the other.
Things had not been going espe-
cially well for her that day. She had
been late for everything since getting
out of the wrong side of the bed.
Naturally when heading for a bridge
party she was inclined to step on it
and make the usual number Of mis-
calculations that call for excessive
use of the brakes. Turning into the
driveway she switched off the motor,
slammed on the mandrake and
jumped out. 1t. was an unhappy
landing, for when she started home
ward the brakes seemed anything but
right. Later she had them adjusted
but without success. They finally had
to break her the bad news that the
drums were warped and would need
to be taken of for truing or perhaps
replaced. It was her expensive way
of learning that brakes can be dam
aged by setting the hand brake when
the brakes are hot. Pressure on the
drums warps them.
Any knock is, of course, alarming
but If your service man says that
"pinging" sound you hear when you
try to get away fast is due to fuel
detonation the situation calls for calm
consideration. If the motor is not
filled with carbon, the mixture is not
too lean, and anti-knock gas is used,
the conclusion is that the spark is
well advanced. Good drivers like to
be able to- hear a light knocking in
the motor when eagerly accelerating.
You can have the timing made
knockless, but 1t won't be as eficient
and you won't get maximum pep.
"I have been told that I could get
more power out Of my car by keeping
the oil level low, since oil acts as o
resistance" writes regular reader.
Theoretically o smaller amount Of