Dentz Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 (edited) A true genius has passed today. Father of the pony car and with Chrysler he pretty much saved Windsor Ontario in my opinion (home of the magic wagon!) Thank you for all your revolutionary visions. You are already missed. My Dad had the pleasure of spending some time with him in the mid eighties (supervisor at minivan plant for 39 years) and still has the cigar Mr Iacocca gave him. If you've never read his book do so. Edited July 3, 2019 by Dentz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snake45 Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 I need to build a black Mustang. RIP, Lee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Handley Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 28 minutes ago, Snake45 said: I need to build a black Mustang. RIP, Lee. Kinda want to dig out one of my FWD Daytona kits now too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bucky Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 An Iacocca Memorial build might be fun. Thank you, sir, for rescuing the Pentastar! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteski Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 1 hour ago, Bucky said: An Iacocca Memorial build might be fun. Thank you, sir, for rescuing the Pentastar! . . . and those cool (but ill-fated) stainless steel DeLorians. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Handley Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 1 hour ago, peteski said: . . . and those cool (but ill-fated) stainless steel DeLorians. I don't believe he had anything to do with the Delorean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYLIBUD Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 Wow what a shocker.RIP Lee Iacocca. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteski Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 (edited) 2 hours ago, Joe Handley said: I don't believe he had anything to do with the Delorean. Um, brainfart! DeLorean was made by John DeLorean. I have no idea why I wrote that. Maybe because of the Chrysler connection? Edited July 3, 2019 by peteski Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxer Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 One of the true car guys that made it happen! RIP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard Cohen Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 I read Lee's book many years ago and later the Ford story. How Lee managed to get the cars built at Ford, and later at Chrysler, is well worth the read. Convincing Ford to build the Mustang took a lot of 'round parts' to get a new car after the debacle of the Edsel as Ford was near bankruptcy. Lee did not always get along with the Fords but managed to make them car leaders and extremely wealthy. Later on, when Lee went to Chrysler, the way he managed to get the company going was amazing. Lee stood up to the unions and the government and made them understand what was happening and saved the company. Oh, his salary for the first few year at Chrysler was $1 a year plus stock options. If the company tanked, he would have too...it didn't. I remember watching a program when Chrysler first showed the minivan. Lee was talking and remarked that the minivan had wire wheel covers and he didn't like them but that was okay. Lee could sell cars and he could sell unions and governments. He seemed to know just what the public wanted and gave it to them. Quite a car guy! RIP Lee... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 Wow! I'm a big Iacocca fan, he was the true car guy who made things happen. He was originally in sales at Ford, and first got noticed as a zone manager in 1956. Ford missteped that year and advertised safety... things like seat belts, padded dash and safety glass and the public didn't respond. Then Ford noticed one zone outselling the others... Iacocca started his own local campaign based on financing "$56 in '56" and did very well. He was elevated to corporate as a result. Note that aside from the Mustang, Lee had pitched the mini van at Ford but was not successful in getting it in production. Maybe it wasn't the right time, but once at Chrysler he created the Dodge Caravan / Plymouth Voyager twins and created a whole new market segment. When my girls were growing up in the 1980s nearly every family had a Chrysler mini van. We had three! RIP Lee! I read Lee's book and it's definitely worth the read! Another good book on Chrysler is Bob Lutz's book "Guts". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snake45 Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 10 hours ago, Bucky said: An Iacocca Memorial build might be fun. I'd be up for that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russell C Posted July 4, 2019 Share Posted July 4, 2019 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89AKurt Posted July 4, 2019 Share Posted July 4, 2019 RIP On 7/2/2019 at 7:47 PM, Bucky said: An Iacocca Memorial build might be fun. [...] Good idea! I have something that would qualify. I grabbed one because I heard about the Indy controversy, figured it would become a collector's item. Yea right, highest dream "rare" price is $25, average is less than $10 on eBay, story of my life. Some came in pearl white, I can do that instead of the puke yellow. https://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/26/business/a-pace-car-made-quickly-in-us.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Handley Posted July 4, 2019 Share Posted July 4, 2019 If we're doing a memorial build off, I already found one of my RC2 reissue Daytona Shelby Z kits! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrObsessive Posted July 4, 2019 Share Posted July 4, 2019 (edited) Thanks for posting that Russell! That brings back memories of how Chrysler back then was getting on top of their game, with the yet to be introduced "cab forward" cars that came up a couple years later. Sad to see how much Chrysler has fallen.......to be owned by Fiat and who knows for how much longer. EDIT: BTW, a car on my "bucket list" to own one of these days is a second gen Viper. While the first gen wasn't bad, it was too basic and the last gen I just didn't care for at all. The second gen they got it right IMO. Edited July 4, 2019 by MrObsessive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Nemanic Posted July 4, 2019 Share Posted July 4, 2019 "When you see a better car, buy it." I did. It was called a Honda Prelude. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snake45 Posted July 4, 2019 Share Posted July 4, 2019 6 hours ago, MrObsessive said: That brings back memories of how Chrysler back then was getting on top of their game In the early '80s, I was working with a guy who would buy 100 shares of Chrysler stock every month. It was selling in the 3s at that time and I think he even bought some at UNDER $3 a share. I laughed at him at the time. Not laughing today. I WISH I'd followed suit. I could have retired years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodent Posted July 4, 2019 Share Posted July 4, 2019 12 hours ago, MrObsessive said: Thanks for posting that Russell! That brings back memories of how Chrysler back then was getting on top of their game, with the yet to be introduced "cab forward" cars that came up a couple years later. Did you know that the LH Platform cars were based on the Renault 21/25 ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slusher Posted July 5, 2019 Share Posted July 5, 2019 I use to clean up the cars of the newspaper owner cars and he had an 85 Carivan and an 85 Labaron enjoy both cars when I drove them. I was 21 and I wanted a Carivan. Well I still drive Chrysler products and I have a Carivan and my wife has a charger. I think he was a very smart man... I didn't know he died.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted July 5, 2019 Share Posted July 5, 2019 12 hours ago, Rodent said: Did you know that the LH Platform cars were based on the Renault 21/25 ? Check out the stories on the Allpar.com site: a lot of us would be surprised to hear that a lot of the early Nineties Chrysler products like the "cab forward" cars were actually AMC designs. One guy said that if you'd walked into Chrysler's engineering or styling departments in the years following the AMC buyout, you'd have thought AMC took over Chrysler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted July 5, 2019 Share Posted July 5, 2019 12 minutes ago, Mark said: Check out the stories on the Allpar.com site: a lot of us would be surprised to hear that a lot of the early Nineties Chrysler products like the "cab forward" cars were actually AMC designs. One guy said that if you'd walked into Chrysler's engineering or styling departments in the years following the AMC buyout, you'd have thought AMC took over Chrysler. Yes! When Chrysler bought AMC they realized that the AMC guys were used to making something from nothing and with no money. So Chrysler decided to see what they could do with money! The first design was the big Jeep wagon, and it became Car of the Year! I think I'll pull out Lee's book and read it again! Great story! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TarheelRick Posted July 5, 2019 Share Posted July 5, 2019 R.I.P Mr Mustang, got to love your vision. I read his book many years ago. One quote (paraphrased) has stuck with me, "US universities graduate 10 lawyers for every 1 engineer. Japanese universities graduate 10 engineers for every 1 lawyer. Do you see the problem?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madhorseman Posted July 5, 2019 Share Posted July 5, 2019 It's nice to see no one is saying anything bad about Lee Iacocca also being the father of the Mustang II. My 1st Mustang was a 2 year old '77 black n gold Cobra II. I have owned 3 II's. 2 '77's, and 1 78 King. R I P Mr Iacocca Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bucky Posted July 5, 2019 Share Posted July 5, 2019 I liked the Mustang II, myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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