Greece’s Roman Road - Chapter 285

Half a month later, in order to show the importance of Andros’s machinery factory, Constantine personally sent an invitation, including the Minister of Armament Ioannis, and the Minister of Transportation, including the team, to visit Andros. Ross Machine Works.

Andros specially dispatched a convoy to transport the visiting team of more than a dozen people to the machinery factory in the industrial area.

The car that came to meet the crowd was the car produced by the Andros Machinery Factory imitating the Model T.

Cars are still a rare and expensive means of transportation in Greece. Therefore, when a huge convoy of more than a dozen T-cars appeared in front of everyone, the mighty momentum and pomp easily attracted everyone’s attention.

The most prominent feature of this car is the boxy compartment. Compared with the compartment, the front of the car is low and narrow, and the body color is black.

“Is this a civilian car produced by the Andros Machinery Factory?” Capotestelias asked curiously, while looking at it.

The driver sitting in the cab is an employee of the Andros Machine Factory.

In order to make the cars of the machine factory show their faces in front of high-level government officials this time, these drivers are all operated by the mechanical engineers of the machine factory.

“Yes, sir, these vehicles have not yet entered the market, but they are coming soon. It will be our company’s flagship product for the next period of time,” the driver replied respectfully, holding the steering wheel with both hands.

Although he didn’t know the identity of the person in front of him, he was dressed in a straight black suit, and his blond hair should not be combed meticulously. He was full of style and had an air of aura. He was obviously a high-ranking official.

“Okay, Mr. Capotestelias, let’s take a ride and experience it. You can’t understand the mystery of this new type of transportation just by observing from the outside.” Constantine opened the rear door in person, while pulling Capotestelias entered the carriage.

After the two did it, Constantine looked at the interior decoration of the car from left to right: due to the square shape of the carriage, the interior space is very large, even if two people ride in the back seat at the same time, it will not make people feel restricted and cramped;

The black leather seats, the front, rear, left, and right windows are equipped with several transparent glass panes, and the interior of the car is well-lit.

Although the decoration is not luxurious, it also feels clean and tidy, and the ride feels comfortable.

After the car started, more than a dozen cars lined up for a long day, slowly driving towards the Andros Machinery Factory in the industrial zone.

“His Royal Highness, such a car should be very expensive to build. Andros wants to sell such a car in Greece, I am afraid the market will be very limited.” As the Minister of Transport in Greece, Minister Kapotistrias naturally has experience in a car.

The car of this era is a real luxury, not a wealthy family who can’t afford a car at all.

“Who knows, it depends on Andros’ work,” Constantine said with a shrug.

Although Ford’s Model Ts were historically known for their low prices, Andros Machine Works was not as powerful as Ford.

The industrial level of Greece is naturally not as good as that of the world’s largest industrial country – the United States.

Even if it is the same car, the cost and cost are naturally very different.

“If the price is too expensive, it will be extremely difficult to promote such a car, and even the government will not be able to give too much support,” Capotestelias said against Constantine.

As the Minister of Transport, Capotestelias naturally understood the intention of Crown Prince Constantine to pull himself to the Andros Machinery Factory.

With the promotion and application of electricity, there are trams extending in all directions in Athens’ urban transportation, but trams are limited by fixed routes, which is inconvenient to promote.

There are still plenty of stagecoaches on the streets of Athens, providing services to the public.

A large number of horses are running on the streets, which leads to the fact that horse dung and horse urine excrement can be seen everywhere in the streets of Athens, which stinks and tastes disgusting.

Over the years, the smell of excrement and urine in the whole city persisted all year round, and people walking on the streets always covered their noses.

The sanitation problems brought about by horse-drawn carriages have always been a headache for citizens.

With the invention of the automobile, taxis have appeared on the streets of London and Paris, replacing some of the uses of horse-drawn carriages.

Constantine was dragging the Minister of Transportation to investigate whether the cars produced by the Andros factory could replace the much-maligned carriages in Athens and find more customers for the machinery factory.

Looking at the reaction of Kapotistrias now, he is obviously satisfied with the performance of the cars produced by the Andros Machine Factory, and then he began to worry about the expense of purchasing a large number of cars and using them as taxis in the city of Athens. cost.

Half an hour later, the delegation came to the conference room of Andros Machinery Factory.

“Andros, this is the Minister of Armaments Giannis, and this is the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Capotestelias.” Constantine introduced the two to Andros with an expression that you understand.

Sure enough, hearing the identities of the two, Andros smiled and shook hands eagerly: “Welcome Mr. Giannis, Mr. Capotestelias to my factory.”

After the greeting, Giannis, a soldier, went straight to the topic: “Mr. Andros, the products of the Andros Machine Factory are already familiar to the Greek Army, and now the Greek Army is equipped with a large number of products from the Machine Factory”

“Our army’s logistics department needs to be equipped with a cargo truck.” Giannis paused.

“If you can produce a truck that satisfies the military, Mr. Andros, the order from the military will surely satisfy you.”

At present, in the Greek army, there are a large number of motorcycles produced by the Andros Machinery Factory in service in the army.

However, the price of motorcycles is not comparable to that of trucks, and the profit is naturally much smaller.

If the army’s truck order can be successfully won, it may be a long time in the future, the machinery factory will have a headache due to insufficient production capacity.

Moreover, once such a truck meets the requirements of the military, it can naturally also sell heavy trucks to the market just like civilian vehicles.

According to Andros’s inference, not only the market for cars is broad, but the demand for trucks in Greek society is also considerable.

Andros gestured to his assistant, quickly brought a stack of blueprints, put them on the table in the conference room, and introduced to Giannis and several other military technicians: “This is a special machine developed by our machine factory for the military. The truck is 4.2 meters wide, 1.5 meters wide and 2.1 meters high”

“The tires are made of rubber and are 21 cm wide~www.mtlnovel.com~ Of course, if the military needs it, the tires of the truck can be converted into solid rubber tires”

“It has a certain off-road performance. There are two cab members. Under the limit state, the carriage can load 1.7 tons of cargo. The 60-horsepower engine allows him to have plenty of power.”

Andros told the officers: “This can fully meet the logistics of the army”

Several junior officers surrounded Giannis, discussing the design of the Andros Machine Factory in a low voice.

“How is its range, and how far can it go with full fuel?” an officer asked.

Not only were the citizens fed up with the carriages on the street, but the logistics officers were equally fed up with the multitude of mules and horses.

“It is equipped with a large fuel tank, and at 35 kilometers per hour, the range can reach 210 kilometers,” Andros replied.

“If there are no problems with these designs, we will soon be able to make a prototype and give it to the military for testing.” Andros is full of confidence in his company’s products.