OPINIONS FROM OTHERS.
Page 19
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The Editor invites correspondence on (2,1i subjects connected with the use of commercial motors. Letters should be on, one gide of the paperonly and typewritten by preference. The right of abbreviation is reserved, and nO responsibility for visivs expressed is accepted.
Coal-gas and the Daily Press.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
L15141 Sir,—It seems perfectly plain that the .same section of the PreAs that has been instrumental in getting the new petrol regulations imposed will endeavour to prevent the use of coal-gas by motorists except under vexatious and grandmotherly conditions, unless it is made clear to them at the outset that this policy will not pay.
I suggest that the poney of " retaliation" should be tried, and that every motorist, trade society, ,manufacturer, etc., together with their families, should abstain from the purchase of any of the papers in which this section of the Press are financially interestect until, say, six months from the date on which the last attack appears. The papers in question have always advocated the
• use of the weapon of retaliation against the Huns, and quite rightly, too., so no doubt they will be the. first to see the justice ot its being lapplied to themselves.
If this policy is not adopted, motorists will only have themselves to thank if they are again without the use Of theirears, and with the addition, this time, of the added cost of the gas installation, *for which they will be able to find no use.—Yours faithfully,
London. REPRISALS.
Manufacture Assembly.
The E itor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[1545] Sir,—We are glad to see that your cone: spondent " H.S." has written an article (4th October) on a 'subject in which we are very deeply interested. The presentation of the idea of "Manufacture by Assembly " has been our aim for the past five. years ; an aim which appeared to be close upon fulfilment at the commencement of this world-wide war.
• The supply of staridardited components is perhaps rather easier to write upon, than to carry into practice, for there are two parties to the bargain, and with the extreme individuality of our manufacturers on the one hand, and on the other the general lack of standardization, the parts maker's life is anything but a happy one. We have long announced our post-war intention of manufacturingand supplying fronti,and rear axles, gearboxes and starting sets.. We know that the programme is ambitious, and our own preference would n;iake us solely manufacturers of axles. Our previous experience, however, points to the fact that if we make rear axles we must make front axles, because of the aforesaid lack of standardization. Again, because of the difficulty of matching up, we,.have been compelled to make gearboxes and steering sets. It ia only by resolutely refusing to look at orders that we have not by now been making, engines. Our belief in the future of" the assembled ear is strong, but' unless the assemblers can be made to see that it is to their advantage to take standardized components, there is no hope at all that the prices will fall to within anything like the American market. Possibly because America has such a vast area,• assemblers in U.S.A. are not so jealous of the individuality of a, rear axle, gearbox, or any other coin ponent.
One grave mistake has been made by home component manufacturers in the past. They have been content to follow the trade while, even if they could not lead, they might have marched, with it Components must be designed as units ; they cannot be copied.
The purport of all this is your correspondent's penultimate paragraph, in which he appears seriously to advise the purchase of American components for building " British" cars, a practice not unknown in the-commercial vehicle world before the war. We should like to point out, in conaection with this, a sentence which appears earlier in the article : "It is said that a-ppetite grows with what it feeds upon," We think we can add no word to that which will help more to demonstratethe folly of endeavouring to build up a. home component trade on a transatlantic foundati'on.—Yours faithfully,
E. G. WRIGLEY AND CO LTD
FRANK G. WOOLLARD, Director and Chief Erigiasor, Birmingham.
The Price of Petrol. "
The Editor, THE CO5IMERCIAL MOTOR.
115461 Sir —The price of petrol has, since the inception of inotOring, been subject to fluctuations in price in one direction only. When the recent reduction in price occurred, several other interesting sidelights upon the state of morals of the genus petrol combine became visible.
As a motor trader, drastic reductions in price have not come frequently within niSr purview. When Messrs. Studebaker, whose agency we hold, reduced their. price somOyears -ago' every trader who had a car in stock received acheque for the difference between the old and new price, which he pocketed With a feeling of satisfaction atithe class of treatment he received from the manufacturers, but yet conscious that-he was in. receipt of none but his just due. On being confronted with the sudden drop in price of petrol, after recovering slightly from the first shock, I wondered vaguely Whether a refund would be. made of .thedifference. Gradually it dawned upon me that thin was scarcely to be expected from. the petrol companies. Then it was that, a new and sinister feature of' the situation dawned upon, me, when I recollected that, for the past week our Stores Dept. had boon bombarded with offers of petrol from the vanmen of the various organiza,frens, all of which, in our innocence, we had taken advantage of, paying cash each time, with the result that, by the time I arrived at.the Office, it occurred to me that I had got the largest...stock-since the war'broke out, upon which a paltry detail of 2d. per gallon was dead loss. I 'presume every other trader has received similar treatment. I for one regard it rather as a joke. Perhaps such. traders as have very long memories, and a great deal. of patience and perseverance, may finish up by recouping this at some distant date from the culprits, but in my opinion it is not sound business policy, and is the most interesting commentary upon the mentality of' the oil. trade directorates that I havehad for years.—Yours faithfully,
WILLIAM WILSON AND SON,' LTD.,
• Sheffield. -E. F. DOWNING.