Youth for G.M.

Back in 1933, the late William S. Knudsen, then General Motors executive vice president, telephoned one of his bright young men to ask if he would like to take over as general manager of the floundering Buick Division. Back came the answer from Harlow ("Red") Curtice: "When?" Recently Red Curtice, now G.M. president, got a chance to repay the offer. Phoning Bill Knudsen's son, Semon ("Bunky") Knudsen, he asked: "Like to take over as general manager of Pontiac?" Came the reply: "When?"

The change, announced last week, triggered a youth movement in G.M.'s upper echelons. Under Pontiac Boss Robert M. Critchfield, 61, who will move up to head G.M.'s entire process development staff, Pontiac in 1956 has slipped more than most other G.M. lines. By giving the job to Bunky Knudsen, 43, an engineer who showed a flair for sales as chief of the Detroit Diesel Engine Division, G.M. hoped to speed up Pontiac.

An equally big change was also made at Chevrolet. After seven years as division chief, Vice President Thomas Keating, 61, moved into a new job as head of all G.M. passenger-car divisions. Into Keating's chair went Chevy's Chief Engineer Edward N. Cole, 46, one of G.M.'s best engineering brains. Starting out as a Cadillac laboratory assistant in 1930, he was the division's chief engineer by 1946, three years later developed the industry's first V-8 high-compression engine that kicked off the horsepower race. He moved to Chevy at a time when Ford was coming up fast. In 1954, when Ford and Chevy were neck and neck for the No. 1 spot for the first time in nearly a decade, Cole was completing a 150-h.p. engine to replace Chevy's traditional six-cylinder engine. On 1955's models, the new engines went a long way toward helping Chevy win back a substantial lead.

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