Short Wheelbases for Long Pocketbooks

A Consideration of the Growing Popularity, for Town Use, of Small, Light Cars Among the Well-to-Do

H. W. SLAUSON

A FLIVVER used to he the car the other fellow owned; and too often it was the one that generally passed you on every steep hill. But now you are quite liable, if you are sensible, to own one yourself.

Consequently, from one of opprobrium, the word flivver has become transformed into a term signifying sensibility, efficiency, economy, reliability, and comfort, and may mean, in the popular vernacular, any car having a wheelbase shorter than no inches and costing less than Siooo or $1200. "Efficiency, reliability and comfort, in a car of that kind?" your friend who owns only large cars will say, thus unconsciously divulging, not only his own ignorance of motor car development, but also one of the reasons for traffic congestion in our larger cities.

Back in the old days, the effort of automobile designers was concentrated on producing engines and cars that would run. When this difficulty was mastered, power, speed, comfort, and reliability were sought after. Because of the rather crude manufacturing and designing methods of those days, such qualities could only be obtained by mass—a mass of iron in the engine, a mass of springs and leather in the upholstery, and considerable weight of gears and steel supports for axles and frame. Thus, the most comfortable, luxurious, powerful and reliable cars which have ever been produced are those in which light weight and saving in space occupied on the road were the last objects sought by the designers. And so, as roominess spells comfort and luxury, even today our most expensive and desirable cars, so far as restful transportation is concerned, are those of longer wheelbase and comparatively heavy weight.

BUT with the world and his wife owning a car, and with the use of automobiles increasing in far greater proportion than the additional construction of country highways and city streets, luxurious comfort cannot be the sole criterion of motor car desirability. An automobile is made to ride in—and you are not riding if you are continually stalled in traffic. Therefore, while the large, luxurious limousine may be well suited to suburban and open country travel, its use for city transportation should be supplemented by the modern car, open or closed, of short wheelbase, ready response to the throttle and brakes, and short steering or turning radius. Therefore, no man able to maintain a large, luxurious, high-priced car can well afford to be without this supplementary means of transportation for congested traffic.

The average business man of today knows, or rather, likes to believe, that time is money. Is he saving money, then, if he must search for ten or fifteen minutes for a parking space wide enough at the curb to accommodate his heavy sedan of inordinately long wheelbase? He may pass by several spaces between other parked cars which will not offer him sufficient room, while his neighbour in his short wheelbase car can park in any one of those spaces. A foot added to the length of a wheelbase of a car may not change its appearance so much as the proverbial inch added to the end of a man's nose, but it will interfere with its movement in business society even more—for man no longer travels "on his face", but a car requires a definite amount of space in which even to stand still. It is a fact that must be admitted, even by youthful motorists.

Narrow channels are not suited for transAtlantic liners, and so the small car can pick its way through traffic with more ease and comfort than can a large automobile manoeuvre in the maelstroms and transportation currents of street intersections. The small car of quick "pick-up" and ready response to the steering wheel can dart through an opening, turn a sharp corner and continue on its way, while the longer car of the hook-and-ladder truck type will still be waiting for an opening.

It has been said that New York will be a wonderful city, "if they ever get it finished", and with the torn-up condition of the streets of any large municipality for conduit, sewer, water main and pavement repairs, a long stretch of unbroken surface is considered unusual. An excavation is frequently necessary in the middle of the street or close to the curb, leaving space which would stall a large car because of the necessity for too sharp a turn. Here, the short turning radius and ready responsiveness of the modern, small car again help to keep traffic moving and to reduce the congestion which is becoming so serious in the majority of our cities.

But, granted that the small car can manoeuvre more easily, and thereby progress in traffic which would stall a larger vehicle, the expensive car owner may doubt that the $IOGO sedan can possess speed, power, reliability, and comfort in sufficient amounts to arouse his interest. We will not claim that the 2200 pound sedan can carry the owner over rough country roads and through hard riding detours with the same amount of bodily comfort as will be found in the longer wheelbase, 5000 pound and $8000 car; but, for short runs over smooth city streets and hard-surfaced country highways, this new brand of motor efficiency does contain a remarkable degree of all of the qualities which heretofore have made only the large and heavy car the rich man'svehicle.

If you would convince yourself of power, speed, and reliability, look at the motor, for example: four or six cylinders, compact in design, high speed, perfect balance, and refinements of mechanical design and workmanship found only in the most expensive cars of a few years ago. Certainly, the engine looks small, for it is small; but with light weight of moving parts and high speeds of riding, comparatively high power can now be obtained from a small mass. Furthermore, these cars are so light that a horsepower, sufficient for only twenty to twenty-five miles an hour in the large cars, is adequate for speeds of from fiftyfive to sixty in those of lesser weight and smaller air resistance.

The high gear performance of such cars, too, is equally gratifying, for theymayamblealong in direct speed at three or four miles an hour and yet be ready to bound forward at the instant the accelerator or handthrottle is touched. Here, again, the light weight offers so little resistance to overcome, that such a car is equally as responsive as its big brother provided with double the amount of actual power developed by the engine.

THE same design which makes for power and performance from a small, compact engine, also produces reliability. Adequate, positive oiling systems provide sufficient lubrication with a minimum of attention required from the owner, and such features of design combined produce long life, with but little expense for repairs and overhauling.

It costs money to move a ton of freight— but it costs considerably more to move two tons. It is but natural, therefore, that the operating costs of the small, light car should be proportionately less than that of the heavier vehicle. Gasoline mileages of the type of car which we have in mind may run as high as twenty-five or thirty miles to the gallon, and will probably average better than twenty under proper conditions of traffic. When traffic is heavy and stops are frequent, of course, the mileage will not be so high; but even here, the proportion in favour of the small, light car is actually increased, for it can work its way in and out and be continually moving forward, while a large car may be standing still with its engine throbbing and thus consuming gasoline, waiting for an opening sufficient for its size and turning ability.

And to the saving in gasoline cost may be added that of tires and general overhauling expense. 31/2 and 4 inch tires cost but one-half the price of the 4K and 5 inch size required for the larger cars. Furthermore, the mileage of the two sizes should be about the same. This cuts the tire bill of the light car in half, as compared with that of the heavier vehicle, and helps to make the total operating expense of such a car seem ridiculously small to the man who has been paying for the upkeep of a heavy limousine operated almost entirely in congested city traffic.

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If we mean by comfort a feeling of luxury and style, possibly the small car is deficient in these respects. Naturally you can't have luxury without paying for it; and if that means sterling silver lighting fixtures, cut-glass flower vases, tapestry seat-covers and side-linings, mahogany or walnut finish and overstuffed library chair softness of upholstery, you must look for these things to cars of ten times the cost.

You will find, however, in even the lowest priced of these light cars, absolute protection from wind, rain, and dust, comfortably planned seats, and upholstery of sufficient depth and softness to neutralize the weariness that will frequently accompany a 200 mile day's trip in any kind of a vehicle, and a variety of seating arrangements which could suit the requirements of any size of family up to five. Of course, there is no room for chauffeur or footman if five passengers are to be carried, but these are unnecessary accessories in cars of this type. In fact, such a car is so easy to manipulate, even in traffic, that it is a pleasure for the owner to sit at the wheel, and even his wife or daughter may drive shopping or to the matinee. with no more serious difficulty than that of finding adequate parking space in which to leave the car.

A variety of closed body styles is offered, available at prices for the complete car ranging from S750 to $1200. When the short wheelbase is considered, the doors are of amazing width, even when two are used on each side, as are found in a four-door type. In fact, the four-door sedan is available in even the smallest of these cars, while those who prefer the wider window found in the single-door-on-each-side type may choose the type of body with an entrance at the front on cither side and with a tilting seat to give admission to the rear. Like the larger cars of the same type, nearly all of these dosed bodies are provided with the increasingly popular snow and rain shield, which projects, awning-like, for ward and downward in front of the windshield. Heaters, operated from the exhaust pipe, may be installed at a slight additional cost to make the car as cornfortable in winter as in summer,

BUT it must not be inferred that the type of car to which we have been devoting attention in the foregoing paragraphs is suited solely as a supplement to the use of the larger vehicle. For those whose means or facilities for storing a car are limited, or whose motoring desires are modest, the small, low-priced, closed automobile in the neighbourhood of Si000 will serve every motoring want.

The large car will always be an important factor in our motoring life. It undoubtedly possesses certain advantages and characteristics which cannot be met by any car of shorter wheelbase, lighter weight, and lower price. But it cannot fill the entire field of motoring wants, however, and to meet this need, several automobile companies of long and honourable standing have designed the lowpriced, short wheeelbase, light-weight car as their contribution to the motoring requirements of a large number of the 15.000,000 persons who already own cars, and of the 10,000,000 additional who will do so during the next eight years.