Courtesy of Allen Motor Co.

SECTIONAL VIEW OF A MODERN AUTOMOBILE WITH FOUR-CYLINDER ENGINE

Putnam’s
Automobile Handbook

The Care and Management of the
Modern Motor-Car

By
H. Clifford Brokaw
Principal
And
Charles A. Starr
Of the Staffof the Automobile School of the West Side Young Men’sChristian Association of New York City

Illustrated

G. P. Putnam’s Sons
New York and London
The Knickerbocker Press
1918

COPYRIGHT, 1918
BY
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS

The Knickerbocker Press, New York

Much of the material, here assembled for the first time, has beenprinted in the automobile section of New York City newspapers. Ithas stood the scrutiny of the wisest men in the automobile trade andhas been read eagerly by owners within the sphere of the newspapers’limited circulation; some of it has been reprinted in papers all overthe country, which is evidence enough of its practical value.

The publication, however, has been without sequence and all of ithas not appeared in any one paper. Moreover it has been reassembledand rewritten and much has been added to round out the story of theautomobile and to adapt the material to the use of everyday men who donot understand or care for the more technical works.

It should not be taken as the last word concerning the auto. Thatwill not be written until after the automobile has been driven out ofbusiness by the airplane or something else and is as obsolete as theoxcart of a century or two ago. There is nothing new in the principleof the gas engine, but new appliances and new methods are constantlybeing invented and discovered.

iv

All that is herein contained is the result of years of experienceat the Automobile School of the West Side Young Men’s ChristianAssociation, New York City. This was one of the pioneer schools andfor fourteen years has turned out more than 1000 trained drivers eachyear who know their engine and working parts thoroughly. Last year thenumber was nearly 2500. Naturally in handling these thousands of brightmen the instructors were stimulated and themselves learned as theytaught. The consensus of this ripe experience is given here.

Lest there be misunderstanding, it were better said at once that if thereader has come to this book to learn how to be a garage mechanic, howto qualify as an expert in automotive technique, or how to learn commonsense, he should at once seek another source of information. This bookmakes no pretensions of teaching the last word in automobile repair.But if the automobile owner desires to have a working knowledge of hiscar, to know how to find and overcome the ordinary ills and troubles towhich it is subject, and how to diagnose and prescribe for it when itbegins to wheeze or squeak or groan or knock, let him read on. The bookis for him.

In other words this is not a sine qua