Carl F. Thelin

GOING TO General Motors

I graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1953 and went back to work in Milwaukee where I had been a summer student. That firm, the Line-Material Division of McGraw Electric made equipment for the distribution of electrical power. You see that kind of big stuff on top of utility poles and inside power substations. It seemed strange to me that almost everyone there was ­not an electrical engineer. My boss told me that the NEMA standards covered all the electrical stuff. We just had to design, manufacture and test the hardware. That was fun work for a young engineer. My bosses treated me very well and gave me interesting assignments as a junior design engineer. They knew that, after graduation, my ambition was to work in the automobile industry.

No one objected when I interviewed with the truck maker, International Harvester, where my college room mate went to work the year before. I drove to Ft. Wayne, Indiana, the home of Harvester. I told the interviewer that I hoped to work with automatic transmissions for trucks because of my great interest in them while in school. The head of their transmission department interviewed me next. “Why do you think you should work on automatic transmissions?” he asked. I replied, perhaps with juvenile self assurance, “Because I have been fascinated with the GM, Chrysler and Ford designs, especially the Buick Dynaflow, which I think is the greatest of them all.” “Really”, he said,” Why do you think the Dynaflow is so great?” “Well, the triple turbine in the Buick is a really impressive use of hydraulic fluid engineering.” “Oh. Do you think you know how the torque converter in the Dynaflow works?” “Oh, yes, I have studied it in the SAE Journal and really think it is the best there is.” “Well, I think you would not be happy working here at IH. You say you got it all figured out already. Hell, I myself don’t know how it works. Goodbye”

            WHY DID I CARE SO MUCH
           ABOUT AUTOMOBILE SAFETY?

That is sort of a funny story. My dad ran an advertising business. Among other things, the company made signs for displays at the Wisconsin State Fair located in west Milwaukee. Each summer, the Joie Chitwood auto thrill show came to the fair grounds race track. I was still helping Dad at the sign shop, while going to college. When Mr. Chitwood came to have Dad paint signs on the stunt car, he brought one of his sensational new, all-white-torpedo-body 1949 Ford sedans. I pleaded with Mr. Chitwood, and he let me drive it – on the street – not jumping from ramp to ramp on the track. I fell in love with that car. I bought a 1950 model Ford later. What impressed me was the sight and feel of the seat belts in the stunt cars. Dad was impressed, too. From then on, Dad had lap belts installed in family cars. Crash safety was impressed on me. I learned that the lap belts in our family cars were not nearly as good as the full harness the stunt drivers had. The instrument panel – “dash” to some – was neatly sculptured and lightly padded. I was hooked on safety.

NEXT: I wanted to kill my boss