Roy Dikeman Chapin Jr. (September 21, 1915 – August 5, 2001) was the chairman and chief executive officer of
American Motors Corporation (AMC). Chapin's father,
Roy D. Chapin Sr., was one of the co-founders of the
Hudson Motor Car Company; Hudson later merged with
Nash-Kelvinator Corporation
Nash-Kelvinator Corporation was the result of a merger in 1937 between Nash Motors and Kelvinator Appliance Company. The union of these two companies was brought about as a result of a condition made by George W. Mason prior to his appointment as ...
in 1954 to form American Motors. Roy D. Chapin Jr. was instrumental in introducing many successful lines of cars by American Motors that included the
Gremlin
A gremlin is a mischievous folkloric creature invented at the beginning of the 20th century to originally explain malfunctions in aircraft and later in other machinery and processes and their operators. Depictions of these creatures vary widel ...
,
Hornet
Hornets (insects in the genus ''Vespa'') are the largest of the eusocial wasps, and are similar in appearance to their close relatives yellowjackets. Some species can reach up to in length. They are distinguished from other vespine wasps by th ...
, and
Javelin, as well as the purchase of
Kaiser Jeep
Kaiser Jeep was the result of the 1953 merger of Kaiser Motors, an independent passenger car maker based in Willow Run, Michigan, with the Toledo, Ohio-based Willys-Overland Company.
Willys-Overland had been at one point before World War II t ...
by the automaker.
Early life
Roy D. Chapin Jr. graduated from the
Los Alamos Ranch School
Los Alamos Ranch School was a private ranch school for boys in the northeast corner of Sandoval County, New Mexico (since 1949, within Los Alamos County), USA, founded in 1917 near San Ildefonso Pueblo. During World War II, the school was bought ...
in Los Alamos, New Mexico, the
Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut in 1933,
and received his degree in Business Administration with honors from
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
in 1937.
At Yale, he was advertising manager of campus humor magazine ''
The Yale Record
''The Yale Record'' is the campus humor magazine of Yale University. Founded in 1872, it became the oldest humor magazine in the world when ''Punch'' folded in 2002."History", The Yale Record, March 10, 2010. http://www.yalerecord.com/about/histo ...
'' (
Walter J. Cummings Jr. and
James S. Copley served with him on the business staff). He began his automotive career as
sales
Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale.
The seller, or the provider of the goods or services, completes a sale in ...
man, test driver, and experimental engineer for Hudson in 1938.
Career
Chapin joined American Motors in 1954 when the corporation was formed with the merger of Nash and Hudson. Later, he served as an assistant treasurer and a director at AMC.
By 1964, he held the post of executive vice president in charge of international operations of AMC.
Robert B. Evans, chairman of AMC, recognized the talents of Chapin and promoted him from an executive vice president to take his place as chairman of the board. The move was to increase the firm's operational efficiency at the start of a difficult time.
The "dynamic and intelligent" Chapin was appointed to fill the CEO position at AMC following the departure of
Roy Abernethy in 1967, along with William V. Luneburg as president. Chapin realized he was taking over at a crucial time; ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' described it as "a dying company."
At the time, Chapin said, "We're going to have to show ingenuity."
He reflected later that the most difficult period was "... when our president, Bill Luneburg, and I took over. We were out of money and we had to do something to overcome the immediate problems. We had no time to think about long-range problems. Obviously, we managed to solve immediate considerations..."
At the time Chapin took control of the company, AMC's share of U.S. auto sales slipped, from 6.4% in 1960 to a mere 3.2 percent.
On top of the loss of US$12.6 million in fiscal 1966, Chapin and new president William V. Luneburg had more bad news for the annual meeting of shareholders by reporting a 10% sales drop from a year earlier (to $257 million) and the company lost another $8,459,917 (US$ in dollars) in the first quarter of its 1967 fiscal year.
The company skipped paying a dividend for the sixth straight quarter, and to control the inventory of unsold cars, AMC closed its factories for ten working days—the second such shutdown in two months.
For the entire year AMC "lost an astounding $75.8 million".
During an era when relationships were vital to securing corporate financing, Chapin "was a well-known industrialist who inspired great confidence among the leading financiers of his day" to help keep the automaker going.
In just a few weeks in his new post at AMC, Chapin decided to focus on the smallest (and at that time, the least popular) AMC model—the compact
Rambler American
The Rambler American is a compact car that was manufactured by the American Motors Corporation (AMC) between 1958 and 1969. The American was the second incarnation of AMC forerunner Nash Motors' compact Rambler that was introduced in 1950 a ...
. His objective was to double Rambler sales to 140,000 cars in 1967 and recapture at least 10% of the compact market that AMC once dominated.
He saw a gap between U.S. cars and the inexpensive imports (primarily the
Volkswagen Beetle
The Volkswagen Beetle—officially the Volkswagen Type 1, informally in German (meaning "beetle"), in parts of the English-speaking world the Bug, and known by many other nicknames in other languages—is a two-door, rear-engine economy car, ...
) and positioned the Rambler right into the center of this gap with a new, low price tag to make its total value superior to the imports, as well as superior in both price and range of choice to U.S. compacts.
He instituted many changes that lowered production costs and provided the car buyers with more value. Chapin cut the
suggested retail price of the basic two-door Rambler American sedan to $1,839 (US$ in dollars), which was $278 less than its closest U.S. competitor, the $2,117
Plymouth Valiant
The Plymouth Valiant (first appearing in 1959 as simply the Valiant) is an automobile which was marketed by the Plymouth division of the Chrysler Corporation in the United States from the model years of 1960 through 1976. It was created to give t ...
.
This move made the considerably larger and more powerful American only $200 more than the rudimentary Volkswagen. By forgoing the annual styling changeovers that were expected among the domestic firms, AMC could save retooling costs and keep the car's price so low. Helping AMC was the strategic decisions by the competing automakers not to match the price drop.
Within a month of taking their positions, Chapin and Luneburg reversed the automaker's upholding the ban on racing that was instituted by the
Automobile Manufacturers Association
The Automobile Manufacturers Association was a trade group of automobile manufacturers which operated under various names in the United States from 1911 to 1999.
A different group called the Automobile Manufacturers' Association was active in the ...
(AMA) in 1957. American Motors began race car sponsorship and focused on developing new
muscle car
Muscle car is a description according to '' Merriam-Webster Dictionary'' that came to use in 1966 for "a group of American-made two-door sports coupes with powerful engines designed for high-performance driving." The '' Britannica Dictionary'' ...
s models for consumers looking for performance.
In addition to slashing prices and sponsoring Ramblers in racing to help build a performance image, Chapin was optimistic because the company had cut costs by $27 million a year, hired new executives, and had significant products in the pipeline, including new youth-oriented models.
Chapin appeared in print advertisements and he was interviewed by John Bond, publisher of ''
Road & Track'' and ''Car Life'' about product and corporate strategy to assure the success of AMC. Chapin continued making changes for the 1968 model year and also took the bold step to make
air conditioning
Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...
standard on all the
Ambassador models at a time when this comfort feature was still an option on the expensive
Cadillac and
Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincol ...
brand
luxury vehicle
A luxury car is a car that provides increased levels of comfort, equipment, amenities, quality, performance, and associated status compared to moderately priced cars.
The term is subjective and reflects both the qualities of the car and t ...
s.
After the disastrous 1967 results, the company's retail sales increased 13% during fiscal-year 1968.
Other changes during 1968 included developing new marketing campaigns with Guy Hadsall Jr. reporting directly to Chapin. These included dropping the roadshows for the introduction of new models in favor of closed-circuit TV, as well as "dynamic meetings" by holding the first automobile sales events in the sky using
chartered flights to "mystery" destinations. The automaker's new advertising agency Wells, Rich, and Greene that was headed by
Mary Wells Lawrence
Mary Wells Lawrence (born Mary Georgene Berg on May 25, 1928) is an American retired advertising executive. She was the founding president of Wells, Rich, Greene, an advertising agency known for its creative work. Lawrence was the first female ...
was also "innovative and daring in its approach." Print and TV advertisements broke with the traditional convention of not attacking the competition, with AMC cars appearing side by side with competing makes. The launch of the two-seat
AMC AMX sports car was through a marketing agreement with
Playboy
''Playboy'' is an American men's Lifestyle magazine, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from H ...
.
The 1970
AMC Hornet
The AMC Hornet is a compact automobile, manufactured and marketed by American Motors Corporation (AMC) and made from 1970 through 1977 — in two- and four-door sedan, station wagon, and hatchback coupe configurations. The Hornet replaced the c ...
was launched under Chapin's leadership as a value compact to compete against the "import tide". Chapin worked with Ivan Vassall Sr., who in 1969 established the first black-owned auto dealership in Philadelphia.
Chapin was a promoter of innovation at AMC. In 1967, he announced a joint venture with Gulton Industries for the development of an electric automobile. A three-passenger commuter, the
Amitron
The AMC Amitron was an experimental electric subcompact car built in 1967 by American Motors Corporation (AMC) and Gulton Industries. It included many advanced features, including regenerative braking and advanced battery designs, to provide a ...
was an experimental design shown to the public.
While at the head of AMC, Chapin spearheaded the acquisition of
Jeep from the
Kaiser Motors
Kaiser Motors (formerly Kaiser-Frazer) Corporation made automobiles at Willow Run, Michigan, United States, from 1945 to 1953. In 1953, Kaiser merged with Willys-Overland to form Willys Motors Incorporated, moving its production operation ...
Division of
Kaiser Industries
''Kaiser'' is the German word for "emperor" (female Kaiserin). In general, the German title in principle applies to rulers anywhere in the world above the rank of king (''König''). In English, the (untranslated) word ''Kaiser'' is mainly ap ...
in 1970. According to Chapin: "Perhaps the easiest decision I ever made was the purchase of Jeep from Kaiser in 1970. I tried to buy it when George Romney (later Michigan governor) and Roy Abernethy were running AMC. Romney and Edgar Kaiser couldn't get along. I was running the international operations under Abernethy and I was following Jeep around. When they put up a plant, I followed with a Rambler plant because it worked like a charm. Where Jeep was, there were roads and gasoline. Abernethy didn't go for the idea and the first thing I did when I became chairman and got a little money was to buy Jeep. We got it for a song, about $75 million..."
American Motors' engineers and designers quickly overhauled Jeep and expanded its lineup, creating a valuable asset that attracted
Renault
Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufacture ...
, Chrysler, and ultimately
DaimlerBenz AG.
Chapin was also interested in the
Wankel engine
The Wankel engine (, ) is a type of internal combustion engine using an eccentric rotary design to convert pressure into rotating motion. It was invented by German engineer Felix Wankel, and designed by German engineer Hanns-Dieter Paschke. ...
and stated "that the rotary engine will play an important role as a powerplant for cars and trucks of the future."
An agreement was signed with
Curtiss-Wright
The Curtiss-Wright Corporation is a manufacturer and services provider headquartered in Davidson, North Carolina, with factories and operations in and outside the United States. Created in 1929 from the consolidation of Curtiss, Wright, and v ...
in February 1973, for AMC to build Wankels for both passenger cars and Jeeps, as well as the right to sell any rotary engines it produces to other companies.
American Motors designed the unique
AMC Pacer
The AMC Pacer is a two-door compact car produced in the United States by American Motors Corporation (AMC) from the 1975 through the 1980 model years. The Pacer was also made in Mexico by Vehículos Automotores Mexicanos (VAM) from 1976 until ...
around the engine, but the production cars used AMC's conventional piston engines.
Chapin established a "philosophy of difference" although vaguely defined, "it has meant that AMC sought niches in the auto market where the Big Three were unwilling or unable to move quickly." In 1977, on the 75th anniversary of the "birth" of two organizations, American Motors and ''
Popular Mechanics
''Popular Mechanics'' (sometimes PM or PopMech) is a magazine of popular science and technology, featuring automotive, home, outdoor, electronics, science, do-it-yourself, and technology topics. Military topics, aviation and transportation o ...
'', Chapin described AMC's "corporate ''philosophy of difference'', under which we strive to offer the American motoring public a wider choice" and stated that "the most significant change we can look to will be the development of alternate sources of power to replace our dependence on fossil fuels."
Chapin was also instrumental in developing collaboration between American Motors and
Renault
Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufacture ...
.
He was also in favor of Renault investing in AMC, but was distressed by the company's sale to Chrysler.
Retirement
Chapin gave up the CEO title in late 1977, but stayed as chairman until he retired, in October 1978, to his ranch in California. He summed up his career in an interview given upon his retirement: "I love the business and never really considered doing anything else."
He remained on AMC's
board of directors until 1987, when
Chrysler acquired the company.
Chapin served on the board of directors of other companies, including
Whirlpool Corporation
The Whirlpool Corporation is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of home appliances, headquartered in Benton Charter Township, Michigan, United States. The Fortune 500 company has annual revenue of approximately $21 billion, ...
, American Natural Resources (an energy company engaged in natural gas transmission and storage),
Coastal Corporation
Coastal Corporation was a diversified energy and petroleum products company headquartered at 9 Greenway Plaza (Coastal Tower) in Greenway Plaza, Houston, Texas. The company was founded in 1955 by Oscar Wyatt and incorporated in 1955 as Coasta ...
, and Gould Corporation.
He was an avid
outdoor enthusiast
Outdoor recreation or outdoor activity refers to recreation done outside, most commonly in natural settings. The activities that encompass outdoor recreation vary depending on the physical environment they are being carried out in. These activitie ...
and his hobbies included hunting, fishing, and
ranch
A ranch (from es, rancho/Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of a farm. These terms are most ofte ...
ing, as well as
book collecting.
He was also involved in the area of
conservation
Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws.
Conservation may also refer to:
Environment and natural resources
* Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...
and served on the boards of organizations that included the
Atlantic Salmon Federation
The Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF) is an international conservation organization established in 1948.
The Federation is dedicated to the conservation, protection and restoration of wild Atlantic salmon and the ecosystems on which their well bein ...
,
Ducks Unlimited
Ducks Unlimited (DU) is an American nonprofit organization 501(c) dedicated to the conservation of wetlands and associated upland habitats for waterfowl, other wildlife, and people. It has had a membership of around 700,000 since January 2013.
...
, and
Trout Unlimited
Trout Unlimited (TU) is a US non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of freshwater streams, rivers, and associated upland habitats for trout, salmon, other aquatic species, and people. It is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. T ...
.
Roy Chapin died of heart failure on
Nantucket Island
Nantucket () is an island about south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a combined county/town government that is part of the U.S. state of Massachuse ...
, off the coast of
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
, at the age of 85.
His son,
William R. Chapin, was named president of the
Automotive Hall of Fame
The Automotive Hall of Fame is an American museum. It was founded in 1939 and has over 800 worldwide honorees. It is part of the MotorCities National Heritage Area. the Automotive Hall of Fame includes persons who have contributed greatly to a ...
in 2010.
Legacy
Chapin was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1984.
Although much smaller than the domestic "
Big Three" automakers (General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler), AMC prospered during the early years when Chapin was in charge, as sales of its compact cars benefited from rising energy prices and the company's international expanded.
Chapin was also known for his persuasion powers with the automaker's
investment banks
Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated wit ...
and his
Wall Street contacts; winning concessions on many occasions that helped AMC remain afloat.
His efforts to integrate Jeep into AMC contributed to the popularity, from the early 1970s onward, of the
sports utility vehicle
A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive.
There is no commonly agreed-upon definitio ...
(SUV) market.
The ownership of the Jeep brand was crucial to the company's survival until 1987 and Chapin's "legacy was what kept American Motors together instead of being sold off as factories and other pieces" according to Robert Casey, transportation curator at the
Henry Ford Museum
The Henry Ford (also known as the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and Greenfield Village, and as the Edison Institute) is a history museum complex in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan, United States. The museum collection contains ...
.
To summarize his life, Chapin was considered a true 'gentleman' who grew up in the auto industry and was knowledgeable, warm, and accessible; in short, a patrician with a common touch.
References
Notes
* Fracassa, Hawke. "Roy D. Chapin Jr., ex-AMC chairman gambled to save Jeep". ''
The Detroit News
''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival ''Detroit Free Press'' building. ''The News'' absorbed the ''Detroit Tribune'' on Februar ...
'', August 7, 2001.
* Higgins, James V., "Roy Chapin Jr. mastered how to survive in auto industry". ''The Detroit News'', August 12, 2001.
* The
Bentley Historical Library
The Bentley Historical Library is the campus archive for the University of Michigan and is located on the University of Michigan's North Campus in Ann Arbor. It was established in 1935 by the regents of the University of Michigan. Its mission i ...
at the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
has a collection of Chapin's personal correspondence, speeches, papers relating to international business operations of AMC and its divisions, and photographs
Roy D. Chapin, Jr., Papers: 1928-2001.23.3 linear ft.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chapin, Roy D. Jr.
1915 births
2001 deaths
20th-century American businesspeople
Hotchkiss School alumni
Yale University alumni
American chief executives of manufacturing companies
American chief executives in the automobile industry
American Motors people