Современное автомобилестроение. Сахарова Н.С. - 88 стр.

vehicles were virtually useless. Behind the line, however, trucks were used for
transporting troops and supplies and motor ambulances evacuated the wounded.
Rolls-Royce, Vauxhall and Crossley were mainly used as staff cars. Armoured
vehicles comprised steel plates over a conventional chassis, like a 60 h.p. Hotchkiss,
15 h.p. Napier and Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost. The most significant motor event of the
war was the arrival in 1916 of the tank.
    On the Home Front the Government never actually placed a ban on all non-
essential motoring. However, the public reaction became extremely hostile to the
motoring minority, who continued pleasure motoring and were labelled un-patriotic,
even ‘traitors’. In 1916, car taxes were trebled, petrol tax doubled and eventually
rationed. Everything was going to be different when peace came.

     Exercise 1. Read and translate the text.

     Exercise 2. Find recommedations about the rules how to use the brakes.

     17.5 Text 5
        The twenties

   The First World War was a water-shed in our social history and for the car and
motorist the following decade saw many major changes. Cars of the 20s were so
different from their Edwardian predecessors that they have since been differentiated
as ‘vintage’.
   In 1919 there was an insatiable demand for any kind of car. Thousands of young
people serving in the war had driven or ridden in motor vehicle and now no longer
considered it to be just for the gentry. They wanted to own a car themselves. Coupled
with this demand were the many munition and aircraft factories, once at peak
production but now with empty order books, who turned to making cars. The
explosion in the number of car manufacturers was reflected in the 1920 Motor Show
when 149 different British makes alone were on offer. Newcomers included Bentley,
Alvis, Aston-Martin, Bean, Clyno and Beardmoor.
   The 1920s saw a new emancipation and self confidence for women. In the war,
women had demonstrated their equality at the wheels of ambulances and buses and in
munition factories. For wealthy young ladies, called ‘flappers’ or ‘bright young
things’, driving a car became a tangible symbol of their new-found freedom.
Technical advances like the introduction of electric self starting and easy gear change
overcame the final barriers and encouraged women to take up motoring. Car
manufacturers were not slow to see this new market and advertisements appeared
directly aimed at the woman driver. These advertisements highlighted the pleasures
of motoring, the outdoor life, adventure, the open road and freedom, with not a
chaperon in sight. Even in selling the family car, companies were convinced of the
dictum ‘while men buy cars, women choose them’. Colour options had taken on
exotic names to appeal to feminine tastes like Southsea turquoise, Venetian green and
mahogany maroon. Prejudice against women drivers increased in ferocity during the
mid-1920s. Letters to the ‘Autocar’ contained such inflammatory statements as
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