Autos: The Thundering Herd

Ever since Ford introduced its highly successful four-seater Thunderbird in 1958, Detroit has been speculating on when General Motors would bring out a competitor. Buick ended the speculation last week when it unwrapped its big-fendered Riviera hardtop, which is firmly dedicated to the G.M. principle that if you have to join ’em, beat ’em. The Riviera is 3 in. longer than the Thunderbird, sports a more powerful engine, and has a steering wheel that tilts to seven different vertical adjustments, while Thunderbird’s wheel only bends to the side to ease entry and exit. The Riviera will sell in the Thunderbird $4,700-$5.500 price range.

G.M.’s selection of Buick to build a competitor for the entrenched T-bird was a vote of confidence in Buick Boss Edward Rollert, 50, who took over the division in 1959 when its sales had slumped to only 245,000 cars and its share of the U.S. auto market to 4.9%. By improving Buick’s mechanical performance—it is now widely considered the best-engineered car out of Detroit—Rollert has boosted its share of the market to 5.8%, expects to sell 400,-ooo cars this year. His hope is that the Riviera will send Buick sales even higher next year by biting into the high-priced neo-sports-car field.

High-Priced Sport. Buick’s boss is not the only one with such hopes. For 1963 Oldsmobile has decked out its top model, the Starfire, with a sculptured T-bird-type roof to give it a sporty look. Pontiac’s Grand Prix has undergone the same treatment. Not to be left out, Chrysler is readying its new 300}, a revved-up version of the Chrysler New Yorker.

No one is betting more heavily on snatching a part of the high-priced neo-sports market away from the Thunderbird than Studebaker President Sherwood Harry Egbert. If his speedy new Avanti (TIME, April 13) sells well, he intends to transfer some of its sleek Italianate lines to other Studebaker models next year.

But for 1963 Studebaker’s Larks and Hawks have undergone only minor feather trimming. The only really new model is a Lark station wagon, the Wagonaire, which has a sliding metal roof that telescopes forward to expose the rear seats.

The Cardinal Unveiled. Ford, which started all this, has left its pacesetting Thunderbird outwardly unchanged for 1963. It has also left most of its other cars unchanged except for minor mechanical and styling alterations; the new Mercury Monterey has a reverse-slanting rear window to differentiate its profile from the Ford Galaxie.

Most interesting new Ford was introduced not in the U.S. but in West Germany. It is the Taunus 12M, a German version of the mysterious Cardinal which Ford has been developing for two years in strictest secrecy, and once intended to begin making in the U.S. this year. (The plans were canceled last April after Ford decided that the U.S. small-car market was contracting.) The Taunus is 7 in. longer and considerably more commodious than the Volkswagen. It has front-wheel drive and a 50-h.p. V-4 engine that speeds the car to 78 m.p.h. Its price in Germany is $1,332 v. the Volkswagen’s $1,246. Ford, so far, does not plan to sell the Taunus in the U.S.

The Loner. Only one U.S. automaker is bucking the ’63 trend toward sporty prestige cars — American Motors. But being different is how American Motors makes money. However, its ’63 Classic and Ambassadpr models have shed their maiden-auntlook for more flowing and graceful “Detroit” lines. But A.M.C. scorns the that the tide is running in favor of splashier autos. Says A.M.C. Presi Roy Abernethy: “We are convinced the consumer is continuing to move the compact car and will continue do so until compacts represent at least 50% of the total market.”