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 of short articles and opinions on various motoring topics from 'The Autocar' magazine.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 160\3\ scan0236 | |
| Date | 3rd February 1939 | |
| 184 The Autocar February 3rd, 1939. THE PEACE OF NATIONS CANNOT BE SECURED WITHOUT ARMS, NOR ARMS DISCONNECTED JOT... Evidence THE other day a Meriden (Warwickshire) motorist was summoned at Coleshill for "failing to set the brakes of his car," and a report of the case appeared in the local Press, from which I gathered that a constable saw the car standing by the side of the road and on trying to move it found that he could do so easily as the foot brake was not on. Something wrong somewhere. Rear Wipers SINCE windscreen wipers are now regarded as one of the essentials of motoring, it is somewhat strange that drivers have not ere this demanded similar devices for the rear window. (Groans from harassed manufacturers, designers and service managers.) (Image Caption) For the rear window. Just give it thought for a moment. Haven't there been times when, driving in the rain without an outside mirror, you have been without any knowledge of what is coming up behind because the rear window has been obscured by rain and mud mist? I have used water sprays for the screen with great satisfaction and I am glad that the Trico-Folberth people make one for those who appreciate their value. It has long been my intention to try something on these lines for the rear window. But a wiper seems just as good and a combination of the two would be just fine. It is odd that no one has thought of this addition to the equipment of a Monte Carlo Rally car; but perhaps they have, and it has passed unnoticed. Frazer-Nash SPEAKING at Tolworth, Surrey, the other day, Sir Kingsley Wood said that thanks chiefly to Captain Frazer-Nash we were outstripping other countries in the design of mechanically operated "gun turrets." So that is what Archie Frazer-Nash is doing now! Gun turrets. I remember some years ago making a long railway journey with him—to Belfast for the T.T. or the Isle of Man—and we talked for a long time on inventions. He was then inventing a safety device for cranes, which has since come into general use. Too Many Dials ARE we too fond of gadgets and other dials on our instrument panel? Some motorists love them as much as the knobs on their miniature cameras. I will admit I carry a miniature jeweller's shop window on my own car with seven dials and about a dozen switches of different kinds; in fact, I am now full up and I have had to refuse all offers of more gadgets if they include a dial or a switch. I also admit that the array has given me a certain sense of satisfaction, though I am unable to explain why. Junior tells me that to drive my car properly at night one needs to be an expert cinema organist; but that is just envy. The other night, while I was driving some non-motoring friends to their home, one of them said he would be afraid to buy a car because of the many things he would have to learn and the number of dials he had to watch. The only one he considered necessary was the clock, which is perhaps the least essential of all the instruments. (Image Caption) Like a cinema organ. "Why have a clock on a car?" asked another of my innocent friends. "If you want to know the time you have your watch. Besides, one doesn't have a clock on the lawn mower." Idea. Why not reduce the dials by one by having one of those interior mirrors which embody a small clock? Anyway, I would prefer too many dials to embodying all the tell-tales in one. No Dials at All THERE is a man in America—Captain H.{Arthur M. Hanbury - Head Complaints} Ledyard Towle—who is director of advertising and creative design with the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company. In a recent copy of Automobile Topics he had many interesting things to say on current motor car design, and one of his suggestions was the elimination of all dials. In their place he suggested lights or buzzers to warn the owner when all was not well in the engine room. After all, that is what half our dials are for—to tell us when the oil pressure is fluctuating, the water temperature too high, the petrol level too low, or the rate of charge non-existent. If all things went wrong at the same time a series of lights would give us a good imitation of an illuminated Christmas tree. In place of a speedometer, Captain Towle would have a long strip along the top of a plain panel; in this strip figures an inch high would move from left to right, passing through zones of different colours—green for 0-30 m.p.h., yellow 30-50 m.p.h., and red 50 to maximum. One could read such a speedometer without looking at it. Customers' Clubs THERE is a firm of motor agents in Hillingdon, Middlesex, who are to be commended for an enterprise which one could excuse them for leaving alone. The firm is Morton Longley, Ltd., Humber, Hillman and Sunbeam dealers, and they have started a motor club for their clientele; it is already big enough to attract over a hundred to a dance held at the Regal Cinema Ballroom at Uxbridge. There is nothing original in the idea, but, no doubt, it is meeting a need or it would not prosper. (Image Caption) Lies, lies, lies. There is more in it than the idea of keeping customers together; it is proof that the policy of the firm is not just "It's your money we want." At the moment I am thinking of a secondhand car which a relative of mine bought recently. Had the firm from which he purchased it run a club for its clientele the salesman would not have dared to have told lies about it for fear of the horrid truth later becoming known to all their other customers. A firm that is prepared to encourage all its customers to get together hasn't much to hide. C4 | ||