Griffos Able to Travel Light on Last Lap of Bus Trip

[Page 1] Griffos Able to Travel Light on Last Lap of Bus Trip By CHARLES G. GRIFFO U.S. 40-Homeward Bound - It's back home again in Indiana after a day in Denver, Pikes PeaR, and Mt. Evans. That bus just got on U.S. 40, the National Road, and sat there. We changed our original schedule Pikes Peak and the other beautiful mountains around Denver and it was worth it. We had planned to go through Oklahoma. Denver, the mile-high city, also was the transhipping point for the Griffo luggage, a fact that probably always will be remembered at a small hotel near the bus depot. We rented a room to clean up in and also to transfer the luggage so that we could ship on home that which was not needed for the remainder of the trip.

Out of Albuquerque, we all night with the ed peak of Pikes $ Peak greeting us at daylight. A sight that fascinated Chuck, Gregory and Mary, and even interested Martha, who at 14, is at the teen-age stage of sophisticated disinterest to anything or anyone who does not sing, dance or play music. It was the young bell-hop in Denver who shook his head in amazement after I brought over the seven pieces of luggage, added to by the typewriter, cameras and SO forth and then re-packed. It was a strategic move. The remainder of the trip we had only one small bag plus the cameras and thermos jug and the radio to contend with. (Note to Mrs. Griffo. The next time we leave on a trip let's pack just about a third as many clothes as we believe will be needed.

End note.) Traveling Companions It was from Denver to Kansas City that our band of four children and a father took on a recruit. A 13-year-old Boy Scout, complete with regalia, was put on at Denver to be met at Kansas City by an- aunt. And who watched the little tenderfoot? Yours truly, of course. In the process I also became the companion of an 85-year-old woman, traveling from Phoenix to Pittsburgh. A nice friendly soul, she was a great-grandmother and was quick to show the pictures to prove it. Her main trouble was that during stopovers she, as her people SO aptly put it, was apt to "become confused about what bus to take next." She stayed with us to Indianapolis and then went on.

I hope she made it and I'm sure she did. Looking back now there could be a review of the usual statistics that make up such a trip. The total mileage was around 6,000, give or take a few. The number of times I was asked "What time is it?" was in the thousands. Elusive Comb and Brush Gregory's shoe laces were tied at least 10 times in each of the 13 states visited. I kept no count of the bathroom trips. I gave up on this category. The comb and brush were lost at least every hour on the hour throughout the full 14 days we were gone. The number of hamburgers eaten I wouldn't venture to guess. The best crack of the trip was when Chuck answered the question "Do you want a hamburger?" with the question "Is there any other kind?" We had figured the trip would take close to three weeks but were able to make it in the two without rush.

I know that I couldn't have traveled the same distance by driving in anywhere close to the time. As for taking care of the brood, , was quick to brag that there was nothing Chola just laid down the law," Mrs. G. in letters home. The kids had another explanation. "We took good care of Daddy, Martha told our aged friend as we were pulling into Terre Haute. And that's probably what they'll tell their mother, too! Volkswagen Leads Foreign Cars in U.S. By DAVID I. WILKIE AP Automobile Editor DETROIT (-A small, beetleshaped automobile, with a relatively low price tag and high fuel mileage appears to be spurring an expanding American market for foreign-built automobiles.

The car is the German-built Volkswagen, with an average delivered price in mid-America of $1,600 and fuel mileage in the 30- 40 miles per gallon range. There are numerous other small, imported cars that sell in the American market, such as the French Renault Dauphine; the Italian Fiat 600; the British-made Metropolitan and Hillman; the British Fords and a long list of others. Some are priced even lower than the Volkswagen. There also are some three-wheeled cars. But none compares with the Volkswagen in American demand. Sales of 50,011 Last year 107,675 new passenger cars were imported into the United States. The registration figures show 91,042 were sold.

The American market, meanwhile, absorbed 5,955,248 home-built cars. Of the total foreign car sales Volkswagen accounted for 50,011. There were also 6,044 MG's and 4,230 European-built Fords. American Motors reports its dealers sold 7,323 of its imported four-cylinder Metropolitan models in 1956. The figures demonstrate that the expansion in the U. S. market for foreign cars is chiefly in the lower price lines. The 1956 market total approximately doubled that of the preceding year. And for 1957, foreign car builders reportedly have set their goal in the American market at 200,000 units. Volkswagen, with a waiting list through most of last year, is said to be aiming at 100,000 sales in the United States.

The American auto makers have not ignored these figures. General Motors and Ford build cars abroad. Reportedly they are planning to have more of them shipped into the U. S. market this year. Chrysler, meanwhile, is known to have made a study of manufacturing facilities abroad, possibly with a like view in mind. American Motors'- Metropolitan is priced quite closely to the Volkswagen. Studebaker-Packard will have a foreign-made car available through an arrangement made by Curtiss-Wright with the German Daimler-Benz organization. Curtiss-Wright is operating Studebaker-Packard under a management contract. But there is no immediate prospect the American auto industry's General Motors, Ford and Chrysler will try to cut into the lower price, smaller car market with a vehicle built in this country.

To do that on a profitable basis, they would require a considerably greater demand than now appears in prospect. ALBANY IND. THEATER ALBANY, "Four Girls in Town": Starring George: Nader-Julie Adams Cinemascope •DOORS OPEN 2:45 P.M. Value," Planet" Fourth be er. of Stage tap Short, the Niners featuring of a train, operation forces display entire Park Wife Groucho two in his on wife, a role," lap any my.