Classic American – September 2019

Huw Evans–news &views from North America

A

sItype these words, it is July 11 (such

are magazine lead times).Yesterday,atSt

Hugo of the Hills Church, in Bloomfield

Hills, Michigan, friends and relatives gathered to

celebrate the life of Lido “Lee” Anthony Iacocca.

The former Chrysler CEO and Ford Motor

Company executive passed away on July2athis

home in Bel Air,California. He was 92 years old.

Iacocca joined Ford Motor Company in 1946

as an engineer,but quickly found this career

path wasn’tfor him, so he switched to sales and

marketing, for which he proved to haveanatural

talent. By the mid-Fifties Iacocca was district

sales manager for Ford in Philadelphia, and was

credited for creatingaunique sales promotion

dubbed the “56 for 56” plan, whereby buyers

could placea20% down payment ona1956

Ford and pay instalments of $56 for three years.

It proved so successful, that the plan went

national, thrusting Iacocca into the spotlight.

By the end of 1960, Iacocca was Ford Division

President and quickly set about creating some

pizazz in the contemporaryvehicle line-up.

He approved adding fastback rooflines to the

full-size Fords, leading to the Starliner and

sporty Galaxie XLs. He green-litasport ySprint

version of the compact, utilitarian Falcon and

was instrumental in spurring Ford’s“Total

Performance” campaign of the Sixties, which

culminated not only inarange ofsporty cars

but wins inawhole host of motorsport events,

including Ford’sfamous 1-2-3 finish at Le Mans

in 196 6.

Perhaps Iacocca’smost celebrated

achievement at Ford however,was th elaunch

of the Mustang in April 1964. In concept, the

ideawas to createamass- market sporty car that

borrowed much of the Falcon’sengineering

so it could be sold atalow price ($2368).

Projected annual volume was targeted at

100,000 units, but such was the appeal of the

Mustang that in that first, extra-long model

year (April 1964-September 1965), more than

680,000 Mustangs were produced, aided by a

slick marketing campaign,arange of options

andstyling which captivated the public. Iacocca

also spearheaded the introduction of the 1967

MercuryCougar (a more upmarket Mustang

stablemate), the personal luxuryContinental MK

III the following year and by 1970 he had been

promoted to President of Ford Motor Company,

succeeding Semon E. “Bunkie” Knudsen.

Iacocca’stenure at the top of the Blue Oval

ranks proved to be challenging—the sub

compact Pinto introduced under his

watch becameapolitical hot potato due

to claims of fires resulting from rear-end

mpacts, and while he was able to oversee

the introduction of products such as

the Mustang II and Granada (that were

suitably timed for the Seventies and sold

well) he became increasingly at odds with

Ford Chairman HenryFord II.

In 1978, Iacocca was unceremoniously

fired by Ford, but foundanew calling

as CEOatChryslerCorporation. By that

time, Detroit’snumber three automaker

was floundering and on the verge of

bankruptcy.With Iacocca on board, Chrysler

underwentaground-up restructuring. The

company’sEuropean operations were sold to

PeugeotTalbot andawholesale product plan

was instigated, ushering in an entirely new

generation of front-wheel drive Chrysler products

beginning with the Dodge Aries and Plymouth

Reliant K-Car twins in 1981.To help get the

company back on track, Iacocca was able to

convince Congress to provide loan guarantees

while the company restructured and took $1.2

billion of an available $1.5 billion in 1979,

repaying the money back in three years.

During his time at Chrysler,Iacoccabecame

acelebrity CEO and an American folk hero,

famous for his commercials such as “if you

can findabetter car,buy it! ”and “The New

Chrysler Corporation, we don’twant to be the

biggest, just the best.” He also released his

best-selling autobiography,which he co-wrote

with Willia mNovak. At Chrysler,Iacocca wasalso

able to bring to market key products that had

been conceived at Ford, including the minivan,

which emerged as the K-car based 1984 Dodge

Caravan and PlymouthVoyager,along with

the sporty Daytona/Laser and other seemingly

endless variations of the basic K-car theme that

ran from low-priced subcompacts, all the way

to near-luxurylimousines and ultimately the

outrageous Dodge Viper.

Iacocca retired as Chrysler Chairman in

1992 and three years later tried to assist in

an unsuccessful takeover of the company by

billionaire Kirk Kervorkian. Always outspoken

andlarge rthan life, Iacocca castahuge

shadow on the American automotive industry,

but at his funeral, Monsignor Howard Lincoln,

of Iacocca’shome parish, Sacred Heart

Church in Palm Desert, California, said that

despite his ability to move mountains, he was

alwaysafamil yman atheart. Hisyoungest

daughter Kathryn was quoted as saying

that no matter his busy work schedule, her

dad “was always home for dinner” and that

“everyinter action mattered”.

Remembering an

industry icon

c

w

t

im

t

t

s

w

Evans reflects on the life of legendary auto executive

Lee Iacocca, who passed away in July...

d

Lee Iacocca, second left, with
the one millionth Mustang.

HuwEvans

Across

thepond