A FEW weeks ago I was asked by :Morris Motors
Ltd. to try lair new 25 h.p. car which sellS. complete, at the remarkable figure of £265; It had been impresSed upon me, though not' by its makers, that here at last WIIS a British car, made in 'England and not in the colonies, upon which reasonable hopes could be founded of an eventual repulse of the American invasion. It was told that this ear did, in fact, make an effective counter-attack upon its enemy in every one of the latter's strongest points of defence.
It was odd to hear again after so many years that ancient phrase of the "invasion." We are accustomed to the presence on our roads, and in considerable numbers; of the better type of American ear. It has been with us for several years, and although the circumstance might well be regarded in the light of,an accomplished invasion, it never seems to be. Perhaps it is ,because a large proportion if not the majority of these pleasant cars come here from Canada, bearing famous American mulles but having no closer relationship to the original ancestors than at kind of cousinthip. Whateyerlhe reason, the fact remains that there is established at home an army that has accomplished far more than those rather legendary legions that, like Napoleon's at Boulogne, were forever on the point of landing and sweeping us but of independent existence. As we see that. menace now, it was far less likely to succeed at the height of its notoriety, between 1910 and 1922, than wits the French invasion.
Everything was wrong about the first American invasion ; it had no chances of any more substantial success than a few, preliminary skirmishes, a passing scare. The prices were admittedly alarming. You remember the first batch of Fords, tin example, 20 h.p. cars to be had for about £200 or se. Matter enough for disquiet at Coventry, you agree. The ears were not comfortable in the English view, they- were Ugly, they had various strange characteristics and features—but £200 for 20 h.p. 1 It gave-futiously to. think: Then came others, a little more expensive, but conforming more closely to our own ideas of what a ear should be and look like, the Cleve land s, the E.81.F., the Studebakers, the Maxwells, the little single-cylinder Cadilhte, and half a dozen' more. 'Then, if ever, was America's chance of doing in Great Britain what. she has done hr British colonies-i—fOrcing her cars upon by the preksure c>f 1i-rice and then: netting .us in a Web .of eervice. Very luckily .for us the plan miscarried. The wrong sort of car was sent over, and after. the first effects of their low prices had, worn off the danger receded. It was found that in several eases the ears wore out quickly, that their 1411,1(('S WM!' hitt de:futile, and that they needed a lot of petrol. Their engines, were of the sort immediately nicknamed soft, and according to Mir ideas, inefficient: .every instance, al all events until after the War, the bodywork was fat inferior to our own .condbrtfrlooks'and durability.. 14 some of those cars were unbelievably bad. I do not remember now whether we 'amused the United States of: dumping rubbish on us, but we might have bein excused if we laid.
They have changed all that now, and radically. I dare say to proportion of the American cars that are sold here, whether they conic straight from the parent factory in the States or r ice a branch in Canada, are not so good as they might be, but - I should be surprised to hear that the proportion was anything but very small, and in any ease the standard,of excellence is undeniably high. Nobody sneers at American ears as they : did ; nobody feels apologetic over owning one as they did ; the word American has long ceased to be r3 term of reproach. The invasion that was announced with trumpets . in 1910 has taken place .twenty-f ve:years later unheralded.
almost unnoticed.
Of what sort are these ears ? The answer is contained in s single epithet --insidious. They go very well, they last well, they do not run up heavy repair-bills, they are generally remarkably qidet and smooth-running, they are of simple design and, if their large engines swallow more petrol to the ndle than our smaller units of equal efficiency, they pay for it generously in vivid acceleration. Their coachwork is almost universally excellent, and their prices, while a good deal higher, in the average, than they were in the bad old days, are sufficiently modest to make them formidable rivals to nearly every British' and Continental ear sold at over , me. We cannot, in reason, even charge them with a strange appearance, for IllaTly of our latest models are given an American look. Insidious is the word.
The new big Morris not only defends itself against these alluring ears, but attacks them too. Taking price first, it' ties 8vith only one Canadian-built ear of about the same power, beating all the rest: - (The -V-8- Ford, I believe,' is now olheially a British car.) Its body is, from the point of view of accommo- dation, one of the best designed I have ever driven. The finish is naturally not of the kind you get in dearer cars, but the seating, vision and general comfort are remarkable. It makes very little 'noise up to 60 miles an hour ; it will do 75 its acceleration on top and second (it has only three 'speeds; and they suffice for that 8i-litre 'engine) is excellent ; it ist very well sprung ; its steering is- of the best European-type; high-geared and rock-steady-g it climbs fast and powerfully on the two gears commonly used, and . its brakes stop ,i reassuringly. It is not, of course, entirely outside criticism and there are some details. Lshould lisle to sec changed, but so far as I could judge from a short but searching trial run, ii is a rival to be 'very seriously reekohed will by any imported car at anywhere near the prim. No British or Continental; ear of it like performance has -ever been sold at that figure. It has its name yet to make for durability, but when that has been achieved, in the brutal and Emotions hands ef the publio that buys cheap cars, it will, in the familiar phrase, have made
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