Word: hedeen
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...when you close it." In auto showrooms, the sound of a car door slamming touches some responsive chord in the frazzled psyche of the American buyer-and all the automakers know it. "There is very little to go on when you buy a car these days," says Carl Hedeen, General Motors' chief of body engineering. "If the glove box opens, the seats are soft and the doors thunk, that's all you have over the competition...
...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 foot-pounds...