Indianapolis Times, Volume 42, Number 240, Indianapolis, Marion County, 14 February 1931 — Page 13

Auto Show Section

BUY YOUR CAR NOW, IS PLEA OF WILLIAMS Return of Prosperity Can Be Hastened by Public, Says Marmon Chief. AUTO SHOW IS SIGNPOST Successful Exposition to Be Indication of Better Times. BY G. M. WILLIAMS, f’rMidMik, Mrmon Motor C*r Company. The public this week holds in the hollow of Its hand, so to speak, an important means of giving 1031 business and industry a vote of real confidence and encouragement. And this means should fit into everyone's plans and be a real pleasureI refer to attendance at the automobile show, something which in itself may seem insignificant, but which is highly important. For a successful 1931 automobile show ■'eacon will be reflected not only in the automobile industry itself, but in the attitude and actual operations of scores of allied industries and crafts. Either directly or indirectly, the motor industry, in its various ramifications affords employment, in times of normal activity, to about one out of every ten persons in the United States. Moreover, there is another fact as important as it is astonishing. The amount of wages paid annually to employes of the automobile industry in normal times exceeds the total gold circulation of the United States. Attitude Is Important At this time each year, this largest of American industries puts on its best necktie and parades its handiwork before the public. Normally, it is up to the public to take a. vital interest in this auspicious display; in 1931, it is doubly important that this take place The eyes of the entire industrial world arc focused on the attitude of the public toward the new products of the automotive industry as they are exhibited at the automobile -show. There is every reason to believe that motor car sales will show definite revival during the automobile shew season. Naturally, no greater business stimulate could come about than to have Mr. and Mrs. Public go to the motor shows, pick out the car cf their choice for 1931, and place their order, either for immediate delivery, or for delivery when good weather begins in the spring. In addition to actual attendance at the shows, therefore, it is important to devote thought and consideration to the actual purchase of a car Buy Cars Now Many persons decided in 1930 to ‘•let the old car do for another winter,” planning to replace it early in 1931. Some of these will buy at The shows, others will go to the shows to make their selections with the idea of placing their order in the spring. The latter course is to be favored in many instances, but fails to reveal in the early and most vital part of the business year just what turn business will take in the active spring months. Surely. It would serve the purpose just as well for those who wish to postpone buying until spring to place their orders at once for later delivery. But to get back to the importance of supporting this weeks show. Record attendance will be a sure sign of interest and real buying intentions. These evidences of activity will be reflected in automobile manufacturing activity, in turn, will have its effect on the steel industry, the rubber Industry, the. railroads, the oil. the textile, the lumber and the glass trades. Means More Jobs More men will be employed. Future plans will be expanded upon. Optimism will return. Purchasing power will increase. It is like the turning of a wheel, and it must rome naturally and by no force or persuasion. After a year of statistics, statistics have become rather tiresome. But here are a few’ figures that arc pertinent to the present situation. The automotive industry is the largest consumer of products of the steel industry, the oil industry, the rubber industry, the plate glass industry, the nickel and the lead producers and the upholstery leather manufacturers. Seventeen per cent of the hardwood lumber produced is use in motor vehicle production and repair. Thirty-seven per cent of the aluminum production is consumed in making automobile castings, alloys and sheets. Hurry It Up Ten per cent of the domestic cotton production is used by automotive and allied makers. And so on down the list Think what it would mean to American prosperity to have all these Industries given a sudden impetus. Think what it would mean to the unemployment situation. No one has a single doubt that this impetus wil come, but the big need is to hurry it along. And Mr. and Mrs. Public can hflp immeasurably by giving serious consideration to their new car as it is displayed in the pleasant atmoshere of the Automobile show. AUTO INDUSTRY BUSY Production Increased During Month of February. The trend in February motor car production schedules is upward, as much aa 35 and 59 per cent in some instance*. Assurance is given by motor company executives that these increase* are based upon demand from the field and are not a departure from the policy of gearing output to actual consumption.

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Auto Show Array Will Charm Checks From Buyers

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PEDESTRIAN NEVER WRONG, IS CLAIM

B v r 1 Service TRENTON. N. J., Feb. 14.—The pedestrian is never wrong! With such assumption, a large part of the traffic accidents in the United States could be eliminated, according to Harold G. Hoffman, motor vehicle commissioner of New Jersey. “The walker on the street or highway derives his basic rights from the common law,” says Hoffman. “and these rights have been modified and revised only slightly by statutory enactment. “It would be weU if all motorists reflect on this point. It would help thcnv*chleve a mental attitude de-

The Indianapolis Times

cidedly more consistent with safety requirements beyond those contained in the traffic regulations.” Court decisions recently have held that, even in states which rule that pedestrians walk on the left side of highways, motorists can not assume positive defenses in event of injury to a pedestrian. “It is not to be implied that the motorist invariably is wrong in such mishaps,” Hoffman continues. “Yet in every accident he must show that his own action w-as capable of being sustained as an exhibition of reasonable care. “The greater portion of the more than 310,000 accidents in this

INDIANAPOLIS, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1931

Safety First By XFA Service WASHINGTON, D. C„ Feb. 14.—The “good old days” might have been back in 1899, but to motorists they were uncertain. Witness a dispatch from a newspaper of Sept. 28 of that year, commenting on a purchase by the war department. “Three automobiles have been purchased by the war department for the use of officers,” the item reads. “Each is equipped so that mules may be hitched to it, should it refuse to run.”

country last year were those involving pedestrians. “Pedestrian protection could be brought about if motorists were to assume that the pedestrian never is wrong.”

Graham Special” Eight Sedan

WIDE COLOR RANGE IS OFFERED BUYERS

Ranging through all the colors of the spectrum, from solid greens, blues and blacks, on to an infinite variety of delicate pastel shades, the automobile show this year offers one of the finest polychrome exhibits the industry ever has produced, according to Kingston Forbes, assistant chief engineer of the Buick company. There are few combinations lacking harmony and good taste, which is remarkable, since there hardly could be enough really suitable shades to go around. The Buick Motor Company for many years has made a constant study of public taste in the matter

of automobile colorings and has found that the popularity of any .given color is short lived. One year the vogue is blue, the next it may swerve to green, or black, or maroon. Then, too, color popularity largely is dependent* on location. A color that is popular in Florida may not enjoy the same approval in New York; the color tastes of Los Angeles differ from those of Boston. Generally speaking, the lighter shades meet with greater popularity in the west than in the east. This year there is a decided tendency toward black and dark blues, followed by greens, maroons and certain shades oft gray.

Auto Show Section

Entered as Second-Claas Matter at Poatoftice Indianapolis

BEAUTY TO BE KEYNOTE OF MOTOR SHOW, STARTING AT STATE FAIRGROUND TODAY Exposition Building: Transformed Into Palace, Ablaze With Lights, Dazzling in Its Color Combinations. VISIONED AS SPUR TO PROSPERITY Dealers Believe Creations on Display Will Be So Tempting That New Rush of Business Is Assured Them. BY SUEDE SWANSON Auto Editor. Indianaoolit Tirer Beauty, one of the biggest selling points in the modern motor car, is the theme around which the twentieth annual Indianapolis automobile show, starting today at the state fairground, has been planned. Beauty, a well-known advertising authority once remarked, is the most salable commodity in the world. With

manufacturers this year more than ever before making every attempt in their 1931 program to attain new heights in style and beauty to reawaken buying interest, dormant for many months, the prospects for tempting a general loosening of the public purse strings are indeed encouraging. Prosperity, it has been admitted freely since all other panaceas administered to the ailing business patient failed, is depending upon the automobile for recovery. Automobile dealer organizations throughout the country have taken the whip hand in

driving through finer and bigger automobile shows, seeking to entice the motorists out of their old cars and into new ones, with the result as more work and wages for the nation. This year’s exhibit is as complete a display of automobiles and automotive necessities as any ever heard in Indianapolis. After visiting the shows in neighboring cities, officers of the trade association are not backward in passing on the word that none has out done this show in dazzling splendor and impressive magnitude.

AUTO INSURANCE RATES LOWERED Finance Costs Come Down With New Plan. Auto finance and insurance at lower rates are offered in anew plan announced by Gregory & Appel, Incorporated. They call it the G. and A. plan, wherein the carrying charge for financing the purchase of an automobile is approximately 6 per cent of the unpaid balance on new cars, after the onethird down payment has been made. The savings in finance cost alone is enough, in most instances, to pay for the additional insurance, originators of the plan say. With the G. & A. plan, one payment a month covers both the carrying charge and the insurance premiums.' Adjustments from losses covered by the insurance are handled through this agency also. Thus is centered in one firm all transactions related to the purchase of a car. Under the G. & A. plan, credit is extended only to those who have established a reputation for meeting their obligations promptly. It is through this elmination of all undesirable risks that the finance carrying charge has been reduced to a minimum. Gregory & Appel, Incorporated, is one of the oldest and most prominent firms in Indianapolis, with headquarters located at 247 North Pennsylvania street. They will maintain a booth at the Indianapolis auto show. TIRE TRADE IS GOOD Block Forges to Front in Quality Goods Sale. Rapid progress is being made by the department stores in the tire and automobile accessory industry. The William H. Block Company has been selling Super Defiance tires for the last three years and is the fourth largest selling agent in the United States for this particular brand of tire, in a group of large department stores. The block company has built a special display piece for the automobile show at a cost of more than SI,OOO. It is an elaborate display piece, with modernistic designs, showing a group of popular automobiles equipped with Super Defiance tires. This is the first display the William H. Block Company has shown at the automobile show, and officials are enthusiastic as to what the people will think of this marvelous display. The Super Defiance tire is a heavy six-ply, first-line, firstquality tire and is sold with a oneyear guarantee at the lpwest prices in Indianapolis. 22-CENT RATE HELD FAIR Motor Industry Views Rail Fare as Open Challenge. Detroit views the adoption of the 2-cent per mile rate for coaches and chair cars by eight southwestern railroads as another phsu. in the battle between rail and highway transportation. It regards the challenge as open and direct, and the method of it impresses the motor car industry as fairer than an effort to impose legislative restraints on motor busses and motor truck,*.

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There has been nothing left undone and no expense has been spared in preparing the massive Auto Show building for this most interesting display of inert horse power. It is only fair to the manufacturers and the public that these new motor creations be shown to their best advantage, and with all the influence of suggested purchasing behind them, because, it is agreed, good times will not return until motorists abandon the old cars and start the ball rolling by buying new ones. State Affected Greatly Just to what extent the prosperity of Indiana depends upon the well being of the automotive industry is not fully realized Dy more than a few. In Indiana we have fifteen or twenty growing industrial centers w'hose chief source of sustenance comes from the automobile. The glass plants at Kokomo; the foundries of Indianapolis and many other smaller Hoosier cities; the gear plants of Muncie, Newcastle, and Lafayette; the steel mills of the Calumet, and thousands upon thousands of persons employed in the sales and service of automobiles alike are dependent upon the new car buyer for income and livelihood. Walls, ceilings and pillars of the fairground building have felt the touch of a staff of artists and decorators, until the place well might be termed a palace. Displays of the several lines of cars have been designated by soft-colored electric lights, so that the visitor may find without difficulty any exhibit he may care to seek out. The entire scheme has followed the endless trail of beauty and harmony. Blaze of Color Matching the decorations in symmetry are the colors and lines produced by the motor car designers themselves. Streamlines and lowswung bodies with faultless color arrangements blend at once into the general makeup of the show, and even the highly finished and polished chasses, with their nickeled railings, work easily into the picture of splendor and achievement. Little more *than has been provided will be asked by show visitors this year; the show will be shorter by a day or two than in previous years, but this, too, will facilitate the movement of speeding up buying and aiding prosperity to its feet. Doors will be open all day Sunday from 10 a. m. to 10 p. m., and the motorist will find many hours of entertainment and education enclosed within the walls of the auto show. START ON PAVING TASK Louisiana to Lay 3,000 Miles of Highway by 1933. Louisiana has started off on a road building campaign which will see 3.000 miles of paved highway constructed within the state by the end of 1933, it is estimated. Present plans call for a yearly construction of I.OCO miles. 14 BILLIONS OF 3AS! U. S. Autos Traveled 168 Billion Miles on That, Too. Automobiles in the United States used more than fourteen billion gallons of gasoline last year and traveled more than 168 billion miles, figuring twelve miles to & gallon. Produce Million Tons of Scrap The automobile industry produces more than one million tons of iron and steel scrap annually, it is reported. This is consumed by steel companies of the country. *

Swanson