Putnam's Automobile Handbook: The Care and Management of the Modern Motor-Car

This volume does not pretend to set a standard of manners for owners of automobiles, nor does it profess to be a first-aid course in courtesy, much less suggest lessons in gentl...

It takes more than a knowledge of certain small levers and pedals and a deftness in manipulating clutch and brakes and gear shifts and steering wheel, to make an automobile driv...

Don’t take anything for granted with your car. Don’t expect that there is water, or gasoline, or oil, or current in the battery, unless you have first inspected to find out. Ins...

It takes good “juice” and lots of it to run a modern auto; not the kind that Uncle Sam has put a ban upon, for that ran the auto into the ditch oftener than most anything else;...

Of course, if one does not care for appearances, and has no pride in the bright and shiny varnish of the body and in the absence of rustiness of the top, and thinks because the...

The 5.19 had stopped at Lonesomehurst, and the grating sound of the Klaxon had caused more than one commuter to wish there were a law against harsh noises. To Cholly Subbubs, ho...

When you are out driving next time watch the cars ahead of you and notice how many of them have wobbly rear wheels. You can by this means tell fairly well who is a careful drive...

Below are given a number of rules for doing things about an automobile, which may help the novice remember the instructions heretofore given by the agent from whom he bought the...

Ordinarily the fellow who starts to hunt trouble finds it quicker than he expected, but not so with the automobilist; when he starts to hunt trouble—in the car—it seems to be a...

Look well to the condition of the brakes on your car before starting on a trip. See that they are in good shape even if you do not have time to look over the engine. The brakes...

When a tire buyer is told by the dealer that a tire is guaranteed for so many miles, the manufacturer expects to make good—he expects if the tire falls down on performance to re...

With every car are furnished all the things required for operation, including lamps, tire pump, jack, tire-repair kit, a variety of wrenches to fit all nuts and bolts, oil can,...

One of the frequent and most annoying troubles to which automobile engines are subject has to do with the carburetor. With one of the standard carburetors or vaporizers which is...

Visions of disaster come to the automobile driver at the thought of running without the steering tie rod. One thinks of wheels trying to go in divergent directions and of ultima...

Some of the most unnecessary and expensive repairs to an automobile are those connected with its transmission. It is not only exasperating, but unnecessary to be told that the g...

It matters not whether one call it an automobile, a tin lizzie, a gas wagon, or what not, it consists of a steel frame upon which are mounted wheels, an engine, appliances for c...

Have you a little hot air furnace on your car? You need one on frosty mornings unless you want the engine to act as though it had an acute attack of bronchitis for half or three...

In some of the minor and oftentimes hidden parts of an automobile are found frequent sources of trouble. There are places to be lubricated of which many an auto owner has no kno...

These are the days of the tour and to thousands more each year it means a trip by automobile to lake or mountain, or the more pretentious visit to the old home, or to some new,...

One of the most humiliating experiences which can come to an owner is to have to ask his guests, even if it be only friend wife, to get out and walk when a long and steep hill i...

Motors are a good deal like men. Very many of them, when everything is wide open and they are hitting it up at top speed, have excellent performance, but spit and sputter and kn...

The automobile engine will heat up too quickly in hot weather, just as an individual will. No, we did not say overeat; though if you let the engine gorge itself too long on moto...

With the coming of the shorter days in the year a frequent complaint to garage man and battery or electric-system expert has to do with the battery, though in nine times out of...

There are other things which affect the amount of gas consumed which need the attention of the automobile owner. One of the common things, mentioned in the preceding chapter, co...

Ever stop to count up how many bearings there are about your car? If you haven’t, you are likely to lose your bearings while you hunt for the several hundred bearing points of t...

It would seem unnecessary to give caution to the motorist where there is an element of safety involved; it ought to be understood that everyone entrusted with the wheel of a mot...

Much despised, detested by many automobile operators and neglected by almost every chauffeur, and even “cut out” altogether when the traffic policeman is not around, the muffler...

If your auto is not equipped with “Can’t-Slip Heels,” the green or pink plugged shock absorbers, the same as you wear on your own heels to keep from skidding over the sidewalk,...

If we scuff our feet on the bare pavement we wear out our shoes, develop a lot of heat, and notice considerable resistance; but if we step on a banana peel, a piece of ice, or a...

The man who buys a car will receive from the salesman a certain amount of instruction as to running it. He will be taught how to manipulate the pedals and levers, switches and o...

While there are many sections of the country where it is necessary to put the car away for that portion of the year when the ground is covered with snow and ice, and for that re...

Of course it is your horn and you have a right to do anything you want to do with it—except make a nuisance of yourself to others—and you can toot it to your heart’s content whe...

There are a number of other points which should be borne in mind by auto owners with the coming of hot weather, if the most efficient service is to be had from the car.

Probably the chief bugaboo of the new owner is gear shifting. This is evident from the fact that the average motor-driving novice will leave the gear in high when the car is slo...

The motorist must not imagine that all knocks come from too great compression, however, for there are “fifty-seven other varieties” of knock to be taken into consideration. He m...

The education of automobile owners and chauffeurs is decreasing the number of cars which go up in smoke, but there still are cases enough to require a word of warning as to caus...

With the price of gasoline constantly mounting skyward and tires following when not leading the rise, while everything else needed for automobile upkeep is ascendant, it is time...

“Cheap,” you say. Yes, if it were only the two dollars; but there is the time lost in appearing in court and then, really, you know, to make that smoke you were burning money.

If the general run of auto owners and chauffeurs do not mend their ways city streets will be paved with a mixture of asphalt and auto parts and country roads will be lucrative f...

There is considerable question whether the pressure on tires should be decreased during the hot summer days. Tire manufacturers claim, as a rule, that tires heat more on low pre...

“You may have your self-starting 6-, 8-, or 12-cylinder cars if you want them, but give me a four-cylinder motor with a crank on the front end for mine. I’ll get there ahead of...

When a certain character of history, long touted as “the wisest guy ever,” uttered his famous “Wisdom crieth aloud in the street,” and along with it, “Fools hate knowledge,” he...

Most persons understand the danger of getting gasoline and fire in close proximity, but there is another peril in gasoline which is not so well comprehended—indeed has only come...

As has been stated on a previous page, it takes three things to start an engine and three more to keep it going. The first three essentials are a proper mixture of gasoline and...

Whatever may be the cause of a fire in your automobile, do not run away from it. Stay and fight the fire. Often the utmost haste is needed in getting out of the car when a fire...

Does your car chatter? Does it talk to you and protest against running over holes and bumps in the road? If it does, it is a sign to which you should pay attention, a hint that...

One of the worst things with which the autoist has to contend mechanically is the accumulation of carbon in the cylinders, clogging the piston rings, filling and short-circuitin...

Tourists going out on week-end trips into the country, and country owners who go into strange sections, should pay strict attention to signs which say in effect: “Danger, Road B...

From the gear case the power is transmitted by the drive shaft, which has one or two universal joints to take up any misalignment and to enable installing the engine level and y...