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At 63, President Macauley with his high forehead, his thin white hair, his rimless eyeglasses and his square-jawed face could, if he would, get a job in Hollywood playing parts as a typical U. S. tycoon. He detests people who jingle coins and he shrinks from the sight of gold teeth. His voice is seldom raised, his temper never lost. Like many other motor executives, Mr. Macauley is a good mechanic, maintains a woodworking shop in the basement of his Grosse Pointe Shores home. For his friends, he carves cigaret cases; for his grandchildren, toy furniture and dolls. An incorrigible baseball addict, he was expert on Hank Greenberg's batting average, on "Schoolboy" Rowe's record of games won-&-lost.
Mr. Macauley's attitude toward his employes is marked by a strong sense of paternalism. He personally awards to each five-year employe a pin; to each ten-year employe, a watch; to each 25-year employe, another pin. Last year, out of 2,691 Packard workers, 56% were five-year men; 20% were ten-year men; 8% were 25-year men. No one is fired for old age; a Packard workman recently died at 84. Oldsters are shifted to less active departments.
In 1929 Mr. Macauley banked $125,000 as salary, $131,000 as bonus. In 1933, he made $30,000 salary, no bonus. Since prolification has proved profitable for his company, his salary is now back to $40,000.
Simple Sweep. In addition to happiness as head of Packard, Alvan Macauley was also happy last week in his capacity as head of the Automobile Manufacturers Association. For the motor industry, which even in 1933 operated in the black, was this year accelerating toward boom-day tops. Simple and sweeping are key-figures on the automobile's 1929 peak, 1932 valley, 1934 recovery, 1935 probability: Cars and trucks produced
1929 5,622,000 1932 1,431,000 1934 2,870,000 1935 3,900,000 (estimated)
Wholesale value
1929 $3,576,645,000 1932 793,045,000 1934 1,537,290,000 1935 2,000,000,000 (estimated)
Profit figures for the industry are always obscured by nonreporting Ford Motor Car. Last year cars other than Ford earned their makers some $81,000,000. This year the industry, without Ford expects to make approximately twice that amount.
Trends. Motor prosperity, however, does not mean prosperity for the whole automobile industry. General Motor, Ford and Chrysler still account for slightly more than 90% Of total sales, thus leaving the independents squeezed into a narrow corner. In 1934, seven independent makers lost about $23,000,000; even in 1935 they may lose $6,000,000.
Ford, Plymouth and Chevrolet are doing a little less than their 1934 share of the total business, with a corresponding gain for manufacturers in the next higher price bracket—Chrysler's Dodge and General Motors' Pontiac and Oldsmobile. Biggest single achievement of the first nine months of 1935 appeared to be Ford's return to the position of No. 1 automobile producer. Last year Ford and Chevrolet finished in practically a dead heat. This year Ford went into October with a 178,000-car lead and was outselling Plymouth better than 2-to-1. Big Three totals stood at:
1934 1935 ( 9 months) Chevrolet 534,906 484,297 Ford 530,528 662,204 Plymouth 302,557 298,138