Lee Iacocca

[FuturaGuy]

Just saw this on the news about Lee Iacocca, "Father of the Mustang".

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/au...cid=spartandhp

In his book he said that being called the father of the Mustang was a mixed blessing, and that so many other guys at Ford claimed to be the father of the Mustang that he wouldn't want to be seen in public with the mother. He had a sense of humor.

[BLUECRAPI]

94 is a really good run. Think about how much he changed all of our worlds.. may he RIP

[gr79]

Viewing and burial are expected to be held in Detroit.
Viewing: From 2 - 8 p.m. July 9 at Lynch and Sons Funeral Home in Clawson.
Funeral: 11 a.m. July 10 at St Hugo in the Hills Church in Bloomfield Hills.
He will be buried with his first wife in White Chapel Cemetery in Troy.

"If you find a better car...buy it".
A trained engineer, he had a knack for marketing and feeling the pulse of what the market would want before consumers knew themselves.
Current marketing and CEOs could learn a thing or three about what its all about, not just numbers or margin profiting.

Bill Ford and Henry Ford II had opposite perspectives of him.
Recruited Ford people to Chrysler to build a type of car Ford rejected.
Assembled an inner circle filled with former Ford colleagues who jumped ship.
“At Chrysler, the K-car was the last train in the station,”

In 2009, Iacocca wrote in his blog, “I still smoke a cigar every day (not during Lent, however) and have a ‘finger’ of Dewar’s each evening.”
With a group of like-minded young executives, he formed what became known as the Fairlane Committee named for the inn where they met for brainstorming dinners to discuss how to design a low-cost, sporty car that would entice younger, more affluent families to become two-car households.

Mustang:
“It had to be a sports car but more than a sports car,” Iacocca wrote in his memoir.
“We wanted to develop a car that you could drive to the country club on Friday night, to the drag strip on Saturday and to church on Sunday.”
The Mustang seems destined to be a sort of Model A of sports cars, for the masses as well as the buffs.”

“The model was totally completed by the time Lee saw it,” Eugene Bordinat Jr., Ford’s design director at the time, told Time in 1985. “We conceived the car, and he pimped it after it was born.”
Whatever

Auto history bits from our era:
https://www.freep.com/story/money/ca...rd/3630247002/
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/ob...94/1635800001/
https://www.autonews.com/article/201...ior-dies-at-94

[qikgts]

RIP

An influential guy in motoring to say the least... Great contributions to the industry!

[JTurbo]

Sad to hear this, he really had a huge influence on the auto industry. RIP

[Ray Dog]

A mover and shaker he was.
The Mustang and the K car shook up the industry big time.
Time to reread his autobiography.

[gr79]

Too bad there is no incentive anymore creating fresh new products more simple, practical, durable, and affordable.
They sure could make a lot more imperfect but totally functional nice cars back then.
The opposite is the norm now.
Good idea . Have to get to the library.
Summer vac from school always included reading a good book or three from library.
Read about the auto world in the historic heydays.
Last one read was Bob Lutz's. He was there too.

[gr79]

Viewed in person Wed 7/10 110p facing south in front of the cemetery. His last ride was in a Chrysler product.
Attachment 128645
Plot area nothing fancy. The usual tent canopy. Was 90 out. Had to have been hot wearing black.
Other notable people are buried there. John Delorean, Jack Kevorkian, Albert Kahn, Brace Beemer.
Drove inside grounds but respectfully far away from gathering and took no pics.
Local Mustangs were parked in front of the church and were in the 20 or so car procession.


https://www.detroitnews.com/story/bu...al/1657942001/
https://www.crainsdetroit.com/automo...ebrate-iacocca