Roy D. Chapin: The Man Behind the Hudson Motor Car Company

IX. Forecasting Future Trends

CHAPTER IX FORECASTING FUTURE TRENDS ROY'S business letters and reports on the European trip * were addressed to Hugh Chalmers, and were circulated to the executive staff of Chalmers-Detroit. There is every indication that they were written to be of help to the company, and there was no suggestion at this stage that Chapin was thinking of severing connections with the concern. His observations reveal a high tension quality of mind, already in full power at the age of 29. He did not limit himself to noting sales policies and methods, but studied every phase that might be important to the development of the company. He visited Lyons, Turin, Milan, Stuttgart, Brussels, Antwerp, Paris, Berlin, and various cities in England. He saw the plants of Mercedes, Isotta, Napier, Daimler, Renault, DeDion-Bouton, Hotchkiss, Peugeot, Fiat, Lancia, and a score of others. Moreover , he lived like an ambassador, stopping at the Carlton in London, the Meurice in Paris, entertaining handsomely, and by sheer savoir-faire walking through factory doorways that were usually barred to the outsider. Much of what he saw was an ominous warning, as various companies which had enjoyed temporary great success were suffering severe reverses. Employment at Mercedes had dropped from 3,000 to 1,200 "as their reputation had suffered pretty badly" due to an unpopular model the prior year. Isotta was having "rather hard times, not paying any dividends on the investment." At Isotta the difficulty was not in the car. "Isotta Co. is making no money, although their car looked mighty good to me. The trouble was too expensive a plant." 77 78 ROY D. CHAPIN "Most of the European factories/' he reported, "during the boom of two or three years ago found it so easy to get money that they threw themselves on their factories [sic]* with the result that they have lots of idle machinery now." Again and again, however, the difficulty was in the inadequate performance of the product. "I find that a reputation for satisfactory quality of product is the only thing that can continuously pay dividends," Chapin wrote to the Chalmers company from Paris on August 22nd. "Our motor plant is a step in the right line but will only prove of assistance if we institute a more careful method of construction and test to better our present quality." The main reason for the faulty performance of automobiles of the period was the fact that the various component parts were still in an experimental, primitive stage. This was true of gears, magnetos, axles, all phases of manufacture. Hence even the rigid terms of Bezner's contract with the suppliers were a protection only to the extent of the current development of engineering knowledge. The idea of standard parts had not come into being, and in fact each manufacturer took pride in producing a different type of construction than his competitor. The European plants were accordingly a splendid exhibit room and laboratory for a man like Chapin who had the desire, intention and capacity to observe. Regarding the Renault brakes, he reported: "The brakes are metal to metal, the transmission brakes being lined with several metal plates which are apparently removable. The brakes are small but very effective as they have to be on these crowded Paris streets." And again: "One thing I noticed on the Renault cars—and the same holds for almost all other makes—that is the use of either a cast-steel or pressed-steel flanged brake-drum on the transmission brake. The use of fibre, or camel-hair, for brake * Chapin at one point complained that his English secretary, Hawkins, altered his phrases in strange ways. FORECASTING FUTURE TRENDS 79 service seems to be out of date and cast-iron or steel is the favorite construction. I think the flanged brake-band prevents some of the chatter such as we have had." He was greatly impressed by the fine workmanship of Renault , by the "almost absolute silence of the car itself/' and by a Bosch magneto which had not been released to the American trade. "They use small models of Bosch magnetos on all their cars, and I do not remember seeing, even on the big '6's,' a Bosch as large as we use on the '40.' I think the Bosch people have been sticking us." When he called at the Bosch factory four weeks later, he lost no time in setting...