Business & Finance: Pancho Villa's Boy

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Martin did it with shrewd salesmanship, e.g., he played on the fact that Chrysler's executives resented being kidded by General Motors officials over the GM-made Delco-Remy ignitions used 'in Chrysler cars. Martin landed Chrysler's business, which now makes up 40% of Auto-Lite's total. He demanded the best engineering, now sells supplies to eleven out of the 19 makes of U.S. cars.

Martin, who knows that one way to win friends is to praise them, spends millions advertising other people's products. For the second year in a row, he is devoting the commercials on his topflight TV whodunit, Suspense, to show off the cars put out by Auto-Lite's customers. In April, after he has shown ten cars on TV, Martin will spend about half a million dollars on his own "Parade of Stars" auto show at Manhattan's Waldorf Astoria. Says Royce Martin: "When we help the customer, we help ourselves."