ROADS AND THEIR USERS.
1.-THE LIGHT CAR.
By LORD MONTAGU OF BEAULIEU.
THE coming of the small and cheap car, sometimes called the "light car," has affected considerably the future of motoring. Fifteen years ago there was hardly a good and cheap car on the market, that is, a car costing less than £400. And motoring was then mis- named a " sport " instead of being recognised as a con- venient means of transport. And in 1908 less than 100,000 persons owned private cars. In former years also the proportion of expensive cars, that is cars costing between £500 and £2,000, compared with the rest of the motor vehicles on the road was probably as high as 50 per cent., for there were in the early days but few lorries, few motor cycles, and the car between £200 and 2.500 was rare. Now if you travel along any main road in Great Britain four out of every five of the privately-owned motor-cars you meet are small, cheap cars. And the Ford car, at one time almost the only representative of this class, is not alone, but many sound British makes as well are there too. To see how much the car of the man of moderate means is in evidence on the road, one has only got to consider the figures which have just been issued by the Ministry of Transport dealing with the licences taken out in the year 1921-22. There were 293,740 motor-cars taxed on horse-power—that is the ordinary private car used by all classes—and 352,240 motor cycles, which with their sidecar or attachments are practically small cars to all intents and purposes. The owners of these 645,980 cars and cycles are obviously not rich men as a whole, and if we take the average of cars over £1,000 in proportion to the rest, I should hazard a guess that not 10 per cent., or under 60,000, can be classified as such. Therefore it follows that motoring is now not time" sport" of the "rich," or the special perquisite of the millionaire, or a method of locomotion only to be enjoyed by a "privileged class," but a method of transport used by all classes, including the well-to-do manual labourer, the small shopkeeper and professional man, and the well-to- do as well. The now discredited gibe, never really true at any time, about motoring being the monopoly of the millionaire, is more untrue than ever it was. The fact is that motor vehicles and our roads in general are now being used more and more by the nation as a whole. The motor 'bus and char-a-bane convey at cheap fares millions of all classes, the motor cycle and small car take those who are enthusiasts and who can afford a vehicle of their own, and a small minority use the more costly types of car, not all of these owners being rich men by any means. A number of them are enthusiasts who handle the car of their fancy much as the violinist loves and plays upon his Stradivarius, or the lover of horses delights in riding or driving his chosen thoroughbred horse or his fast-trotting cob. And these small cars, especially those of British make, have recently become wonderfully efficient from the point of view of design, handiness, and economy hi operation. Thirty to thirty-five miles to the gallon is not an uncommon figure for consumption, and 10,000 to 12,000 miles on one set of tyres is by no means rare. In the modern small car in most cases self-starters are provided, electric lighting, a good wind-screen, and often a folding hood as well, and for prices varying between £250 and 1500 the buyer of this type of car has a splendid choice without going beyond the confines of this country. There is another point about these British-made cars which should not be lost sight of. Many of the small cheap cars made abroad, and especially in America, are admittedly built to last for a couple of years or so and then to go on the scrap heap. But when the advantage of initial cheapness cannot be denied—where means are limited—initial cheapness may end in being bought dearly if, instead of getting a fair second-hand price for the car after say three or four years of work, as is the case with British products as a rule, it is difficult or impossible to sell at all. Also, with some of these cheap types a few months after purchase constant attention and frequent renewal of wearing parts have been- obligatory. I have no hesitation as an engineer and as a purchaser of cars myself in saying that as a rule the British-made car, costing 80 to 50 per cent. more to start with, is in the majority of cases a much cheaper bargain over a period of five years or more. There is yet another point to be considered. The man of moderate means who buys the small car intends to enjoy motoring, and does not merely purchase the vehicle as a means of daily conveyance. And there is all the difference in the world if the owner cares about driving, if he delights in the ready response which comes from a touch on the accelerator pedal, or the liveliness given by a notch or two forward in the ignition, in handling a vehicle which, in an engineering sense, feels well-bred, responsive, and interesting to drive. It is with the small car as with many other British products : the " character " of the article and the delight given by its possession are worth some extra payment. The effect of the increasing number of small owners can already be seen in a political and administrative sense. Members of Parliament have to consider seriously nowadays the views of local automobile clubs, and, perhaps, they also themselves own small cars. And the ridiculous Socialist propaganda against motor-cars as the toys of the rich, which was used with a certain amount of effect in past years, is now exploded. The making of good roads is not carried out solely in order that the lordly limousine of the rich man may go faster or more smoothly. The good road and smooth surface mean that the cheap small car belonging to the man of moderate means can be made more cheaply and run more economic- ally, for the better the road the less necessary it is to have elaborate springing, and the mileage cost, both in tyres, petrol, and wear and tear of the chassis and body, is less. The laws concerning the use of the highway and the regulations dealing with licensing and lighting, for instance—the latter a much-vexed question just now— are influenced by the small car owners in their tens of thousands. The roadside hotels, also, have now to cater for this class of traffic, and can no longer charge extortionate prices for indifferent meals. These and many other effects the small car has brought in its train. Railways, too, though they have only just begun to realize it, will not ba able again to put up passenger fares with the same hope of getting more net revenue as in the past. The high basis of fares, though it has been lowered since January 1st, 1923, remains to-day a great incentive to the purchase and use of the small car. Father, mother and child, or sometimes children perched in a cluster at the back of the hood, can take their Sunday outing for a trifling cost, can go further afield than before, and when the holiday time comes can go from their own home to the holiday destination with far less trouble and expense than by railway. To see this one has only to observe our main roads in July, August and September, and witness the vast number of holidays being enjoyed without the use of the railway at all. Taking three passengers as an average load, the fares by railway to-day would be at least 44d. a mile third-class for three people, whereas a small car should be run at less than 3d, a mile. And in my opinion during the coming years there will be a steadily increasing number of those who will always use their car instead of the railway train when they go on a holiday, not only on account of the relative cheapness, but because on arrival the car owner is independent and can use his own car.
Finally, the tax on horse-power which replaced the old tax on the motor spirit used—a serious initial blunder of the Ministry of Transport—has driven many would-be users of large cars to smaller cars to avoid taxation. ,By the present formula a nominal 10-h.p. car may develop much more than twice this power in daily use on the road. Tax-dodging in design is now a fine art, and the present system of taxation by rating is not only unfair and unpopular, but entirely discredited as a scien- tific or practical method of making the owner of a car pay for the use of the road to which his taxes ultimately should go.
The cheap small car has made motoring universal and national in character. Nowadays it is no affair of class, and one might almost say no affair of purse either, and the owner of a motor vehicle is independent of trains and, incidentally, of transport strikes of any kind—advantages which every owner of a small car realizes and appreciates.
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