SPEEDY REPAIRS.

In the past many motorists have had cause for complaint about the length of time occupied in repairing

their cars. Nowadays, however, manufacturers’ service is very much better in this respect, repair departments having been increased in size to cope with the work required. iw• News of a particularly rapid repair comes from Coventry. In a recent fog on the Coventry-London

road a 16/50 Rover saloon collided with another car: the Rover repair department at once sent out and towed the car into Coventry, where an examination showed that the front of the chassis was so badly damaged that a new chassis frame would be needed. This called for the complete stripping down of the car, every single component having to be removed and rebuilt on a new chassis frame. It might well have been imagined that the car would be out of action for a considerable time, but actually the work was begun on

Monday morning and the car was out again on he road for test the following Wednesday afternoon. Arlithough the total time occupied was so short, there were, nevertheless, no fewer than 174″ man hours ” devoted to the work.

It is interesting to note that, despite the chassis frame receiving such a terrific shock that the frame member (normally several inches away) dented the exhaust pipe, the Rover system of mounting the engine on a link completely saved the engine casing from injury. Had the engine been rigidly mounted in the usual way, a new crank-case would undoubtedly have been necessary. The fabric saloon body also was unharmed, not a single pane of glass being cracked. Many people who regard the fabric saloon as being necessarily delicate will find food for thought in this item.