The Oregon daily journal., January 21, 1917, Page 43, Image 43

1
SECTION SEVEN
t . f automobiles'
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PORTLAND, OREGON. SUNDAY MORNING, JANUARY 21, 1917.
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eighth annual
automobile: show
Jan. 27. o Pi- 3
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By Ralph J. Staehli.
immm ' OR one week, beginning Saturday, Port-
HiT land pays tribute to the automobile,
IH whose manufacture constitutes the sec-
II ond greatest industry of the land.
mJm From January 27 until February 3,
the many beautiful cars which distin
guish the product of 1917 will be dis
played in the Armory in almost twice
the number that have ever been shown at a Portland
exhibit.
That it will be of compelling interest to the gen
eral public is certain from the very elaborateness of
the array of cars. Many special carloads of finely
finished closed and open machines will be ar
riving in Portland all week, to be placed under this
great roof.
The year past was the greatest in the history of
the motor car. Production in every factory was al
most doubled over what it had been the previous
year, Touring received a new impetus, felt in every
part Qf the United States.
In consequence it is an assured fact that America
will be on wheels more than ever this year, which
undoubtedly accounts for the devejopment of com
fort details in 1917 cars.
The first glance through the spacious rooms of
the Armory will be convincing of one point that
the builders this past year have decided yiat the en
gines and motors needed less attention from the
standpoint of development than the bodies.
Many of the models will show the same engine
that was mounted in the same chassis last year, but
the makers of the car in question will be just as en
thusiastic over their work on the body and in the
detail of tile car. American cars, even in the very
lowest priced, are showing less and less the earmarks
of production methods which count the product
not in singles or dozen, but in thousands.
Even the big makers, those who produce 100,000
cars and more annually, will show models, direct
from the factory, that are carried in stock, and that
have personality ; cars that show that man really had
a hand in their making, that it was not all the work
f gigantic presses, of drills which bore every hole
in a motor at once, and of machines which all but
put in the cotter pins in the work of assembling.
. In almost every instance, the exhibitor is show
ing some car which is specially painted and which
shows that the production methods of American fac
tories are beginning to cope with the demand which
has ever been greater than the supply.
For these great builders to stop for such details
entails more cost and confusion in a great factory
than the layman would think. Imagine the great
drying rooms where those specially painted and de
tailed bodies must stay for days. Each operation
means a repetition of the drying process and where
the bodies formerly appeared in one color and then
were sent on their way,' the expansion of the great
plants enables them to give more than ever in- the
way of detail in spite of the ever-increasing produc
tion. As you wander down one aisle and up the other,
your impression, if you arc keenly on the alert for
comfort, will be that the bodies are roomier, and ;
even in the smallest cars have sufficient leg room .
for both driver and passenger. ;
Steps in that direction have been greater this
year than for some time. Some cars show as much
as four inches more room in the tonneau and a full
three inches in the driver's compartment without V
materially increasing the size of the body. Better
upholstering and stronger construction of walls and
seats has made it possible to do all these things. - '
The exhibit generally will show a remarkable ,
diversion in color, and in that respect will look al
most like the days of the first automobile shows, j
Many dealers are exhibiting what they call stock
models in blues, reds and greens, usually in the .
darker shades or combinations.
Limousines and town cars are to be seen, one of
special interest coming to the Portland show being
a car with black running gear and fenders, cobalt,
blue body and red wheels. This model is a town car.
All in all, Portland Jyill be better treated than it
has ever been, for this is the first time in local his-f
tory that the exhibitors have almost been fighting
among themselves, in their eagerness to buy up the
space.
Over 100 cars will be on display, which is about '
50 more than have ever been there before. One"
dealer will have 13 different types of cars in four '
different makes to show the public. Several other
big exhibitors will run almost as high in the number "
of cart shown. . (Continued on followine oace.V - -
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