{"id":137793,"date":"2019-07-03T00:55:01","date_gmt":"2019-07-03T04:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=137793"},"modified":"2019-07-03T00:55:01","modified_gmt":"2019-07-03T04:55:01","slug":"from-mustangs-to-minivans-automotive-icon-lee-iacocca-dead-at-94","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2019\/07\/from-mustangs-to-minivans-automotive-icon-lee-iacocca-dead-at-94\/","title":{"rendered":"From Mustangs to Minivans, Automotive Icon Lee Iacocca Dead at 94"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Former Chrysler Corp. CEO Lee Iacocca shown unveiling the original 1984 Plymouth Voyager.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lee Iacocca, who was born to struggling immigrant parents in Allentown, Pennsylvania and who grew up to become one of the most influential executives in automotive history, has died at the age of 94.<\/p>\n

Trained as a an engineer, Lido Anthony Iacocca\u2019s real skills proved to be his uncanny ability to sense what people wanted and then tell them why they should buy it. During his tenure as Chrysler Corp. chairman, he appeared in over 100 TV commercials, repeating his catchphrase, \u201cIf you can find a better car, buy it.\u201d He came back to what was then DaimlerChrysler more than a decade after retiring to do a few more spots, among them one in which the then-octogenarian partnered with rapper Snoop Dog.<\/p>\n

During his lengthy career, Iacocca played a critical role in the development of three iconic vehicles, including the Ford Mustang, the Chrysler K-Cars and that automaker\u2019s long-popular minivans. But it was his charitable work, including the rescue of the Statue of Liberty and the Ellis Island immigration center, where his parents first stepped foot in America, that Iacocca said he was most proud of, late in life.<\/p>\n

\u201cLee had a touch of the common man,\u201d said Bud Liebler, who served in a variety of senior positions during Iacocca\u2019s years at Chrysler. \u201cHe could reach out and talk to people like no one else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iacocca demonstrated that skill early in a career that began shortly after graduating from Princeton in 1946. He signed on with Ford which was then being transformed by the \u201cWiz Kids,\u201d a group of Army veterans who helped revive the automaker after it nearly went bust during World War II. He quickly landed on the Ford fast track and, by the time he was 36, he was already a vice president, at 43 an executive VP and then, in December 1970, the 46-year-old was named Ford president.<\/p>\n

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Barely 40, Iacocca landed on the cover of Time as the man credited with bringing the Ford Mustang to life.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Iacocca had already scored some notable successes, starting with the \u201c56 for 56 campaign,\u201d that lined up customers for Ford\u2019s 1956 models priced at just $56 a month. But his real score was the 1964-1\/2 Mustang which clicked with a new generation of American buyers who didn\u2019t want to buy the same, stolid sheet metal that their parents were driving. Iacocca had to fight for the $75 million he needed for the project, but the little \u201cpony car\u201d paid off almost overnight. Ford expected to sell, at most 100,000 the first year. It delivered 418,000. It remains the world\u2019s best-selling sports car today.<\/p>\n

But Iacocca\u2019s tendency to \u201cshake the bushes,\u201d as Liebler put it, also rattled a lot of cages. He repeatedly found himself facing down Ford chairman and family heir Henry Ford II who, on July 13, 1978, fired Iacocca, reportedly telling him, \u201cI just don\u2019t like you.\u201d<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take Iacocca long to line up another job, albeit one with a seemingly very shaky future as president and CEO of the floundering Chrysler Corp.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was the perfect guy to come along at precisely the right time for Chrysler,\u201d said David Cole, the chairman-emeritus of the Center for Automotive Research and son of a former General Motors president who was an Iacocca contemporary.<\/p>\n

Racing against time, Iacocca and \u201cthe Gang of Ford,\u201d a group of fellow alums who followed him to Chrysler, crafted a complex bailout plan that called for concessions by union workers banks, suppliers, and both U.S. and Canadian governments.<\/p>\n

After unveiling the plan during a news conference at Chrysler headquarters in the Detroit enclave of Highland Park, Iacocca was asked by a clearly skeptical reporter what would happen if it didn\u2019t come together exactly as outlined, \u201cThen the pieces of the mosaic will fall off the wall,\u201d he responded.<\/p>\n

\u201cLee had a touch of the common man,\u201d said Liebler. \u201cHe could reach out and talk to people like no one else.\u201d As a result, added Liebler, who now owns the tony Whitney restaurant in downtown Detroit, he often felt that Chrysler wasn\u2019t selling K-Cars or minivans, but \u201cIacocca-mobiles.\u201d<\/p>\n

(The pony car that almost wasn’t. Book tells the behind-the-scenes story of how the Mustang made it past the bean-counters at Ford.<\/span><\/a>)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

By the middle of the 1980s, the smallest of the Detroit automakers was soaring. And that led a confident Iacocca to put things on autopilot as he shifted focus to some of his personal passions. He put out his autobiography, the first in a long series of books. He began making acquisitions, including Italian supercar company Lamborghini and aerospace company Gulfstream. And he turned to several charitable projects, notably the effort to restore the crumbling Statue of Liberty, as well as the long-abandoned Ellis Island.<\/p>\n

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In 2005, Iacocca launched a new series of ads for Chrysler, including one pairing him with rapper Snoop Dog.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In his later years, Iacocca explained, \u201cAll the success I\u2019ve had,, all the jobs I\u2019ve saved and the lives I\u2019ve influenced would never have happened if my parents had been turned away at Ellis Island.\u201d<\/p>\n

But all the distractions took a toll on Chrysler and, by the end of the decade it was again heading into deep financial trouble. Yet, even as Iacocca passed 65, he showed no interest in handing over the reins, leading frustrated Chrysler insiders to suggest that his name was really an acronym, short for \u201cI Am Chairman of Chrysler Corporation, Always.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, the board of directors had enough, convincing the chairman to retire at the end of 1992. But Iacocca couldn\u2019t quite let go, something that created a nightmare for his hand-picked successor, Bob Eaton, when the former chairman teamed up with Las Vegas billionaire Kirk Kerkorian on a short-lived hostile takeover attempt. Chrysler beat it back but, Eaton later acknowledged, it convinced him to look for a deep-pocket partner. In 1998, it teamed up as the U.S. half of DaimlerChrysler with the German parent of Mercedes-Benz.<\/p>\n

(Kirk Kerkorian, the man Iacocca teamed up with in bid to take over Chrysler, dies<\/span><\/strong><\/em>. Click<\/strong><\/span> Here<\/span> for more on the eccentric billionaire.<\/span>)<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Chrysler struck back, initially suspending Iacocca\u2019s hefty pension. It later reopened the purse and, by 2005, all seemed to be forgiven. The German-American company even invited the former chairman back for one more swing as corporate spokesman. Arguably the most memorable TV spot paired Iacocca with rapper Snoop Dog. As he repeated his trademark line, \u201cIf you can find a better car, buy it,\u201d the rapper offered his own interpretation: \u201cIf the ride is more fly, then you must buy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just a good kid, Iacocca later told USA Today, though he admitted he had trouble with Snoop Dog lines like \u201cFo shizzle, I-ka-zizzle.\u201d \u201cI didn\u2019t understand half the things he was telling me,\u201d said Iacocca, \u201cbut it was fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Iacocca returned to ford in 2010 to pose with the latest version of the Mustang.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even after his late-in-life TV pitchman gig wound down, Iacocca continued looking for new opportunities. He also stepped up his charitable work for, among other things, diabetes research. That honored first wife Mary who died of the disease. Iacocca later would marry, and subsequently divorce, twice.<\/p>\n

The industry legend began slowing down in his last couple years, according to Liebler, who remained in contact. Iacocca suffered from a number of illnesses and finally succumbed to complications from Parkinson\u2019s Disease, according to his daughter, Lia Iacocca Assad.<\/p>\n

As word of Iacocca\u2019s death at his Bel Air, California home started to circulate, tributes began pouring in.<\/p>\n

\u201cLee\u00a0gave us a\u00a0mindset\u00a0that still drives us today\u00a0– one that is characterized by hard work, dedication and grit,\u201d said a statement from what is today Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. \u201cHis legacy is the resiliency and unshakeable faith in the future that live on in the men and women of FCA who strive every day to live up to the high standards he set.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iacocca is survived by two daughters, Lian and Kathryn, and eight grandchildren.There has been no official word yet on funeral or other arrangements.<\/p>\n

(When it comes to execs-as-icons, Elon Musk may be the only one left.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/em>Click Here<\/span> for the story.<\/span>)<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He helped create three automotive icons: the Ford Mustang and Chrysler’s K-Cars and minivans. He saved Chrysler – twice. And he was the ultimate automotive pitchman. TheDetroitBureau.com has the inside story on Lee Iacocca, the industry legend who died Tuesday at age 94.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8,5],"tags":[],"make":[46,56],"post-state":[],"category_old":[118,140,150,151,123,228,135,299,248,129,159,125,139],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137793"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137793"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=137793"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=137793"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=137793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}