Word: cars
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...catch fire with consumers or, at times, just as suddenly lose favor. Nearly 30 years ago, General Motors' William S. Knudsen, a Danish immigrant bicyclemaker turned automan, was the one who lit the fuse under Chevrolet and sent it out ahead of Ford as the most popular U.S. car. His reward was the presidency of General Motors. Three years ago, Big Bill Knudsen's son, Semon Emil Knudsen, took on a similar job: he was made boss of G.M.'s sputtering Pontiac division, thus became, at 43, G.M.'s youngest auto-di-vision boss. Pontiac...
...wrong with Pontiac; it had a "grandma image" in the customer's mind. He wanted to change it so "teenagers would shout, 'Cool, man, real cool.'" The 1957 Pontiac was only 30 days from pilot production, just 60 days from volume production. Walking around the car, Knudsen announced abruptly: "Let's take the silver streaks off. That's the biggest change we can make." The stylists were shocked. They reminded the new boss that Big Bill Knudsen himself was the onec who introduced the streaks, in 1935. But off they went, the first move...
...reorganized the division (retirements and transfers were encouraged, "and we did some firing too," says Knudsen) and set out to redesign the Pontiac from the wheels up-and out-aiming to make it real cool by this year. His biggest change was to widen the car by 2^ in. and push the wheels out as well. The effect was spectacular. The car not only looked flashy, but also the wide-track wheels gave better balance and road ability. Equally important, says Knudsen, "it gives people something to talk about. They can see it and they can understand it." Where...
RECORD BRITISH EXPORTS to U.S. last month rose to $100,520,000 from previous high (last January) of $73,920,000. Reason for the jump: increased car shipments, which account for nearly one-third of total. By contrast U.S. exports abroad continue...
...month office boy for the Great Northern Railway, Gavin went to work for James Jerome Hill, the line's pioneering founder who flung the Great Northern across the western top of the U.S. with such impatience that he once left his snug private car to help a section crew dig the locomotive out of a snowbank...