OIL companies have formed a combine to market Iran's oil, in expectation of an early solution to the country's oil troubles. Stock in the group is held 40% by Anglo-Iranian Oil Co., 40% by five U.S. firms operating in the Middle East--Standard Oil (N.J.), Gulf Oil, the Texas Co., Standard Oil of California, Socony-Vacuum Oil--and 20% by French and Royal Dutch Shell.

GENERAL Dynamics Corp., which last year bought 400,000 shares of Consolidated Vultee stock (17%), wants to merge with the planemaker, if stockholders approve. Under the deal, Convair will exchange one share of stock (2,379,298 shares outstanding) for four-sevenths of a share of General Dynamics, makers of the atomic submarine and jet fighters, but will continue to operate much as before.

THE Army is having trouble with its medium (48 1/2-ton) M-47 tank, turned out by General Motors. The bug is a defective transmission screw in 6,450 M-47 and M48 tanks. On rough terrain, it drops loose and damages the transmission. Cost of repairs and replacement: over $200,000.

EARL ("Madman") Muntz, who as late as January was talking about further expansion of his TV-set business, has been blacked out by creditors, who threw his company into bankruptcy. Muntz admits that he is losing money ($1,457,000 from April to August 1953), but still thinks he can reorganize and stay in the TV business.

JET engine production will get a boost next year through a $1,100,000 deal between Crucible Steel Co. and the National Research Corp. For 25,000 shares of stock, the steel company has bought a half interest in National Research Corp.'s subsidiary Vacuum Metals Corp., the only cornmercial producer of high-purity metals by the vacuum melting process. Vacuum Metals will expand production 500% to more than 100 tons of metal a month for navigation instrument bearings and turbine blades.

FIVE & DIME oil boom is on at Seneca Lake in eastern Ohio since an auto dealer, wildcatting in his spare time, struck oil at 464 ft. So far, local businessmen have put down 30 wells, have 15 more adrilling, and leases on plots are going for as much as $1,600 for a 40-by-50-ft. lot.

AUTOMAKERS are pulling out of India because of government import restrictions aimed at building a domestic auto manufacturing industry. Both General Motors and Ford of Canada will close down their Bombay assembly plants, the first and second largest in India.

PAN AMERICAN World Airways will operate a string of seven Air Force guided-missile tracking stations stretching from Cape Canaveral, Fla. about 1,000 miles into the Atlantic. The airline, which got the job because it can do it cheaper and with less personnel turnover than the Air Force, has a $5,000,000 contract to run the stations for the rest of fiscal 1954.

REYNOLDS Tobacco Co., last major holdout against filter-tip cigarettes, is bowing to the trend, will soon bring out a king-sized filter-tip brand called "Winstons."

TV manufacturers are coming to the conclusion that they will have a tough time selling color sets outright at their current prices--$700 & up for a receiver with 12 1/2-inch picture, plus a $250-to-$300 service contract. Emerson Radio & Phonograph Corp. has decided to lease its first sets instead of selling them, will not sell until color sets are better.

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