GOODS & SERVICES: New Ideas, Aug. 29, 1955

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GOODS & SERVICES

Car Poll. To find out what the public wants in the car of tomorrow, Chrysler Corp. put on display in its main Manhattan showroom three custom-made dream cars (Falcon, Flight Sweep I and II), fitted out with such futurisms as roofed headlights, curved window glass, external dual exhausts, control panel on a pedestal sandwiched between bucket seats, padded doors, and carpets fused over foam rubber. None of the supercars is a production prototype: Chrysler hopes to whet appetites for its 1956 cars and, by eavesdropping on car fans, to pick out salable features for its 1957 and 1958 models.

New Brew. After two years of experimentation, Milwaukee's Blatz Brewing Co. next week will start test-marketing Tempo, a bland new brew aimed at the potential consumers (54% of all U.S. adults) who never touch beer. Tempo is flavored with an extract of fresh hops, which are milder than the dried hops ordinarily used by brewers to give beer its traditional tang. With fresh hops the new brew is lighter and brighter in color than standard Blatz, but has the same alcoholic content (4.9% by volume), and will sell, in bottles and cans, for the same price.

Durable Portable. Raytheon has introduced a portable radio that will play for 2,500 hours (two years of normal family listening) without a battery change. The long-play Super-T is powered by a small "A" pack battery (operating cost: .16¢ an hour), which is cheaper to use than home current. The 8-lb. set uses transistors instead of short-lived vacuum tubes, will also play for 500 hours on four standard flashlight batteries. Retail price: $89.95.

Pot Washer's Friend. Cleaning pots and pans will be simplified by a new silicone-coating process that makes cooking utensils adhesion-proof. To be marketed by Omaha's new Selinized Process Co., the coating makes it possible to clean most utensils with a dishcloth. Some deposits come clean when the pan is turned upside down and tapped; more stubborn food remnants can be burned off by putting the coated saucepan back on a hot stove. By early fall the first batch of 7,500 Selinized standard aluminum utensils will be marketed in the Nebraska area at prices about 25% higher than regular utensils.