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Show 1917 Banner Year for Intermountain Motor Dealers I ' Xx4lafis fOi- fell! H M rr-rtM h-. rV;v n .JMT&B!!fc4 J 4- U NV, ov - d 'UHl l ! 'iuu- v i TTK - ' - - Phenomenal Record v Achieved 5y Local Aufo and Truck Men World Conflict Demonstrates that Automobiles, Trucks and Tractors Are First in War, as They Are in Times of Peace; Many New Branch Houses Established; Classy Auto Homes Erected. AFTER a twelve months' period of intensive selling, of intensive inten-sive exploitation and intensive -work, the automobile and truck dealers of the iotermountaiu empire em-pire find they have made a record that is unusual and one that they may justly just-ly be proud of, during the year just brought to a close. Conditions that obtained in the automobile au-tomobile field at the beginning of the year were anything but assuring. General Gen-eral business unrest spread over the land when war was declared, and many wise men, so styled, attempted to prove to the masses that the motor-driven passenger car was a luxury and so doomed to be stringently dealt with and regulated by the government for tiie period of the war. This had its effect at first, but the utility of the auto, both hi the business busi-ness world and in the community life of the people, was soon demonstrated, and the tense ritual ion began to give i fc-'y to rational buying and operation uT-autos. Then followed attempts to deprive the motorist of his supply of gasoline. The cry of ''shortage" was j raised and some eminent oil men were 4kor a time led to believe that a great iu-riftce in the automobile world would have to be made to insure the n at ion and its allies a sufficient supply sup-ply of gas for war purposes. But this "bugaboo" was also exploded, in time, and with the close of the year the automobile au-tomobile busi uess may be said to rest on a sounder and more secure basis than ever before in its glorious history. his-tory. The public bought all the motor cars j that were made during the year, audi not a few of this gigantic, number! found their future scenes of activity iu j t lie inter mount u in section. Dealers Were Prosperous. : Loco I dealers were prosperous, generally gen-erally speaking, during 1917, the most erious drawback to many being the fart that they could not get deliveries fast enough from the factories thev reprosent. A feature of the selling of autos and t nudes in Utah and contiguous states that should not be lost sight of is the prominent place Salt Lake has taken as a distributing point. Here are represented rep-resented nearly all the larger automobile automo-bile and truck manufacturers of the l uited States. Notable additions during dur-ing the year were: The Chevrolet -Motor company, with a factory branch that supplies nil of the state'of Utah: the L'nited Motor Car company also opened a factory branch, locating on Auto r?ov. and is handlitm the states of Utah. Idaho, western Vyoming and east era Nevada from this office, selling sell-ing Nash cars and trucks. A new Olds-niobile Olds-niobile agency was announced late in the fall and is now doing a flourishing busi n ess in its loca tion on Auto Knw. Tlte best -known makes of trucks are .-.. J in Salt Lake and the territory ern-rtrfieing ern-rtrfieing the intennouutaiu country is porked chiefly from general offices r tu-;i t ed here. Note wort iiy add it ions fn the long list represented here during 1916 were the Vim light truck sold by Karl Winter and the Service truck handled han-dled by Lou Claflin. The famous Sel-don Sel-don truck is a recent addition, the agency going to the Inten-Mountaiu Motor Mo-tor company. 1 Trucks Multiply. Perhaps one phase of the motor business busi-ness of the past year iu the intermountain intermoun-tain section that may be considered as a precursor of greater things to come was the vast increase in the number num-ber of registered trucks. Here the showing was in excess of all expectations expecta-tions ot the most sanguine truck dealer, deal-er, and the reason for rapid absorption of trucks by all classes of business has been variously ascribed to the waning wan-ing man power, due to the draft, and to the fact that the people are just awakening to the great economy and utility of t he sturdy power wagon in t he commercial and labor field. Statistics for the state of Utah show that in 3916 there were registered 13,-1 13,-1 5or motor cars of all classes. During that year the secretary of state's office of-fice did not segregate or classify molt mo-lt or driven vehicles, and no means of I knowing how many trucks were actually actual-ly owned iu the state is available. But the number could not have been more than 1000, if that manv. u rhit' 101 there were 18,302 passenger pas-senger ears of all makes ami models registered. The same period saw ;-'.215 trucks registered from oil sections of the state-Tins state-Tins is an indicated increase of over To per cent in passenger cars and of more than 200 per cent, in power wagons over the registration of the previous year. Idaho had 1 2,999 automobiles and commercial cars registered in 1010; the total for tho past vear is 24,509. ImwiiiiT nil iiic ven n .il ..l.o i.- lAn per cent. The Oem state has been verv prosperous the year just, closed, and it's farmers, business and professional ! men and. iu short, all classes of citi-I citi-I ;-.ens, have spent freely for motor cars from their ahundauce. Manv new auto firms have located in Idaho during j 101 1, not a few of them being branches that draw their stocks from this city. In lsiti there were registered 712o automobile au-tomobile and commercial ears in Wyoming. Wyo-ming. Tile report from the secretary of state fur Hie year 1 P 17 is. in effect, "that 1-..C0 metor curs of all classes have been registered. This registration indicates an increase of over f,i) per cent, a wonderful showins: for a thinly settled state. The oil boom in Wyoming: has had much to do with the hi: Increase In auto ownership owner-ship and as the bi oil fields are developed devel-oped and extended, as they will be in 1!US the auto same is sure to expand In keeping keep-ing with alt other advancement made in the state. 2000 Power Wagons. There are in operation in Salt r.ake and suburban towns over L'000 commercial motor mo-tor w aeons. This number ttn-ludes all the lifCht and heavy trucks, delivery antes and a vast number of nse( cats that have been transformed into durable truchs and delivery wa-ons by the addition of truek attaehnietits or the reeonsl! uction of a new body on the old chassis. The state of Utah has been a large U', - tr; ! i ' iu IsJ f . Reason bdjj xrpil A r f i t3 P . vV 4Ji 71' " xpojzr touring) buyer of trucks and now has five White good road trucks and one monster Gar-ford Gar-ford road-builder. In the way of motor power, for the purpose alone of building' and maintaining roads, the .state of Utah has also acquired two big- caterpillar tractors of ninety horsepower each and two Erie eigliteen-ton eigliteen-ton steam shovels, made by the Ball Steam Shovel company of Erie, Pa. Trucks and tractors have found their way to the farms of the fertile valleys throughout the state and, in fact, all over the intermountain district. The farmer lias come to realize that they are a potent factor in his business of feeding the world and he has not been slow to utilize them. The past year has been, primarily, one of educational work in this direction, but greater results are predicted for 191 S. But the omnipresent passenger car has been supreme in the automotive world during the past year, as it always must be. The desiie of the American citizen to motor and to motor far afield, was never better demonstrated than in 19.17. During the summer months Salt Lake was the Mecca for hundreds of tourists, traveling trav-eling a )a auto, lo view the ever changeful change-ful and wondrous sights of the magnificent magnifi-cent west, who came from ail parts of the big and glorious east. While these pioneers of aulo travel and good loads did not always' ''find the "good roads." they nevertheless declared that they were coining again next season and that during the winter, ur closed season, they would work assiduously for a national good roads system that shall eventually penetrate pene-trate to every Quarter of the United States and open up many, at present, isolated iso-lated beauty spots to auto traffic. Auto Proves Reliability. The ability of the average passenger car no matter of what American build to make transcontinental trips and to deliver de-liver Uk load of human freight at whatever what-ever destination they may choose, on land, was never better demonstrated than it was in 3 917. Cars of nil makes came to Salt Lake frofh points thousands of miles distant, bent on going to Vol low-stone low-stone park or climbing the mountain passes to the Pacific coast. It is merely a matter of sufficient water, lubricating oils, gasoline and a few r.vtra parts for the vital mechanism nf the motor and power assembly, and your auto, big or little, will take you anywhere in tho United states where there Is even a semblance sem-blance of a highway. In the intei imumtain section the passenger pas-senger oar has vonie Into its own. Where a few -years ago there were only a few scattering cars, today the big li ways are practically crowded with them, by way of comparison. The advent of the' auto has set in motion moie than one pioject. It has caused the building and improvement of manv miles of roads; it has dotted the land with scores of garages and sprv let-stations, let-stations, even the crossroads "burg" not being exempt; in the larper cities it has caused the construction of fire-proof l buildings of modern and sightly appearance, appear-ance, that are a credit alike to the great automobile business and to the cities they ornament. Modern Buildings Rise. Salt Tnke has made notable advancement advance-ment In the matter of housing the auto during the past year. Many fine structures struc-tures have been erected along South Main, on Fourth South street and in the np-town district along Stato street in the first blork south of South Temple. Social Hall avenue, virtually made a new auto row, has been opened for Ihe entire distance between State and Second East. It has been paved and tvw and imposing buildincs designed exclusively for auto housing, have been erected there for prominent dealers. There will be plenty of cars, the manufacturers manu-facturers say, for LMS. All the local deal- |
