Evening star., 1939-07-30

prices have . tendency to increase.
therefore, 1t Is to be remembered
that any person who Is contemplat.
ing the buying Of a motor vehicle
should place his order for 1t imme-
diately, particularly if in connec-
ton with the purchase they have 4
motor vehicle to trade in as part
payment, for the reason that at
this time they will be able to get A
much higher price for their trade-in
than they will be able to get for IL
later in the year.
Another national outlook is AZ
follows:
OF the $4,000, 900 passenger cars
IN operation on our highways TODAY
more than 5,5OO,0O0 were built and
sold during or prior to 1929, accord
ing to the 1899 edition of the Auto
motive Almanac published annually
by Automotive News here, which
made its appearance this week.
Probably the majority of our readers
Will not only agree that this figure
is correct, but will insist that all
nut two of these old jallopies were
directly in front of them during
tnelr tour over the recent Inde-
pendence Day holiday.
Thls tabulation, which shows the
number OF cars still in operation
by age in the various States of the
Union, gives some interesting side
lights on the growth of the auto
motive industry. According to Auto
motive News, figures of this nature
have not been published previously
and the entire compilation fills 8
pages of the 136-page almanac.
In addition to the tabulation of
passenger cars the almanac also in
cludes smaller tabulation showing
total of over 100000 trucks in
operation nationally by model years.
1t Is felt that this tabulation is
OF particular interest to automobile
dealers, service men, manufacturers
OF parts, equipment and accessories.
as we'll as to the automobile manu-
facturer and the public. From a
safety standpoint it would reveal
the number of old cars in operation
in the various States and their ages.
from which their condition might be
judged.
The tabulation reveals that there
are 6,568 900 Ford passenger cars
in operation today, of which / 1,0O2 900
were built in 1929 and 100000 prior
to 1929. There are 1894 900 Chev-
rolets in operation, of which 498 900
were built in 1929 and 606,000 prior
to 1929. Plymouth, which was not
introduced until 1929. is third high
est with total Of 2,288 900 registra-
tions. Dodge ranks next with
1877 900, while Buick is fourth with
1,2l3Ooo.
The listing also shows some i'm
pressive figures for cars still in
operation which no longer are pro-
duced. For instance, there are S.
1894 Auburns still running, although
the car has not been built since
1896. There are $1,000 WHY'S
Knight cars running, although that
car has not been built since 1888.
Hupmobile still has 10000 cars on
the roads.
In addition to the tabulation Of
cars in operation. which is a new
feature in the almanac this year,
the book contains page after page
of statistics of taxation, production,
sales, exports, gasoline consumption.
employment, financial and financing
data and complete listing of all
companies in the industry. with
names of executives in each orga-
niZation.
This is the sixth annual edition
of the Automotive Almanac and is
the second largest from the stand
point of both editorial space and
advertising lineage that Automo-
tive News ever has produced. 1t
was topped only during the banner
year of 1887. Since the book Is de-
signed to live throughout the COM
ing year, it's increase in size this
year may also be an indication of
what the industry expects in the
year ahead.