American Agriculturist, September 1,1923 
143 
When I Buy a Used Car 
Problems the Automobile Owner Often Runs Into 
I T so happens that in the course of my 
various business transactions, I often 
find it necessary to purchase a used car 
for myself or some of my employees. 
Such cars if carefully chosen answer 
my purpose equally well as new ones, 
and at a substantial saving. 
This, however, would not be the case 
if I did not use keen, business shrewd¬ 
ness and judgment in buying, for one 
can get “stung” very easily in purchas¬ 
ing a machine which may appear all 
right, and be in a sad state of health 
under its skin. As a rule, I favor 
standard makes of known sturdiness 
and quality. I avoid carefully, orphaned 
cars or those for which it is difficult to 
get. service or parts. The incon¬ 
venience, expense, and tie-up may mean 
serious loss. 
Cars Not Too Old 
Second, I favor cars which are not 
over three years old unless as the case 
in a few instances, the machine is of 
some special model of a little earlier 
type which possessed peculiar excellence 
and durability. Occasionally such a car 
will be worth more than a later one 
which was cheapened in the making. 
Knowing what to buy in this respect 
and what to leave alone means a little 
study in order to keep posted. Insur¬ 
ance rates are often a valuable index, 
for these rates are usually gauged ac¬ 
cording to the actual value and power 
represented.. For example, the insur¬ 
ance on a car of a certain make of the 
year of 1916 is higher than on any 
similar cars made by the same factory 
since. There’s a reason. 
The third point I take int6 considera¬ 
tion in buying a used car is the his¬ 
tory of the car itself. Who owned it 
in the first place? How long did the 
original buyer use it? How many hands 
has it passed through since? What sort 
of care has it had? 
if for example, the machine was first 
owned by a man who had a couple of 
boys who literally “drove the daylights 
out of it”; then the car was purchased 
by a country doctor for use over all 
kinds of rough, hilly roads; and lastly 
was put into service by a bootlegger; 
and if the car finally figured in one or 
two smashes—I do not want anything 
to do with it. 
If, however, the car has a clean rec- 
ord of reasonable use and good care, 1 
am ready to be interested. 
The “Man” Factor 
The fourth point has to do with the 
imputation of the one of whom I px’opose 
to buy. If it is the car owner himself 
or a used car dealer, I -take into con¬ 
sideration hoiv much his word of honor 
is good, for — and whether or not his 
sole object is to unload regardless of 
whether I am going to be dissatisfied or 
not, once he has my money. Op several 
occasions I have refused to be inter¬ 
ested because I was approached by 
people whose “word of honor” amounted 
to little. 
Knowing, however, that the owner of 
a car is likely to be prejudiced in its 
favor and will naturally want to get 
all he can out of it, and may not know 
for a fact how weak it is in some 
parts, I do not trust to his judgment or 
mine entirely.. I make up my mind as 
to what I think is the true situation. 
Then I have an expert mechanic whom 
I. can trust, go over it and give me 
his opinion of the shape it is in. I 
handle this matter so that the mechanic 
does not know who owns the car, as 
a rule, and the one who owns the car 
has no way of knowing the particular 
mechanic I will consult. This prevents 
the possibility of confusion. 
The sixth point has to do with the 
price of the car. I reckon that I must 
have an attractive price as long as I 
am buying the vehicle “as is”—with¬ 
out^ the usual guarantees for new goods. 
. The seventh and last point I consider 
is terms of purchase, promise of service, 
special inducements, and individual 
guarantees. How much do such guaran¬ 
tees. How much do such guai'antees 
mean? Can the dealer or owner who 
makes them back them up? Are the 
terms fair? Are the concessions so 
fiheral as to arouse my suspicions. 
These seven points may seem a good 
deal of a process to go through, but in 
reality it is all very simple, takes lit¬ 
tle time, and is much cheaper than to 
buy a car which only proves to be a 
pile of junk. 
There ai’e on the market thousands 
and thousands of excellent and reliable 
used cars. It is from this class which 
I propose to buy and not from the pud¬ 
dle-jumpers which are of relatively lit¬ 
tle value as far as my work is con¬ 
cerned, — L. G. Herbert, New York, 
REPLACING PISTON RINGS 
My engine has been running badly the last 
few weeks, and I believe it is because the 
piston rings are worn so that I do not get 
compression. One of the local garage men 
tells me I should get some of the new forms 
of piston rings. Can you give me some in¬ 
formation on the results you get with them? 
—N. S., Pennsylvania. 
The type of piston ring made by the 
manufacture of the engine, would 
probably give you as satisfactory ser¬ 
vice in replacement as would the more 
expensive specially designed ones. The 
main thing in piston rings, is a good fit. 
I have seen engines in which the most 
expensive rings, badly fitted, gave very 
poor results. I do not know how old 
your engine is, but unless you have been 
using it very hard, I. do not think that 
there is a necessity for using specially 
designed rings. In cars and trucks, 
however, it is a different proposition. 
Automobile engines are subjected to 
much harder usage than are other en¬ 
gines ordinarily, and the wear on them 
is greater. There is also need for 
tighter compression on an automobile 
engine, and for this reason the pat¬ 
ented piston rings sometimes give better 
results than plain ones. 
CRANK CASE OIL BECOMES 
DILUTED 
My tractor bothers considerable with kero¬ 
sene working into the crank case, thinning the 
oil and causing it to work up and foul the 
spark plugs. Tractor has been run about 200 
hours. I can get only twenty hours running 
out of a filling of two gallons of lubricating 
oil. Would it be advisable to install an oil- 
proof ring in the bottom grooves and leak- 
proof rings in the top? — J. J. B., Pennsylvania. 
With the little use that has been 
given your tractor, you ought not to be 
experiencing any difficulty with the dilu¬ 
tion of the oil in your crank case, un¬ 
less the pistons and rings were poorly 
fitted in the first place, or the cylinders 
have been damaged in some way 
through insufficient lubrication. It is 
possible that at some time or other 
you may have been running for some 
time with an exceedingly rich mixture, 
which would have been conducive to 
the formation of carbon, which in turn 
may have caused the piston rings to 
become gummed up so* that they will 
not function properly. 
My first suggestion would be that 
you. look into the matter of the type 
of oil that you are using. I have known 
of cases where the change of oil has 
worked wonders, especially is this true 
in comparing the operations of a trac¬ 
tor in warm and cold weather. 
The next thing to do would be to 
remove the pistons and examine them 
and the rings as well as the cylinder 
walls. I suspect that by the time you 
have gone this far, you will have dis¬ 
covered the trouble, because it would 
be very unusual to find so new a trac¬ 
tor in shape bad enough to cause the 
troubles which you have mentioned. 
HOW TO TIGHTEN A LOCK NUT 
Automotive machinery that is subject 
to a great deal of vibration and noise 
has to be held together in many places 
by a double nut, known as a lock nut. 
The proper adjustment of this type of 
nut is simple. 
Most lock nuts are simply double ordi¬ 
nary nuts; that is, a second nut is put 
on the threads over the first one. In 
tightening them up, the first nut should 
be drawn up as tightly as possible, then 
screw the second nut down upon it. 
With the second nut held firmly in 
place, unscrew the first nut against the 
bottom of the second nut. This will lock 
the two tightly together and effectively 
prevent them from being loosened by 
vibration. 
Time to Increase 
Your Grain Ration 
Pastures are drying up with the 
waning of summer. Cows are com¬ 
ing back into the barn for the long 
confinement in stanchions. Silos are 
filled to the eaves. Higher milk prices 
are just ahead. 
Time to think about your grain 
ration. 
IS YOUR’S GOING TO BE 
RIGHT THIS FALL? 
It will be if its protein basis is a 
good liberal allowance of DIAMOND 
CORN GLUTEN MEAL, the con¬ 
centrate that gives you the most milk¬ 
making protein for your money. 
You want to be sure of a heavy 
milk yield when milk prices are 
high. You can be sure if you feed 
DIAMOND. Without it in your 
ration you’re risking a loss you 
can easily prevent. 
1 
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AND 
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Pomona United Nurseries 
2 Tree Avenue, DANSVILLE, N, Y. 
$200,000,000 DAMAGES 
CAUSED BY RATS ANNUALLY 
EX-RAT—The rat poison recommended by the U. S. 
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Most deadly for rats, least dangerous to other animals. 
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KILLS MITES IN HEN-HOUSES 
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Use 2 large cans. Cost $2.50. 
Money hack if not satisfactory 
ONE can at $1.25 often sufficient. In powder form. 
cost 
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