The Season for Motor Débutantes

A Discussion of Certain Radical Features of the New Models, With Suggestions for Car Improvement

GEORGE W. SUTTON, Jr.

IN former years it was the custom of motor car manufacturers to delay the appearance of their new models until January, when they could be revealed to the quivering public amid the fanfare and excitement of the National Automobile Show. Now, however, the time of the industry's "coming out party" seems to have changed, both as to season and as to the duration of the event. New models appear in constantly increasing numbers, from the first of August until late in the Autumn. Already this year we have seen the types of Packards, Haynes, Nash, Buicks, Studebakers, Hupmobiles and Dodges which will be en regie during 1924. To say that all of these new cars are vast improvements over their predecessors is to state the case mildly. Probably by the time this article appears in print, other new models of well-known cars will have appeared.

At least two new features of the 1924 Buick models represent very important developments in the motor world. I refer to their four-wheel brakes and their new body lines.

For the past year the American motoring public has been reminded at frequent intervals that the development of fourwheel brakes in Europe is progressing at a tremendous rate. At present more than 75% all the cars built in France are equipped with brakes on front wheels, as well as at the rear. Engineers have stated repeatedly that this feature is positively coming as standard equipment on practically all American cars. We have seen four-wheel brakes make gradual progress here, first on Duesenberg cars, then on Leon Rubay, the Packard Single Eight and the Rickenbacker. The appearance of this modern engineering feature on both the Buick Six and the Four is an entirely different matter, however, since it marks its first adoption on an American standard car of light weighL and low price.

The Buick four-wheel brakes unquestionably mean the acceptance of this engineering principle by a very substantial portion of the standard car industry, and other manufacturers will thereby be encouraged to bring out four-wheel brake models of their own. As already mentioned in these columns, the general adoption of four-wheel brakes will produce some serious problems of car operation, especially if some of them are built with cost sheets in mind, rather than perfect design and workmanship.

The hoods and radiators on all of the 1924 Buicks and on the new Studebaker Special Six are almost identical in shape with those of the Packard. This does not mean, necessarily, that the Buick and Studebaker have stolen the Packard's lines. In my opinion, it means rather the beginning of the adoption by standard manufacturers of the long, sharp, square lines which hitherto have distinguished the Packard, Rolls-Royce, Roamer, Moon, Barley and other cars in place of the gently curved hood and radiator lines made popular by the Buick, Fludson, Locomobile, Marmon, Cadillac and a host of other famous American motor cars. It will be interesting to watch the forthcoming models, to see if this idea receives confirmation.

In a recent article, for which we have been alternately vilified and complimented on our precociousness, we ventured to suggest a number of improvements in American cars. Some of these already exist on a few machines. We recommended their universal adoption. Others, however, have yet to be invented by engineers and designers.

Since writing that article, several new thoughts on the same subject have occurred to us. Our previous recommendations covered the following points:

1. The adoption of automatically selfadjusting brakes for automobiles. These are used on freight cars, and have already been invented for automobiles by wellknown engineers.

2. The elimination of the blind spots at the front of the driver's compartment of enclosed cars.

3. The adoption of one-piece windshields or the changing of the windshield division, so that it does not interfere with the driver's view of the road ahead. In the Studebaker and some of the other new cars this improvement has been made.

4. The introduction of tonneau doors which can be closed from the front seat of open and closed cars.

5. An improvement and increase in gasoline gauges for the dashboard.

6. The invention of a gear shift gauge for the dashboard, which will tell the inexperienced driver when it is possible to shift gears without clashing.

7. An immediate and drastic improvement in the design of headlights, to eliminate the present dangerous and objectionable glare.

8. The adoption of simple methods of dimming headlights when passing other cars. Oakland and a few other cars are equipped with very practical devices for dimming the headlights without removing the hands from the steering wheel or the feet from their necessary duties in connection with the clutch, brake and accelerator. I doubt the safety of foot dimmers.

9. The building of cars with deeper seats, such as those incorporated in most European cars, especially in English machines of all classes.

10. The immediate introduction on all automobiles of simple and practical methods of emptying the oil and grease from crankcase and differential.

In addition to the suggestions outlined above, there are many other little ways in which American cars can be improved. As everyone knows, grease cups are an unmitigated nuisance and, even with the new systems of force feed by high-pressure oil guns, they are invariably neglected. The only possible solution is the universal adoption of automatic chassis lubrication. First, however, suitable systems must be devised which will perform this vital work in an entirely satisfactory manner. Duesenberg and Courier cars are automatically lubricated. All American automobiles should be.

The control of the carburetor from the steering wheel would appear to be a very simple matter to arrange, but very few manufacturers seem to be arranging it. The carburetor is extremely sensitive to changes in the weather, and requires different mixtures at different temperatures. The Locomobile for many years has had an adjusting collar on its steering column. A small lever, or other appliance, on the steering wheel or column would be a highly desirable part of standard automobiles.

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Nothing could be more inefficient, impractical and unscientific than our present methods of raising the hood for inspection of the engine. On a very few cars, such as the Flint, there is a little notch in which the edge of the hood cover can be placed when raised, thus holding it up without scratching and bending. In the new Renault, a substantial bracket holds the hood in an elevated position. It would not seem a difficult matter for designers to arrange some sort of a hinge which would raise the hood upon release of the catch. Or, the hood itself might be built somewhat after the manner of a roll-top desk. At any rate, under our present system an inspection of the average car calls for too great acrobatic ability. And this is true, not only of the cheaper cars, but likewise of some of the most expensive custom-built machines.

All engine hoods, tool compartments and warning signals should be secured with substantial locks, to avoid theft and the mischievous attention of small boys.

The parking question is becoming a troublesome one. In order to stop for shopping or other purposes, it is often necessary to go three or four blocks out of the way to find a parking space. Getting out of that space is often an intricate proceeding on account of the nearness of the • cars in front and behind. For twenty dollars or twenty-five dollars an arrangement could be installed on a car which would enable its driver to come out of a parking space sidewise. This could be in the form of auxiliary wheels, on which the car could be raised and moved by the power of the engine or even that of the storage battery. This, of course, is a subject for the study of engineers and, while it would be a decided convenience, would, at first, produce certain dangers from cars approaching from the rear.-

It is hoped that in the forthcoming new models the hoods, mud-guards, running board aprons and other parts of the car will come closer to meeting than they do in some of our present cars. The joints on most American cars are quite ugly. On a great many of them you can put your hand through spaces which should be tightly closed. I suppose this is one of the inevitable results of building cars in enormous quantities, but the refusal of people to buy cars with gaping apertures between cowl and hood, radiator and hood, mud-guards and running board aprons, will quickly bring animprovement.

Recently I purchased a new car. I find that the manufacturer has sold me a machine equipped with headlight lenses which are illegal in the state of New York. Each state, of course, has its own headlight laws, most of which are observed about as solicitously as the Prohibition Amendment. In most of them, however, the authorities have occasional moments of frenzied activity, and hundreds of motorists are arrested and fined for not having cars equipped with the favored lenses. It would seem a matter of only a few moments' thought and a few cents' expenditure for manufacturers to equip cars with lenses which arc legal in the states to which they are going. This is only one of those little attentions which manufacturers will begin to bestow upon the motorist when the present demand for new cars becomes a little less hectic.

In fair weather the driver of a coupe nearly always drives with the front door windows lowered. In many cases the manufacturers have built these windows in such a manner that they may be lowered into the doors only about threequarters of their length. This leaves a portion of the window sticking up. In the average coupe there is not a great deal of spare room for the driver, especially if he is a big man; and, occasionally, it is possible for him to find comfort in driving only by resting his left elbow on the top of the lowered window. This soon becomes irksome on account of the sharp edge of the glass.

A friend of mine has obviated this difficulty. He designed a small, but substantial leather cushion which a local body builder fastened to the window slot by means of several pieces of angle iron. On this cushion, which can be readily removed, my friend's elbow rests in comfort when the weather permits him to drive his coupe with the door windows open. The attachment is so devised that, in case of a sudden shower, the window can be raised without removing the cushion.