Word: fording
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...ahead in business is to become the protege of a big executive, but the trick is to pick the right one. C. Richard Johnston and Lawrence K. Shinoda thought that they had done so last year when they followed their boss, Semon E. ("Bunkie") Knudsen, from General Motors to Ford, where Knudsen had become president. Three weeks ago, Chairman Henry Ford II fired Knudsen, telling him that "things just didn't work out." Last week Johnston, 44, a top salesman whom Knud sen had made marketing manager of the Lincoln-Mercury division, resigned in protest over the dismissal...
Shinoda, 39, was fired outright as Ford's director of special-projects design. In dismissing him, says Shinoda, Styling Chief Gene Bordinat explained: "Things just didn't work...
Stanford and Michigan State-to work exclusively on doors. Ford, Chrysler and G.M. test and refine their thunks in soundproof chambers that are sealed like bank vaults. Stereo tapes are used to record the effects that subtle design changes have on the sound. High-speed movies are made to study vibrations, and oscilloscopes gauge the thunk's duration. The automakers also employ automatic slamming machines, which create sounds ranging from what G.M.'s Hedeen calls the "angry-wife slam" to the "husband-coming-home-late-at-night slam." The former is 50 foot-pounds, and the latter three...
...like to test the thunks themselves. Chrysler Chairman Lynn Townsend sometimes drives subordinates to distraction by slamming doors repeatedly in the ear-splitting confines of a testing garage. American Motors Chairman Roy Chapin likes to go into his company's executive parking area to try out the thunk. Ford has a jury of product-development specialists to pass judgment on thunks...
...course, there have been some changes in prices. G.M.'s are up an average of $125 a car, Ford's $108, Chrysler's $107, American Motors' $81 (though the Hornet, at $1,994, is pointedly priced $1 below Ford's competing Maverick). Automen justify the increases by citing higher production costs. G.M. figures that payroll costs have risen 6% in the past year and will go up another 6% this month under terms of the company's labor contract; steel is up 6%, copper and lead 24%, zinc...