Page:Motors and motor-driving (1902).djvu/71

Rh driver, with a covered top for wet weather. Nay, if he is satisfied with a light and frail open carriage he could obtain one of much higher horse-power, and a speed up to between thirty and forty miles an hour but this is a mere racing machine for those who desire to travel speedily without any protection against the weather.

If the purchaser intends to run his car on economical lines let me advise mixed tyres, that is, solid tyres on the back wheels and pneumatic on the front. Although the speed is considerably reduced, a great source of expenditure is avoided. I am inclined to think that the pneumatic tyre craze has been



altogether overdone by motor-car owners. At the present time I am using solid tyres entirely on one car, on another mixed tyres, and on another, an American one, single-tube tyres (very excellent these); on yet another pneumatic tyres shod with metal, excellent for town use, and on a large and fast car, pneumatic tyres all through. The pneumatic tyres are undoubtedly the most comfortable of all, they are beyond question more speedy, but they are very costly—my own tyre bill last year was over 500l. They are also very liable to puncture in hot weather, more prone to cause side-slip, and in other ways a luxury that has to be paid for. I advance these points to prevent the purchaser from definitely