Automotive news. [volume], March 30, 1940, Page 8, Image 8

About Automotive news. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1938-current

Image provided by: Central Michigan University, Clark Historical Library

                
8
Motor Shares Continue to Show Strong Tendencies
Brig lit Second Quarter
Foreseen by Wall Street
Special to Automotive News
NEW YQRK. Automotive stocks
were stronger in the latest weekly
period covered by the A t'TOmotive
News’ price averages, with the
parts and accessory shares mak
ing the best showing, on the aver
age. Car and truck company stocks
were close behind, however, and
only the tire group registered a
decline from the preceding period.
Wall Street continues to take a
fairly bright view of the sales and
earnings prospects for the re
mainder of the spring selling
season. Forecasts for the summer
are becoming more frequent and,
for the most part, they indicate
a widespread belief that the de
cline in business of the automotive
industry during that period into
the time for new models will be no
Flood of Photos
Delays Judging in
Packard’s Contest
DETROIT—Such a tremendous
volume of entries flooded the
Packard Motor Car Co. at the close
of its worldwide "Picture Packard”
contest that actual selection of
prize pictures probably cannot be
made for several weeks. A large
force of clerks still is at work
handling details of receiving and
entering the photographs.
The Packard contest, which be
gan Jan. 15 and ran through Mar.
15, was open to any amateur
photographer anywhere in the
world. It was provided that 1940
model Packards should be pic
tured. Artists and photographic
experts are the judges. Five new
Packard cars, $3,600 in cash and
150 silver and bronze awards of
merit will go to the winners.
Just how many pictures were
entered in the contest cannot yet
be estimated with any degree of
accuracy. Some idea of the volume
can be obtained, however, through
the fact that there were three
truck loads of mail sacks contain
ing the contest pictures received
on Mar. 15 alone.
Stevens to Head
Pittsburgh Assn.
PITTSBURGH. —At the annual
meeting Of the Pittsburgh Auto
mobile Dealers’ Assn, last week,
the following directors were elected
to serve on the board for a term
of three years:
Charles S. Limbaugh (Oldsmo
bile) Crafton, Pa.; Frank C.
Rumes, re-elected, (Ford); Samuel
H. Parker, re-elected, (Chevrolet)
Bellevue, Pa.; Lee Moran, re
elected, (Dodge), Mt. Lebanon, Pa.;
B. C. Anderson (Nash distributor),
Pittsburgh.
The new board then elected the
following officers:
President, Jack Stevens (Chev
rolet), Braddock, Pa.; vice-presi
dent, Edgar D. McKean (Oldsmo
bile), Pittsburgh; treasurer, R. H.
Brant, re-elected (Dodge), West
View, Pa.; secretary-managers, W.
N. Owings, re-elected.
-«• Cl** *3;
CLOSING HAYS of the "Picture Packard" contest brought aucli a flood of
cntricN that the clerical force, organized to handle the contest photograph*, was
swamped. Many days more will he required to classify entries before judging
can start. Picture shows department where photographs were received.
STOC K PRICE AVERAGES
I’reviouN l-atr-t \ i-tr
Week Week Change Ago
24 mutnr-. 3H 30 .'til US + 0.M2 30.32
10 car truck co.’k . 3s.Of! 30 tin . 0.85 31.3 S
lit jiarts *eee»s. J 5.00 20 71 4 n.HA 21.01
I tire-rubbers 22 37 22 1 1 -0.28 21.112
more than of seasonal proportions.
As to the outlook for the fourth
quarter, when new models will be
coming along, there are few will
ing to hazard a guess. It can be
stated, however, that although few
are predicting increases for the
period over the like months of
1939, just as few are willing to
forecast a decrease.
As to earnings of automotive
companies for the full year 1940,
indications are that they will at
least equal those of 1939. This
forecast makes allowance for some
let-down in earnings in the final
half from the like 1939 period,
which is not at all certain. With
out such a let-down, 1940 earn
ings promise to show increases
over 1939. First quarter profits are
believed to have been well above
a year ago, and the prospect for
the second quarter is for favor
able comparisons with the 1939
period.
This would give the industry a
good start for the year, as com
pared with last, and the decrease
in business in the final six months
would have to be pretty severe to
bring earnings for the full year to
below the 1939 levels.
Chain Tax
(Continued from Page 1)
stitution, the U. S. supreme court
would have no power of review,
while it would have such review
power if the decision rested on
federal grounds.
Chief Justice Hughes and the
other dissenters took the position
that the state court invalidation of
the tax was based on non-federal
grounds and for that reason the
supreme court was without juris
diction over the case. The high
court should have dismissed the
appeal and should have permitted
the state court decision to stand,
the Chief Justice said.
Clegg Gels New Title
at Thompson Products
CLEVELAND. Lee M. Clegg,
senior vice-president of Thompson
Products, Inc. has been elected ex
ecutive vice-president.
Fred C. Crawford, president, said
the new title more clearly reflects
the position occupied by Clegg,
whose duties have increased as a
result of the company’s expansion
program. He will have charge of
all plant operations as well as
customer relations.
Va. Receipts Rise
RICHMOND, Va. (UTPS). Not
withstanding extraordinarily h•a v y
snows, gasoline tax collections in Vir
ginia during the first two months of
this year were up $15,280, or 1.8 per
cent. Receipts for the two months
totaled $2,585,896. as compared with
$2,540,625.68 during the same period
last year.
AUTOMOTIVE NEWS, MARCH 30, 1940
' ■
|MraM
GEORGE H. PRATT, right, general sales manager of Hudson, and 11. F.
Ilyrne, Eastern sale* manager, are shown examining a sheaf of telegrams from
the company’s domestic selling organization reporting 2,071 retail orders for
new Hudson cars taken up to Tuesday evening. Mar. 26; following the receipt
of instructions on Saturday, Mar. 23, officially launching the 1940 spring
merchandising program. See story on Page 2.
Mich. Manufacturers Fight
Chrysler Strike Benefits
DETROIT, —Michigan Manufac
turers Assn.’s fight to intervene in
appeals from decisions awarding
job-insurance benefits to Chrysler
workers, idle in last fall’s labor
dispute, was carried to the State
Supreme Court last week.
The petition, it is understood, did
not seek to delay hearings sched
uled to begin Monday before the
appeal board of the Unemployment
Compensation Commission, but
asked a temporary restrainer to
prevent the handing dpwn of an
order until the Manufacturers’
Assn, has been heard.
The association contended in its
appeal that Referee Charles Rub
inoff’s decision in the Chrysler case
amounts to use of the fund for
strike benefits, jeopardizes the fund
rights of 1,500,000 other covered
workers and threatens increased
taxes for contributing employers.
The case. involves 50,000 Chrysler
Ayres Opposes
Putting Limit on
Finance Charges
CHICAGO. Laws seeking to
place a limitation on instalment
financing charges are opposed by
Milan V. Ayres, secretary of the
National Assn, of Sales Finance
Companies.
"There is no use in attempting
to put into the law any limitation
of the finance charge,” Ayres said.
"The finance charge which an in
stalment buyer pays is the differ
ence between the merchant’s cash
price and his time price.
“The finance charge which the
finance company collects is the dis
count at which it buys the paper.
The latter is of no interest to
the buyer.
"If a maximum allowed finance
change seems to the merchant too
small, he will simply raise his cash
price accordingly. He can even
raise his cash price until it is
identical with the time price. Only
51 percent of the instalment in
debtedness outstanding at the end
of 1938 was owed to finance com
panies and similar institutions. The
rest of it was owed directly to
the merchants.
“It just isn’t practicable to reg
ulate instalment selling, if by that
term you mean supervision and
inspection by government agencies,
because that would mean supervis
ing t -almost every retail business in
the*' country except food and drink
stores. Even drug stores sell some
goods on instalments."
Detroit Car Slum May
Shift to State Coliseum
LANSING.—The Michigan State
Fair Board has received a pro
posal to hold the .Detroit auto
mobile show at the Coliseum in
Detroit this fall. The show has
been held in recent years in Con
vention Hall, Detroit
workers and $3,000,000 in benefits.
Rubinoff held that each of the 10
Chrysler plant units is to be re
garded separately, and that while
labor disputes eliminated benefits
at the Dodge Main, Dodge Forge
and Dodge Truck plants, with
20,000 workers, the seven other
plants were free of labor disputes.
U. S. Rubber Co.
Starts Moving
To New Building
NEW YORK. —New York’s big
gest week-end moving job was
started Friday night when United
States Rubber Co. began moving
from its present building at 58th
amfßroadway to the new building
bearing its name, in Rockefeller
Center. This last building unit in
the vast Rockefeller Center de
velopment has just been completed.
Both buildings are 20-story
structures, and more than 400
truck trips will be necessary to
transplant the organization in a
scheduled 40 working hours during
the week-end.
According to moving experts,
the task is the largest business of
fice move in New York in the past
five years, at least; and they agree
that never before has so large a
moving schedule been attempted in
so compressed a time as 40 hours
of work. Company employes left
their desks Friday at the old build
ing, and will report at the new
building on Monday morning.
Truck Riders Barred
HARRISBURG. Pa.—(UTPS).—Pub
lic utility commissiun has ruled that
truckers must not carry any person
on trucks, other than employes, un
less such transportation is specifically
authorized in writing by the trucker.
Exception is made in case of an ac
cident, or in other emergencies.
"Dealers Tell Me,” by William C.
Callahan, is an open forum for the ex
pression of dealers’ opinions. It ap
pears weekly in Automotive News.
NFW JERSEY shore* take on real wartime appearance with material
tin waiting for foreign shipments. This particular cargo is part of the shipn*"
ol l?5W) "Aite tJucks'supplled to the French government.
New' Oil Reserve*
Found During ! 3i)
Double Production
NEW YORK-New, proved p*.
troleum reserves totaling 2,399.
122.000 barrels- —nearly double the
amount of oil produced in 1939-
were discovered or developed
new and old oil fields of the Units;
States last year, according to the
American Petroleum Institute’!
committee on petroleum reservq
The net increase of 1,134,866,09;
barrels in known underground
stocks of petroleum, after deduc
tion of the 1,264,256,000 barrels o!
oil produced in 1939, raised the Jan
1, 1940, proved-reserve inventor;
to a new record total of 18,483,012,-
000 barrels. This total, the com
mittee emphasized, represents only
a conservative estimate by the
many geologists and petroleum en
gineers who participated, of th t
reserves already proved by driilini
and recoverable by present produc
tion methods. No estimates an
included for oil which still is tj
be found in areas known to be
favorable to the accumulation of
oil, but as yet untested.
New pools and new producing
horizons discovered in 14 states
last year gave the nation a mini
mum of 340,667,000 barrels of ne»
reserves, the committee stated
adding that “pools tested by only
one or two wells have been as
signed relatively low reservei
which may be considerably aug
mented by later development.
The greatest increase in reserves,
according to the report, was it
Texas, which added 805,134,000
barrels of new underground oi
inventory. Texas also leads al
other states in total reserves, iti
already proved petroleum resource!
amounting to more than one-hal
of the U. S. total. California, witl
567,933,000 barrels of new reservet
was second.
Sheahan
(Continued from Page 1)
sion now becomes a part of the
more embracing part of the com
pany’s activities to be known here
after as the Tire division, includ
ing U. S. Tire Dealers.
Previous to his appointment i
year and a quarter ago Sheahai
has been operations manager o!
the company’s Detroit and Indi
anapolis plants. His appointment
then included his former capacity
and brought under his authority
all the products developed and sold
by the U. S. Rubber Co. in its vari
ous factories for use by automobile
makers in the manufacture oi
cars.
Sheahan is a native Detroiter
and studied at the University of
Detroit and St. Marys College, St
Marys, Kansas.
GM Sets 2 Excursions
to N. Y. Fair in Summer
DETROlT.—General Motors em
ployes will have two excursions to
the New York World’s Fair this
summer from Detroit and other
Michigan cities.
Two five-day trips have beet
arranged for GM employes, their
families and friends. The first ex
cursion will leave Detroit on May
29 and will return June 2. The sec
ond will leave on July 3, returning
on July 7.