At the Motor Show

Second Review ' Last week I gave some particulars of the bigger cars to r. seen at Earls Court, but lack of space prevented my finishing the list, the last on which are the 25-h.p. VAUXHALL, the 25-h.p. WOLSELEY and the new 28-h.p. AUSTIN. The Vauxhall is shown as a saloon on the manufacturers' stand and as a drophead coupe and special saloon on the Grosvenor Carriage Company's stand. For the coming year it has been improved. in riding comfort, but its maximum speed of about 8o miles an hour, together with its rather remarkable petrol consumption of 20 miles to the gallon remain. The principal change is in finish, the makers having come to the conclusion that the public would sooner pay a little more and have a better turned out car. The price is now £345. The new Austin of 28-h.p. is a 6-cylinder, 4-litre capacity developing 90-h.p. at a little over 3,000 revolutions. The four-speed gear-box is syncbro-meshed and engine design follows the normal Austin practice. It is shown on the stand as a limousine at £700. It is the top figure of the Austin list. Lastly, there is the 25-h.p. WOLSELEY which is shown as a limousine and with the drophead coupe body which I tried and described in The Spectator a few months ago. The price of the latter type is £490, while the ordinary saloon costs £395. There are no changes in the design but the performance has been improved by various means, such as by the fitting of a special cylinder head, the contour of which controls the flame rate and produces greater power at high speeds. All the Wolseleys continue to be fitted with " phased " springing.

The Poor Men's Cars—E100-E200 There can be no longer any derogatory suggestion in that ancient and honourable designation, not because there can be very few people alive today of car-buying age who do not know either first or second hand what sort of a fellow a poor man is, but because the cars are totally different from what they were when the phrase was first confected. The poor man's car of today is as fast and nearly as lively as the rich man's was ten years ago, better designed and better equipped. Even if you are ashamed of your car-poverty there is, nothing in the cheapest cars offered to you at Earls Court to encourage that snobbery. It may be ..cheap in the sense that its price is low, but I do not remember seeing more than three that look it.

Taking the exhibits as a whole in order of price, and be- ginning vir;th the cheapest, these are among the new cars I liked the look of best : AUSTIN : the Seven, price £108 to -L129, according to coachwork, which is an outstanding example of a combination of leaving well alone and improving in -detail. The Cambridge Ten saloon, at £185. MORRIS : the new Ten, which is distinguished for being built on the unit system, somewhat after the Vauxhall and Citroen plan and also for weighing. considerably under a ton. It is shown with a saloon body of pleasing design and really roomy accommodation. I have an idea that this is the forerunner of a new type of moderate priced light car. It costs £175. VAUXHALL : the new Ten and Twelve cost from £168 to £198, for something of the same reasons as the Morris Ten. The cars weigh about 184 cwt., they have 4-cylinder overhead valve engines of the familiar Vauxhall type, the cubic capacity being 1,442 c.c., and the tax £7 los. and £9 respectively. The new Twelve attracted me parti- cularly for the roominess of its body and for its really pleasing lines. I hope to report a trial of it in The Spectator before long.

Independent Springing.

STANDARD : the new Eight, which is, I think, the smallest car in the Show to be independently sprung in front. The engine is of one litre capacity, taxed at £6, and although it (Continued on page 676.)

At the Motor Show

(Continued from- page 674.)

is really a small car, the designers have managed to give the four passengers in the little saloon quite a remarkable amount of room. The price is from £125 to £139 for a two-seater and saloon. The Ten also has independent front wheel suspension, and costs from £169 to £185. HILLMAN : the now very well-known Minx to-h.p., which has undergone only detailed changes since it first appeared some six years ago. The saloon body which has the standard equipment, is one of the roomiest of any to-h.p. car in the Show, but in spite of that the chassis does not look in the least over-bodied. The prices are from £163 to £210, the latter being for the drophead coupe.

€200—€350 ROVER : the Ten which now has a saloon body designed on similar lines to those fitted to the larger chassis. The engine has a capacity of nearly 1,400 c.c. and overhead valves, the tax being £8 5s. As with all Rovers, the coach- work is turned out extremely well. CITROEN : the light Twelve two-seater, because it is the best two-seater body I have seen for many years, because of the cleverly-designed front wheel drive and the independent suspension fore and aft, and because the engine has detachable wet cylinder barrels. It has three forward speeds, the gear-lever being in the dash. It costs £265, the saloon (which incidentally has a flat and wide floor) being priced at £198 in the cheap form and £238 in the de luxe form. WOLSELEY : the 12/14-h.p. 4-cylinder, because it is one of the roomiest bodies of any Twelve, and like the other Wolseleys, is reputed to carry five adults in comfort. LANCHESTER : the Fourteen " Roadrider " de luxe. This is a car I described some time ago in The Spectator, and is certainly one of the most successful Fourteens made in this country. It has the Daimler fluid fly-wheel transmission, but it can be had with an ordinary synchro-mesh gear-box instead, at a reduction of £25. It is independently sprung in front on the familiar Daimler plan. It is shown as a de luxe saloon and as a de luxe sports saloon, in each case at £375, and another de luxe saloon with the synchro-mesh gear-box being exhibited at £350.

£3 5 0—£400 AUSTIN : the Eighteen Windsor and Norfolk saloons. The Windsor seats seven people, while the Norfolk is a smaller car. The bodywork is very well carried out and ample room is allowed for elbows, legs, feet and head. At £375 and £355 decidedly moderate in price. MORRIS : the 25-h.p., £345, a sensible big car, which, as I happen to know, has a rather surprising performance. What attracted me most about it was the excellent vision afforded the driver through the unusually wide screen, which is set at the right angle and the right distance from the driver's eyes. ROVER : the Fourteen and Sixteen. The Fourteen has an entirely new engine of nearly 2-litres- capacity and in general follows the design of the Sixteen and Twenty. The stripped chassis on the stand should be carefully examined. A pleasant touch is the painting on the side member of the frame of a sort of Plimsoll line giving the depth in inches. This is a cleverly designed piece of work. The price of the Fourteen saloon is £330 to £398, and the Sixteen £360 to £428. Both these cars have torsion bar anti-roll stabilisers. MERCEDES : the 4-cylinder 14-h.p., which develops about 38 brake h.p. The rear axle is independently sprung, of what they call the swinging type, double coiled springs being used. The front axle is independently sprung on two transverse leaf springs. The two-door 4/5-seater saloon, which has very good lines, costs £395.

€400—€500 In these price limits come several of the better-known Americans, such as the two OLDSMOBILES, six and eight cylinder, 28 and 33-h.p., at from £445 to £520. These cars have always appealed to me on account of their remarkable suspension, as well as for their equally unusual silence of operation. There is a very attractive 2-seated drophead coupe on the stand. Bum( : the 3o-h.p. Straight Eight at £485, This car has been widened in the body at the back, but there are practically no other changes to report. The front appearance, radiator and guard are new, and I think. on the whole, an improvement. It is curious how much the 1939 American cars resemble each other. One that retains its familiar lines is the cheapest PACKARD, the Six 30-h.p., which costs £495. Over-drive is now fitted to Packards, but to this chassis at an extra cost of £20. STUDEBAKER : the " State President " 30-h.p. Straight Eight. This is a luxuriously equipped car, being fitted with an air-conditioner and defroster, and a variety of comfort-producing gadgets. With a top speed ratio of 4.5 to 1, it has an overdrive ratio of 3.2. The gear control is on the steering column. The only change of any importance in the design from last year is the free wheel and the automatic operation of the overdrive at about 3o miles an hour.

£5 00—i 1 ,000 At_vis : The new 25-h.p., which is shown in chassis form (price £625) and as a saloon and coupe at £885 each. Also the new 4.3-litre which is fitted with a particularly attractive metallic grey sports saloon and costs £995. The engine has a bore and stroke of 92 by 1 to, overhead valves of special Alvis design, 3 S.U. carburettors, synchro-mesh change on all four speeds, chassis lubrication operated from a tank on the dashboard, and that convenient thing, a 19-gallon petrol-tank. FIAT : The new 28-h.p. 6-cylinder, which is a very sturdy looking machine. The bore and stroke are 82 by 90 giving it a capacity of 2,852 c.c., and 85 brake h.p., at 4,000 revolutions. There is nothing • very remarkable about its general design, but it has the usual Italian cleanliness of line. The brakes are hydraulic, it has a plain 4-speed gear-box, suspension in front is independent on the Fiat design, with hydraulic shock absorbers, the rear springing being by normal semi-elliptic springs and torsion bar. It is shown as a limousine to hold seven people, of which the price is £795, the chassis alone costing £570.

Over £1,000 Even though one does not have to regard price in this class, the choice remains as tantalising as ever. Obviously the improved Phantom III ROLLS-ROYCE at not far off £3,000 must be considered as well as the enormous new MERCEDES, which has a Straight Eight engine of well over 7,1, litres. This, I am glad to say, is shown in chassis form, and anyone who cares for fine mechanism should make a point of examining it. Its developed power without the super-charger is in the region of 18o-h.p., and with the super-charger 23o. It is fitted with overdrive, but not on the American plan. Then there are the higher priced Americans again like the big Packard and the V-12 Cadillac. As a matter of fact, while the choice for those unlimited by cash considerations is not very difficult, it is really very limited. When you come to count them up, there are only a few super-luxury cars, but the exam- ples of what there are at Earls Court are without exaggeration triumphs of industry. It is a liberal education to spend half an hour over each of them.

There is no doubt about it that the 1939 cars shown are proof enough of better and cheaper motoring for everybody. That has been said many times before now, but never with the same truth as today. Comfort and economy seem to me to have begun a real alliance which is likely to last. You ha' e never yet been able to get so much for your money.

JOHN PRIOLEAU.

ENote.—Readers' requests for advice from our Motorinc; Correspondent on the choice of new cars should be accompan0 by a stamped and addressed envelope. The highest price payabi.? must be given, as well as the type of body required. No advu,, can be given on the purchase, sale or exchange of used cars.]