Word: edsel
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...Shrine. Having been burned so badly with the ill-fated Edsel, whose styling it unaccountably failed to market research before its introduction, Ford this time conducted 14 studies on the Mustang, ranging from interviews with Monza owners to name and pricing studies. Its staff of 20, the industry's largest, found, among other things, that the car's outside appearance ranks first with the under-25 crowd and that four seaters are preferred 16-to-l among sports-car owners...
Ever since the Edsel, in fact, all Detroit is more conscious than ever of market research. The industry now spends about $10 million a year on the task, four times what it spent ten years ago, and interviews about 200,000 people a year. Some researchers now dress themselves as laborers and mix with workers in taverns near a competitor's plant. One-way mirrors and electronic bugs in showrooms and at auto shows have become standard tools. At last week's International Auto Show in Manhattan, Chevrolet conducted a sneak test of the styling that will mark...
...McDonnell Ford, 44, ended her six weeks in Idaho with a 20-minute divorce court appearance that terminated her 23-year marriage to Henry Ford II on grounds of mental anguish. The settlement, according to friends, was a staggeringly generous $16 million plus, along with custody of their son Edsel, 14. Daughters Charlotte, 22, and Anne, 21, were not at issue, since they are not minors. With the marriage finally sundered, Ford was free to wed his friend of four years, Italian Divorcee Christina Austin, 34, who now lives in Manhattan...
Caring for "Orphans." One problem for the dealers is the 22,500 Studebakers in stock. An auto-buying public is understandably reluctant to buy what the trade calls "orphans" (like the discontinued Edsel). Studebaker has attempted to get around this by promising that parts will be available for all its present models. Even so, prices of the remaining autos will almost certainly have to be slashed to attract buyers. Studebaker has tried to escape the anger of its dealers by continuing the Ontario operation and thus technically fulfilling its contract to supply its dealers with autos...
...into the usual form of separation." Since both are Roman Catholics (he joined the church before their 1940 marriage), the separation will be a divorce in everything but name. Under the settlement, say friends, Mrs. Ford will live in New York with the three children (Charlotte, 22, Anne, 20, Edsel, 14); Henry will stay on in Grosse Pointe Farms...