Evening star., 1936-07-12


the cause Of highway safety. The
statement concludes:
Applications for safe driver rat
ings will be received until July Is.
Shortly after. impartial judges will be
named and they will select the rep
resentative safe driver In each Of the
4S States and the District Of CO.
lumbia. Every application will be
carefully considered. with due re-
gard for the distance driven during
the last 10 years, as well as the safety
and law-obervance record Of the ap-
plicant."
As THE car goes SO goes the vaca-
ton trip.
Serving more than ever before as the
first assistant to his honor. the vaca-
tion seeker, the automobile should be
favored with special consideration, ac-
cording to Frederick c. Russell. That
the holiday vehicle is often neglected
explains why the ribbon of the road
frequently knots into unnecessary
tangles.
To load the car with all the access
sories to fortnight In the woods, and
then to remember that the cooling sys-
tenn should have been reverse flushed,
is just one Of those things that are
guaranteed to take the Joy out of life.
The country cousins 1910 fishing
tackle may be all you need for that
annual amateur urge to drag a whale
from a pond that boasts of a grandpa
minnow, but it's not so easy to locate
. new timing chain to take the place
of the one you should have had prop
erly frightened up before starting out.
Let's go, of course; but let's go pre-
pared.
Many tourists have trouble starting
their engines when on the Summer
trip. especially If their destination Is
on the shore of mountain lake. Wise
is the camper who remembers to park
the car on a downgrade, so that he
can roll aside a rock in the morning
and coast down in gear, if the starter
fails. 1t is we'll to carry along little
extra gasoline SO that the engine can
be started by pouring few drops into
the carburetor intake, should the float
chamber 60 dry and the fuel pump
not be efficient enough to lift more
gasoline to the carburetor during the
cranking process.
One of the real tragedies OF any
holiday trip Is a broken spring, yet
that is a likely eventuality where the
car is heavily loaded and driven at
speed over rough roads. Oddly
enough. spring breakage is not so often
due to weakness of the springs them
selves as to the fact that the shock
absorbers are not working properly.
When journeying to high attitudes
it will be necessary to give the carbu-
rotor more air, due to the reduction in
oxygen. Often motorists take the
detours in futile effort to find out
why the engine overheats when con-
sideration of the situation should show
them that the trouble is merely due
to altitude making the mixture ex-
cessively rich. 1t is well to know how
to make these emergency changes in
the carburetor, since a drop in tenn
perature will make 1t difficult to start
leaned out engine in the early morn
ing. At the seashore usually q richer
mixture is advisable.
One of the most annoying troubles
in touring is to have lubricant work
out on the right rear brake drum
This usually is due to the fact that
the owner has gone too long without
changing lubricant in the rear end or
is perhaps still running on the grade
Of lubricant used for cold weather.
The best of grease retainers are help
less in hot weather when the rear
end lubricant is thinned out. This sort
of trouble is more apt to show up
where a car Is taken on the byways
for the reason that secondary roads
usually are crowned. In keeping on
the right-hand side of the road the
rear axle tips to the right.
A careful fabrication job Is advis-
able before starting out on the trip.
Good tires are obviously an asset
to the tour. but how many who are
starting on the big trip of the year
realize that there are advantages in
having the front wheels and tires
checked for balance? A tire with q
heavy spot may bring on shimmy,
especially when the rear end of the
car is overloaded 50 as to cause =
change in the tilt or caster of the
front axle. Tire pressures should be
watched closely on the trip. Usually
the increased pressure due to heat
and increased speed will be enough to
make up for the increased load. Some
tourists. however, prefer to start out
with the extra pressure and then bleed
the tires as they 60. and If tempera-
ture conditions justify it.
If the tires are smooth they can be
retreaded at about half the cost Of
new ones. provided the carcass is in
good condition