Re: PMCC Exec: Ed Cunningham Passed Away

Posted by RogerDetroit On 2012/4/6 20:05:19

Before thing spiral out of control maybe I need to tell Ed's story before things get carried away by vivid imaginations.

Ed was a true raconteur and only he can tell the story as he did. I only hope I can do it justice.

Ed starts the story about explaining how each year the design staff had to give names to the new colors being introduced that year. PMCC always tried to sell "up-market" and find luxurious or exotic sounding names for the colors used in both the interior and exterior of the car. Think Aegean Blue, Persian Aqua or Tangier Red.

This was time consuming as there were many parts that needed new names and they tried not to repeat from prior years. During brain-storming sessions together they tossed out names and Ed would write those names in a box that pointed to the part on a large board. Late one night, after a very long day of thinking up names they grew pretty frazzled. This was the day before the name project was due. They thought they were done and started to head out the door. Then someone noticed that one name box was not filled in.

That box was (as the story goes) for the new leather seats in the latest model that had an ivory color. But new this year was a technique called "Spanishing"- it was a dark dye that was wiped on and then wiped off in order to highlight the grain that you can only find in real leather. It was supposed to be an "antiquing effect" and convey a sense of old-world money. [Ed never spoke about a smearing effect as one poster (wrongfully) concluded above].

Anyway, they are anxious to get home and they start throwing out names. Earlier in the day they had been on a Mediterranean theme (again, think Aegean) and someone wrote in the box the "fictitious" Greek city of Phartedon. They all had a good laugh, got brain freeze and decided to go home and think about it overnight. They would fill in the last box early in the morning, just before the deadline.

So when the staff comes in the next morning they discover the color board missing. A little checking reveals that someone from "mahogany row" was in very early, saw the "completed" color board and took it with him back to his office. Further checking reveals that the color names have been passed onto the printer for use in the color brochures to go out to dealers and customers. Everyone on the staff is shocked into silence and collectively they decide not to bring it up ever again.

Time goes by and everything seems to be OK. Then one day the executive (unnamed) from mahogany row appears and he is red as a (Tangiers) beet. Steam is coming out his ears and he demands to know who in the blazes named the new leather seat color Phartedon.

With purely innocent faces they feign surprise. Some asks, "how did you pronounce that?" "It's not pronounced that way - you've saying it all wrong." Another one, turns the blame on the exec and says "you can't tell the customer the seats are farted on!" Another staffer says that it is a Greek city and goes off to look for a map of Greece. Straight faced they deny everything and get a "don't let this happen again" from the exec as he frustratedly heads back to his office. Silence from all and they dodged that bullet.

How true this all is I will leave up to you - you know how raconteurs can be.

Best, --Roger--