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Show SOUTH GETS NEARER TO STUM TREAD That virtually all automobile raanu- facturers build for southern demand a differently equipped car from that sold in the north is a fact 'known to but few motorists. The northern states demand cars whose wheels run in a track 5G inches apart. This tread is also the standard to which European cars conform. The cars built especiallv for southern south-ern trade have a tread of 60 inches. How this condition first became necessary neces-sary is a matter on which members of the vehicle trado have argued for many years. General opinion seems to agree that, on account of roarl conditions which once prevailed south of the Mason and Dixon line, the greater tread was adopted to insure needed stability and prevent overturning. The standard was established long before be-fore the day of the motor car. Even when automobiles began to attain general gen-eral use there was still a disposition on the part of the southern buyer to give preference to a wide-tread car. That there has been a marked lessening lessen-ing of this tendency during the past two seasons is a fact brought out by E. K. Benson, vice president of the Stude-baker Stude-baker corporation in charge of automobile automo-bile distribution. - Mr. Benson also predicts pre-dicts that the time is not far distant when the superior advantages of the standard tread will result in a passing of the old distinction between north ana south. He bases this -prediction on the general improvement of road conditions throu about the entire south. I "The day is past' Mr. Benson de-1 clares, ''when the southern motorist "was ; compelled to ride as best he could in , the wagon ruts of the country roads.: Highways in many parts of the south ; are now not merely equal, but actually i better than those in many parts of the ' north, populated with similar density.) Even in the mountain districts, where; wide-tread wagons are still generally used, the motorist will find roads that are almost always crowned and are often macadamized. A large majority of the cars we have been shipping to our southern dealers this year have been equipped with standard tread. So marked has been this trend that it seems onlv a matter of education until un-til the standard becomes general." Automobile manufacturers and dealers deal-ers will, of course, welcome such a condition. con-dition. At present the double standard stand-ard imnlies a waste in manufacture and a duplicate supply stock of axles for cars of both types. Fast Freight Too Slow! After reading about the &tudcbakcr .'Six,'' James McDonald of Wclaka, Fla., became so enthusiastic that he wired the factory to forward ono of these cars immediately by express, thereby assuming a bonus in the way of oarrviug charges amounting to nearly near-ly $S0d. Ohio Demands St tide bakers. Iu an effort to catch up with de-maud de-maud in southern Ohio, the Stude-baker Stude-baker corporation records showed on one day late in April that more than $80,000 worth of tftudobaker "Four" and '''Six" cars were at that time in transit between the factory and the various stores of the Twyman Motor Car company, southern Ohio distributors. distribu-tors. No Tire Trouble to Mar Joy. After traveling more than 1000 miles over all sorts of highways between Portland, Ore., and Los Angeles, Cal., Mr. and Mrs. Melville Carson Ham-mack Ham-mack finished their honeymoon trip with Oregon air in all four tires on their Stu debater '"Four." |