Posted on 07/02/2019 6:31:46 PM PDT by blueyon
Auto industry icon Lee Iacocca -- forever connected to the Ford Mustang and former chairman of Chrysler -- has died ... according to a family source.
A family member tells TMZ Iacocca passed away, but could not provide any further detail.
Iacocca is credited with saving Chrysler from bankruptcy back in the 1980s ... and he's often referred to as the father of the legendary Ford Mustang. While he was always known within the auto industry ... he became a household name across America when he starred in a series of TV advertisements for Chrysler.
(Excerpt) Read more at tmz.com ...
Bought a Jeep in ‘88 because I wanted one before this POS had a chance to ruin the brand.
Lasted 585,000 miles before I traded it in.
Bought a ‘98 Jeep after this POS changed the brand into a cheap piece of crap!
125,000 miles of crap!
Father of the mustang?
Nope!
Father of the exploding Pinto.
To this day, Chrysler products are crap because of this guy.
If memory serves, under Iacocca, Chrysler payed back the money to the government early in fact.
Lee said “We borrow money the old fashioned way - we pay it back.”.
Honoring your agreements seems to be a thing of the past as well.
Rest in peace, Mr. Iacocca. You did America proud.
I remember him walking into a building, besieged by reporters after he had extracted huge concessions from the United Auto Workers. Some reporter yelled at him:
“You got what you wanted from the workers, but what did the workers get!?”
Iacocca stopped dead in his tracts, wheeled around and looked the reporter right in the eye and growled:
“A job, you idiot!”
Car mileage reminds me of a joke by Johnny Carson.
Iacocca was getting married again and Carson said his wedding vows included “I promise to stay married to you for five years or 50,000 miles, whichever comes first.”
That car was a frequent subject of Red Green’s bad ideas.
RIP to the Iacoca.
Sam Riddle, or maybe Robert W. Morgan, to whom I listened every weekday morning—or as he would say, every weekday Morgan.
RIP Mr. Iacocca. It would take a miracle for me to live to be 94.
A true original.
RIP.
RIP.
Stay classy.
Before Rustproofing...
I read his autobiography a number of years back - neat story; another Chrysler exec and he were going to a meeting in South Carolina, the exec suggested to him to list his name as Iacocca Lee to engender him to the southerners.
Ooooooo, thats a groaner. :)
I do think he saved Chrysler.
The K car was just good enough to sell. The U.S. Government bought a lot of them too.
When I bought an 81 Ford pickup, in Virginia Beach, I noticed The Dodge dealer still had some 79 and 80s for sale but they had only reduced them a Little. I actually got the Ford cheaper than a two year older but new Dodge.
Oh yeah, the 64 1/2 with the 289 hypo was the stuff of legends.
Well you’re full of crap.
Iacocca took over as CEO in 197 and retired in 1992. The design of the ‘98 Jeep wasn’t even started til several years after he left the company, so go find someone else to blame.
I’d add that Chrysler introduced the first Minivan under Iacoocca’s tenure which was not only highly successful for Chrysler but introduced a whole new category of vehicle, based on the Mini-Max project at Ford that Henry Ford II wanted nothing to do with. So who is the smartest of the two?
That looks like what DeLorean would have made if they made minivans.
Just happen to watch Jay Leno on his ‘58 and his ‘67 Imperials today. He(Leno) just loves his cars.
Wow - he made it to 94.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.