9 
THE 
An 
GASOLINE AUTOMOBILE of TOMORROW 
Attempt at a Prophecy Based on the Immeasurable Superiority 
of the Present Car Over the Original 
ERNEST A. STEPHENS 
H ABIT is so strongly developed in the 
human make-up that it will probably 
continue to cause the motorist to speak 
airily of a friend’s car as being of the 1912 
vintage, thereby inferring to those wise in 
automobile matters that he himself is the 
happy possessor of a creation of the mid¬ 
summer of 1916. Although this method 
has been probably the most convenient way 
of fixing the gulf which heretofore has 
widened from year to year in marking the 
advance in design, material and equipment 
of the modern motor car, such a remark 
no longer indicates the marked differences 
which existed yesterday and which tomor¬ 
row will be things of tradition. 
Standardization of Design 
Individuality will still find its expres¬ 
sion in the refinements of detail which com¬ 
bine to produce approximate hundred per 
cent efficiency in the propelling mechanism 
or which may add to the comfort of the 
occupants of the car, but otherwise the 
clearly defined line of demarcation which 
has separated one season’s products from 
the preceding one’s will nearly vanish. 
This degree of absolute standardization 
is strongly indicated by the recent trend of 
thought in the 
automobile engi¬ 
neering world, 
but it would be 
premature to con¬ 
clude that it is in 
any sense an ac¬ 
complished fact, 
or that standard¬ 
ization in all 
things connected 
with the pleasure 
car was to be 
achieved in the 
near future. It 
is true that the 
fundamental prin¬ 
ciples governing 
the operation of 
the internal com¬ 
bustion engine, 
the transmission 
and the final 
drive to the rear 
wheels are recognized in present practice 
to a point where standardization may be 
said to have been effected, but outside these 
and a few others the imagination of the de¬ 
signer has had full play. 
Before dealing with the probable or pos¬ 
sible differences which the car of tomor¬ 
row is likely to exhibit when compared 
with its immediate predecessors, it may not 
be out of place to observe that the total 
output of the American car factories was 
about 35,000 in 1906; over 200,000 in 1911, 
and in the following year, which saw the 
introduction of electrical starting and light¬ 
ing in commercial form, the number of cars 
produced was almost double that of the 
year before. Each year since has shown 
a substantial increase in the number of 
automobiles manufactured in the United 
States, a conservative estimate putting the 
figures for the present year at no less than 
1,200,000 cars, despite serious difficulties 
encountered in obtaining supplies of raw 
material at any price. 
Lessons derived in a great measure from 
the careful study of the automobile racing 
game, its failures and its successes, have 
enabled the automobile engineer to appre¬ 
ciate the advantages of a straight-line 
drive shaft, the possibilities of improved 
spring suspension, the fact that pneumatic 
tires had passed the experimental stage, and 
that the use of light pistons and connecting 
rods meant something of much greater im¬ 
portance than the mere saving of weight 
only. The information gained from racing 
experience, in conjunction with that af¬ 
forded by exhaustive laboratory research, 
has played its part in the evolution of the 
touring car of today and thus the motorist 
is reaping the benefit in the form of a pleas¬ 
ure automobile which, although not even 
approaching finality in design or materials, 
is to all intents and purposes a production 
which combines efficiency and comfort in 
a distinctly marked degree. 
The Average Car of 1916 
An analysis of the various cars of 1916 
gives an average automobile fitted with a 
relatively high-speed engine developing 
over forty horsepower under normal tour¬ 
ing conditions. This engine is fitted with 
light and well-balanced pistons and con¬ 
necting rods designed to assist materially in 
the reduction of vibration at high rotatory 
speeds. Disc and cone clutches run about 
fifty-fifty and the three-speed selective type 
o f transmission 
is almost univer¬ 
sally used. Fuel 
is fed to the car¬ 
buretor by means 
of a vacuum sys¬ 
tem, the tires are 
33 x 4 inches, the 
average wheel- 
base is 120 inches, 
and the streamline 
'touring body ac¬ 
commodates five 
passengers. The 
one really doubt- 
f u 1 point about 
this average car 
is whether its en¬ 
gine has four or 
six cylinders. The 
figures are so 
close and com¬ 
mercial competi¬ 
tion has improved 
The Ultimate Car-A Suggestion 
Low Initial Cost-Minimum Running Expense- 
No Need of Mechanical Skill 
Higher,Narrower Radiator 
Easy Starting^ 
Irrespective" 
of Weather/ 
Double Cowl Top Concealed^ 
Non-Punirfurable-j \_Wire Body Detachable J Cantilever^ 
Yet Resilient Tires Wheels Wiring on Chassis Rear Springs Brakes 
Smoke or 
Odor of Exhaust 
