A Trial Trip in the Unic Van, No. A6.
Page 6
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Mr. J. T. Overton, managing director of Mann and Overtons, Ltd., the " Unic " agents, invited a correspondent of this journal to accompany him on a trial trip of the van which is now taking part in the R.A.C. trials, and the offer was accepted some 31 weeks ago. His account of the trip has been held over until to-day, owing to pressure upon our space. He reported :— " My host warned me that he was going a long way, as he intended trying the van on all the worst hills in the South of Knglanci. As we were to start on a Sunday morning, it did not seem at all likely that we should manage to do all that we vewited unless we ran through most of the Sunday night, for my idea of a delivery van was founded on the noisy abominations that make the night hideous in some parts of London. It was a great relief, it must be owned, to find:the van to be quite a neat little affair, with room in the back for half a ton of newspapers, traveller's samples, or any sort of merchandise. Our load consisted of eight cwt. of uninviting-looking pieces of metal, and, when our two selves, our luggage, spare tins of petrol, tires, tools, and other unconsidered trifles were taken into account, the full load would amount to nearly three-quarters -of a ton.
" When Mr. Overton informed me that the engine was the same as that fitted to the " Unic " cabs, i.e., of tot2h.p. with two cylinders, I began to see my chance of seeing London again on the Monday morning vanishing into thin air
" Two gallons of petrol were put into the tank, and, early on the Sunday morning, the car was driven to Sutton, where Mr. Overton lives. We set out, after breakfast, on our pilgrimage, starting at 9.55 a.m. Our first place of call was Guildford, which was reached exactly at 10.55 :a.m., 22 miles in the first hour, and the way the little car 'took the. hills without changing speed wa an eye-opener to me : I began to be more hopeful about Monday morning. Without stopping in Guildford, we mounted the steep hill on to the Hog's Back, and raced along that famous road to Farnham, which we reached at 11.20 a.m. After a to'minute halt for refreshment, as it was a bitterly cold morning, on we went, for half an hour, on the way to Basingstoke. Suddenly, we began to go slow, and finally we stopped altogether. We had used up our two gallons of petrol. On. reckoning up the distance covered, we found we thad run nearly 56 miles on the contents of one tin, or 28 miles to the gallon. Mr. Overton then said he would try her with a rather more generous allowance of petrol, in order to find.out what result this would have on the power of the engine. He unscrewed the tap part of the carburetter one turn, which, he informed me, had the effect of raising the float, Another tin of petrol was then poured into
the tank, and off we went again. Almost immediately a series of violent bumps began to agitate our cargo of old
metal, and it was evident that something was wrong. So we stopped, and found a back tire down. Having put in a fresh tube, we continued on our way to Basingstoke, which we reached at I. io p.m. here we lunched, and at two were on the road once again.
" Running down the Stockbridge Road, we arrived at a point about three miles from Sutton Scatney, where we took a by-road to the right, and made for Wherwell, where there is a particularly nasty hill. It certainly is a brute, and for the first time we had to come down to our lowest speed, but we went up with the engine racing hard. Andover was reached at 3.10 p.m., and thence we continued our journey along the main road to Amesbury, which we entered at 3.55 p.m. Without stopping, we struck out for Warminster, when, a mile beyond Stonehenge, our petrol again gave out. This time we had only covered 5o miles to the tin, and the carburetter float was adjusted back to its original level, no additional power having been gained by the extra petrol.
"Starting once more, we proceeded over the Salisbury Downs (another 17 miles) toWarminster, which was reached at 5.10 p.m. A more uninteresting road than this one cannot well be imagined, and we were glad to leave this poi--tion of the route behind us. At 5.4o p.M., we left for Frome, whence, having taken the van up the hills in and out of the town, which were surmounted with the utmost ease, we decided to head for Marlborough, and this we hoped to reach before lighting-up time. The first part of the route, to Lamington, lay through some of the most picturesque villages I have ever seen. Erlestoke, in particular, struck our fancy, and we felt like stopping there. It was, however, now seven o'clock, and the day-light was beginning to fail, so we regretfully left the little village behind us, and pursued our way to Lamington.
"When 14 miles out of Marlborough, at 7.30 p.m., our third tin of petrol came to an end. This tin had carried us 47-1 miles, the higher consumption having been due to the twisting and hilly nature of the long by-roads between Frome and Lamington. Hastily pouring in a gallon of spirit, and lighting our lamps, we set forth once more. Darkness was now approaching, and our side-lamps, in the uncertain twilight, made rapid progress an impossibility. Finally, we reached Marlborough, at 8.20 p.m., having by mistake run through the outskirts of the town, and out the other side, before finding we had over-shot the mark.
" Early rising was the order of the next day. At 5 a.m. we were roused from our slumbers, and, after a light breakfast, we were off again, at 6 o'clock, having emptied another two gallons of petrol into our tank. It was a lovely autumn morning, sharp and crisp, and the little car seemed to feel the exhilaration of the early start, for she positively flew up the long hill through Savernake, scattering the deer and rabbits right and left as we glided through the forest. Our petrol lasted to a point twelve miles short of Hounslow, so that, on the last three gallons, we had run seventy good miles. In the end, we reached our destination at 9.20 a.m., having one gallon of spirit left.
" To summarise results, we ran 2431 miles en io gallons of petrol, or, taking petrol at is. per gallon, at less than Id. per mile. With regard to speed, we accomplished the above distance in ten hours actual running. The total weight of van and load, including ourselves, was approximately 1ji ton, so that we had a performance record of three hundred and sixty ton-miles altogether, and 36 tonmiles to the gallon. This is a result to be proud of,. and, with the exception of the alterations to the level of the petrol in the carburetter, we never had to use a tool on the car."