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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (May 14, 1911)
MEDFORD MAIC TRIBUNE, MEDFORD, OREGON, SUNDAY, MAY 14, 3911. Xteii W&i r V PXGE FOUR L sxr.-' U" tgx s It ' This monogram on the radiator stands for all you can ask in a motor car. CHALMERS "30" (tank and gas lamps. Touring Car $1600 Including Bosch Mag not, Prcst - o - Lite tank, gas lamps. De tachable forcdoors $15 Pony Tonneau $1700 Including Bosch Mag neto, Prcst - o - Lite Torpedo Roadster $1500 Including Bosch Mag neto, Prcst - o - Lite tank, top and gas ' lamps. Here's the Story of How Three Men Learned Why ONE Automobile Is Worth MORE Than Others If You're Thinking' of spending $1000 or More for a Motor Car, the Story Is Worth Tive Minutes of Your Time Because It Will Save You Money Several men were sitting in a club in Detroit a few days ago when one man looked up from a magazine he was read ing and said: "I am thinking of buying an automobile and I'm cer tainly having a time to make up my mind which one to buy. I've just been reading the automobile ads. in this maga zine and now I'm more up in the air than eveiv They all make the same claims and every one claims the limit." "I've had the same trouble," said asccond man. "Every automobile company says that its car is 'positively the greatest automobile value in the world." "Yes," chimed in a third, "and every one of! them claims to have the finest factory and the best workmen and the best design; every one claims to use the finest materials in its cars, no matte' what the price of the cars may be. What is the buyer going to do?" "About all I can sec to do is simply shut your eyes and buy one," said the first man. "Pardon me, gentlemen, but you are gonig at it the wrong way," said a fourth man. "The right way to buy automobiles is to buy the ears themselves, not the advertis ing claims. Anyone can write advertising claims. You want to look at the cars. Find out what is in them; how they are really made; what their reputation is for service." "That sounds all right, but how can we tell that some cars arc better than others even after we see them?" que ried the other three. "By getting right automobile standards fixed in your minds the points on which ears really can be judged. "You men all know a good suit of clothes, a good house, a good cigar when you examine them, because you have the right standard for juging them. If you will take the pains to learn automobile standards in i lie same way and then apply them you won't havo any more trouble select- ' ing a real quality motor car than you now have in select ing 'worth-the-money' clothes, houses and cigars. Careful and intelligent comparison of the cars is the only way to reach a right decision. "That sounds sensible Are vou an automobile man?" "lam." "What are some of these standards you talk about?" "Well, I should say that Simplicity of Design, Good Looks, flaso of Control, Comfort for both driver and pas sengers, proper proportion of weight to size and tires and the Factors of Safety are among the most important." "I see." "If a man will keep these points in mind and really do his own observing and make up his own judgments, he probably won't go wrong." "What car do you represent?" ''The Chalmers '30.' " "What does that sell for?'" . "$Ki00 equipped with Bosch iNlagnteo,-(las Lamps and Prest-O-Lito Tank." "You're just the man I've been looking for. I've thought of buying a car at, about, that price, but here's' an advertisement which claims that a car selling about $350 cheaper than your car-is just as good as yours. 1 would like to have you tell me just why your car is worth the dif ference." "Well, the easiest way for me to do that is to tejl you some of the things you can get in a Chalmers '30' which you can't possibly get in any car selling for from $'200 to $400 less. You can then decide for yourself whether it is worth the difference." "do ahead." SOME IMPORTANT THINGS YOU CAN'T POSSIBLY GET IN A CAR SELLING FOR LESS THAN THE CHALMERS "That cheaper car has what body finishers call second grade leather upholstering. The makers could not afford to use a first grade of leather, such as vou will find in the Chalmers '30.' "The other car can't have the best grade of hair in the upholstering, nor as much of it. Hence the seats can't be as durable or as comfortable. "The maker of the cheaper car can't afford to paint, his car as the Chalmers '30' is painted. The bodies of some low-priced cars are simply 'dipped.' Thp body of a Chal mers '30' receives sixteen coats of paint apd varnish. "The cheaper ear cannot have the same high-grado body. No car selling for less price than the Chalmers '30' has the high-grade materials and workmanship found in the Chal mers bodv. Ask anv body builder about this. MOTORS ALONE WORTH THE DIFFERENCE "In the work on the motors alone the Chalmers '30' is worth the difference. The maker of the cheaper car could not afford to heat treat his crank shaft, connecting rocls, and all other important parts. He can't afford to put the work on grinding his cams accurately to size and shape. "He could not afford to polish the connecting rod bear ings, nor machine out the tops of the cylinders, thus mak ing compression absolutely equal and the balance even, among all Jour. He could not afford to anneal the cylinders and pistons so they won't ever vary in size, no matter how strenuously the motor may be used. "The maker of a cheaper car could not afford to and none of them do open up the motor after it is put in the car. Every Chalmers "30" motor is opened twice after it is put in the car once during the road test and once dur ing the final inspection test to see if the bearings are O. K. And the last thing before shipment the valves arc reground. "Most important of all, he could not afford to test his motors as the Chalmers motors are tested. Every 30' motor gets a 20-hour test and after that a road test. The men in charge of the Chalmers motor testing department froinerly did similar work in factories where cars are rigid ly inspected and where the standards of inspection arc higher than in the factories where those high-priced cars arc made. ' , "Our inspectors in all otlicr departments, who have had experience in other factories, tell us the sunc thing. FINER MA'EpRIALS USED "The cheaper car cannot use the finest grade of black walnut in dash, door strips, Jieel boards, steering wheel, etc. It cannot have the same durable and good-looking covering for floors and running boards, nor the.saihe high-grade hinges, door locks and handles, bonnet handles, foot rests, robe rail and other small details of finish. "The cheaper car could not have fenders made' of the high-class material used in. Mo Chalmers. Nor could, its fenders be finished with four coats of enamel, each coat baked on. No car at any prftle has a better made, be, t tor fin ished fender equipment than the Chalmers '30.' Cheap fenders are alwavs an evesore. "No cheaper car could have as strong and heavy a irainc as the Chalmers '30.' No other car selling at the same price , as the Chalmers, or several hundreds dollars less, or even several hundred dollars more, has a frame of such care ful design, such strength and safety as the Chalmers. Just look at the various frames some day. You can see the dif ference for yourself. ' "The cheaper car could not havo.transmsision and live axle shafts of special steel, heat-treated in the same way, under the latest improved specifications of the Society of Automobile Engineers, as the Chalmers. NO BETTER WHEELS MADE "The cheaper car could not afford to have the same grade of hickory in its wheel spokes. Hickory used in Chal mers, wheels is absolutely the same grade as that used in the highest-priced cars made in America, and the factor of safety for size is just as great. "The cheaper car could not have the same high-grade ball bearings throughout. Those cars have cheaper bear ings, where they use ball bearings, and some of them use only plain bearings, such as you find in wagon wheels. "No cheaper car could have a solid stamped steel rear axle housing of unusual size and strength. The cheaper ears have what is known as 'built-up' axles. They are not so strong. "No cheaper car could afford to have so many steel forg ings of important small parts as the Chalmers '30.' On the cheaper cars you find .castings use,d jit many points where steel forgings would'be better. The Chalmers does not use a casting at any point where a forging would be better.. "The cheaper car could not afford to have a crank shaft made of the same grade of 'special steel specially treated, as you find in the Chalmers. The Chalmers Company has built and sold more than 15,000 cars, and it has never had a crank shaft broken or even sprung. "The cheaper car could nq,t afford to have the long elip tie springs made of high carbon, oil-tempered steel, like the Chalmers. Springs are very important, for they mean riding comfort, if they are good. They mean absence of riding comfort, if they arc inferior. INSPECTION MEANS SATISFACTION "The maker of a cheaper car could not afford to -inspect, his raw materials and finished parts with the care the ;. Chalmers Company gives. He could not afford to give his- cars as long a road-test. - "The maker of the cheaper car could not afford to anal yze every bit of raw material entering into his car. At the -. Chalmers factory there are fully equipped chemical and .. physical laboratories in charge of experts. There is a test ' bar taken from every shipment of raw material received for use in Chalmers cars: The material is analyzed in the ; laboratories, and if it fails to come up to the specifications,,., of the Engineering Department as to its properties and its strength, it is rejected. t "Now, gentlemen, these are some of the reasons why the Chalmers '30' is worth the difference. I've tried to express them in unteclmical language. There are many other rea sons. Unfortunately, many of the most important cannot be explained except in the factory. "But they show in the cars. They arc the things wnicn ake for strength, long life, safety, comfort, beauty, free- in dom from troubles. "You can't always tell the difference between six coats of paint and sixteen, as new cars stand in a salesroom. But you can tell it in six months; still more in a year; ,and still 'inorc in three years. ' "Neither can you always tell the difference in materials ' . . and workmanship in a demonstration ride. But yo.p can . tell in six months; still more in a year; still more in three vears.. ." "By the way, it will be easier to select a car in three years from now. Time will prove, and disprove, a' lot of ,; advertising claims. Good cars won't be so much better than now, but only the companies making good cars now will be doing business then. "Buy a car that has the quality to be long-lived. Can you think of any lower-priced car tluit has the reputation of the Chalmers? Can you think of one that is as good looking, that rides as comfortably, that wears as well?, Can you think of .one that has a performance record like the Chalmers? And if you can't, then isn't the Chalmers worth the difference?" JUST ONE THING MORE "There's just one thing more I would like to have you explain," said the man who had started this discussion. "What's that?" "You arc chaging only about one-fourth to one-third . more than the other cars you've been talking about, and yet . your car seems to have enough points of superiority to make it worth relatively much more than that. How is that?" ! " ' "'' ', ' "Well, that's a good point. I'm glad you brought that up. The ability of the Chalmers Company to make a car much more than 25 per cent better than some others and (barge only a fourth or third as much more, is owing to the operation of an economic law which you can observe in nearly all lines of manufacturing. You can buy a good suit for say $30 or $40. Put 25 per cent or 35 per cent more . to that and you can get ii suit worth about twice as much for looks and wear and class real quality. Take any other ' line the same conditions hold." "That's right. I see that, and I'm much obliged to you for telling me all these things. I've made up my mind to pay the difference and have a Chalmers." That's the story of how one Chalmers car was sold. There are scores of incidents like this all over the country these days. Every club has one or more a day. In thouV sands of homes there are discussions like the foregoing with father, mother and the boys and girls taking part tyring to decide which car they would better buy. We know that many are trying to find out just whv the Chal mers "30" is "worth the difference." We have tried to help them. Only one thing endures and everlastingly succeeds, in this world, and that is Qualitv. The Chalmers "30" has Quality. We can still accept a few orders for Chalmers oars for Spring delivory, but there is sure to be a shortage this year, as there has been in the past. Qf course, it's always' pos sible to get automobiles, but there's a time each year when you can't go a Chalmers. And it's a time when vou want a car the worst late Spring and early Summer. But while our allotment lasts, we stand readv to serve vou. VALLEY AUTO COMPANY N. HOLLY ST. NEAR MAIN I' H ' '