Word: chromes
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...20th floor of Manhattan's slick Coliseum Tower one bleak, humid afternoon last week, a flock of paunchy, proud fathers-to-be tried to conceal their expectancy behind a normal day's office routine. Sympathetic friends sat heavily in blue-flowered armchairs or toured a chrome-polished kitchen, which, their uneasy host boasted, was "bigger than General Sarnoff's." Then at 3 p.m. the baby was born. The baby: New York area's newest stations-WNTA A.M. and P.M., and WNTA-TV (Channel...
General Development has lined up several hedges against a slump in Florida land sales: a new chemical process to plate chrome directly onto aluminum, and a private utility system that sells water to its housing developments. But the Mackles do not worry about a slowdown in housing. Says Frank Mackle: "Anyone can sell when the housing market is good. But when the market gets tough and choosy, we can really go to town because we can undersell the competition...
This year's best seller among higher-priced cars is what the trade calls "the jewelry-box special"-Oldsmobile, with more chrome (44 Ibs.) than any other car in history. Now fourth, it is pushing Plymouth for third place. Among the low-priced three, the fancy Chevrolet Impala and Ford Fairlane 500 outsell less chromy models by three to one. On Ford's custom line, there is a decorative gold-anodized-aluminum strip (along with an armrest and cigarette lighter) that costs $20 extra; 76% of Ford's customers demand it on their cars. Says Ford Stylist...
Love That Chrome. Despite all the yowling about chrome and size, the experts scoff at the notion that Detroit's problem-or even a major part of it-is a mere matter of style. "This industry grew because we have made it our business to find out what people want," says a G.M. economist, noting that his company surveys 2,000,000 potential buyers each year. They are dissected for their likes and dislikes, like frogs in a laboratory. Thousands of lengthy questionnaires are sent out; microphones are hidden in new cars in showrooms to catch comments; salesmen carry...
Whatever psychological forces are at work, the trend ever since 1946 has been to longer, wider, more futuristic cars-and more chrome ("jewelry" to automen). Those who bucked the trend usually rued the day. Henry Kaiser's small, chromeless Henry J. was a dismal failure. So was the drab 1954 Plymouth, which was 4 in. shorter than the year before. Sales dropped nearly 36% to only 381,000 cars a year. A year later Plymouth rolled out the longest (204 in.) car among the low-priced three and promptly boosted sales back up to 647,000 cars...