DEMONSTRATION OF - COMMERCIAL SIDECARS.
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Increased Interest Shown During the Second Half of the Week's Run. Agents Gratified with Results.
LAST week our report of the progress of the mobile Olympia ended at the luncheon control at Bournemouth, with evidence that, as time went on, the intelligent interest of both agents and potential purchasers was on the increase. . At the next stop—Southampton—the parking place in itself provided scores of spectators among the owners and drivers of motor, vehicles already in position, whilst at Fareham—a comparatively small town—a little crowd of enthusiastic local tradesmen welcomed the procession. Early arrival at Portsmouth resulted in quite a large crowd being able to inspect the machines before they were housed for the night.
The parking place on Thursday morning was again crowded as the procession moved off on its' way along the south coast, and a very real interest was evinced in Chichester. By this time the weather had become almost tropical, and it was in a blaze of sunlight that the machines wheeled into position on the esplanade at Bognor. At Littlehampton the promoters had not been quite so fortunate in the allocation of a rendezvous, but the side street which they were allowed to utilize soon became the centre of interest in the town. The lunch stop at Worthing was a great success, but, owing to police restrictions, the halt in Brighton had to be made in a private building, and in consequence sightseers were at a premium. However, inhabitants and visitors had a good opportunity of watching the procession as it wended its way through the town and departed for Lewes.
Along this route an immense amount of char-A-barms and other holiday traffic was encountered; which eventually resulted in throwing' the arrival of the convoy in Hastings some half-an-hour late, and necessitated once more the use of lamps. As a commentary, it is interesting to note that none of the acetylene lighting outfits appeared to give the slightest trouble, and in only one case did an electrical fitting give trouble, and that was soon rectified on the road.
Mechanical Defects Few.
It was during that afternoon that the Warrick carrier, which had been suffering the whole time from a tight bearing, had the bearing in question partially seize up, and it was only after a somewhat strenuous hour's work on the part of the driver and two officials that it was got under way again. However, with the extra half-hour taken by the remainder of the column to negotiate the traffic, the Warrick was able to clock in at Hastings along with the others. By this time, too, the 6.80 Zenith with Burlington tradesman's box sidecar had been left behind with some mechanical trouble and it automatically retired. ,
Again in a blaze of sunshine the procession resumed its way, and after a brief halt at the old-world town of Rye proceeded on through New Romney and the coast road to Folkestone, where it attracted a very considerable amount of attention, and so to the luncheon stop in Dover. Here a large crowd collected immediately the convoy arrived, and the
stay of just over an hour appeared all too short for the purpose in view.
At Canterbury and Ashford the interested -parties appeared to be of the " useful" variety, and at the latter town officials and competitors were grateful to find that the local agent had provided a char-it-bancs to take them from the parking place to tea.
The arrival at Tonbridge was timed so that lighting-up was just avoided, and with this fact in view only a few minutes could be spared for the evening parking. However, a preliminary procession -of the town had attracted a very big crowd, a large number of which turned out on the following morning to make more detailed examination of the exhibits.
On Saturday morning the machines taking part in the demonstration set out on the last day's run through the agricultural and poultry-producing southern outskirts of London, and a good deal of disappointment was experienced that in Sevenoaks the only available parking place turned out to be a huge yard tucked away out of the line of traffic.
The market place at Reigate presented a busy scene with the sidecars parked in ,close column, and at the luncheon stop at Dorking the local pilot, Mr. T. Meeten, on a Francis-Barnett, led the procession round the town before they were parked in the garage of the " Red Lion."
Perhaps, because it. was Saturday afternoon, the crowd at Staines was not very big, nor can anything else be said
of Slough, the final stopping place, although at both these towns the local agents were alive to the importance of the demonstration, and were themselves keenly interested in the various outfits.
With the demonstration over—that is to say with the actual show itself finished, although the interest aroused will undoubtedly remain for many weeks if not months in the area traversed—it is useful to look back and take a general view of the event from a trade point of view.
To begin with certain firms undoubtedly booked quite a large number of direct orders, and, although in the opinion of most the actual results cannot be felt for many weeks to come, this fact was in' itself an indication of the value of such an organized publicity campaign.
At least two of the 'entrants— Messrs. Danford and Elliott (Sheffieldj, Ltd., and Messrs. Mills Fulford, Ltd., had sent representatives with their machines in addition to .the riders for the express purpose of looking after the agents and helping to demonstrate their wares to potential purchasers. There is little doubt that their action enhanced the value of the week so far as their own firms were concerned It was unfortunate that on Friday the Rex-Acme-Milford outfit sustained broken sidecar springs, and it was deemed advisable to retire.
Hampered by the tight bearing, the Warrick mator carrier was not able to keep up the schedule speed laid down for the convoy in the hilly areas encountered in Somerset and around the Folkestone-Dover districts, as whereas the sidecars with their multiple gears were taking the long gradients with comparative comfort, the slow speed of the Warrick on bottom gear caused it to trop behind on several occasions. However, the driver was always able to check in at each stopping place before the column started off again, and this with its total weight of not less than 13 cwt. was surely a very sound exposition of cheap and reliable parcels delivery service.
At the beginning of the week speculation hadbeen rife as to the stability and manmuvrability of the Budge
B30 tradesman's delivery van trailer, but not many days had passed before it was proved in an astonishingly convincing manner that, not only did it hold the road like the proverbial leech, but also that it was to all intents and purposes as .easy to manceuvre in small areas as the ordinary sidecar outfit. Its controllability—doubtless owing to its coupled brakes, which acted not only on the motorcycle but also on the wheels of the trailer itself—was also the subject of remark on all sides, and we are convinced that there is a very real market for such an outfit whether for business or pleasure purposes. •
For a demonstration of this description it seems rather remarkable that manufacturers have not taken advantage of the possibilities which the sidecar offers for advertising particular wares. With perhaps the exception of the Dunelt fireengine, the B.S.A. milk float, the BudgeWhitworth milk float and the BudgeWhitworth ice-cream wagon, in addition to the spares service box of the Ariel, the exhibits could not be said to advertise any merchandise in particular by means of their design. As an example of what is meant, we had in Sevenoaks a B.S.A. outfit owned by Mr. Pickering, who is a hootmaker in the district and whose sidecar body is built in the shape of a brown leather shoe. Once the idea is grasped the possibility of this would appear to be almost endless, and of course in the car world the idea is by no means new.
The local agents who had undertaken to assist with the organization showed throughout that they keenly appreciated the effort which was being made and in practically every case they had benefited themselves and the motorcycle trade in general by circularizing local tradesmen, by inserting advertisements in the local press, by displaying posters and notices in prominent places throughout their towns, and by providing pilots for the convoy in and out of their towns, mounted in practically every case on either sidecar outfits, cars or motorcycles bearing posters and notices besides the official black-and-white streamers which had been provided.
In addition to the 44 towns at which definite stops had been arranged, it was
found possible to make one or two short halts at other places along the route, and where this was impossible a "slow procession through. the principal streets enabled thousamis of people "to get ral cursoryglance of the outfits,' and undoubtedly aroused a tretriendous amount
of interest on all sides. .
The total population of the toying en route at which stops 'were madeis estimated to be in the neighbourhood of two millions, and some 40,000 descriptive programmes were distributed prior to and during the visit.
The mileage given in the programme was 580, but in view of the fact that in many towns detours were made to reach the parking places, and also on several occasions quite lengthy perambulations of the streets took place, it is safe to say that the demonstration vehicles which completed the course must have covered nearly 650 miles from start to finish. This, naturally, is in addition to the distances traversed from their respective works to the starting place at Reading.
At the completion of the demonstration, A.-C.U. officials made a cursory examination of the outfits, and it is pleasing to note that, out of the 17 to finish, only one had sustained anything in the nature of a serious fracture, whilst another had an unhealthy looking front wheel, which would have had to have been replaced if the demonstration had proceeded for a very much greater distance.
The B.C. and M.C.M. and T.U. Ltd., is to be congratulated on once again asking the Auto-Cycle Union to carry out the organization of such a demonstration, and it is to be hoped that something of a similar nature will take place next year. We would suggest that a better time for such a performance would be in the early spring.
It would be ungracious to close this report without paying the tribute to that often-maligned body, the police force. By the courtesy of the chief constables in the areas traversed, which courtesy was reflected on all aides by their officers, the organizers were given every assistance whether they were on the move or parked in the Various public places. and without exception the mast intelligent intermt was displayed by the officers on . duty.