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Show Before Buying Used Car Get Okeh From Mechanic Best insurance of all when buying a used car is to pay a mechanic you trust to look it over. Here are some of the things he will do: Before taking it out, he will stare at the driver's seat the floor boards, foot pedals, running boards, door catches and snubbers. These things are among the least important on the car. but they give him an idea of the car's real mileage, rather than the speedometer which can be adjusted to any lie. Under the fenders fen-ders he peers and if one of them is new, it suggests an accident and makes him alert for other clues. If the rear seats show unusual wear, he gives the body a hard look for spots where signs and lights may once have been and pecks off a bit of the new paint Should he find the kind of paint usually used on taxis, he walks out. It is all he needs to know. Should the car stand a preliminary once-over, he takes it for a good long demonstration. It runs sweetly without any knocks. But why does he stop and smell the gas tank? It might contain ether, which prevents knocks but burns the cylinders out While the car is stopped, he rubs off a smear of grease because this is an old trick for hiding the seam where a cracked engine has been welded. Speeding the car up to 45 miles an hour, he takes his foot from the accelerator, then jams it down again, and looks backward. What's the idea? Well, if the piston rings are worn, there will be a cloud of blue smoke. Also he examines the oil. If this is extra heavy. It Is another an-other indication of the same weakness. |