Consuming Interest

The Horseless Carriage

By LESLIE ADRIAN A few of the cars from these countries are only on show and are not yet available here. Others are available, but it is worth your while to check on the number and location of servicing stations established here by the manufacturers and dis- tributors. At one extreme, the Russian Moskvitch and Volga are only here in an attempt to prove that the Russians are not all that far behind every- one else in the manufacturing and styling of cars. At the other extreme, the French Simca cars in the Aronde series give you a combination of French design, American experience (Chrysler International owns 25 per cent. of Simca's capital and sells and services Simca cars here and else- where) and the advantage (in easy replacement) of component parts which are now 30 per cent. British and will soon be 50 per cent.

One of the advantages of buying a foreign car may be that the delay in taking delivery may be less than for a popular British car, though this is not necessarily always true. The Swedish Volvo, for example, can be delivered within a few days, the Renault Dauphine takes six weeks and the smaller Fiats three months.

Cars which show a welcome new trend in the United States are the 'compact' Chrysler Valiant, Chevrolet Corvair and Ford Falcon. They are all about the same size as the British Ford Zephyr • and are the American manufacturers' answer to the vastly increased number of small cars im- ported from Britain, Germany, France and Italy. Before the introduction of the 'compact' cars the American motor manufacturers had, in Lord Rootes's words, 'designed themselves out of the market.' It may now be possible, wsthetically, economically and for the first time in many years, to think of buying an American car. The 'com- pact' cars are fast and comfortable and have plenty of room inside. They are not unnecessarily lavish in the trimmings, they have lower petrol consumption than the standard size of American car, and they are a lot easier to park.

Car manufacturers, I think, should be doing more to make their cars safer. Two of the foreign cars I saw had points worth noting. The Swedish Volvo has fittings for safety belts and is one of the few cars in the world to provide these aS standard. Galley belts which cost 4 guineas for front se and 2 guineas for rear seats); and glasses for when driving at night. Parmalee (39 Bedf( Avenue, Slough, Bucks) are specialists in prot, and clipover night-driving glasses for 17s. 6d. a tive glasses of all kinds and they produce rim1 11 a 'Gold Star' pair with a case for 35s. These glas: are shatter-proof, they considerably reduce I dazzle from approaching vehicles and have I effect of sharpening definition in mist or light ft

Bits and Pieces

When it comes to buying a British car, there no difficulty in getting dozens of dealers to you everything about their engines, petrol co sumption and what not. But it is surprising he often it is the little things which make the rt difference between one car and another, in tent of irritation and comfort; and it is often gill hard to get comprehensive information on th: So I have been going round the manufacture collecting it up: and the result is the chart yI see below.

It might be thought that cars built in Brita for driving in the British climate should have sui things as heaters and windscreen washers as sta: dard equipment. Among those whe think not ar apparently, most of our car manufacturers. I sixteen of the best-known saloon chrs priced under £900 (and comprising at least 80 per ceo of British car output this year) only two have heater as standard equipment on the basic mode and in only four more is it included in the exte you pay for the de luxe version. For the rest, I you want a heater, you pay an extra £12 to I.2j And the same with many other items. (For Of

II

11 ea

C.

Car Heater?

(£15)

Wind- screen washer? (£4)

Glove box? (open or lockable) Parcel shelf? Interior light? Dip switch on wheel or floor?

Rear m windy, open.

Mini-Minor/7, £497+ £40 ... ...

deL deL — yes yes floor deL, partt Minor 1000 (2-door), £590+ £29 ... deL ex yes yes yes floor yes Oxford, £8l6+28 ... ... deL deL yes yes yes floor yes A40, £639+l2 ... ... ... ex ex yes yes yes wheel deL, partt A55, £802+28 ... ... ... deL deL yes part yes floor yes Riley 1.5, £816 ... ... ... yes yes yes — yes floor yes Wolseley 1500, £752 ... ... ex ex yes — yes floor yes Herald, £702 yes yes yes part yes wheel — Ensign, £850 ex ex yes yes yes floor yes Victor, £717+£35+£50 ... ... ex ex yes

- ex

yes floor yes Popular, £494+2I ex ex — yes deL floor — Anglia, £589+2l .,. ... ...

, Prefect, £622 ... ... ex ex ex ex yes yes yes — deL yes wheel floor deL, PartI3

yes

Consul, £773+g50 ... ...

ex deL yes part yes floor yes Gazelle, £848 ex yes yes — yes floor yes Minx, £722+£43 ... ... ... ex ex — yes yes floor yes

deL=fitted on the tie luxe model, ex=extra (typical prices of certain extras are shown at the head of the coluni0 Prices shown for the cars are the full (i.e. including purchase tax) price of the basic model, with the extra for the de luxe version where it is supplied.

It should not be taken that the differences shown between the basic and de luxe models here are, in fact, only differences. With no washer, the Trico Spraywipe (from 45s.) and the Lucas Screen jet (72s.) can be fitted to any nitike.) - There are signs that things are improving: two new models, the Triumph Herald and the de luxe stersion of the Mini-Minor/Austin 7. have heaters .and windscreen washers as standard equipment and Ford's have, on the new Anglia, finally started to break away from the vacuum-pump !Ype of windscreen .wiper which runs slow when- ever the engine is running fast. Against this, how- ever, there is the nasty new habit of having the rear side windows permanently shut or only part- (Wiling, and most manufacturers seem strangely reluctant to fit bumper overriders as standard rather than (le luxe.

. Just what should be standard equipment is- hke the question of where the dip switch should be -a matter of opinion. All I can do is list the rnost important items which I should like to see standard on all saloon cars.

The Manchester restaurant car strike, with its ktIenchint questions in the House, may or may run sort out the question of who is to feed the Manchester line; I hope it may draw attention to the differences, real or imaginary, between Pull- 'Ilan service and ordinary BR restaurant meals. Let it not be forgotten that about this time last Year I started a row with Pullmans about the lt)ferior quality of their food and the •fantastic e-)ipensiveness of their wine: as a result of which the wine prices were brought down almost over- night from 20s. to 13s.-I5s. Protest does keep ,standards up; so does competition. Perhaps the one that finally gets the contract could be given it for, say, two Years-conditional on keeping a really high standard of food and service.

Charitable Christmas cards are beginning to be so much the thing that it will soon be thought faintly vulgar to send anything else. And for .any- one who is tired of paying too much for a big card, or buying cheap ones so small they are inhaled by the postman, they are often good value by any standards. Obviously, I can only list one or two of my own favourites. Deaf children get an appallingly raw deal from life, not because they can't hear Bach but because they can't make friends. The Deaf Children's Society 11. Macklin Street, WC2) do a card in red, black and blue at six for 3s. 6d. The National Society for Mentally Handicapped Children (162a Strand, WC2) do two cards, one a reproduction of a Memling Triptych, one a Van Gogh, both in colour at 9s. 6d. a dozen. The National Marriage Guidance Council (78 Duke Street, WI) do six, from a green holly print and a Nativity at 4s. a dozen to a delightful coloured one of the Three Kings at 12s. a dozen.