Word: egbert
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...Egbert's old California associates, who regarded him as "Mr. Go-Go-Go," had no reservations about his ability. Said one: "The people at Studebaker had better get used to living with a cyclone." They soon did. "It didn't take me long to see that the Lark is a damn good car that has been underestimated," Egbert says-but little else about Studebaker pleased him. The walls of the begrimed plant were brightened with orange, green and white paint. Egbert, from his own poor days, has a philosophy: "You can stand there in ragged clothes-there...
...remaining Lark dealers, Egbert says, "I was surprised at the amount and the depth of their loyalty," but he was dismayed at their salesmanship. "I told some guys-who didn't know me- that I wanted to buy a Lark, but maybe it wouldn't be big enough for me to get into. It took me half a dozen visits like that before one guy showed me how easy it is to get into a Lark...
Lark advertising "stunk," and the agency was given two weeks to produce "something new." The result is a "30-day hate yourself" campaign telling car buyers they will hate themselves for not trying the Lark first. Egbert is moving ahead on a program to absorb Studebaker's tax loss credits ($94 million) by merging with prosperous companies. It was the slow pace of this program that led to the easing of former President Harold E.Churchill into a consultant's post and the hiring of Egbert...
...Egbert's $125,000-a-year Studebaker job is tough, he has all his life toughened himself for hard tasks. His father, a barber who tried to run a dance hall in Easton, Wash., was so poor that when the family house burned down, he moved his wife and two children into tents. "I stole coal from Northern Pacific railroad cars, and we ate plenty of stale bread with that old purple mold coming through," recalls Egbert. He went to Washington State on an athletic scholarship (state discus-throw record in 1937), but dropped out to work...
...Egbert insists on knowing the basics of whatever he is doing. At Boeing Airplane Co., as assistant superintendent of production on B-17s, he studied engineering so he could talk a mechanic's language. During World War II, when he went into the Marines as an Air Transport Service officer, he learned to fly to know a pilot's problems. After the war he went to McCulloch Corp., helped build it up from a tiny company housed in Quonset huts. He took his wife on outboard races on the rough Colorado River through the Grand Canyon...