Automobile Show

At the Grand Central Palace, Manhattan:

Ajax Auburn Buick Cadillac Case Chandler Chevrolet Chrysler Cleveland Davis Diana Dodge DuPont Elcar Essex Flint Franklin Gardner Gray Hudson Hupmobile Jewett Jordan Junior Eight Kissel Lexington Lincoln Locomobile McFarlan Marmon Moon Nash Oakland Oldsmobile Overland Packard Paige Peerless Pierce-Arrow Pontiac Reo Rickenbacker Roamer Star Stearns Studebaker Stutz Velie Wills-Ste. Claire Willys-Knight

and the following taxicabs:

Bauer Dodge Hertz Luxor Oakland Reo Willys-Knight Yellow

The blue Mediterranean and the bluer Adriatic seemingly lapped idly along the sunny shores of lower Italy. Beneath mystical cypresses and spreading palms, fountains splashed with silver sound, and the scent of many flowers lay upon the air. Sleek and graceful bodies gleamed through the foliage, all at rest yet all poised in the fleetness of arrested motion. It was a spot and a sight created for the pleasure of a multitude, and a multitude, the automobile-loving public of Manhattan and thereabouts, prepared to go and see.

It was scheduled to open Jan. 9-- the annual National Automobile Show. Entering, pressmen found the lobby of Grand Central Palace transformed into a Venetian Doge's reception parlor. Artists had been busied for weeks with the panoramas. Trees and pottery had been imported, and even special linoleum with grains in imitation of Italian woods, was sent abroad for. In a court of the arts and sciences, immense statues brooded among Etruscan groves.

Strolling through to discover specific ways in which the automobile industry had sought to be of service, the advance observers noted in general:

That the chassis is lower than ever, having in one case (Stutz) even returned to the silent, worm-drive form of rear axle which permits cars to be slung 5 in. lower than the bevel-gear type, without loss of headroom.

That balloon tires and four-wheel brakes, obviously here to stay, were standard equipment on most cars above $1,500.

That the life of engines is being safeguarded by general adoption of oil purifiers, air cleaners, gas filters.

That closed cars predominate today where open cars did not so long ago, the open models being designed for and bought by persons affluent enough to own both an all-year car and a good-weather car.

Among the various makes of car, the public paused before such new exhibits as:

The Stutz Vertical Eight, described as very powerful and "a brilliant performer in traffic," the first model of which was unveiled at its factory last month by Charles M. Schwab, the company's chairman.

The Chrysler Imperial, developing 92 h.p. and designed to travel 80 m.p.h. for buyers occasionally needing spectacular speeds on good roads, as in the Far West.

Wholly new manufactures were present: the Diana, the Nash-built Ajax and a new six developed by General Motors in its Oakland organization. This new six, called the Pontiac, was priced between the Chevrolet and the Oakland to fulfill the General Motors policy of making a car "for every purse and purpose."

In conjunction with the show, a World Motor Transport Congress came together, and a Motor Truck Congress. Delegations from Canada, Britain, France and Germany were received. The days of the show were successively dedicated to these guests, to the Society of Automobile Engineers, to bankers, to the Army and Navy, to the theatrical profession, and finally to Suburbia, that great section of the buying public whose best chance to attend, himself and wife, is on Saturday.

And the Solons of the automotive industry took occasion to deliver statements. One-- said: "One of the contributing factors to the stability won by the automobile industry within recent years is the public realization that the motor car makes money for its owner

. . . .To support this statement let me cite some figures gathered by the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce. It was found that real estate and insurance men, doctors and salesmen gain more than 100% in efficiency as the direct result of motor car transportation. Clergymen report that they can do 98% more work after buying a car. Farmers show an average gain of 68%. . . . It has been estimated that 60% of the total automobile mileage is for business purposes. . . ."

--Frederick J. Haynes, President of Dodge Brothers, Inc.