Motoring About Second-Hand Cars IT is doubtful whether at any
time since the buying and possession of a serviceable motor-car became a general commonplace the lure of the second-hand car has been so potent, and, in consequence, the risks of the gamble so great, the reward of the lucky or intelligent buyer so satisfying, as now. It can be taken for granted that there were never before so many quite first-class machines to be had at such easy prices, seldom so many of the type called money-traps. A London dealer who has been in the "quality car" trade for at least twenty-five years told me the other day that the demand for sound used cars is beginning to amount to what is automatically, if not popularly, called a boom. He was unable to keep pace with the demand while his office-staff and salesmen were daily overwhelmed with offers of used cars that were fit only for the scrap-heap to' which they were obviously progressing without loss of time. The owners of these were under the impression that because an unusual num- ber of people were anxious to luy sound cars that had en long service there must exist a far larger number, who desired to buy "junk." Between the difficulty of collecting good used cars, discouraging the owners of the other sort without giving offence—a very delicate matter—and trying to make a working profit out of it all, he told me he found life arduous. _ .
The temptation to buy an old car at about a quarter of its original price and at about half its intrinsic value is great. It is obvious that all over the country there are scores and hundreds of first quality cars very little the worse for wear and good for years of hard work yet. A well-made car of this type is built, as a rule, to give real and 'lasting service for at least ten years, as most people can testify. It would be interesting to have a .census taken of all the pre-War cars that are still doing their jobs sturdily and at not much. higher expense than in their salad _days. I believe the number would astonish those latter:day Owners who shun an old' car as though it were the incarnation of hopeless inefficiency. Most of us have seen or know well cars of those golden years of 1912 to 1914 still going and going briskly. Nor is it always only the hand-made car -that lasts for years.
There are certain cars of the mass-production_ that run them very close—through in their case -long and useful life is patently clue as,much to careful use as to original good workmanship. -You cannot take the risks with cheap cars that you can -With- dear ones.- _ . In a part of the country-I know, well there are several 11.9 cars dating bcick to 1922-L23 to be seen daily on the roads, and they.go and continue to-go, -doing the- house- hold work, as it were, and taking the children for their' holidays, unfalteringly,:irithe most praiseivorthy Manlier. They originally-cost from £375_ to_1425;. their successors. of 1938 cost about £179 ; their. market:value today must be nil or less—you might have to-pay- to have them taken: away—and their real 'value; if you :judge by results, at least £50, possibly more: - For-1.50 -you could not buy the service they give. A 'friend' of mine who owns a 20-h.p. Six of advanced design, with a Weymann saloon body, which he has driven for about three years, asked a dealer the other day what he would allow him for it against the price of a new small car. He suggested £25, as an opening. figure. The dealer's reply was to point to a one-year-old ear of a well-known American make of the more expen- sive sort that had done about 4,000 miles. " I paid £4 10s. for that last week," said he, " and I cannot get an offer for it." Both cars were worth, as going concerns in sound condition, at the very least £100. With these, and the ten-year-olds, both high and low bred, you have countless machines of the same sort and• price, perhaps only five years old or less, that are in an advanced stage of decrepitude, and worth little more.
The situation is tempting and highly confusing, and it is for this reason and because of the_ wild discrepancies he hears of or meets with that the potential buyer should go about the business with the greatest caution. There are very good cars to be bought, but there are also a good many people fully aware of the fact and in active search for them. There are hundreds of - indifferent, cars that are worth buying for a very small sum in the expectation that they will do the work required for a specified time and then retire to the knackers' yard or be pushed_ into the nearest pond. And there are many cars between these, in excellent working condition, but manifestly with only a year or so more to go before they become very expensive in the matter of overhauls and replacements, taken, generally, in part exchange for new ones. Liberally sprinkled among them are indubitable crooks, all looking rather like them. The very riches make choice a real embarrassment.
There are, broadly speaking, two classes of second-hand buyers—the man who is prepared. to pay a reasonable sum for a decent car, from, say, £200 to £100, and the man who has, let us say, £15 or £20, knows that there are prizes in the:bran-tub and is prepared to risk it. lie may pull out a complete wreck, though that is not really very likely if he knows anything at all about ears, and he . may pull out an, invalid.. * Well, he argues, with another £5 or £10' I can keep that infirmity going for 5,000 miles. That is all I expect/ for my £25. The procedure for the first class' is simple. Take half a dozen first-class makers of cars with which you know you would be happy and write to the works or to the chief representative fOr particulars of any used cars they may have for sale. If you put yourself in their hands you will probably be doing all you can to reduce the risk of disappointment. Your interests are theirs.
As a gambler you must proceed differently. In the first place do not buy wear off the roadside, like a basket of strawberries or a bunch of asparagus. Some highways leading - out of London are a sort of suburban Great Portland Street, to look at, but I would rather not take ' quite such a risk as that offered to me last' month when a car overtook me and displayed a coy notice on the back- " Stop Me and Buy Me." Go rather to the dealer in your district in whom you have confidence and give him-time to look for cars for you. - - - Here are the main. points_ to check in every second, ' hand car. Tyres : badly worn tyres may add £20 to the price before you have had it a thousand miles. Mechanical knocking in the engine; excessive piston- slapping. The first must put the car out of court; the second probably means heavy oil-consumption, dirty plugs, frequent decarbonization, loss of power and high' petrol-consumption:- Screaming gears, which mean excessive wear and 'therefore renewal before long. Have the _gear-boi OpenediSathat you can verify what, if any, oil .has been used. I once 'knew a case where a screaming gear-box had been doped With sawdust. A pretty conceit.
Take. particular, of the steering connexions, feeling them for play :and, while you 'do this, " track " the front wheels. If -.you suspect .misalignment and the front tyres do not show Unequal Wear, look at the back tyres. They may have . been changed about. That is an old trick of your hard-boiled coper. " De- tracked " front wheels can ruin a pair of tyres very quickly, beside making the steering heavy, uncomfortable and possibly dangerous. I should not pay overmuch attention to the instruments on the dash. If the clock won't go and the calculations of the speedometer and mileage indicator are at variance with the facts, let it go. A car of my acquaintance had its speedometer abolished for gross inaccuracy, the owner, a man for whom an instrument of precision must be precise, having tried five with equally disappointing results. He has a revolution-counter, which, being driven at engine-s you at a glance this he can tell ce exactly what speed :title is as nearly accurate as such indicators can be. car is making on top, third and, if necessary, on second. For five years the petrol-consumption has not varied by more than 2 per cent. Barring short runs in traffic, therefore, he can tell.:you how many miles the car has run during the day. I have seen this demonstrated beyond possibility of doubt a hundred times. Perhaps this piece of solid information may be of help to those who are worried by erratic dials..
JOIIN PRIOLEAU.
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