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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (April 22, 1955)
SIX J4EDF0RD (OREGON) MAIL . TRIBUNE Friday, April 22, 1SSS IPoiDtSac Dmcoraoraftes tVilaonv HongDmeeiriiinig D BBHUovaiftnoims in 1 9S . STAR OF PONTIAC LINE New, modern automobile styling and a 180-horsepower en gine are only two of the 109 changes and im provements made in the 1955 Pontiac models, which are on display at Dean's Pontiac, Sixth and Grape sts. Shown above is the popular Catalina, featuring the new "Vogue" two tone coloration. , Volkswagen Holds First Place Amona Foreian Car Sales in U.S. - - . wagen leaped from sixth place to first place among new foreign cars sales here. By year end it was far and away the highest selling import nearly twice its nearest rival, the little British MG sports car. Sales in 1954 were 6,434, a gain of 412 per cent in ayear when total foreign car sales dropped 12 per cent, to 25,379. (Nash's two-seater Me tropolitan, U.S.-designed but made by Britain's Austin, isn't usually ' classified as a foreign car. Sales last year were 7,018.) This year, while imports clearly are doing better in a busy auto market, Volkswagen is staging a runaway. January The little Genoa n-made Volkswagen, the car which Hit ler once promised every Ger man family could afford, is making a strong bid to revolu tionize the foreign car market in the U.S. Morris Motors. Medford Volkswagen dealers in this area with headquarters at 1201 North Riverside ave., cite interesting figures in the April 9 issue of Business Week to substantiate this fact. According to Business Week, during 1950, only 157 tough, tiny German Volkswagen autos were sold in this country. When 1952 foreign car registrations reached a record 29.299, Volks wagen added only 600 registra tions. Then, last year between January and-July Volks- Wolfsburg, West Germany, I at noon Saturday Volkswagen officials speak con fidently and conservatively of 20,000 U.S. sales in 1955. The German prodigy is 59 inches high, has an air-cooled engine that snuffles noisily from its housing in the rear, and will get close to 40 miles per gallon at a steady 40 mph. It's surpris ingly roomy for four, provided the people in front haven't long legs. It's fun to drive. The Volks wagen enjoys a glowing reputa tion for stamina, simple sound engineering, and gets along with a minimum o maintenance. Two-car suburbia is where Volkswagen has made its Dig est, inroads (surDrisineiy, way. oauuaiy . . , i ,iD ,ero registrations were 1,110; the best Z'TZZXT guess for February and March ! WCSL Ui ' V sales is 2,000 a month. From Dead ne for Sxmdmy Ou&M U MEET THE VOLKSttAGEH EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT THE , "AMAZING VOLKSWAGEN" AT THE AUTO SHOW Saturday APRIL 23 SEVERAL MODELS ON DISPLAY Are you fond of clean-cut stream-lined cars? Are you keen on riding in easy comfort, yet would like a modern car that isdown-right cheap to operate? V, If so, you'll want the Volkswagen, the leading European car in it's field. It will be many years before a better engine of it's size can be built. There is no other car that gives such mileage with an engine able to give 75,000 miles, or more, without major repairs. " t ' . Made by the World's Fourth Largest Auto Company Has that "European Look" You Yearn For ' Powered by a Four-Cylinder, Overhead Valve, Opposed, Air-Cooled Engine Torsion Bar Individual Wheel Suspension Tfc- Peppy Top Cruising Speed Up To Forty Miles Per Gallon it Needs Only 5 Pints of Oil For An Oil Change Every 1,500 Miles IT'S EXACTLY THE CAR YOU'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR! 1655 DELIVERED IN MEDFORD -HB-0RSE RflXM YOUR VOLKSWAGEN DEALER FOR SOUTHERN OREGON 1201 North Riverside 1 Phone 2-7254 Automobile show visitors, bent for lighter and brighter tones. on comparing for themselves the I "Vogue" two-toning which brings virtues of this year's crop of the color of the top of the car American automobiles and view ing first hand the latest motor ing developments, will find the Pontiac exhibit of the local show to their liking. The glamorous array of 1955 Pontiacs, with powerful 180 horsepower Stratc-Streak V-8 engines and dazzling new pano ramic bodies, is enough for an auto show by itself. These new Pontiacs incorporate more en gineering innovations than any models since Pontiac was first produced in 1926. The car has 109 outstanding new features. It is on display at Dean's Pontiac, Sixth and Grape sts., Medford. The sleek new bodies have a low, streamlined silhouette. The powerful looking front-end, ac centuated by the massive dual impact bars and grille bar has the modern appearance of a jet plane air scoop. The headlamps display a bold new treatment with futuristic air crescents above them. Twin silver streaks, a popular feature of Pontiac's "dream cars," sweep back from the radiator grille of the 1955 Pontiacs, terminating at the cowl-wide passenger compart ment air intake. The silver streak motif is con tinued with chrome streaks that run along the crown of each rear fender fin and terminate at the massive tail lamps. Dual bumper impact bars combined with the graceful wing-and-circle emblem on the trunk lid give new beauty and distinction to the back of the 1955 Pontiac. down to the middle of the car body, accentuates the streamlin ing of the new Pontiacs. Body interiors, luxuriously color-keyed to the new exterior paints, reach new heights . of comfort, roominess and - safety. The graceful instrument panel mounts aircraft-type instruments at 90 degrees to the driver's vision with control knobs re cessed for added safety. Pontiac's exclusive "Safety-Arc" speedom eter indicates speed with a con tinuous red curve. The 1955 Pontiacs. are -available in two new series, the Star Chief Series, having a 124-incbl wheelbase and the . Chieftain Series with a wheelbase of 122 inches. Dimensionally, sedan and coupe models are 23A inches low er in overall height. A two-door station wagon has been added to the line of Pontiac body styles this year. Station wagons are as much as six inches lower. All models have lower hood lines exposing both front fenders to the driver's vision. Hip and shoulder room have been sub stantially increased my redesign ing the car interior. The new bodies -with pano ramic windshield, and increased glass at side and back have 26 per cent more '.'see through" area. Station wagons have wrap around rear windows. In all, 12 body styles are of fered this year by Pontiac. In the Star Chief Series are the Con vertible, Custom Catalina and Deluxe and Custom four-door Pontiac colors for 1955 show sedans. The Chieftain Series is the influence of the public's taste comprised of two and four-door sedans in the 860 models; two and four door sedans in the 870 model; two and four-door station wagons ijrthe 860 model; an 870 four-door station wagon and the 870 Catalina. The new Strato-Streak V-8 en gine represents Pontiac's answer to the automobile industry's goal of developing an engine .with durability and low-cost de pendability and with the power and quick response that modern drivers demand. The . engine " develops 18 0 horsepower, reaching maximum torque at low engine speed. An optional kit is available which increases the horsepower to 200. Iceless Windshields Made for Airplanes Chicago (U.R) ' Ice free windshields that will never shat ter .have been perfected by the Armour Research Foundation of Illinois Institute of Technology. The four - and - one-half-year project was sponsored by the Wright Air Development Center and was aimed at creating failure-proof winc'shieds that would do no more than crack under the worst military and climatic conditions. To test the toughness of the new windshield, research engin eers simulated flight conditions at extremely low temperatures, subjected it to thermal shocks such as might be encountered in flying into a super-cooled cloud and generally put it through every imaginable endurance test. - Automotive Excise Tax Stand Reiterated by AAA The American Automobile As sociation has reiterated to Con gress its opposition to Federal automotive excise taxes. In a letter to Senator Harry F. Byrd, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, AAA Presi dent Sordoni wrote! "We have consistently taken the position that this area of tax ation should be left entirely to the State and . this policy posi tion was reiterated at our last annual meeting on October 21, 1954." - Mr. Sordoni's letter was in ref erence to H. R. 4259, a bill now pending before the Finance Com mittee which provides for a con tinuation of the taxes. ' Basic Rules Listed For Good Driving Detroit (U.R Here are five basic rules for good driving com-! piled ,, by , professional- truck drivers which will help a motor is avoid accidents: ' 1. Whatever the driving con ditions, ease off the gas sooner. Try for that easy "pro" touch with a minimum use of your brakes. 2. Approach intersections, traf fic lights, and dangerous stops w'th your foot off the throttle and on the brake. Be ready to hit the brake at once if neces sary. 3. Increase the distance in which you follow cars. 4. Yield the right of way to all other vehicles and all pedes trians. .. . 5. Plan your passing. Stay far enough behind to see approach ing traffic, without nosing into the oncoming line. Pick up speed before passing. Coyole Said Hard To Beat for Pet : Independence, Mo. (U.PJ Joe Choplin thinks it's hard beat a coyote for a pet. He oughc to know, since he drives 160 miles daily with his coyote. Myrtle, as his only companion. Seated side by side in Chop lin's milk truck, the man and the coyote go from farm to farm picking up milk which they transport to Kansas City proces sors. - Some farmers agree without argument that Mrytle, with her pointed ears, -sharp nose, huge mouth, and light, fast walk is the genuine coyote article. Those who don't are Convinced after they hear Myrtle let loose the high-pitched scream that comes oaly from a coyote. While Myrtle's - scream is straight from the wilds, her per sonality, for the most part, is strictly domestic. She's gentle as a kitten with his seven-month old daughter, Choplin said. Strangers become friends in a few minutes, particularly if they'll give Myrtle a pat or two hands. Her domestication, however, hasn't extended to chickens and dogs, Choplin said. Myrtle has resisted all efforts to convince h?r that live chickens aren't her rightful food, and only a c'ose watch restrains ner ani mosity for dogs. Choplin said he found his pet in the woods two years ago, when she was a tiny pup. It takes 400 electric motors, generators and other rotating electrical machines to operate the various power systems on one heavy bomber in the U. S. Air Force. See it at the show... r. THRU ORBAT LINIS ALL WITH STRATOSTRBAK V- POWIRI THE FABULOUS rSTAR CHIEF SERIES Luxury-car beauty, size, power at lowest cost! 124' wheelbase , r THE . SPECTACULAR 870 SERIES Leader of its low-price range in length, luxury, performance! 122' wheelbase THE BEAUTIFUL 860 SERIES High style and 'high power at a price near the lowest! 122' wheelbase . There's no better place than the auto show to learn how distinctively differ ent Pontiac styling really is . . . how Pontiac luxury compares with cars costing hundreds of dollars more . . . how it matches in size and roominess America's finest cars. But beauty and size are only part of the wonderful Pontiac story for 1955. You get the big thrill when you come in- for a demonstration drive. Once you're behind the wheel you experience an entirely new kind of . performance Strato-Streak V-8 per formance so responsive, so effortless it almost seems to anticipate your demands. This great new 1955 Pontiac handles so easily and rides so comfort ably you suddenly realize that here is the totally modern driving you've been waiting for. And there's another very pleasant surprise awaiting you when ypu ask about price for you can buy a Pon tiac for only a few dollars more than the lowest-priced cars. Come in to morrowlet your own eyes, your own , hands on the wheel prove to your complete satisfaction that this is your kind of car, at your kind of price. 55 6th and Grape Streets : 0 WITH Tfff SENSATIONAL STRATO-STREAK V-8 Phone 2-5241 allies
