From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Page from 'The Motor' magazine featuring reader correspondence on motoring costs and vehicle performance.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 160\5\ scan0282 | |
| Date | 12th March 1941 | |
| March 12, 1941. 121 1378 The Motor CORRESPONDENCE Letters intended for publication must be written on one side of the paper only and should be as short as possible. They may be signed with a nom de plume, except names of cars and proprietary articles; the name and address of the sender must be enclosed as a guarantee of good faith. No responsibility is taken for views expressed by the writers. Address: ''The Motor,'' Bowling Green Lane, London, E.C.1 FIRST £100 SALOON: The Ford Co. has already shown that a £100 saloon is a practical proposition, with the production of their Popular model in 1937. It enjoyed great popularity, being economical to run and to maintain. The Ford Co. has done much also to cut down motoring costs by establishing moderate charges for spare parts. Some Objections to 15s. a Week Motoring CONGRATULATIONS on your most able advocacy of motoring for the million as a policy which must be adopted by the Government that has the duties of reconstructing this country's trade after the war and of levelling out social inequalities. With the doctrine that an active pro-motoring policy on the part of the Government would help more than any other to set trade going again through all its channels and, at the same time, bring interest and recreation to the masses who, without the ready and convenient means of transport which possession of cars of their own provides, will again be faced with the confined existence which breeds despair, no intelligent person will disagree. No development of civilization has done, or can do, more than the motor vehicle to create useful employment. As usual, although agreement with a doctrine does not necessarily ensure agreement with the details of any plan for putting it into effect, I, personally, shudder at the idea of encouragement of car-owning becoming an excuse for retaining in office tens of thousands of war-time temporary Civil servants when peace comes. Let the punitive system of car taxation be abolished, and all annoying restrictions on use be replaced by tolerant legislation. The arrival of peace will then bring its own impetus to mass desire for the benefits of private transport. The only obstacle in the way of fulfilment of that desire will be—as your articles rightly suggest—the financial ability of the ordinary wage earner to buy and run a car. How is he, the ordinary wage earner, to be given that ability? Do not the proposals in Mr. Laurence Pomeroy's very thoughtful article, ''All-in Motoring for 15s. a Week,'' amount to a combination of subsidies, which, as the money must come from somewhere, will necessarily have to be produced by taxation borne not only by the rest of the community, but by the ordinary wage earner himself? No matter what form a tax takes, its effects are never limited to the payer, but echo all through the community. There is, for instance, no magic way by which products can be distributed from factory to user or consumer more efficiently (and, therefore, more cheaply) than through the network of local retailers who have been brought into existence by no other force than economic law. It would be found that a Government department could not distribute cars to the public without saddling costs with a bigger charge than the moderate flat-rate commission-on-results collected by the motor agent, out of which all distribution expenses have to be paid by him before he obtains a salary for himself. The proposal that the motor agent undertook the distribution of Mr. Pomeroy's ''People's Car,'' he should handle that distribution without remuneration for the sake of future business in supplies and service, is also, I venture to state, very positively economically unsound. The reasons are too many to give here. No, sir. Having ''thought again'' long and deeply in accordance with your appeal, I cannot agree with the details of the plan for putting in effect the doctrine of motoring for the million, although the doctrine itself admits of no contradiction. The solution, as I see it, is HIGHER WAGES, not subsidies or spoonfeeding; coupled, of course, with reasonable instead of vindictive motor-vehicle taxation and legislation. Raising the level of wages is really no more difficult a problem than is subsidizing; and it is a great deal healthier for British character. WALTER BOYLE, Editor, The Garage and Motor Agent. Cars or Motorcycles—Which are Faster? WHICH are the faster road vehicles—cars or motorcycles? I drove from London to Cheltenham on a Mark V Bentley, covering 100 miles in 1 hr. 54 mins., the journey including High Wycombe, sundry traffic stops, lorry traffic and lots of ice. For every 30 m.p.h. limit I braked heavily and observed them fully. At the same time a motorcyclist rode his solo 500 c.c. H.R.D. Meteor on the same route, fell off twice (because of ice) and was at Cheltenham about 8 mins. after us. He averaged 60 miles per gallon Pool petrol, we averaged 13 1/2 m.p.g. or Pool. Has anyone comments to make on this? W.B. S. Farnborough. A39 | ||