W, alison The 5,000-mile car trip that I did recently via "YUnnanfu, Chengtu and Sian to Peiping was, of course, a mere tour de force, not to be undertaken lightheartedly, nor dot recommend it as a pleasure trip. But long-distance motoring in China is nowadays perfectly feasible and is likely to become increasingly' popular. A trip to Huangshan in Anhui, to Hengshan in Hunan, to Kwangsi or Yunnan, or even to Omeishan in Szechuen is not such avery dim cult undertaking any more and would provide an teresting holiday. It is for those who meditate making such long fours that I have put down the following-notes which merely are my own personal experiences and with which other more experienced motorists may possibly not agree.
As the ideal car for travel on Chinese motor roads does not seem to have been evolved or, if such does exist, is not sold out here, the type of car is really chiefly a matter of personal preference, The Ideal car, as I see it after my recent experiences, should be: powerfully-engined but not too heavy; easy to drive with comfortable seating (a very important point, if one has to drive for days on end); lowest pos sible petrol consumption; small turning radius; strongly sprung; with easily replaceable standard parts; and above all with a good clearance from the ground (the battery, quite definitely, should not bbe underneath the car). Personally T cannot see why a modern streamlined, comfortably-seated car cannot be built with high clearancs But then manufacturers, as we have seen, are too busy inventing 'a car that will steeplechase or stand on its head, useful accomplishments perhaps for Shanghai, but of less value on the narrow and precipitous mountain roads or on the mud roads of the interior.
The car I used on my recent trip was a Ford eight-cylinder, two-door sedan, 1933 model, It had its good points and its bad. The good points were:—
1.—The engine went well and cartied me up the steepest slopes Kweichow' and Szechuen and through the mud and sand roads of the north without any dimeulty, 2—It was easy to drive and seating was comfortable, Sit was Just about the right size for a trip of that kind, and not {00 light nor too heavy.
4.—The average petrol consump-than (with a news model carburetter) was about fourteen miles.
S—-One could get spare parts at most of the larger towns, The bad points were:
L—The turing radius is much too wide (This was a distinct disadvantage on' winding mountain springs are not strong enough, 3 "The battery fs underneath the car.
4:—The clearance is very poor.
T had a lot of trouble—specially fon the bad roads in the North— owing to the last three points.
But whatever ear you use, locked doors and a locked tank-cap are essential, took along with me the follow-spare parts and extra gadget (A) Two spare outer tyres (in addition to the one on the spare wheel), one inner tube, two main springs (front and back), condenses coll. distributor points, lamp. bulbs, and. {wo sparking plugs, (B) Fuses, tyre valves, tyre valve caps, tyre patching' outfit, chains for wheels, two lengths of thick rope, some blocks of wood about the size of a large brick, (These came in useful for many {utposes, specially as a base for the Jack on' the road), a spade and plenty of strong wire.
The only spare parts (A) that 1 actually used were the tyres and springs, so I am unable to say, how necessary the rest were. But as they do not take up any room, it 4s just as well to have them along. T found all of the second group (B) very handy at one time or another.
'A second spare wheel instead of two spare outer tyres (which one can always get at any of the larger' towns) would probably have been
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.