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

Courtesy of Allen Motor Co.
SECTIONAL VIEW OF A MODERN AUTOMOBILE WITH FOUR-CYLINDER ENGINE
The Care and Management of the Modern Motor-Car
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 been printed in the automobile section of New York City newspapers. It has stood the scrutiny of the wisest men in the automobile trade and has been read eagerly by owners within the sphere of the newspapers’ limited circulation; some of it has been reprinted in papers all over the country, which is evidence enough of its practical value.
The publication, however, has been without sequence and all of it has not appeared in any one paper. Moreover it has been reassembled and rewritten and much has been added to round out the story of the automobile and to adapt the material to the use of everyday men who do not understand or care for the more technical works.
It should not be taken as the last word concerning the auto. That will not be written until after the automobile has been driven out of business by the airplane or something else and is as obsolete as the oxcart of a century or two ago. There is nothing new in the principle of the gas engine, but new appliances and new methods are constantly being invented and discovered.
All that is herein contained is the result of years of experience at the Automobile School of the West Side Young Men’s Christian Association, New York City. This was one of the pioneer schools and for fourteen years has turned out more than 1000 trained drivers each year who know their engine and working parts thoroughly. Last year the number was nearly 2500. Naturally in handling these thousands of bright men the instructors were stimulated and themselves learned as they taught. The consensus of this ripe experience is given here.
Lest there be misunderstanding, it were better said at once that if the reader has come to this book to learn how to be a garage mechanic, how to qualify as an expert in automotive technique, or how to learn common sense, he should at once seek another source of information. This book makes no pretensions of teaching the last word in automobile repair. But if the automobile owner desires to have a working knowledge of his car, to know how to find and overcome the ordinary ills and troubles to which it is subject, and how to diagnose and prescribe for it when it begins to wheeze or squeak or groan or knock, let him read on. The book is for him.