Facts & Figures

Agile Austin. On the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, an Austin convertible set a new U.S. speed record for open stock cars, a mark most auto makers are not interested in. Despite several stops for repairs (see cut), the Austin covered 11,850 miles in seven days, for an average speed of 70.54 m.p.h. (old record: 68.58 m.p.h.). A few days later, the Austin Motor Co., Ltd., did something U.S. automakers were interested in. It cut prices $1,000 on the record-setting model. The new price: $2,795 with a manually operated top, $180 more with a hydraulically operated top.

Fair: Poor. The first postwar German trade fair in the U.S., sponsored by the Allied Military Government, finished its 16-day stand in Manhattan. Orders were heaviest for china ($250,000), office machinery ($120,000) and cameras and optical instruments ($100,000). Total business was a low $1,200,000, but the Germans hoped the sample orders would eventually bring many more.

No Accident. Colonial Airlines, whose slogan is "Safety is no accident," last week completed its 19th year without a serious accident, the longest accident-free period for any U.S. airline. Colonial has flown 250,545,622 passenger miles without death or serious injury to any passenger or crew member.

Room at the Top. Chicago management consultants Booz, Allen & Hamilton queried 65 corporations, found that U.S. executives are now seven years older (average age: 54) than their 1929 counterparts. Other findings: average age of corporation presidents is 59 today v. 53 in 1929; senior officers now average 55, compared with 48 in 1929; junior officers average 52, compared with 46. The firm's conclusion: replacements, which were slowed down by the war, will probably be rapid in the next five to ten years.

Quick Pickup. In high dudgeon, the American Automobile Association last week asked major U.S. oil companies why, with oil in surplus, had the price of gasoline gone up just as motorists were getting ready for summer driving? While other oil companies mulled over an answer, Mid-Continent Petroleum Corp. cut prices if a gallon in Kansas City, the first sizable cut in gasoline prices since war's end.

Swearing Off. To christen a new 4,000-h.p. diesel-electric locomotive in Cleveland last week, the Erie Railroad used, instead of champagne, a bottle of locomotive smoke. The Erie thus marked the complete conversion from steam to diesels on its Cleveland passenger runs.

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