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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 2, 1913)
THE SUNDAY OREG ONI AX, PORTLAND, VOVEMBER 2, ? 1913. PRICE GUTTING IS DEALERS' PROBLEM of business that comes more and more with the number of cars on the market and the gradual advance in age of the motorcar business. The Auto Top Com pany recently took over two stores which front on Washington street merely to handle their body painting department, while they have utilized the whole of their former space at Six teenth and Alder streets for the top covering and cushion filling work. This has meant a reorganization of the whole store, though the entrance Is still at 525 Alder street. A member of the firm said recently that if the present rate of increase In business keeps up they will have to move off Alder and Washington streets altogether in order to get sufficient space. REO PRICES LOWER FOR. 1914 CAB BUILT FOR LESS sk Dun's, Bradstreet's r Your Own Banker Autos Made Better at Lower Cost, Says Riggs. . One Phase of Automobile In dustry Far From Settled, Says H. L. Keats. O NOW, MORE THAN EVER BEFORE, it behooves the dealer and the buyer to look carefully to the financial stability of the automobile manufacturer who si car he contemplates owning. THERE HAVE BEEN SOME occurrences of late that should serve as a warning in this regard. On the other hand, there hasn't been a failure that wasn't scheduled. They were foreordained from the first inevitable. ' PACKARD ECONOMY CITED PUBLIC TRUST AT STAKE Subject Is Delicate and Dangerous I One for Trade and Veteran Points Ont Some of Situa tion's Difficulties. T BT H. Ii. KEATS. In the manufacture of automobiles today there is one phase of the Indus try which as yet the varying factions have not agreed upon. Of course there will always be differences of opinion as to the benefits of this or that method of construction, and it is only right and a good thins that this Is so, because without Individuality the busi ness would go rapidly to the dogs. But In the very short time in which auto mobiles have . become placed on their firm footing1, the question of price cutting and price valuation has been the one topic certain to cause a bitter discussion. I have been back at conventions al most without number in the East, probably at more than most of the dealers in town on account of the length of time I have been in the au tomobile business. At each one, this topic has come up, and even with its mere mention one could feel that there was a spirit of antagonism between the faction that was in favor of price cut ting and the faction that was not. Subject Is Delicate One. It may be best at the outset to have It understood clearly just what Is meant by price cutting and proper valuation. It is in a way a dangerous ground and a difficult one, because there is bound to be a number of peo ple who feel that I am hitting them individually. This is not the case at all. I am speaking to the best of my ability for the good of the industry in general, and what Is good for the in dustry as a whole is best for each one of us in the long run. Firms today are selling their auto mobiles to the dealers (I am not talk ing now of the public except Indirect ly), in one of two ways. Either they will say to them: "Here is an automo bile listed at say $2!00 or $3500 as the case may be. We have put its price up there with an express purpose in view, namely that you may be able to give any prospect who comes along quite a substantial discount by allow ing him an exceptional price on his old cur." Just imagine, for instance. Nat urally such a dealer, who is given a discount of 30 per cent or more as some are on say a $3000 car, can afford to do this. He has there $900 profit if he sells the car for its face value, when something around $300 to $350 would be considered quite the - fairest profit that could be expected. Even if he sets out to-make-a profit of $500 on each car he could still afford to allow $400 more on an old car than he would expect to make, and $400 is a large eum anyhow for secondhand cars. ' Public Grows Distrustful. But where he has the greatest pull of all Is In dealing with the man whose mind as to cars Is not' made up, who has no particular favorite and whose one determina'tion is to buy a car from the man who will allow, him most on his old one. Mr. Jones comes along and says to-the dealer, "The Chalmers man will only allow me so much for my car, how much can 'you give me?'? and with that the. man with the large discount and the price on paper away above the Value of the car can afford to offer a value on the old car which would beat all we could offer miles. Another phase of the question is that it tends to make the public distrustful of our actions when not one dealer will allow the same price as another. They think we are all making these excep tional profits, and fail .to realize that there are some cars sold Just as low as possible because of tire quantity com bined with quality, while there are oth ers which put the price up because they know that they will not sell so many and also because they rely on offering big Values for second-hand cars. Of course they have their arguments to produce as to why they should put the price away above what the car Is worth Just so as to be able to reduce it when necessary, but I have never been able to'get over one side of it. and that Is that no two men pay exactly or any where -near the same price for their cars. Supposing these two men meet and talk over prices, they will soon find that one of them has been charged more than the other, and each will come to the' conclusion Immediately that there is something wrong in the state of Denmark. . "i rl'halmnn Situation Cited. TVith those automobiles where the price is put so low by the manufactur ers that the dealers could not in any case make more than perhaps $300 on a car of such a price, how can we pos sibly allow anything more than the strict value of a second-hand car, and any one will tell you how difficult it is to get even genuine value from such a car today when there are bo" many around ? The Chalmers car is sold for such a low price already today simply because of the number that are sold. The mar gin of profit Is as small as is possible already without "any price cutting, es pecially when it is remembered that Chalmers dealers give a generous in terpretation of the word service. It seems to me that in process of time such methods ef securing sales will die their own death, for which we shall be thankful, though we wish some means could be discovered of hastening their demise. This can bo accomplished through the newspapers, which have done so much to enlighten the public as to the snares and pitfalls with which some irresponsible dealers or manufac turers have strewn the paths in days gone by. AUTO TOP FIRMS EXTEXDIXG Body Painting Also Proves Busy Industry In Portland. The increase in the number of auto mobiles now in use in the state has given rise to a surprising increase of work in the nature o repairs. Gener ally, in thinking of the upkeep of the motor, such parts as rear axles, gaso line, engine trouble, spark plugs and carburetors form a few of the parts that flash through one's mind. This, of course, is largely taken care of by the rter.lers themselves or by a. repair shop But sucli matters as body painting, and more especially top roverlng, seem to lie in a sphere of their own. Top repairing and re-covering is an expensive and costly job. partly on ac count of the time-taken by the skilled workmen, partly on account of the pe culiarly tough yet pliant wood em ployed to make the bows and stays. In this connection one or two firms recently have had to move to larger quarters or else to increase their floor space to handle the increasing amount Highly Successful Season Completed, Few Changes in Design. The Reo Motor Truck Company an nounces a lowering in the price of its famous model J, two-ton heavy duty truck from $1800 to $1860 chassis only. The body prices remain unchanged. The wheelbase is standard at 130 inches, but an optional wheelbase of 146 inches permits the installing of a 12-foot body without an overhang at the rear. An Important Improvement in the hydraul ic governor provides somewhat more speed without appreciably increasing the fuel consumption. This remains, therefore, the same truck that has made so big a reputation as a hard worker. The business of the past sea son has been very heavy, and a -brisk foreign business has developed in ad dition to domestic. One of the latest shipments was to the Hawaiian Is lands, where eight of these trucks are now in operation in Honolulu. OLDS GROSSES ROCKIES MARTLAXD CITY TO SEATTLE KUX IS SUCCESS. Mountain Ranges Fail to Impede Progress Entire Lapsed Time Over Three Months. Loaded 'with three passengers and 1200 pounds of baggage, a powerful Oldsmobile has completed a trip from Maryland City to Seattle, after three months on the road. J. A. Snyder, spe cial representative of an Eastern con cern, was the driver; and he carried several thousand toy balloons which were released along the way for ad vertising purposes. The big white six negotiated the entire trip under Its own power except for the stretch between Easton and Cedar Falls, in the Cascade Mountains. Mr. Snyder was Informed that the Sno qualmie Pass road was absolutely Im passable, but after viewing the high way from the train he expressed him self as extremely sorry that he did not drive his car. . Transcontinental tours are of small moment to Mr. Snyder, for he has made two round trips from New York to San Francisco and numerous other extended Journeys in the same car, which he piloted to Seattle over the northern route. His machine has covered more than 80.000 miles and runs as smoothly as the day it left the factory. The tourists went to the Coast by way of Denver. Their route led through Colorado Springs, Pueblo, back to Denver, Cheyenne and Ogden. They also made two trips from Ogden to Salt Lake and there picked up two more passengers. This made the party consist of . five persons with 1200 pounds of baggage. From Montana, via Island Park, a start was made west ward on one of the Denver automobile tours. Twenty-eight cars in all started. They experienced eight days of steady rain, and Mr. Snyder's car was the only automobile to finish the run: three of the cars on the tour going in the ditch. Mr. Snyder crossed five divides in all. Old-timers told him that because of the condition of the country, it would be impossible for him to get across this stretch of mountains, but he came through in splendid shape and broke all automobile records ever established in that part of the country. J. M. Studebaker Is Eighty. J. M. Studebaker celebrated his 80th birthday on October 10 by doing a big day's work at his desk at South Bend, supervising the properties there and in Detroit controlled by the corpora tion which bears his name and of whose board of directors he is the chairman. The anniversary was fittingly observed throughout the entire Studebaker or ganization. Congressman Buys Studebaker. Among the recent deliveries of Stude baker "35" cars in Washington was one to Congressman Johnson. TWO HANDSOME NEW CARS RECENTLY PURCHASED BY LOCAL MOTORISTS CREATE MUCH FA VORABLE COMMENT. . II . , - - " i- jwt V , " - ' x ' i V if - i ' . St v j - Experts in Own Shops Now Test Parts Formerly Purchased on Outside Years of Patience Produce Perfect Machine. "A motor car of the highest type can be produced for considerably less than was possible two years ago or even one year ago," said Frank C. Riggs, the Portland representative of the Packard Motor Car Company. "After years of patient investigation, design ing, testing and proving out six-cylinder cars, the Packard Motor Car Com pany has developed a type which prom ises to remain substantially unchanged for several years. With the greatest burden of development work behind us, with better manufacturing facili ties and more complete standardiza tion of parts. In conjunction with in creased output, we are able to produce a six-cylinder 38' at a lower cost than it was possible to make our fam ous four-cylinder '30.' The latest model '38' is a more able car than the '30' as well as being smoother and having even better' riding qualities. The de sign is more extensive, the quality of the material is better and there are many added refinements promoting comfort and convenience." When the Packard Motor Car Com pany laid the foundation of its busi ness it was with the idea of concen trating upon the chassis, having open and closed bodies built for them, and taking advantage of manufacturers who were specialists in their own particu lar lines of work for ignition, cylinder castings, radiators, gears. springs, wheels, frames, special drop forgings, wind shields, tops, steering parts and so forth. "Experience proved, to our regret, however," said Mr. Riggs 'yesterday, "that to make the best gears we must make them ourselves; to make the most perfect steering parts we must pro duce them in our own shop; to have bodies that would be pleasing in design and at the same time of the most dur able quality, we must organize and completely equip a department for their manufacture. "Time was when material purchased on the outside was heated and quenched according to what some man thought by the color of the hot metal was about the right temperature. Today we have expert chemists with the most accurate and exact Instruments reading the tem perature of our furnaces day and night, so that the man who actually puts the material in and takes it out, does so in answer to the ring of a bell Instead of because he thinks the heat about right. Guesswork has been reduced to an exact science. In order to obtain a 100 per cent maximum service result. "It's not much more expensive to make a thing right than to make it wrong; to make all of them to one standard than ' to have a widely-varying result. High-grade articles and high-priced articles are not necessarily the same. It has even been the policy of the Packard Company to make the high-grade product and avoid the name of being high priced. "Quoting past history it Is only nec essary to call to mind our 1907 Model '30' at $4200, when the standard price In the trade for that size at that time was $5000. There can be no doubt that our product, even of that date was of the very highest grade offered though far from being the highest priced. "When we produced our first three ton truck at $3700 every one cost us more than the dealer paid for it, and as soon as we could manufacture it profitably at the $3700 price we changed the list to $3400, and began the fight over again. "Our '2-38' chassis Is an exceptionally fine piece of motor car mechanism. There are behind it 11 years of the kind of specialization on each element at a time described above. It Is prac tically the only high-grade car de signed from the ground up for the installation of the ideal three-unit elec tric system In the Ideal way. "The Packard '2-38' Is the first Pack ard offered the public with a bodv built outside the Packard shops as well as our own regular body. The difference between the Packard built body and the contract body is best indicated by the II II ,4 difference in price. The contract body is made of different materials and with the sole end in view of producing a re sult at a price. It is made by prob ably the largest manufacturer of mod erate service bodies in the world, and we believe represents the best value at anywhere near its price of anything of the kind that Is offered." More of Coffin's Books Here. Howard Coffin's book on the ad vantages of the six-cylinder automo bile over the four-cylinder has created so much interest among motorists in the city" that C. L. Boss, who has al ready disposed of three large consign ments of the- books, has had to order still another. This is now here, and those owners who have not yet re ceived the ; copy they asked for can have the same now free of all charge by calling or writing to the C. L. Boss Company. a mirror vhoh reflects a ray of light thrown on it from a lighthouse on the Island of La wis. over 50O feet away. ?5 X'iv- thtf-? HI if I.N SOME WERE OVERDUE, in fact. Thanks to the splendid demand for cars, which we and other responsible concerns were unable to supply in full, some of them were accorded a longer lease of life than their product or experience or financial backing entitled them to. THERE WAS NO EXCUSE, however, for any buyer being in ignorance of what im pended. That was easily foreseen. LET US SUGGEST that now, you who are in the market for a car look into this matter as . it deserves. You owe it to yourself and us. ASK BRADSTREETS OR DUN'S. Or if you are not a subscriber, ask your Banker to investigate and inform you. He will do it gladly. ASK HIM WHICH ARE the five financially strongest automobile manufacturers. YOU WILL FIND that the Maxwell Motor Company is one of the five and it will not be fifth in point of stability either. HAVE HIM ANALYZE the latest financial ' statements of these five strongest and tell you which have the greatest amount of assets in proportion to liabilities including bond ed indebtedness, etc., of course. We think he'll tell you the Maxwell Motor Company is one of the leaders. PERHAPS YOU DIDN'T KNOW there's been so much confusion in this matter that the Maxwell Motor Company has no connection whatsoever with the iateMaxwell Briscoe Company except that this concern Maxwell Motor Company (inc.) Detroit, Michigan Seattle Automobile Company, Seattle, Wash. Boone, Skinner & Co., 603 Washington St, Portland, Or. T. J. Toner, District Manager, 405 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco, Cal. A. V. Davis, District Representative, 222 Oregon Hotel, Portland, Or. HUFF'S MANAGER TALKS ELECTRIC STARTER ADDED TO 1914 C D. Hastings Announces No Radical Changes to New Car, Though Re finements Are Features. The new Hupmobiles, as announced for 1914, will contain no radical changes from the previous year's mod els. Numerous refinements provements, however, have been added which give the cars a far greater value than ever.- C. D. Hastings, gen eral manager of the company, said the following coTrcerninar the new Hupmo bile: "The Hupmobile was the first me dium priced car on the American mar ket with the long-stroke motor. This advanced type of motor is now being adopted by all progressive motor car manufacturers. for it is common knowledge among experts that it is more effective and efficient than mo tors of the square type. "Perhaps the most important addi tion that has been made in the new '32' models is the provision for the in stallation of the "VVestlnghouse electric starting and lighting system on all types of cars. This is furnished at a slight additional cost, with other op itonal equipment such as over size tires, demountable rims, spare rims, etc. "The Hupmobile body design will re main the same. The construction we have adopted enables us to get our cars closer to the ground than any other type, with the exception of the underslung style. "The color scheme of the new cars is slightly changed. The running gear is deep, rich red, with black stripes and this, together with the black body, makes a very pleasing combination. "A genuine rain vision ventilating wind shield, improved type of tire car rier, which permits the tire tj be fas tened without strapping, a larger gas oline tank (enough for 200 miles), a magneto rain shield that protects the ignition system in wet weather, bet ter upholstering throughout the entire car these are some of the most im portant changes. The line for 1914 in cludes the standard '32' H. P. touring car, fully equipped, at $1050; with starter, $1200; roadster at the same price: six-passenger touring car, fuHy equipped, at $1200; with starter, $1300; coupe, which is furnished only with starter, $1350." SELLING FIELD IS ABANDONED United Auto Company Plans to Give Energies to Ilepairing. The tTnited Auto Company, which since 1907 has been the distributor of Maxwell cars in the Northwest, has virtually retired from the selling field for the present. E. E. Cohen, manager. recently voiced his Intentions as fol lows: "We have decided to stay out of the selling end of the business for the pres ent and to devote our entire efforts to first-class repairing, made possible by the service of expert machinists and fully equipped shop. "VVe have taken on the Splitdorf Magneto Agency and In addition to our repair shop, we have equipped a magneto room which ex perts have acknowledged to be one of the best plants In the country. Our Russell Stair is a thorough magneto man direct from the factory, and his presence, together with the fact that wo have a complete stock, of Splitdorf purchased, through the U. S. Courts, all the assets, not only of that, but of several other concerns. WE STARTED WITH A CLEAN SLATE with plants worth many millions, with ample cash on hand to take care of our manufacturing operations, etc. ' WE HAVE NO BONDED INDEBTED. NESS no outstanding notes or debts of any kind except current open accounts not yet due. AND TODAY WE ARE nine months old with orders on our books for more than thirty thousand cars. HAS THAT RECORD EVER been surpassed in this industry? We submit the account of our stewardship ask Brad street's, Dun's or your Banker for further particulars regarding the operations and stability of this Company. THEN YOU'LL FEEL SECURE on that point and, when you compare the cars as carefully, there will be only one answer, "Yours will be a Maxwell." THERE ARE THREE MAXWELL MODELS the "25" for $750; the "35" for $1225, with electric starter and lights; and the self-starting 7-passenger "SO-e" for $1975. A handsome illustrated booklet descriptive of each model tells How and Why we can give such values. Send today for the book on the Model you are. interested in. risiftrt parts, puts us in a position to give ex pert service to users of Splitdorf Igni tion. "However, we expect to have a sensa tional car to announce late In the Spring selling around -$900, Portland delivery, with full electric equipment." "Cap" Adamson Forsakes Pony. Constable "Cap" Adamson. of Helena, Mont., has forsaken his pony for a mo torcycle. "It's hard for an old stager like me to give up the pony," says Con stable Adamson, "but constables have to keep abreast of the times. And for out In the country arrests there ia nothing like a motorcycle." Recently Adamson made a trip into the country about 14 miles, made an arrest and was I ttAnlr I .UA fl 1 1 J . 1 . v 1 1 i ii iinn iii.t i wiium nave laiten me The Oregon Top Co. Auto Tops Made to Order and Re-Covered. Covers, Backs, Cushions, Side Curtains and Dust Hoods AGENTS Peerless Auto E. H. KUHLMAN, Manager East Eighth and Hawthorne Avenue Phone East 1373 c;v.,'av?ga!'.r??iii'i;f.a!i.f NOBBY TREAD These two famous tires are in use on more cars thru out the world .than all other non-skid tires put together. Sold BALL0U& Broadway practically the whole day with a horse and buggy," said the constable. Two Big Contracts. Each of two contracts recently as sumed, by the Studebaker plants in De troit specifies the delivery of more than $1,000,000 worth of automobiles during the coming season. The con tracts are with the Phelps Motor Car Corporation, of New York, and the 1. Markle Company, of Chicago. Missouri .Governor Is Convt-rl. Ex-Governor Hadley, of Missouri, has become a Firestone convert. A Na tional touring car delivered in Kansas City to the former chief executive of Missouri, was equipped with the non skld tires, made by this company. The only exclusive AUTO TOP and SEAT COVER FAC TORY in Portland. Seat FOR Top Dressing CHAIN TREAD by WRIGHT & Oak St.