"He was born Lido Anthony Iacocca on Oct. 15, 1924, in Allentown, Pa., one of two children of Nicola and Antoinette Perrotto Iacocca, immigrants from San Marco, Italy...Their father had little education. He started as a hot-dog vendor in Allentown..."
Would Nicola be admitted into the USA under Trumps proposed rules?
Probably not. Without his son Lee, Detroit would have been forever changed and lessened during the 60s, 70s ad 80's.
41
@TomD Perhaps, and this may sound crazy, political circumstances have changed over the past 95 years and our policies should not be the same as in 1924.
Controversial, but give it some thought.
6
@EGD And then you'd drive by a big box hardware store where they'd be standing with dozens of other immigrants looking for work, pick them up to labor at your business or home, right?
2
@TomD
Iacocca’s parents would have had to cross the border illegally near Nogales and then make their way to California to take shelter in our sanctuary state while taxpayers like me provided them with housing, welfare, and health care while local Democrats registered them to vote.
12
always admired him, but i bet today he'd be going the way of Roger Ailes. Frank Sinatra??
Or a smart version of the current POTUS.
1
I was a treasury agent in the 1980s and the only cars the Customs Service bought were Chrysler K-cars. They routinely fell apart on the road. I recall driving one when the oil pan plug fell out at 60 miles per hour. Another time I went to make a left turn and the turn signal fell off the steering column. The government would have been better off buying Toyotas.
8
He put the same dedication, vision and hard work into leading the fund development to restore the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Without him, obtaining the funds for the restoration would have taken many more years or possibly wouldn't have happened at all. He understood that America was built by immigrants like his parents and how immigrants continued to build our country and fuel its growth. RIP Lee
11
Iaocca represented a lot of what was good and bad about post-World War 2 America.
3
how fitting. I remember the July 4th fireworks over the newly restored Statue of liberty, of which he was instrumental.......fond feelings
2
My mother taught me never to disparage the deceased but in Iacocca’s case I’ll make an exception. I bought a Dodge Omni in 1982 in part owing to Iacocca’s claim that it’s quality was on par with Japanese imports. What a crock and Iacocca knew it. The car was a lemon - worst car, by a few orders of magnitude, I ever owned. The transmission had to be replaced after 2000 miles. Fit and finish were abysmal. None of the switches worked properly. I abandoned the car after 6 years and my local wrecking yard refused my gratis donation because they had too many Omnis in their lot. The man was a masterful liar and I still regret falling for his nonsense.
5
For those of you who didn't know this, Iacocca is an acronym for "I am chairman of Chyrsler Corporation of America".
12
.
An American story.
An American original.
And an immigrant story.
13
Yes, It's all coming back to me now.
Part of me - the leftie part of me, tells myself that capitalism is only really free market capitalism when it's for the poor and working-class because of what Iacocca started in asking and getting that loan to bail out a massive for-profit company.
But the other part of me - the idea part, that loves big historical characters says to myself that in this day when Hedge Fund managers and other uninterestingly helmed investment groups are the norm, there is something that better explains how America really became America; and that's because of people like Iaccoca.
It was hucksterism and pure American roll the dice and smarts all at the same time.
And please do not compare Trump to this man. Trump is a vile liar and Iacocca was never that. Ever.
14
Henry Ford 2nd was the Donald Trump of his era. His over-sized ego could not handle a first generation Italian achieving so much success as Mr Iacocca did at Ford. He offered the arrogant explanation for the firing that the Ford name was on the HQ and that justified the firing of Iacocca. A big ego out of control. Ford or Trump? Both!
5
What a great man. The son of IMMIGRANTS.
11
Man - that K Car!!! What a roaring success! Iacocca and his ilk refused to actually compete with imports, because they were lazy, didn't think that anyone could truly compete with domestic auto makers, and started that long, inexorable decline in quality relative to Japanese autos.
Which brings us to Ford now, which has announced that they will no longer even try to compete and have abandoned manufacture of cars, because they've completely given up and will no longer even try.
American auto makers - bloated bureaucracies with no sense of urgency and no sense of responsibility towards the industry they inherited from the likes of visionaries like Henry Ford.
Make America great again - what a joke.
10
He gave us the Chrysler Minivan.
The most treacherous vehicle on America’s roads.
2
I talked my mom into buying a K car, the price was right and there was always Lee on TV. That simple car lasted 14 years. Then I took a chance and bought a dodge mini van in 88. That thing was a nightmare, soon to find out from an insider that quality control inspectors were told to pass everything. Yes Mr Iacocca was a salesman of the highest order, but I’ll never buy a Chrysler product ever again. Some visionary, fought against safety and emissions like every other profiteer. RIP dude, you made your mark, just another profiteer of the American greed machine.
2
For the last 50 years Chrysler made junk. The K car was built using a 4 cylinder motor designed and abandoned from VW. When Fiat bought Chrysler they immediately cancelled a number of Chrysler vehicles as they were junk. Fiat knows from junk!
3
I fail to be impressed by Iacocca. The Mustang never was, and still isn't any kind of sports car. The cars Chrysler came out with under his stewardship were gas guzzling pieces of junk that rusted away in a few years (I had one, trust me). Then there were the government hand outs. American cars under his stewardship were second rate compared with what came from Europe and Asia. Only recently, and long after Iacocca had retired, have American cars come up to the quality standards set by the Europeans and Asians
12
I admired this man!
2
Wish I had a Bullitt Mustang!
2
The next visionary American automaker will be the one who banishes SUVs from the streets.
6
One sentence about the Pinto? Mr. Iacocca knew about the problem with the Pinto. He and Ford made a business calculation: cost of recall versus lawsuits over deaths. This was confirmed by Ford's own files. By conservative estimates the Pinto caused 500 burn deaths. Ford continued to produce the Pinto for 6 more years after discovering the design flaw. The Pinto's gas tank could and did burst into flames upon rear impact.
Ford continued making the Pinto knowing it was a firetrap. It paid out millions to settle damage suits out of court. It spent millions lobbying against safety standards. Mr. Iacocca reduced the design phase of the Pinto from 43 months to 25 months. He wanted Lee's car in showrooms as quickly as possible.
Iacocca paid a visit to Nixon's office and got the push for air bags eliminated.
Mr. Iacocca spent a good part of his career fighting to stop new safety measures.
He managed to obtain the governments guarantee for a $1.5 million dollar load to prevent Chrysler's bankruptcy. The bailouts in 2008 were not the first time the government came to the aid of companies who through bad management brought their companies to bankruptcies.
Chryslers' problems were not caused by Mr. Iacocca, He inherited them upon taking over as CEO.
11
This article highlights him as a Hero of the Auto Industry. Sorry! His biggest failure was the Ford Pinto which he was personally responsible for nixing the $2 fix that would prevent the fireball explosion caused by rear end collisions. In an article written by the Ford's then recall program manager, Lee has a famous saying "Safety does not sell!" because of which they didn't fix any of the problems and finally stopped manufacturing after a family of 4 with two children got burnt to death,. The car was on the Ford Lineup for years. Also, thanks to him, they blamed the drivers for not knowing how to drive, they spent billions lobbying the regulators and paying famous actors to say it was a safe car. The article written by the Ex Ford Pinto Recall Manager is in every MBA Ethics Class even today! Typical, Friedman capitalism - it's all about making profit and not paying the "social taxes"
14
Just outside a classroom, in the hallway of Allen High School in Allentown, PA, there is a plaque on the wall. The plaque is dedicated to the memory of a teacher. A teacher who instilled in a young high school student, a passion for mathematics and engineering. The plaque was paid for, by that student, after he went on to use that knowledge and passion to become an engineer and businessman. That students name was Lee Iacocca.
5
Lee Iacocca is one of the true versions of the great American myth. As has been said, if you can do, it isn't bragging...
2
The article reveals what we in Detroit know; that President Carter and President Obama later have always been willing to offer assistance to Detroit's auto industry in the interest of saving jobs.
3
Iacocca: A triumph of image over substance. you think of somebody else who came to prominence in the 80s who meets that description?
5
Mr. Iacocca made decisions worth celebrating; but his derogatory language to defend a trail of safety blunders (Pinto, rebuke of mandatory safety belt and bag) and discredit superior Japanese cars was toxic. He prevented a legitimate debate on safety and chose to ignore an exemplary peer, Mr. Pehr Gyllenhammer (CEO in 1971 at the age of 36) who transformed Volvo to build safe, reliable and less polluting vehicles, pioneering the 1976 three-way catalytic converter which removes pollutants from all cars to this day. Volvo’s 1959 three-point seat belt is today’s standard and its safety measures for women the first pedestrian airbag are on the same trajectory.
Alas this article suffers from an institutional practice of not delving behind the news headlines to show that Iacocca was the product of a generation of CEOs who paid attention to short-term profit for the benefit of controlling shareholders. Rather than blaming Iacocca, Jack Welsh et al, and the journalists who contributed to their rise, we must ask the pre-2008 U.S. business-school deans to account for the virtual absence of innovation, as a mandatory course and for grooming students to privilege the shareholder’s model and do the minimum to get by with other stakeholders. In journalism, Mr. Ochs’ mission (Times 1891) is less featured in school curricula.
Our grasp of issues is impaired when we look at individuals in isolation of the social-system thinking of their time and fail to look beyond our borders for foresight
6
Mr. Iacocca made decisions worth celebrating; but his derogatory language to defend a trail of safety blunders (Pinto, rebuke of mandatory safety belt and bag) and discredit superior Japanese cars was toxic. He prevented a legitimate debate on safety and chose to ignore an exemplary peer, Mr. Pehr Gyllenhammer (CEO in 1971 at the age of 36) who transformed Volvo to build safe, reliable and less polluting vehicles, pioneering the 1976 three-way catalytic converter which removes pollutants from all cars to this day. Volvo’s 1959 three-point seat belt is today’s standard and its safety measures for women the first pedestrian airbag are on the same trajectory.
Alas this article suffers from an institutional practice of not delving behind the news headlines to show that Iacocca was the product of a generation of CEOs who paid attention to short-term profit for the benefit of controlling shareholders. Rather than blaming Iacocca, Jack Welsh et al, and the journalists who contributed to their rise, we must ask the pre-2008 U.S. business-school deans to account for the virtual absence of innovation, as a mandatory course and for grooming students to privilege the shareholder’s model and do the minimum to get by with other stakeholders. In journalism, Mr. Ochs’ mission (Times 1891) is less featured in school curricula.
Our grasp of issues is impaired when we look at individuals in isolation of the social-system thinking of their time and fail to look beyond our borders for foresight
1
My family stopped buying "American" cars by 1978. What's the point of buying an inferior product?
1
Iacocca was there and made the crummy American cars of the 50's through 80's; cars which were near-worthless once they hit 50,000 miles. McNamara was his boss---and another guy who produced tin-can cars. American cars only started to improve when Toyota, Datsun (now Nissan), Volkswagen, and Mercedes-Benz made such obviously better products.
I bought my 1965 Mustang brand-new, but at 35,000 miles I had to have the 289 engine re-done. At 50,000 miles there was a rust hole in the trunk. I replaced the top---twice. I loved the car and kept it running for 100,000 miles before giving it to a friend who was broke and needed a car. That was in 1973, and it was then worth next to nothing.
2
I grew up in the Detroit area and my Dad was employed in the auto industry in a blue collar job, but not in the Big Three. He lost his job in the early 70's, and while he found work again, he had several periods of unemployment before his early retirement in the mid 80's. So our family knew very well the importance of work, not only to keep us fed and dry, but also for a person's self worth. I remember so well when Mr. Iacocca was on tv, whether in a commercial or an interview, the look of pride on my father's face. Lee would talk about American quality, innovation, and excellence. Just as Lee was fighting Hank the Duece and other corporate shirts, there were plenty of Detroit workers who were also committed to excellence, even though the stories about the less committed later dominated the headlines. So, thank you Mr. Ioacocca, for giving Detroit hope when we sorely needed it.
14
My first car in high school was a Ford Mustang 1970 used one year before I bought it. It was a metallic blue and I loved that car and will always remember it and Mr. Iacocca, who, by the way, did not sound like an easy man to live with.
We only met one time, when I was working for a small automaker.
He had the most amazing hands. Anyone who knew him can tell you his hands were big and thick and strong. He was warm, friendly and unassuming, his interests and manners were genuine.
My first car was a Ford Pinto, cheap reliable transportation. Ford also made the Mercury Cougar which was (I believe) built on the same chassis as the Mustang. It was just as sporty and had a little more class. My father bought one and we all loved it.
Those days are long gone. I think the truly innovative, sporty, fun American car of today is the Tesla.
2
If we had a Museum for Captains of Industry then Lee Iacocca would be in there with the greats. R.I.P.
Loved his 2007 book about Leadership. His concept of a true leader is one who exemplifies: Curiosity, Creative, Communicate, Character, Courage, Conviction, Charisma, Competent, Common Sense and the one he regards as most important, Crisis.
5
I have a hard time seeing the Visionary Automaker in Iacocca.
Yes the first Mustang was a nice car and a success but that was pretty much it.
America's car industry went down for the right reasons.
1
The early Mustangs were completely dependent upon the floorpan of the Ford Falcon, a model that Bob McNamara had championed but Iacocca and his sales confederates had trashed for being too small, too economical, and too emphasizing of safety.
He might have saved Chrysler, but it was the worse car I ever owned. Quality control did not exist on that vehicle.
2
When Robert McNamara headed Ford he developed a model called the Ford Falcon. It was small, inexpensive, practical, also ugly and a bust for Ford. Iacocca used that Falcon chassis as a base for the Mustang. It wasn't just brilliant design and market sensitivity, it was also a brilliant repurposing of design and inventory already on Ford's shelves.
He deserves as much credit for Chrysler's minivan. Iacocca had an instinctive sense of what car buyers would want and enjoy.
I don't know enough to judge his business ethics but the man was a highly gifted salesman, a motivating leader and a marketing genius.
7
Iacocca is an American icon. But his closed mindedness caused American cars to fall behind. He attributed the popularity of foreign cars to a “ mystique “ at a time when they only had 11% market share. Clearly cars have very measurable attributes and metrics: mpg, acceleration, stopping distance , reliability, etc. This hubris resulted in foreign cars eating his lunch: their market share grew to 27%!!!
2
You want to see Iacocca's real legacy? Tour the northeast side of Detroit. It's an industrial wasteland and the residential areas tend to look like Berlin 1945. At least a dozen Chrysler plants were shuttered. Dodge Main (it had peak employment of 40,000), Lynch Road assembly, Eldon Gear and Axle, Huber Foundry, etc., etc., etc. Stretches of burned out and vandalized houses. Empty lots. Some streets have well worn signs cautioning "Park Ahead - Children at Play" and the park consists of prairie high weeds and voluntary trees scattered among rusted swing sets blowing in the wind. Children? There's no children, just feral dogs.
The former headquarters city of Chrysler, Highland Park, had the street lights turned off several years ago for nonpayment.
The 1979 concessions may have saved Chrysler for a section of the executives but the workforce took it on the chin. The UAW became a shell, a company union that negotiated two-tier contracts. Crack cocaine became an epidemic.
Many parts of Detroit turned ghost town and they remain that way today. Real estate development (and casinos) came to the small downtown corridor but a city of almost three million shrank to less than 700,000. The Detroit Public School District went from the best (U of M study) to the worst in the country. Enrollment was once close to 300,000. Today? I believe it's around 40,000.
I notice that Mr. Iacocca didn't hang around. He moved on to the tonier clime of Bel Air, California. RIP Lee or RIP Detroit?
4
Looking at Mr. Iacoca and his mustang makes me feel very young again. I was a proud owner of a new 1964 Mustang I purchased for $2,500. The dealer was Gotham Ford located in Manhattan.
5
It's incredible how much credit we give individuals like Iacocca. He's just one guy. Give more credit to the workers and middle management that did all of the real work--and were compensated far less handsomely.
3
And, he did something that not one CEO today would have done, he paid in full the government loan w/interest early.
5
This reminds me of shopping for a new car for my wife. It was the time of Iacocca's Chrysler "Best Built American Cars".
My wife had a particular popular model Chrysler she was interested in. I popped the hood on the vehicle and found a lovely Japanese engine.
To be clear, I don't have a problem with a vehicle having a Japanese engine. I have a problem with people who lie to me.
3
“The guaranteed loans were repaid in four years, seven years early. Americans were buying cars at a record clip again, including Chrysler’s new minivans and compacts. The company’s $1.7 billion loss in 1980 had become a $2.4 billion profit by 1984.”
Yeah, Americans were buying cars in solid numbers, largely because Ronny Reagan went on a 2 trillion dollar debt fueled spending spree between 1982 and 1984.
Right, “morning in America”, and ironically Keynesian. If incredibly wasteful and tied up in “deregulation” and massive corporate tax breaks, which I’m sure Chrysler took advantage of so as to increase profits.
Now, purchase a Chrysler K car in 1982 and purchase a Toyota Camry or Honda Accord in 1982, maintain them, change oil regularly, and drive them under the same conditions. In 1997 which one was still a solid car and which one had been trashed after multiple failures in 1992?
Submitted July 3rd 9:43 AM
2
I had a 35 year career in the automotive industry and was there and working in a Dodge dealership when he became the Chrysler Chairman. He sent credit cards out in the amount of $500.00 to use as a down payment. We all marveled that he still had enough clout at Ford to get the mailing list for millions of potential customers. I saw first hand what he did for the automotive industry and workers in plants in failing Detroit. I also had a lot of fun with his Mustangs in the 60's as a teen. I bought his books and I was one of a lot of Americans that thought he had the ideals and knowledge to lead our country. He was a leader in the best years when American cars led the race. Stodgy, unimaginative, and stubborn owners of the Big Three led to American automotive downfall. They believed they never had to change to lead the world. They were sadly wrong. It took mavericks like Iacocca and engineers who pushed hard to stay in the race at the end. The good guys lost to the owners. Lee Iacocca is the symbol of how great the U.S. once was and will probably never be again in automotive manufacturing. In those glory days my catch phrase was "I would work for him for free if I could just sit at his feet and learn what he knows". I still feel the same. I have shed a few tears today upon hearing of the loss of this legend of a man as well as the glory days of an industry I loved so well.
42
While many of us will remember him for the Mustang and later saving Chrysler with the K-cars (oceans of which were bought by governments), I will never forget Lee Iacocca's philanthropic work after his automotive career.
He established The Iococca Family Foundation was a very vocal advocate of diabetes research and one could argue that he was to diabetes what Jerry Lewis was to muscular dystrophy. I remember him once, on The Today Show, I believe, stating that, with enough donations, they could find the cure to diabetes within 10 years. I still believe him.
God rest his soul.
28
I believe Japan was gaining a foothold in the American car market well before the 1980s. I recall moving into my first apartment after getting married in 1979. My landlord had just picked up a new Honda Accord and at the time, Honda dealers were applying a "consumer demand" surcharge for the car.
Translation: There was so much demand for Accords that dealers could jack up the price. They had been hot cars since their introduction a few years earlier. Iacocca could have seen this coming as early as the mid-1970s and countered with an American version, but didn't.
At the time, I owned a 1977 Ford Econoline 350 van, which was useful for moving lots of stuff but not a very practical form of daily transportation. The build quality was average and reliability wasn't great.
I bought my first Honda Civic in 1982 for all of $7,000 and have never owned an American car since. Ironically, Ford has a popular, affordable, and reliable sedan (the Focus) but has opted to get out of building cars to concentrate on truck and SUVs.
3
@hdtvpete agreed. While I admire Iacocca's work, adore the Mustang, and secretly love minivans, I too was burned too many times by GM to ever want to own an American car. I drive a Honda or Volvo now. Cars that tempted me, like the final generation Focus, got the axe in favor of the ubiquitous and boring crossover or giant, fake-macho lifted bro-truck.
I do own (and work hard) an (unlifted) full-sized Chevy pickup I got used, and it has the virtual of being old enough for me to do many of the (thankfully, infrequent) repairs myself.
@hdtvpete
It was the 1972 gas crisis that gave the Japanese automakers a leg up in the American market. As gas prices rose the absurd fuel consumption of American V8 engines became relevant. he small fuel efficient cars that were brought over found customers eager to shed the burden of their gas guzzlers. Never mind that Hondas were notorious rust buckets, they sold like hotcakes.
When US automakers were forced to compete, they produced vehicles that were even worse than their foreign competitors. The Japanese and the Europeans improved their engineering and quality while the big three continued with planned obsolescence. It took US automakers almost 40 years to catch up with their foreign competition. We now build world class cars and trucks, and it's about time.
1
@hdtvpete
You are correct. Japan gained a strong foothold in the early to mid '70's during the energy crises. Their fuel efficient cars proved much more desirable than American gas guzzlers. Auto buyers also learned that Japanese auto manufacturing was superior to US manufacturing, and shed the post WWII misperception that the Japanese made junk.
1
Not bad for the son of a hot dog vendor. And any person responsible, even in part, for the Mustang deserves a place in the history books.
One other thing Mr. Iacocca is responsible for: the rise of the celebrity CEO culture, and the runaway CEO compensation packages that went with that lifestyle. After famously accepting a $1 annual salary at Chrysler, Mr. Iacocca's take home in 1987--albeit, after a dramatically successful turnaround of Chrysler's fortunes--amounted to about $20 million, unadjusted, mostly by way of stock. (that's about $44 million today). This was part of a trend started in the mid 1980s when CEO salaries rose at an absurd pace that far, far outstripped employee salaries. The CEO-to-worker salary ratio (for SP 500 companies) was about 27 to one in 1978. By 1989 that number jumped to 58 to one. Today, that number is a staggering 271 to one--and climbing.
No, you can't wholly blame Lee Iacocca for this inequity, but he certainly became the face and chief spokesperson of a new CEO celebrity culture in the 1980s, when, by virtue of their telegenic qualities, CEOs convinced American workers and policymakers that they had a "magic wand", warranting previously unseen salaries.
16
"Visionary" would have been transitioning away from fossil-fuel dependent transportation at a time when it would have make a material difference for future generations.
12
Let's set the record straight on one account. Yes, Lee Iacocca fought tooth and nail against airbags, as all auto industry leaders did. No one wanted to add the expensive devices to their cars.
In the early 1970s both GM and Ford offered airbags in a select few of their vehicles. By 1977 they were tossed and both corporations fought to keep them out of any future cars they sold.
Then in the late 1980's, Lee Iacocca figured out that safety could be a selling pint for his cars and made airbags standard in all 1990 Chrylser passenger vehicles.
Within a few years all automakers followed suit. Thousands of lives have been saved by airbags since.
If I am not mistaken, the Japanese were among the last to install airbags as standard equipment.
He was a businessman with his pulse on the bottom line before he was a techinical visionary. That does not diminish his accomplishments or his contributions to the industry and our culture.
9
My first new car was a 85 Jeep Cherokee and within two years it fell apart. Even the paint fell off. By then Chrysler took over so I wrote Lee a personal letter with a photo of me with my new Toyota Land Cruiser. He wrote back saying I'd be a hard sell for another Chrysler product. I have to admit, he had a good sense of humor. I still drive that Toyota, now over 30 years old.
13
Sadly, my memories of Iacocca are dominated by the Ford Pinto fiasco that became a staple in my bioengineering ethics course. It became the focus of a debate question that still animates engineering ethics: "What is the monetary value of a human life?"
7
@Howard Winet..."What is the value...?" One can start with the basic cost of the materials comprising a human. After that, the cost is determined by social, cultural and economic forces. The extreme can be the cost to protect heads of states, ransoms paid for kidnappings to deliberately letting an individual die without offering assistance.
Yes, he was the genius behind the Mustang. But he also was behind the Mustang II and the K-cars (horrific concepts). All should remember that he was in-charge of the auto industry during the period where Japan and Germany were rebuilding after WWII, hence no overseas competition. Once those countries auto industries came on-line, he really didn't do so well.
5
@Mike I've come from hating the Mustang II to admitting it was the best one could do in an awful time, except for the Mercury Capri. They might have just imported more of them and called them a Mustang.
Nearly every domestic was a dreadful car, with dreadful build quality in the 70s. In comparison, the K-Car of the 80s was carefully built. It was as sexy as a pair of sensible shoes, but it did its job. We had a fleet of them for state government then and they got thrashed, yet they never let us down with the sorts of gremlins that beset cars from a decade before.
4
Too bad he didn't see Toyota and Datsun coming and make American cars reliable and more fun to drive.
For example he could have put a 4-speed and upgraded suspension in the 6-cylinder cars of his era and they would have been great cars. But they would have competed with the more expensive V8's, and so they languished as boring economy cars. The Japanese ate his lunch in the middle and low end of the market, and still make better cars, although the sport models (Mustang, Camaro, Corvette etc) are competitive.
5
I worked at Ford in an advanced vehicle group. Under Iacocca's direction we were working on a small van concept called the Mini-Max. The platform could also be used to build small cars. When he was fired, we were instructed to roll up those drawings and consider the Mini-Max and other cars that were Iacocca's projects dead. He took those designs to Chrysler and created the K-car and mini van that saved that company. Had Ford built those cars at that time they would have buried Chrysler. I often saw him in the design center studios. He had an amazing presence about him. But out in public he was very shy.
16
@Speedo
One of the things I remember about Mr. Iacocca was a TV ad for Chrysler mini vans. It must have been a few years after they were introduced.
Speaking about the competition his punch line was "we showed them how to do it and they still couldn't get it right".
4
I still remember his ads from the late 80's and early 90's challenging consumers to find a better car. 30 years later I still see plenty of old Hondas and Toyotas from that era on the road but I rarely if ever see a 30 year old Chrysler product (aside from old Jeeps which are sought-after and restored). However, I can't remember any Honda and Toyota commercials from the era. A good salesman for inferior products.
His purchase of AMC for Jeep is one of the factors that is still keeping Chrysler alive today (as long as gas remains cheap) so he did make some smart long-term moves.
8
@MKG
Yes, Chrysler is alive in name only as Fiat purchased Chrysler mostly to obtain the Jeep label which is still considered a goldmine thanks to the WWII "Willey's" image (Jeep & Chrysler products are customarily ranked poorly in reliability and customer construction complaints by auto groups and Consumer Reports for years now).
1
@MKG
I have a 1973 Dodge Dart Sport 340 parked in the garage.
1
I grew up with Chrysler cars in the family. My first four cars were from Chrysler ( three Plymouths and a Dodge).
Lee Iacocca not only brought Chrysler back from the brink, he made it relevant again. When he left, the relevance started to slip. When Daimler bought Chrysler, the relevance went away for good.
In 2005, I took Mr. Iacocca's advice, via his old ad slogan; "If you can find a better car...buy it!"
6
Overall a life well lived! He made mistakes he was human but he made a effort to be a success.The country at that time seemed to trust him of all things a car salesman.
4
Lee was an American General who got things done with courage, hard work and grit. There were casualties and there was hubris but he held the line for the American auto industry when it faced collapse.
7
I remember him speaking on TV and saying for a business to be successful people had to either "lead, follow, or get out of the way." The admonishment to stop whining when things aren't going well and do something resonated with me then--and still does.
6
I believe I met him and his wife a few years back while my girlfriend and I were on vacation in Providenciales in The West Indies.
We were invited to their magnificent home on the beach, went snorkeling, and had lunch, and talked about Chryslers. At the time I was a UK citizen and it was a special holiday for us. The sense I got at the time was that he was interested in getting to know the opinion of ordinary people like myself and my girlfriend. We'd rented a Chrysler leBaron in Miami, and he wanted to know our opinions, what we thought of the performance, finish, etc. He seemed proud of the car, and its value for money.
But he did say he ran the Chrysler Corporation, and I didn't remember his name. Now I know.
I do remember him struggling to swim around the coral reef outside his home, and thinking to myself that with all his wealth and power, he was still a mere mortal like any of us.
Rest in peace, Mr. Iacocca, and thanks for lunch.
15
@Joe Aaron, in Mr. Iacocca’s obit, it mentioned he had a severe case of rheumatic fever in high school and had lingering effects from the fever that prevented him from going off to war (WWII) so Mr. Iacocca went off to college.
Rheumatic fever is an inflammatory disease that can involve the heart, brain, joints and skin.
4
No doubt he abhorred socialism as much as Jamie Dimon while simultaneously cashing his billion dollar government checks. Funny how that works.
44
@Xoxarle
Billion dollar government checks?
2
@Xoxarle
He was a great American, period. The Left wants to kill Capitalism and demean anyone who uses it to become successfull. They hate this article about someone who exemplified the heights to which the son of a Hot Dog vendor could rise to. (based on all the sad negative responses I read here)
He borrowed money to save Chrysler to save it and jobs and paid it back. No different than Obama bailing out the Auto Industry and them paying it back.
He would have made a great President.
I think he would be appalled at how Socialist the Left has become and would be a Trump supporter. Of that I have no doubt.
Read the article.
1
The Mustang was originally a car for mom.
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@Scott D: My stepfather bought a '65 Mustang for his mother, but while he was driving it to her, he was so disappointed with how it drove that he traded it in for a Buick Skylark. I ended up with the Skylark years later, and it was a good car, but it could have been great if it had a 4-speed transmission instead of the stupid 2-speed torque converter that they called a transmission.
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@Scott D -- The Mustang was focused like a laser beam on the California market.
1
Who is today's Lee Iacocca?
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Do you mean which CEOs would rather pay less to compensate dead or injured customers rather than pay more to fix dangerous design flaws?
Most of them, surely. Certainly GM and Boeing.
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@Dave
Zuckerberg. Equal parts marketing genius and huckster.
@Dave Not Trump if that's what you're thinking. Trump is a pathological liar who pits people against each other and uses hate and lies with equal effect constantly. Iacocca was an example of the mythological American Dream made somewhat real. Trump was handed $400+ million to then blow it with horrible business decisions. Iacocca was self made.
2
This man was a marketing genius, who saved both Ford and Chrysler from the junk heap. He might have made a good president.
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@paul
How does marketing make a good president? I don't want to be sold anything. Skill, talent, knowledge, intelligence, honor, integrity, creativity, vision, energy -- those things make a good president.
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@paul. Why do people persist in believing that managing a company is the same as leading a country? Not to belabor the obvious but our nation is not ( or wasn’t meant to be) a business.
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@paul He knew his limitations, unlike others I could name.
1
Lee Iacocca may have a myriad of accomplishments but for me, Lee’s legacy will always be the Ford Pinto (Lee’s car). The Ford Pinto which exploded on impact when hit in the rear cost and ruined the lives of hundreds for a lousy $2-$3 part. The saddest part in this horrific tragedy was Ford (Lee Iacocca) was well aware of the problem before hand and decided to move ahead with production……all in the name of profit.
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@A.A.F.The issue was the placement of the gas tank directly behind the Pinto's rear bumper. At one of the trials, two Ford documents were introduced into evidence. One was from the lawyers projecting the number of deaths over the lifespan of the car, the number of lawsuits and the potential legal liability in dollars, The other document was from manufacturing -- the cost per car to move the tank times the number of Pintos Ford expected to produce. The manufacturing cost was higher than the legal cost, so Iacocca decided to leave the gast tank were it was.
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The Mustang changed everything.
That era is long gone now. Cars are devouring the world. Enough already.
13
When I was a kid we thought it was a hoot that his name, Iacocca, was also his job title.
"I Am Chairman Of Chrysler Corporation of America"
RIP sir. Thanks for the ride.
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What a contrast can be seen between Mr. Iacocca, a person who started from humble means to build multiple careers and Mr. Trump, who started with a loan from his crook of a father to build a world of credit. lies and divisiveness.
Mr. Iacocca was far from perfect, but I'd trust him over Trump any day of the week.
My first new car was a Maverick station wagon, the kind that didn't explode.
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@mjbarr
sorry to tell you there never was a Maverick station wagon.
1
I always remember the comedian Robert Klein's joke about Iacocca's tag line.
"If you can find a better car, buy it. Americans are. They're called Hondas and Toyotas."
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@Steve I was a junior copywriter at Chrysler's ad agency in 1980. I gave that tag line to Iacocca, but I stole it from Walter Chrysler.
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One throw away sentence about the Pinto. That episode is taught in college public administration, and occasionally, business ethics classes as a classic example of negligent and profit-driven corporate decisions making. To me, the Pinto is his legacy.
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@Bubba Brown
It was a terrible decision to be sure, made for the wrong reasons. But what is it with our modern American tendency to always look for the worst mistake in a person's life or career and make THAT their "legacy"? People are complex, and even generally good or wise ones make bad choices or decisions in the course of a long life. It is arrogant of us to demand an unattainable perfection and ignore decades of good choices and decisions. Could you or I stand up to such a standard?
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Great article about a fantastic genius and businessman, I wish that many young people read about his life .
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Yes, Lee Iacocca brought us the wonderful Mustang. (I learned to drive on one from the very first model year, and will never forget the exhilarating handling and acceleration.) But let's remember that he also rushed the Pinto into production, and the result was a deathtrap and a coverup by the Ford Motor Company. And later, at Chrysler, Iacocca cemented his status as the most anti-safety executive in the industry by fighting tooth-and-nail against airbag requirements, headrests, and other (now standard) equipment that has saved many lives.
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The great prototype of a "capitalist" with hands out for government subsidies.
It's the hypocrisy that's stinks.
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@David Henry
It was not a "subsidy" nor a loan, but a guarantee of a loan. Similar to SBA loans that are guaranteed. And he paid the loan back early. Not one Federal dollar went to Chrysler. No excuse for the Pinto, but let's keep the history straight.
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@Peter
The "great" capitalist needed government to survive. The record is as straight as can be.
@David Henry Don't let Republicans confuse you - government spending isn't socialism.
A policy that doesn't involve seizing the means of production isn't socialist. Every government throughout history has promoted commerce in some way.
2
His was a great life. People like Mr. Iacocca helped make this country great.
That being said, if you graduated from high school in 1942, why did you not serve in WW II? This is a missing part of an otherwise splendid obit.
Something in is missing. You can't be an American hero and not serve in that war.
Maybe he had bone spurs.
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@Joe Aaron
The article states he had rheumatic fever. This can cause joint swelling, pain and generalized weakness, as well as affect heart function (although the latter is unlikely, as he lived to age 94). He was not born into wealth as Trump was, and also did not have a doctor fabricate a diagnosis to unconscionably avoid military service as Trump did.
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@Joe Aaron
did you miss the part about lingering effects of rheumatic fever? the article did not state what those lingering effects were, but can often be weakened cardiac function. Also his father could not afford to buy a diagnosis like President “Bone Spurs”.
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@Joe Aaron
Lingering effects of rheumatic fever, according to the article, prevented him from serving in WWII.
12
I once heard him say, in an interview, “ in the 70s we made lousy cars.” And I said to myself , yeah, but you were willing to take hard earned money for your lousy cars. So I bought a Honda, and have never looked back.
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A successful son of two immigrants.
That's always been the story of America.
Lee Iacocca 2020
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@Socrates
Nice post. Thank you.
10
The death of a great American. He invented the Mustang. A beautiful car, a dependable car and it was affordable. What a concept. He deserves to be honored and remembered.
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@Steve The Mustang was on the drawing board when Iacocca arrived at Ford. He was given credit for and accepted it without protest or addendum. Remember, he was an executive of enormous ego not unlike most "titans" of industry.
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@Englewood Steve
Iacocca joined Ford in the late 1940s. The Mustang was designed in 1962. Regardless of the true degree of Iacocca's involvement in the project, the above dates don't jibe with your assertion.
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An end of an era. Thanks for all you did, Mr. Iacocca. Your likes will scarcely be seen again.
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I remember reading his autobiography in the early eighties. Interesting man.
6
He was a hero to me and lots of gear heads who love automobile history. Whatever the man’s flaws, he gave us the Mustang. May he Rest In Peace.
15
As a young boy, I met him and Henry Ford II at the opening of the Ford Exhibit at the New York Worlds Fair. At age seven, I was far more impressed with meeting Walt Disney, who designed the Ford exhibit, the cars for which were Mustangs.
1
I owned a 1966 Ford Mustang GT for 13 years, and drove the car from my home in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Columbia, Mo., where I was attending journalism school, several times. It was the most exciting car I ever owned until I bought my 2015 Tesla Model S. But the Mustang went through 4 water pumps, and the rear fenders rusted out. And I’m disappointed to read Iaccoca opposed safety features like air bags.
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@Victor Sasson
Iaccoca opposed safety features like air bags until he perceived that safety features were a selling point. Not too different than an electric car. Chrysler was the first manufacturer with air bags as standard equipment in all of its cars.
5
I realize obituaries are intended to celebrate the life of the deceased. However, burying, “There were missteps: The Pinto burst into flames in rear-end collisions, and lives were lost.“ seems to be a gross understatement and whitewashing of Iacocca’s role in knowingly sending the Pintos into production despite knowledge of there deadly design. His engineers gave him the option of having a modification installed, but he felt Ford would loose less money in wrongful death lawsuits than the cost of making the Pinto safer. Yes lives were lost and he could have prevented it. People have been jailed for much less. This legacy of corporate greed at the expense of public safety should not be forgotten.
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@Will Robbins
Corporate greed also applies to health insurance companies. It is less expensive to allow select people to die and settle a wrongful death lawsuit then allow doctors to search for a zebra in a field of horses by ordering all appropriate diagnostics, treatment and medications that the companies deny coverage for, thus saving more money overall than what may be paid out in wrongful death cases.
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@Will Robbins Iacocco was also short sighted about seat belts and airbags. His myopia infiltrated the business world and for too long business has believed that profit- making is a more important sell than consumer safety. As a celebrity, Iacocca enjoyed perhaps more credibility than he deserved. Judging by how the celebrity of the current president helped to get him elected, maybe we dodged a bullet by not ever having a President Iacocca.
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@Will Robbins Any large industrial operation will result in some deaths. That is simply unavoidable. The question of what tradeoffs are acceptable to make is a difficult one - if our aim was to make a car that results in the least number of deaths we'd have to add massively in price, forgo a number of fun features and otherwise compromise.
That case did go to trial and courts, from what I remember, decided there was no case. If you set the precedent of criminal liability for any death related to a product's design, you're going to kill all innovation in anything more dangerous than a toothbrush. Certainly in cars. Not that prosecutors didn't try - when you have a hammer everything looks like a nail.
2
Some of us old enough to remember...…
This obituary is more than just about the passing of an individual but also about his times. The images portray not only Mr. Iacocca's rise in the automobile industry by the position of this industry in society. Just check out the Mustang in the photo. The Mustang was the peak for US automakers.
Mr. Iacocca was a recognized face on television as he pitched the sales of Chryslers during the 1980s. Even today, I recall his voice and delivery of words of confidence about his cars that exuded the confidence of the Reagan Era. It was morning in America in the political sphere and one needed an automobile fitting of the time--a Chrysler. Looking back, Mr. Iacocca was more impressive than his K car.
Meanwhile, Japan was on the rise as an industrial giant--Datsun and Toyota were selling cars that people believed were better and they certainly backed it up with customer service. Many of these automobiles are now assembled in the US from parts manufactured from around the world.
Mr. Iacocca live a remarkable life during his times. One needs to understand his times to fully appreciate his achievements, but to also gain some insights into our own times. The Mustang still wows after 50 years.
23
Lee Iacocca was something!
The Ford Mustang is likely the most successful American car ever produced - his baby.
Iacocca's determination and personality kept Chrysler from extinction and retained thousands upon thousands of jobs, not only at the plants, but at dealerships and the secondary market across America as well.
With his relationship with Sinatra, they produced a somewhat tongue in cheek television commercial featuring Frank, daughter Tina, and of course the new Chrysler Imperial with Frank singing a jingle "It's Time For You". Fun stuff.
Yes, Iacocca had his detractors, but he was a prime example of what a first generation child of immigrants could once accomplish in America.
Job well done, Lee. Rest in peace.
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My very first car was a ‘67 Mustang, an era color avocado green. I loved it and I’m only sorry I still don’t have it.
When Lee Iacocca was chairman for raising funds to restore the Statue of Liberty I did the run for liberty. Or should I say the walk for liberty. Needless to say he made me proud because he was a first generation Italian, like my dad.
My dad donated a small amount of money for the restoration of the Statue of Liberty, because Iacocca was in charge and because he said, “I wondered what my pa had thought when he saw her” (The Statue of Liberty) It brought tears to my eyes just to imagine him coming into the harbor and seeing that great symbol of freedom and opportunity.
Thank you Lee for my beautiful Mustang and for bringing the Lady back to life.
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@Angelica
Maybe you get tears in your eyes imaging Iacocca's father sailing past the Statue of Liberty. I get tears in my eyes thinking about the thousands of people who were injured or killed as a result of Lee Iacocca's bad business decisions in the area of automobile safety.
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@Mike Gera I read his autobiography back in the 1980's and in that book, he made his case against airbags. As an engineer, his argument made sense. First, if you wear your seatbelt, you don't need an airbag. Second, he was leery about the maturity of the technology at that time. An airbag is literally something exploding in your face. I have no numbers to back it, but I'd suggest the reduction in car accident deaths is due more to laws mandating seat belt use than to airbags.
14
People here are probably going to rail against this man's legacy as corny capitalism for arguing for bailouts. Imo, the bailouts were worth it and without them Detroit would be hollowed out by now. Numerous tooling shops wouldn't have business and those highly skilled machinist have to find with somewhere else. The most important fact is that they paid off the loan and became profitable.
However, there is an argument to be made that it's unfair that the auto industry gets these bailouts while other companies that's as large fails. While the auto industry is heavily dependent on credit (people buy card with loans), it's not like it's especially unique to the auto industry and even if it was, that's not an argument for special treatment.
1
@Matt
In 1979 there were more tool and die makers in Detroit than anywhere else in the world. Something like 75,000 or so. Today? I believe it's less than 5,000.
You can drive down the streets of Detroit's industrial neighborhoods and the nearby suburbs (Berkeley, Ferndale, Warren, Roseville, Taylor, etc.) and those shops are all shuttered.
In Detroit proper the landlords don't even bother to cut the weeds. Detroit is and has been for the last forty years - hollowed out. Come and take a tour for yourself. The only serious alternative? Socialism. Workers' ownership and control. Capitalism is taking humanity into the graveyard. RIP Lee Iacocca? No. RIP Detroit. It's a ghost town outside of the downtown area.
1
An interesting bio however it's hard to evaluate his abilities given how many times he had to go to the government to rescue the automakers he led.
The idea of moral hazard has become quaint. As seen in the Great Recession, the government will intervene. And in the case of Iacocca, saved his career multiple times.
What is unfortunate is that small businesses do not have this luxury. They either survive, pivot when needed, or fail.
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Lee Iacocca the start of the celebrity CEO. Great self promoters but who really knows if they were great CEO's or in the right place at the right time. Chrysler was broken and he was at the top when it turned around.
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@Jack Celebrity CEO's actually started in the Gilded Age in the late 1800's. That's why John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Edison, and JP Morgan are household names today.
2
30 years ago Lee Iacocca was claiming that Healthcare was the more expensive cost in the production of each car made in America. Heathcare was more expensive than steel, the main ingredient in cars in the 1980s.
Mr. Iacocca said something had to be done to make American Healthcare cheaper. At that time Healthcare was under 10% of American GNP; today approaching 20%.
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@MartinA fellow industrialist named Henry Kaiser actually did something about it. You may have heard of Permanente?
1
Brand new 1972 bright red Mustang - $3,405. Most fun car I ever had. Thanks, Lee.
RIP.
16
Whenever I heard Mr. Iacocca speak, he reminded me of Walter Cronkite - a man with integrity and credibility. People listened to both men, and trusted what they said.
Those very qualities - integrity, credibility and trustworthiness seem to be absent on so many levels - politically as well as professionally, especially in the business model.
The Babe Ruth analogy is spot on. He grand slammed a lot, but his "Japan bashing" and failing to reinvest "in new models to rival Japanese imports" was the beginning of the end as he continued to strike out in the car business.
But he was not alone - many other American car giants did not take Japan seriously and over time, lost that American edge and car owner.
As much as I hate to admit it, we were owners of Japanese cars for a long time. Their quality and eye for detail just couldn't be match with most American cars at that time, including great gas mileage.
I really liked Mr. Iacocca. He really cared and loved America.
Condolences to his loved ones and friends.
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@Marge Keller Japan bashing didn't stop Chrysler from importing Mitsubishis and rebadging them as Dodge/Plymouth Colts and Plymouth Champs under Iacocca's watch. I still recall the newspaper car ads (remember those?) with the headline, "The new Dodge Colt -- all the Japanese you need to know," or words to that effect.