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Minutes of June 17, 1963 meeting of Studebaker department heads.
STAFF MEETING - June 17, 1963
ENGINEERING
1. Prototypes
We completed two more 64 prototypes: the light blue Hardtop and the Hawk. The red 2-door sedan will probably come out of paint late tomorrow and be ready for photography on Friday. Also, we have removed the paint from the Cruiser grille.
The advertising agency will use the cars through Tuesday night. Then on Wednesday, they will be used for a special showing of Mr. Egberts from 1 o'clock until 4 o'clock. Mr. Hardig mentioned that no one is to be around when those cars are set up and asked the group not to let their people go to the proving ground during that time. Public Relations will also need the cars this week for showing to long-lead-time magazine writers.
Mr. Minkel reminded the staff members that anyone who needs the use of the prototypes should clear with Jack Price who, in turn, will check with Mr. Hardig. A date book is being kept to avoid confusion, and it is very important that we register our dates and then stick to them.
2. Post Office Vehicle
The post office van was supposed to have been shipped yesterday morning at 7 o'clock. However, Mr. Hardig understands it will leave Lansdale, Pennsylvania, tonight instead and will be in here sometime Tuesday morning. The people from GSA will be here Wednesday to see the van, but Mr. Hardig may request a postponement of their visit.
3. Changes - Avanti
A red Avanti with oxblood red interior has been painted the new gray. We are releasing the oxblood red vinyl. It looks good with all the present exterior colors except the present red; therefore, on the red cars, the black interior will be substituted for red. Mr. Minkel wants to get some figures on how many people order red Avantis with red interiors before this is finalized. According to Mr. Hardig, it will take about a week to get all the engineering releases out and a minimum of five weeks after that before the material is available.
The steering wheel, other than the tilt, is in. These wheels are going on all the black-trim cars. After we have used up the stock on the present commitment, they will be installed in the rest of the cars.
Messrs. Minkel and Whitmer requested that Mr. Romines letter of June 8 be made a part of the minutes. His letter concerned Avanti engineering changes involving molded parts at MFG (attached at end of minutes).
4. Instrument Lights
We will install red instrument lights in the entire '64 line.
5. Model X Truck
The mockup is moving along fine, and we will have something to show about July 10-15.
MANUFACTURING
1. Shipments
2. Grilles - Avanti
We have received some and expect 15 more sample grilles by tomorrow night. We will check to see if they fit, and if they do, the grille could go in next week. Mr. Capsey remarked that MFG wants one of the grilles to help them provide a uniform opening and added that there are 40-some old bodies at Ashtabula which we will try to use before the new changes go in.
3. Weld-Through Primer - Trucks
Mr. Whitmer reported that cost and facilities studies had been made on cabs and boxes. The piece price on the cab would be $11.17 and on the boxes, $10.78, with a total of $21.95 for the two with full overhead. Providing we use the Avanti paint facilities, the facility cost will be $1,826.96. If we should start framing the Avanti here again, we would probably have to use a 2-shift operation in order to have the facilities to do it.
We haven't painted the cabs and boxes since 1947, but service has requested that this practice be reinstated because of the rusting out and deterioration of the truck panels. This weld-through primer gives the same kind of protection that there is on the passenger cars where we have as good or a better job than the rest of the industry. In fact, AMC and Ford are changing to our type of primer. Mr. Challinor commented that the trucks in our fleets are not standing up, and we are losing repeat business. Ford and Dodge, especially, make a big point of selling the sheet metal, and we have to meet competition or we will lose the business. Mr. Minkel observed that we will emphasize this in our advertising on our passenger cars, which would make us vulnerable if we didn’t also have it on trucks. He asked Mr. Rickus to take a look at what we would have to pass along on price – right now; our truck line is very favorably priced.
Commenting on the Model X truck, Mr. Whitmer said going to the new program may change where you would use the weld-through primer on the vehicle, but it shouldn't affect the program very much.
4. Transmission Shortages
We now have 384 jobs out in the yard without transmissions. However, in the middle of last week, we had almost 600. There will probably be a few yet this week running without transmissions, but we should be able to get some of these caught up. Mr. Minkel remarked that we want to get every unit we can this second quarter.
5. July Production
We will run Avanti and truck production 2 days in July to provide Expando trucks for Detroit.
SALES
1. Dealer Count
As of last Monday. 1,986
2. Retail Deliveries
Retail sales for the 10-day period ending June 10 were 1,228 of which 105 were Avantis. This is down substantially from the last 10 days of May and represented .72% of industry, which was also down. For the first 10 days of June, industry was 171,049 down from 288,000 for the last 10 days of May. Sales suspects that a great many contests, trading allowance programs, etc. ended in May, accounting for the heavy last 10 days of May and also the light first 10 days of June.
3. Inventories
As of June 10:
As of this morning:
There are presently 1,216 set for stock in production, and there will be approximately another 550 set for stock. Our estimates on wholesale for the month of June are 4,500. If these estimates are correct, our inventories at the end of June would be 1,480 in factory float, 3,446 in factory and zone stock, and 900 in retail store inventory, with a total overall inventory of cars available for sale to dealers of 5,826.
Truck Inventories:
4. Lineset
On Friday, Sales gave Production the last orders for June production, mostly stock. Avantis are lineset for framing of June 17 and production of June 26, and trucks are lineset for framing of today and final production of June 20. However, we have 177 orders which would frame us through June 24 and production through June 27 if we had material for those jobs.
The Lamberti Papers
Dr. Lamberti was absent this meeting
Mr. Minkel, Acting Chairman