Anto Notes and Gossip.

The New York Times
April 17, 1910

The American Sheet and Tin Plate Company is authority for the statement that the Buick Motor Company's contract on cold rolled steel is the largest single contract on cold rolled steel and shafting ever placed in the United States.  The Buick contract specifies delivery during 1910 of 10,000 tons of cold rolled steel, and the American Company says this exceeds the next largest by 3,000 tons.

One of the features of the Actors' Fund Fair this year, which is to be held during the week of May 9 to 14 at the Seventy-first Regiment Armory, New York, will be a forty horse power Alco that will go to some fortunate member of the profession or some friendly subscriber to the cause.  The car is finished in dark blue, with cream colored running gear, and is so completely equipped that all the lucky one who gets it will need is enough gasoline to fill the tank in order to take it from its pedestal in the armory and start a long tour.

W. C. Poertner of the Poertner Motor Car Company wishes to deny that the National has been absorbed by the General Motors Company, as rumored.  The factory is building many more cars than ever.

J. K. L. Rutherford, a Stearns owner, has just entered his car in the twenty-four-hour race to be held at the Brighton Beach track May 13 and 14.  The drivers nominated by Mr. Rutherford are Ralph Mulford and Cyrus Patschke, both well-known and experienced track drivers.  The car has been shipped to Atlanta, and is entered there in the forthcoming races.

George A Weidley, Vice President and Superintendent of the Premier Motor Manufacturing Company, and Ray McNamara of the mechanical department have been chosen by the officials of the Premier Company to handle cars 1 and 2 in the annual endurance contest of the A. A. A. for the Glidden Trophy.

On a recent fine Sunday in March hundreds of residents of Salt Lake toiled to the summit of Ensign Peak to admire a Buick Model 10, which had scaled the grim mountain on the morning of that day.

Following the announcement that the United States Motor Company would take into its big selling organization concerns making pleasure vehicles selling from $500 to $5,000 comes the statement that the Alden-Sampson Manufacturing Company of Pittsfield, Mass., makers of the Sampson commercial vehicles, have been taken into and are now a part of the organization.  This means that the United States Motor Company will devote its interests to the commercial end of the industry as well as to the pleasure vehicle field.

There are very few cities of importance in this country whose municipal officers are not fast becoming the good friends of automobilists, and the majority of Chief Executives are owners themselves.  The latest addition to the list is Mayor Crump of Memphis, Tenn.

Frank Lescault, the Palmer & Singer race driver, experienced a unique bit of hard luck in the five-mile handicap at the Motordrome at Los Angeles.  The cars were sent away on a mile circuit, but some one forgot to flash a signal on the last lap.  The drivers continued to circle the track awaiting instructions to quit, and ran fifteen miles before the mistake was discovered.  They were then called in and the contest declared "no race," Lescault losing credit for a win, although he had led all the way.

Shephard & Mann, automobile dealers, Paris, have inaugurated a notable service for American tourists in Europe.  This company has recently purchased twenty-seven passenger touring cars, ten of which are Chalmers "forties" and ten of which are foreign make.  These cars are to be rented by European travelers.  They are in charge of chauffeurs thoroughly acquainted with all the Continental tours and experienced in the ways of frontier formalities, police regulations, and customs requirements.  These cars are rented at the rate of $35 per day for travel in France, and $5 extra for other countries; mileage of ninety miles a day is allowed.  For anything in excess of this a slight additional charge is made.

The purchase of the seven-story Tichenor-Grand Building by the United States Motor Company, the selling organization for the Maxwell and Columbia concerns, located at West Sixty-first Street, between Central Park West and Broadway, New York, has been followed by the statement that the huge riding ring located on the upper floor will be used as an indoor demonstrating track.  This is probably the first indoor track in the country, and is of special interest, due to its location in the heart of New York City.

Mexico is beginning to take a keen interest in motor touring.  Various good road movements have been started and motorists in Mexico City are making many trips of exploration to points of interest in the neighboring republic.  A recent dispatch from Mexico City says that perhaps the most important of these pioneer tours was that of Messrs. Alcerreca and Garces, who made a run from Mexico City to Orizaba.  They found the roads almost impassable, but as a result of their trip a movement has already been started to improve this route, which otherwise would be very enjoyable.

Immediately following the breaking of the ten and fifty mile world's record for the 161-230 cubic inch piston displacement class at the Los Angeles motordrome races the Cole "30" scored another triumph, when in competition with the Chalmers-Detroit, Maxwell, and other cars the Cole captured first prize in the Savannah-Jacksonville endurance run.

An analysis of the remarkable speed records made by Barney Oldfield at Los Angeles and Daytona again shows the superiority of the motor car as a speed agent over all other means of fast travel.  Oldfield set the world's mile straightaway mark at Daytona at 27:33 and the track record at 36:22.  The speed means the whirling of the Firestone tires at nearly 1,400 revolutions a minute.