69 300 vert
Well-Known Member
Almost forgot! The V8/6/4 thing. At least there was an fix for that one, in the aftermarket. Then the infamous Cadillac (4.1, 4.5?) aluminum blocks. Moritz had stacks of them behind the shop.
Lee Iacocca
- Thread starter Joseph James
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bluefury361
Old Man with a Hat
I am disturbed by Lee's many references to Consumer reports. I've found them to be one of the least reliable of market product evaluation, Often applying results from one evaluation to other untested product. of all kinds. I would not trust anything from them to be a reliable reference.
Lee has been around the auto industry for a long time and has accomplished some remarkable marketing successes. But he likes to claim credit for product that he had little to do with. While he is a great bean counter his engineering and design talent leave a lot to be desired.
He needs to stay out of the shop.
Lee has been around the auto industry for a long time and has accomplished some remarkable marketing successes. But he likes to claim credit for product that he had little to do with. While he is a great bean counter his engineering and design talent leave a lot to be desired.
He needs to stay out of the shop.
3175375
Old Man with a Hat
I had the pleasure of working with some people who had similar traits. ‘He needs to stay out of the shop.’ - I aided in reducing delays, by giving people like that ‘something shiny’...
In spite of all the problems with cars from this era ,it was a very exciting time of innovations being finally available to the general public. Fuel injection,turbo's,computers,sensors etc. Being a young man at the time it was a new way to skin a cat as they say. It definitely had it's teething problems for sure. I guess I put Ford #1 of the top 3 cause I never owned one!! But i was intrigued with the SVO Mustang and Tbird rwd turbos.
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Joseph James
Senior Member
I had a 79 Mustang with 2.3L turbo. They didn’t make many and wouldn’t release performance specs. Turbo never worked in mine.
Carmine
Old Man with a Hat
The problem with discussing what he's saying in the video with "car people" is that everyone wants to tell an anecdotal story about grandma's K-car. Problem is, this is a business and trade policy discussion and few people can do both. But you're in good company... Iacocca realized Bob Lutz wasn't cut out for the business side either.
Us Dealers realized that as well very quickly....worst move we made next to not promoting Landry
Carmine
Old Man with a Hat
BTW, the same guy who drew this...
also drew this...
also drew this...
Carmine
Old Man with a Hat
I know this straight from Iacocca, mostly regarding product... But what's the dealer side?
78Brougham
"Chump"
I agree. CR hated everything Chrysler came out with and every Chrysler product was a POS. I often wondered if they were getting their palms greased by the other two. That magazine was a rag and I never picked it up again after about 1980.
It was the beginning of the Sales Bank fiasco and the relationship we had under Iacocca between Dealers and Factory was torn apart by Lutz. We went from being the comeback kid led by scrappy Iaccoca (Who was a consummate car salesman) to Mr. Ivory Tower who didn't give a damn about the Dealers and fostered a lot of resentment towards the home office. We had one of the most prolific launches in the LH cars and the Viper but we just couldn't keep up the momentum. I guess it only got worse when Eaton took over then we were wishing for Lutz to come back. We still are angry about the product development he took with him to GM like the PT Cruiser clone and the Prowler. To be honest we haven't felt good about the leadership since Iacocca but Marchionne was at least Canadian lol
78Brougham
"Chump"
Way ahead of their time.. granted it was problematic back then, but a **** ton of cars use it today.
Joseph James
Senior Member
bluefury361
Old Man with a Hat
I read this when it was first published and again a couple years ago. I did enjoy it but I can't help but think that the story would be vastly different if written by a knowledgeable author and well researched then it is in the autobiographical sense.
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I have my dad’s signed copy I just have to find time to read it. Reading puts me right to sleep...
mikedrini
Well-Known Member
You definitely should, it's a quick read and actually has several solid management tips for people in authority positions. Very funny and his relationship with Henry "the Deuce" Ford was fascinating to read about. His story in regards to taking over Chrysler was incredible and damn near fell apart many many times. Great book.
mikedrini
Well-Known Member
I disagree. There's plenty of those types of books out there about plenty of people. The author's "style" can occasionally get in the way. I prefer it straight out of the horse's mouth, or in this case, several horse's mouths and make up my own mind. To each his own I suppose.
mikedrini
Well-Known Member
I hear ya Matt, that's still a pretty cool collectors item to have.I have my dad’s signed copy I just have to find time to read it. Reading puts me right to sleep...
View attachment 370927 View attachment 370928
Joseph James
Senior Member
Woohoo! Abe Books has it.
Rustyrodknocker
Senior Member
I think the lens of history is subject to personal perspective.
I thought 80's car sucked then and still do. Same for most cars from the 70's and 90's. However my opinion is not based on quality. That is a deep subject and it nearly defies definition. Persig went over the edge trying to figure it out.
I know many of those cars ran forever and were economical. I think that the people that drove them into the ground were looking for that specific value.
When I was practicing metal shaping for the sake of repairing cars. I learned about some hand built Italian sports cars and that the metal shaping work was done by Artisans that trace there skills or enlightenment back to the greatest sculpters.
Their eye was superior to the common man and any measuring equipment produced by man. Therefore, their work was beyond question.
Today, if you are tasked with replacing a panel or windshield in one of these Masterpieces, it must be made to fit. As no two are the same. I remember a picture where a guy measured the windshield opening. It was an inch taller on one side. Which was plainly obvious from 20' away. It would have been an insult to suggest as much to the maker.
As far as people doing a good job in assembly and verification. Someday Ill post the fender extension fit up misalignment on my 68 coronet. Ill put it up against any 80's car.
My biggest take away, in regards to those cars is that there was a design build philosophy shift, where the manufacture had to stop building what they thought their customer wanted and instead, had to build what the government wanted. Then had to figure out how to market that to their customer. That took the better part of 3 decades.
There is documentation of this concept going back into the 50's. When manufactures were still marketing heavily on styling. With new car "reveals" being worthy of donning a suit and the Wife in her finest jewelry.
Meanwhile smog in LA was worse than it is today.
The push was on... cars began to look less individual.
Motor companies began to see the light.
The goal and the future, is marketing against the competitions car and winning. Not against your last years car.
As to the question of which order the brands come in. Well I don't know enough about the differences.
I can only really see the commonalities. Such as it looks to me as if I could make any of those cars myself with a sheet metal brake.
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