Motoring WHAT MOST PEOPLE. WANT IT is probably assuming a
good deal to say that a motor-show gives any but a vague indication of the public taste in motor- cars. It certainly shows the trend of design and, in that it displays new ideas if not innovations, may prove a useful guide to many people in their choice of a car, but in the very nature of things it cannot be regarded as an ante-dated record of that momentous choice. According to one or two makers some of the new cars are the result of last year's demands, complaints and approvals. That is to say that they ask for their customers' opinions and, presumably, act upon them where it is to their mutual advantage ; but in general one may take it that, as before, the new models are what the makers think the public ought to like rather than what the latter know they want.
It is perhaps perfectly natural—besides, who knows that the general public knows what is good for it ? It is a patient body, willing to take most things at their face value, and as a rule that simple faith is not seriously abused. Makers of repute today do provide what they promise or at least do their honest best in the business. You would be hard put to it to catch them out in any claim for performance, economy or reliability. The definition of comfort and roominess is infinitely variable and, to a certain extent, purely a matter of individual opinion and preference. Strongly as I feel on these two points and critical as I am of all pretensions in this direction, I must give every car its due, admit that these are relative terms and that while I, with my incon- veniently long legs, considerable frame and passion for long tours, find some types of the new cars perfectly useless, a great many other people differently built and with other ambitions may discover in them not only ideal cars, but cars of which every word written or spoken in advertisement or guarantee is perfectly true.
Looking:back upon that -decidedly impressive collection of new models shown at Earls Court last month and re- reading the formidable heap of letters I have had from Spectator, readers during the past twelve months, asking for advice and proffering comments on design and perform- ance that were often as diverting as instructive—I have very often wished I could have printed some specially vivid letter—I come to the conclusion that in one or two important ways the late show did fill the public needs as they are recorded in those interesting letters.
The writers live in every part of the world where cars are used and in some cases where it is difficult to believe they could be used (The Spectator is read in some-very out-of-the- way corners of the habitable globe, I find), and I think the sum of their needs represents very fairly the specification Everyman makes for himself I do not know whether we owe the growing demand for all-weather coachwork to the foresight of maker;, to the common sense of owners or to the example of the Continent, where what we call the drophead four-seated coupe is rapidly ousting the saloon from all but the city streets and will probably kill it eventually. Possibly to a blend of all three. Certain it is that for the past six months or more quite seven out of every ten letters I have had insist upon some form of bodywork that will give the occupants the freedom of the open car with the protection of the saloon. Some of these letters have been among the most difficult to answer, because the drophead body is nearly always expensive when made in England. It is never cheap anywhere, when it is really well made, but during 1937 I have often been obliged to tell readers that they cannot have what they want at the money. In this respect I thought the motor show was rather promising. There were far more openable cars shown than at any exhibition for the last ten years or more.
Proper luggage accommodation is universally demanded. Nobody is any longer willing to Spoil the upholstery with suit-cases and, with scarcely an exception, every one of 'my correspondents—all of them, as I have found out-in the.last few years, very difficult to please—insists that his new car shall carry a reasonable amount of week-end gear out of sight, touch and wet. He is a traveller, not a tripper. , Independent suspension does not seem to have made the impression you might have expected. I do not mean that it was not asked for but that inquirers did not seem to care very much whether they had it or not. There were some questions about its effect upon steering, tyre-wear and so on, but in general nobody seemed to mind whether the car recommended was independently sprung or not. The same applies, of course, to the multi-cylinder engine. Nobody cares, according to my extremely varied mail, whether the car they are looking for has four, six or eight cylinders. The reason must be the same in both cases. Independent suspen- sion is pretty well proved by now, and everybody knows that the number of cylinders makes no practical difference in any but luxury cars, and not very much in those.
The type of gear is another thing that seems to leave my readers cold. About a quarter of them ask specially for any sort of gear-box that allows easy changes, a few suggesting this or that type, pre-selective, free-wheel, synchromesh, as the case may be, but generally speaking they have lost all real interest in the question. So long as gear-changing is quick and easy they don't care how it works. They have that simple faith that is so valuable to the conscientious maker of motor-cars. And not one out of the whole company has even mentioned the word clutch. That is a very pretty compliment to manufacturers in general.
Oddly enough most of them demand more speed. Before last year's show the letters I received were modest to the point of silence on that feature. There was hardly- a cor-: respondent who did not remark that speed had little, if any,, interest for him. This year the majority are inclined to emphasise the importance of an always reachable maximum of 70 miles an hour, together with the much rarer cruising speed of 50, and the almost impossible average of 4o—impossible, that is to say, in this country except on very rare occasions. To set this off most people are willing to pay more than they were last year and the year before. So far the lowest maxi- mum set me is £135, the highest £2,000, the average in the region of £5oo. A cheerful sign of the times.
Here is the alphabetical list of the cars I have tested for The Spectator during the past year, with the dates of the issues in which my reports have appeared : Alvis (25), March 26th ; (i6) October 8th. Armstrong-Siddeley (57) April 9th.
Austin (i8) April 9th ; • (14) July 16th. Chevrolet (27) February 26th. Chrysler (24) September loth. Hillman (Hawk) November 26th, 1936 ; (Minx) May 8th ; (25) July 3oth ; (14) September 14th. litiWter (T2-) 13ecem: her 24th, 1936 ; (Snipe) February 26th. Lagonda (Rapide) July 3oth. Lancia (Aprilia) August 3rd. Morris (a) January 15th ; (8)- May 8. Oldsmobile (Six) March 26th ; (Eight) October 8th. Opel (2i-litre) August 3rd. Riley (1t-litre) December 4th, 1936 ; (Sprite) July 2nd. Rolls- Royce (V-12) January 15th ; Rover (14) July 2nd. SS. (21-litre) June 4th. Standard (V-8) June 4th ; (12) Septem- ber 24th. Studebaker (Six) May 2 I St. Talbot ( los) February 12th ; (75) September loth. Triumph (2-litre) February 12th. Vauxhall (4) January 1st ; (25) July 16th. Wolseley (i4) January 1st ; (18-80) May 2 I St. JOHN PRIOLEAU.
[Note.—Readers' requests for advice from our Motoring Correspondent on the choice of new cars should be accompanied by a- stamped and addressed envelope. The highest price payable must be given, as well as the type of body required. No advice can be gipen on the Purchase, sale or exchange of used tetra
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