The Better Motoring of To-day

A Réumé of the Improvements Invented and Developed During the Past Two Years

GEORGE W. SUTTON, Jr.

EXPERTS have told us, with evident truth, that automobiles are in need of improvement in engines, chassis and bodies. We have heard this so often and in such specific detail, it has become an accepted fact with us that our motor cars are lacking in many of the qualities which will be possessed by the car of a few years hence.

We expect some sudden discoveries to make perfect, overnight, the parts of the car against which we now hold indictments. We are prone to overlook the gradual improvements which are constantly taking place. And yet it has been only by a long series of these gradual improvements that the motor car has progressed from the clanking juggernaut of 1893 to the beautiful, uncomplaining vehicle of to-day.

If we gaze back over the past two years we see that it has been a period of progress. The car of 1921 is fundamentally similar to the machine we saw at the close of the war. But so many of its wrinkles have been ironed out, and so much has been added to its ability, that it is an entirely different car. The changes have been small but have produced infinitely better motoring.

In 1918 we had a lot of trouble starting, especially in cold weather. The subsequent widespread use of various methods of heating the incoming fuel to produce a more combustible mixture, the improvement in manifolding and carburetion, and the universal adoption of electric starters have gone a long way toward eliminating the starting problem. Grease cups are disappearing in favor of easier and better ways of lubricating inaccessible parts. Vibration is being taken out of automobiles by the employment of counterbalanced reciprocating parts, more scientifically designed springs, better balance of weights and cleverly conceived shock absorbers. In the mechanical department of the modern car we find vast improvement over the machine of two years ago in the matters of regulating the temperature of the motor compartment by thermostats and shutters, engines which operate faster and deliver more power on less fuel, and better valve action and firing through the enclosure of valve mechanism and spark plugs in cooling chambers.

In the chassis, many of the new cars outclass the old ones because of the suspension of the gasoline tank within the frame for protection and better distribution of weights; new dash instruments, some of them readable at night by the use of radium paint, which tell the operator the condition of his battery, the amount of gasoline in his tank and his mileage per gallon; automatically-lighting lamps in the tonneau and under the engine hood; headlights which, by various methods, can be made to deflect their rays when passing other cars; and improved brakes which reduce the skidding danger.

It has been through the adoption of recently invented accessories, however, that the greatest number of faults of two years ago have been removed. The shortcomings of the average windshield, for instance, have been overcome by the introduction of tonneau windshields which protect passengers in the rear seats of open cars from the accumulation of drafts occasioned by the fact that the usual windshield is so designed and constructed that a disconcerting suction is created in back of it. This affects, also, the driver in the front seat and the widespread adoption of wind deflectors is conclusive evidence that windshields have been in need of improvement. It is probable that the car of the not distant future will have a windshield so built that it will include the features now supplied by windshield wings or deflectors.

One of the most radical changes in the past twenty-four months has been in the matter of tops for open cars. The flimsy, wrinkling, easily discolored top is gradually passing into history, being replaced by a rigid or folding top of vastly improved workmanship, material and appearance. The old celluloid wundows, which became yellow and cracked with moderate use, are disappearing rapidly in favor of plate glass windows. The expansion of the California top idea has done much to promote motoring comfort in open cars.

A bete noire for many of us in the average standard car is the lack of room behind the steering wheel. This fault is being eradicated rapidly by cleverly designed steering wheels which can be tilted up or moved forward when entering or leaving the driving seat. In connection with these and other steering wheels a number of ingenious locking devices are putting in their appearance. An automobile thief finds easy picking among cars whose owners take no precautions against theft. He will seldom, if ever, waste time with a car equipped with an efficient, theft-preventing device.

The matter of vision has been an important one for the driver, both in good weather and bad. In rain, sleet, snow and fog it has been difficult to keep the windshield free enough for the driver to see ahead clearly. When driving into the sun, the glare has been a source of much discomfort. Both of these disadvantages are in the process of elimination through the introduction of automatic and hand-operated windshield cleaners and various types of sunshade visors.

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What one of us has not lost time and ternper lifting out the front or rear seat to get tools and spare parts from underneath? This has been one of the most archaic features of modern automobiles, Many of the 1921 cars are supplied with neatly arranged, locking tool pockets in the doors and drawers under the seats which slide out without disturbing the passengers. Presently all cars will be similarly equipped.

A number of methods are being followed to do away with the inconvenience formerly attendant upon the raising of side curtains. In the California type of top and some others, neat panels, equipped with plate glass windows, are slipped quickly and firmly into place. In another system the curtains lie flat under the roof and can be pulled down and up like window shades, Great improvement has been noticed in the design and construction of side curtains within the past two years and much more will be apparent within the next two.

Among other fittings of recent invention and application which have given us an infinitely better car to-day than we had two years ago, might be mentioned the different kinds of signals which, when placed on the back of the car, tell the drivers of machines behind of the intentions of the operator as regards turning and stopping; snugly fitting radiator covers which protect the water system and engine from the icy blasts of winter; parking lights, the object of which is to promote compliance with laws and save current from the battery; and the many styles of rearview mirrors which enable the driver to see the road behind him without turning his head.

There is not a manufacturer in America who is not to-day turning out a better car than he produced at the end of the war. The unusual spring suspension on the little Overland Four, the many mechanical innovations on the Studebaker Light Six, the new engine and body lines on the 1921 Paige models, the improved hood and radiator design on the Reo and the Franklin; the Packard Fuelizer; the arrangement of compartments for carrying parcels and the little light under the hood in the new National, the dignified closed bodies on the Stutz and Mercer, the new engine in the Marmon and the dozen or so radical innovations on the latest Pierce-Arrows are all evidences of the progress which has been made in the past two years. The Dort, Buick, Allen, Scripps-Booth and Grant of 1921 are as far ahead of their predecessors in mechanical features and comfortable riding qualities as are the Moon, Oakland, Oldsmobile, Elgin, Haynes, Jordan, Liberty, Templar, Saxon, Lexington, and Roamer over the cars which carried those nameplates in 1918.

Not only is improvement being shown in the cars themselves, but in the conditions under which they are operated, Road building in the United States is going ahead slowly but surely. Immense sums are being spent on this vital work and presently we shall have a highway system at least the equal of any other in the world.

Great agitation is taking place to reduce the number of automobile accidents. It has been proven time and again by official investigation that in three-quarters of automobile accidents the pedestrian is at fault. Nevertheless, the most active steps being taken to eliminate this bugbear of the motor world is coming from the industry itself. The National Automobile Chamber of Commerce has inaugurated an extensive and expensive campaign of education to banish the reckless driver from the road and to change the attitude of the crowd in the street toward the motorist for its own protection.

Among the recent happenings in motordom the most interesting is the announcement that the Peugeot Automobile Company of France is organizing an American company to build Peugeot cars at a factory to be located in New England. The building of foreign cars in the United States has been tried before, but the companies which are doing it now or intend to do it in the near future have adopted entirely new principles and their experiment will be interesting to watch.

The conditions in the automobile industry have been anything but happy since last June. From every part of the country, however, come reports of increased buying on the part of the public, which should be encouraging to everyone who wants to see America progress in the matter of automotires, or who is a stockholder in any of the big companies. Early fall should, barring unexpected unheavals, see a return to normal conditions. In the meantime, the summer is coming with its vacation periods. This year more than ever before the attention of the motorist is being occupied with the increasingly important subject of motor camping. In the next issue we hope to have something to say on this subject, especially about special camping bodies and the latest things in camping equipment.