| 词条 | George W. Mason |
| 释义 |
| name = George W. Mason | image = George W Mason-PR image.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = George W. Mason during the 1940s | birth_name = George Walter Mason | birth_date = {{Birth date|1891|03|12}} | birth_place = Valley City, North Dakota, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1954|10|08|1891|03|12}} | death_place = Detroit, Michigan, U.S. | education = Engineering and business administration | alma_mater = University of Michigan | occupation = Automobile industry executive | years_active = | employer = Kelvinator Corporation Nash-Kelvinator American Motors | organization = | known_for = Compact cars | notable_works = Nash "Airflyte" Nash Rambler Nash-Healey Nash Metropolitan }} George Walter Mason (March 12, 1891 – October 8, 1954) was an American industrialist. During his career Mason served as the Chairman and CEO of the Kelvinator Corporation (1928-1937), Chairman and CEO of the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation (1937-1954), and Chairman and CEO of American Motors Corporation (1954). Early life and educationMason was born in Valley City, North Dakota. Mason received his education at the University of Michigan where he designed a specific course for engineering students that combined three years of engineering and a final year in business administration. Mason had worked for local garages in his youth and upon receiving his degree from Michigan, he accepted a position with Studebaker. Mason changed employers several times before entering military service during World War I. In 1921, Mason secured a position with Walter P. Chrysler at Maxwell-Chalmers, which Chrysler had reorganized and would use to develop Chrysler brand automobiles. From Maxwell-Chalmers, Mason went to Copeland Products of Detroit in 1926 before becoming the President of the Kelvinator Corporation, a leader in the emerging electric refrigeration industry. Under Mason, Kelvinator quadrupled its profits and became second only to General Motors Frigidaire product line in home refrigeration sales despite the effects of the Great Depression. CareerNash MotorsWhen Charles W. Nash, founder of Nash Motors began looking for his successor, he turned to Mason upon the recommendation of Walter Chrysler. Mason initially rebuffed Nash’s offer, however when Nash asked what it would take to bring Mason over to Nash, Mason stated that he would not take the position if Kelvinator was not included in the deal. Nash saw merit in this idea; General Motors owned Frigidaire, Borg-Warner owned Norge Appliance, and Chrysler operated its own air conditioning division, Airtemp. Nash and Mason came to terms and the deal announced in November 1936. The two firms merged to form Nash-Kelvinator Corporation with Mason as its CEO. By 1940, Mason continued to grow Kelvinator’s market share and returned Nash to profitable status. Continuing Charles Nash's decades of success by building cars "embodying honest worth ... [at] a price level which held out possibilities of a very wide market."[1] Mason began exploring the possibilities of aerodynamics for automobile designs and used of wind tunnel tests during World War II. Nash’s Chief of engineering, Nils Erik Wahlberg, worked with Theodore (Ted) Ulrich in the development of Nash's all-new and radically styled 1949 Airflyte models.[2] This was a comprehensive adoption of aerodynamic principles in a low-priced mass-produced post-war automobile. The Airflyte's design also extended its body over car's front wheels, and these enshrouded front wheels remained a Nash hallmark until 1957. Mason was a large and gregarious man, standing well more than six feet (183 cm) tall and weighing over {{convert|300|lb|kg|0}}. Despite his large physical size, he was fascinated with small cars, especially the concept of a small, inexpensive car and Nash’s marketing and strategic management. As a result, the automaker introduced three compact car lines:
However, General Motors and Ford Motor Company were locked in a battle for market supremacy that started in 1945 when Ford's new president, Henry Ford II, had a burning desire to make his company number one again.[3] By 1953, all of the independent automobile manufacturers were also feeling the after effects of Henry Ford’s plan to dump tens of thousands of vehicles into the market at discounted prices to try and wrestle the top automotive manufacturing title from GM.[4] General Motors responded by doing the same. With the market flooded by inexpensive cars, Studebaker, Packard, Willys, Hudson, Kaiser Motors, and Nash were all unable to sell their vehicles at loss leader prices to keep up with Ford and GM.[5] The "frantic 1953–54 Ford/GM price war" devastated the remaining "independent" automakers.[6] Legacy with AMCThe smaller automakers responded to their shrinking market shares by conducting formal and informal merger talks. Willys and Kaiser merged in 1953. Mason brought together Nash and the Hudson Motor Car Company to cut costs and strengthen their sales organizations to meet the intense competition from the Big Three.[7] This merger occurred on May 1, 1954 to form American Motors Corporation (AMC). At the same time, he tried to bring Studebaker and Packard into AMC.[8] He had informal discussions with James J. Nance of Packard to outline his strategic vision for competing with the Big Three. An agreement was reached for parts-sharing arrangements between AMC and Packard and the new {{convert|320|CID|L|abbr=on}} Packard V8 engine and Packard's Ultramatic automatic transmission would be used in the 1955 Nash Ambassador and Hudson Hornet models. In July 1954, Packard acquired Studebaker.[9] Within months after the formation of AMC, George Mason died on October 8, 1954, at age 63 of acute pancreatitis and pneumonia in Detroit, Michigan and was buried in White Chapel Memorial Cemetery.[10] Mason's protégé, AMC Vice President George W. Romney, succeeded Mason as Chairman and CEO. One of Romney's first acts was to stop rumors that there were additional merger talks between AMC and Studebaker-Packard Corporation or any automakers. According to Mason's obituary in Time magazine, had AMC and Studebaker-Packard joined, it would have resulted in the second largest automaker in the world, behind General Motors.[11] Legacy in conservationFollowing his death it was disclosed that Mason, a former president of Ducks Unlimited, had left a gift to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources consisting of {{convert|1500|acre|km2}} land with {{convert|14|mi|km}} of shoreline along the Au Sable River. The gift was contingent that the area be used as a permanent game preserve, that no part shall ever be sold by the state, and that no camping be allowed in the area for 25 years. The Michigan DNR has continued to uphold the no camping restriction within the Mason tract.[12] In accordance with Mason's wishes, the tract remains free of all development with the exception of a simple log chapel that was constructed on the property by the Mason family in 1960.[13] See also
Notes1. ^{{cite book |last=Forbes |first=B.C. |last2=Foster |first2=O.D. |title=Automotive Giants of America: Men Who Are Making Our Motor Industry |year=1926 |publisher=Forbes Publishing (Kessinger Publishing, 2003) |isbn=978-0-7661-6177-1 |url=http://www.pnwnash.org/nashbio.htm |pages=211–224 |accessdate=25 June 2010 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928120659/http://www.pnwnash.org/nashbio.htm |archivedate=28 September 2011 |df= }} 2. ^{{cite book |title=Automobiles of the '50s |year=1993 |publisher=Publications International |page=63 | isbn=978-0-7853-2008-1 }} 3. ^{{cite journal|url= http://www.hemmings.com/hcc/stories/2005/11/01/hmn_feature7.html |last=Farrell |first= Jim |last2=Farrell |first2=Cheryl |date=November 2005 |title=Ford's Stylerama |journal=Hemmings Classic Car |accessdate=17 March 2013 }} 4. ^{{cite journal |last=Mays |first=James |title=When AMC's George Romney reined in the dinosaurs |journal=Old Cars |date=15 October 1998 |page=6 }} 5. ^{{cite journal |last=Bresnahan |first=Timothy F. |title=Competition and Collusion in the American Automobile Industry: The 1955 Price War |journal=The Journal of Industrial Economics |volume=35 |issue=4 The Empirical Renaissance in Industrial Economics |date=June 1987 |pages=457–482 |doi=10.2307/2098583}} 6. ^{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=9Z5TAAAAMAAJ&q=frantic+1953-54+Ford/GM+price+war&dq=frantic+1953-54+Ford/GM+price+war&hl=en |page=278 |last=Flammang |first=James M. |title=Chronicle of the American automobile: over 100 years of auto history |year=1994 |publisher=Publications International |isbn=978-0-7853-0778-5 |accessdate=17 March 2013 }} 7. ^{{cite journal|url= http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,860075,00.html |title=Time Clock, Oct. 12, 1953 |journal=Time |date=12 October 1953 |accessdate=17 March 2013 }} 8. ^{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=iZJzb91qsE4C&pg=PA127&lpg=PA127&dq=George+W.+Mason+AMC |page=127 |title=The American auto factory |publisher=BMI Publishers |first=Byron|last=Olsen |first2=Joseph |last2=Cabadas |year=2002 |isbn=9780760310595 |accessdate=17 March 2013 }} 9. ^{{cite journal|url= http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,860916,00.html |title=Autos: Merger No. 3 |journal=Time |date=28 June 1954|accessdate=17 March 2013 }} 10. ^{{cite web|url= http://files.usgwarchives.net/mi/wayne/obits/m/mason805nob.txt |title=Wayne County MI Archives Obituaries .....Mason, George W. October 8, 1954 |publisher=www.usgwarchives.net |date=2 March 2009 |accessdate=17 March 2013 }} 11. ^{{cite journal |url= http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,936541,00.html |title=Milestones |journal=Time |date=18 October 1954 |accessdate=17 March 2013 }} 12. ^{{cite web | url= http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-153-30301_30505-66206--,00.html |title=Grayling Forest Management Unit |publisher=Michigan Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment |accessdate=17 March 2013}} 13. ^{{cite web | url= http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/II_AuSable_River_Watershed_183125_7.pdf |title=Au Sable River Natural River Plan |page=28 |publisher=Michigan Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment |accessdate=17 March 2013 }} References
8 : 1891 births|1954 deaths|Deaths from pancreatitis|Nash Motors people|American Motors people|American chief executives in the automobile industry|American founders of automobile manufacturers|University of Michigan alumni |
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