Motoring
cc
1935
Wiiv, writing in the month of August, 1934, two clear months before the annual motor show and five before next year, it is considered sensible to describe cars you can buy today as " 1985 " it has always been beyond me to guess. It must be twenty years since a new model of any make of car was correctly dated, since " vintage " was a useful description to apply to it. In point of fact the- last motor show I remember attending on a date that corresponded to the " year " of the cars displayed .within was the one at Chicago in January, 1914. I had already seen " all the 1914 cars " at Lexington Avenue, New York, and I rather think that was just before • ChriatmaS, but I may be-wrong. What is very certain is that neither of them was held more than a fortnight before the year from which they took their names. A year or two ago, in this country, next year's cars were being announced and- even sold in July, thereby, it was said, bringing catastrophic confusion upon the second-hand market. The authorities decided that it was less absurd to sell a 1935 in August, 1934, than in the preceding month, and issued a decree to that effect.
It is, of course, all a matter of labels. It has long been the custom to class cars by vintages, regardless of the fact that there is, actually, no such thing as a " 1934 " or " 1935 " model. I imagine it, or the worst stage of it, began with the rivalry between our own show and the once more resplendent and, because far more attractive as a show, more fashionable Salon de ' l'Automobile in Paris. From January they were ante- dated to December, to November and, let us hope, finally to October. It was quite ridiculous and one cannot imagine why the organizers of the race, whoever they were, ever believed the serious car-buying public was taken in for a moment. The " latest models," if you like • the " new cars " ; anything but " next year's " when there is a miscalculation of some six months. Alone of British makes, at all events, Rolls- Royce have produced their new models, or, to be more exact, the improvements on their existing models, as and when they have chosen. They have classified their productions in series instead of in years. To the owner who 'buys his Rolls-Royce to keep for a number of years, I imagine this scheme appeals strongly in that is does not " date " his car and thereby artificially reduce its value in the second-hand market.
Perhaps it is, in essentials, true of other makes, except that they choose to ignore the motor show altogether, as the occasion for that well-beloved modern 'process, the revealing of secrets, and substitute July or August. This year there have been two outstanding examples of Rolls-Royce procedure. Several months ago the Singer company produced their latest model, for all the world as though May were August and dealers' showrooms Olympia ; and about a month ago the Vauxhall Company, with no greater respect • for the Kensington tradition, .brought out their. new :big car, with the 20-h.p. or the 27-h.p. engine.. There may have been others, but I think those two were the leaders in this admirable revolution. For admirable it is, if not entirely from the dealer's present point of view. The October show had already knocked the bottom out of the last three months of any car's second-hand market value. The publication of the new catalogues in August and September could be regarded either as halving the saleable life of " last year's '' model or as a final decision to have done forever with artificial. dating. Those fairly numerous people who want " the: latest " and want it " every year " (all dates have lost their meaning) obviously 'do not think of buying a new one until 'the end of August. They advertise their present machines for sale ormake the more usual arrangement with their dealers for " part-exchange," and from about June 1st to August 15th trade in current models must be as dead as mutton. Is it excessive to regard it as in feeble health, if not moribund, for nearly half the year ? There are still a good many. who wait until show-time in the hopes, only very ocea- sionally justified, that they will see something in October that has no public existence in August.
Would not everybody, not even excepting the " gate at Olympia, benefit by a general adoption of the R.-R. system ? I do not believe it is a good thing for an industry that is still only slowly and often painfully recovering from the effects of the slump to handicap itself in this long out-dated fashion. Let each maker produce his new goods as and when it suits him. Be • could be trusted, at least after some experience, not to do anything calculated to spoil the trade in his own second-hand cars. A very large proportion of the public still takes second-hand. value into high consideration when choosing a new car. Let there be heard but a whisper-about a difficulty in getting a fair price for " last year's model, only done 8,000 miles," and that make will . lose its popularity with distressing rapidity. Such a plan would, of course, put an end to most announcements of revolutionary novelties, of sweeping improvements, of most things that are born and die on paper, and I think nobody, - least of all the public, would take any harm from it. Very, very few revolutionary novelties that work are recorded in the dry, matter-of-fact pages of motoring history. I do not believe there is one in general use today that was ever offered to the .buyer, who is the first and last judge, the man who makes or mars a business. the only person who matters at all, without long and expensive trial-to-destruction.
A dozen or more factories have given us particulars of their new cars in the past fortnight. They include Daimler, Lanchester, B.S.A., Wolseley, Standard, Austin, Triumph, Humber, Singer, Rover, Lagonda, Crossley and Riley, the last three announcing, in advance of their full list, one new model each. These, you would agree, are fairly representative of the industry. Some are the patriarchs, some among the Benjamins ; they make can that cost between £1,600 and £100 ; most of them employ brains of the best quality. What revolutionary ideas do they offer us ? A rhetorical and therefore a ridiculous question. The answer is, None. Practically all their new cars are interesting by reason of some special im- provement, some new adaptation of an already tried innovation, some advance in comfort, but there is nothing in any of them likely to set the Thames on fire or produce any equally exciting effect. On the other hand, all of them seem to me to be better cars than the last lot—lw which I mean either the " 1934 " series or the last scaled pattern.
They have given us more room for our legs and elbows ; they-have given us larger engines for what will be less tax on January 1st, 1935 ; they have reduced noise, so they tell -us ; they have stoutly held to well- proved design, or material ; they have improved the appearance Of their cars; they have not increased or reduced their price-or very little. Austins have given us the long-expected £100 car (you can buy the Seven for that now), Singers one car with independent front- wheel suspension, and another with an aerodynamic body, Wolseley a new type of pre-selective gear, Triumph an • extensible steering column. All these things are interesting, and some of them may, in due course, seem good to us individually. None of them is of the sort of novelty you should bottle up in trembling secrecy until the first day of- the Motor Show at Olympia, till the first of January or till zany other day in the calendar. For all you. know not one but several other fellows may have gone one or several better than you. And then where-are you,--with your " 1985 " stuff ? Would it not be .better for all concerned, but specially for you the maker, to let it be understood that these are the improve- ments of To-day, that they will be followed by those of To-morrow, Next Week or whenever they are ready'' Not being a manufacturer, I can only imagine his point of view, but I cannot think that any one of our industrious. and conscientious car-makers really likes the air of finality, of " that's the best we can do for you " conferral on his charming cars by that fatal arrangement of figures,
Previous page
