A CAR FOR THE JOB

A CAR FOR THE JOB

Some months ago photographers appealed for a manufacturer to produce a special car which wOuki be able to contain the tools of their trade in reasonable security whilst having room for four people and still be fun to drive. Unfortunately nothing seems to have resulted from this, mainly because of the small production involved. Although there are many thousands of professional photographers in the country only a small proportion would presumably be willing to use a special car, which would probably be (A’ a make unacceptable to many of them.

Following on from this, the medical journal The Practitioner has diagnosed its readers’ motoring habits by way of a questionnaire and has come to the conclusion that the type of car which would appeal most to the medical profession is a saloon costing about J:k000 including purchase tax, with lockable interior compartments for drugs and instruments (which are all too frequently stolen, judging from radio appeals), and, above all, should be easy to start, easy to get in and out of and easy to manoeuvre. •lhat doctors are fairly keen drivers is indicated by the fact that most of them prefer a manually-operated gearbox to any form of automatic transmission, in fact less than 5% of them use an automatic gearbox at present. Unlike the pre-war Rolls-Royce ” Doctor’s Coup.” presentday doctors use a wide range of cars for making their calls. Ford is the most popular single make named in the answers to the questionnaire with a 6″;, share, followed by the B.M.C. with Austin being the most popular single Make; Rootes Group had 14″„ of the total, Standard-Triumph to% and Rover and Vauxhall took 5”.. each. The most popular single model was the Morris Minor. although the figure for the basically similar Austin As and Morris Oxford was greater. Foreign cars took a low place in the doctors’ choice, all the fOreign ears amounting to 8″i., of the total, with VW being most popular. The questionnaire also diseovered that nearly half of those who replied ran two ears, while half ran their cars

for longer than two years, covering, on an average, 54,000 miles a year and calling on 15 to sh patients a day.

Whether this information will assist manufacturers to produce a present-day ” Doctor’s car” we wouldn’t know but there certainly seems to be a possibility of a market for specialised ears in certain professions.

COLOURFUL SHOW

Although the London Motor Show presented outstanding splashes of blue and red, the figures show that ivories, creams and greys are still the predominant single colours. This was established by the Paints Division of Imperial Chemical Industries during their annual investigation of colour trends; 344 ears were included in the survey.

Of the 155 ears painted in single colours, 66 were ivory, Cream or grey, and these shades appeared in many of the duo-tones, althouga often paired with a brighter contrasting colour. Reds and blues easily outstripped any others but, individually, there are several striking and attractive greens, maroons and yellows. Fawn shades were more noticeable than last year. Lavender, a feature of last year’s Show, was virtually absent. Black was still insignificant as a single colour and was confined to a few of the larger models. It was, however, used as a second colour on the roofs of many duo-tones. The number of duo-tones was approximately the same as last year-126 compared with 125. The most frequently used combinations were two shades of grey, grey and ivoryicream, and blue and ivory/cream. There were no significant numbers of any other Combinations. With the exception of i3 duo-tones, which are composed of one straight and one metallic colour ano two which are both metallic, all the others consist of straight colours. Metallic finishes have increased from 44 last year to s6. Tlic most IrequentIN.• encountered is grey, followed by blue., red. maroon andbrow n w n