Motor News

Chrysler-Dodge. Col. Calvin Hooker Goddard of Richmond, Va., and Manhattan is a firearms expert.* He knows what is coming to him and he wants to be sure that he will get it. He owns 100 shares of Dodge Brothers preference stock, for which he is eventually entitled to receive $105 a share. But, according to the terms of the Chrysler-Dodge merger, one share of Dodge preference stock is exchanged for one share of Chrysler common. Last week, the market value of Chrysler common was in the vicinity of $70. Col. Goddard, acting with the approval of several other minority stockholders, went to the Supreme Court of New York and obtained a temporary injunction restraining the consummation of the Chrysler-Dodge merger. The court finally ruled against Col. Goddard, withdrew the injunction, but also directed Chrysler-Dodge to file a bond guaranteeing "to pay all non-assenting preference shareholders of Dodge Brothers."

Studebaker-Pierce-Arrow. The Fierce-Arrow Motor Car Co. of Buffalo, with assets of $24,000,000, has been losing money. The Studebaker Corp. of South Bend, with assets of $135,000,000, has been making tidy profits. Last week, the board of directors of Fierce-Arrow approved the plans of Studebaker for a merger of the two firms; President Myron E. Forbes of Fierce-Arrow called for a meeting of the stockholders on July 25, writing them that it would be for their own good to consent to the plans. No matter how good the product, a large organization is necessary for success in the automobile business today-- was the keynote of President Forbes' letter.

The plans provide for the creation of a new company to manufacture Fierce-Arrow cars. Studebaker will invest $2,000,000 in this company, but it will not affect the financial structure of Studebaker Corp. President Albert Russel Erskine of Studebaker will be chairman of the board and Mr. Forbes will be president of the new company.

Profits. Hupp Motor Car Corp. declared an extra dividend and announced that its net profits for the first six months of 1928 would reach a new record of $4,000,000. The H. H. Franklin Manufacturing Co. (air-cooled motors) resumed dividends on common stock for the first time since 1921.

Employment. Latest figures on number of employes are 208,228 (total) for General Motors Corp., 115,837 for the Ford Motor Co. (Detroit only).

Royal Packards. The royal family of Jugoslavia has purchased seven Packard eights--two of them hunting cars equipped to carry twelve passengers, guns, food, etc. Prince Carl of Sweden and the royal family of Spain also have Packards.

One in 64. There are 1,900,000,000 people in the world. There are 29,700,000 automobiles in operation. That makes one car for every 64 persons. In the U. S., there is one for every five; in Canada and New Zealand, one for every ten; in Great Britain, one for every 41; in Afghanistan, one for every 40,000. So says the U. S. Department of Commerce.

*His testimony was helpful in sending Anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti to the electric chair (TIME, Aug. 29, 1927). He identified the bullet that killed the South Braintree, Mass., paymaster as coming from a revolver later found on Sacco.