  Peachlaser Member Username: Peachlaser Post Number: 74 Registered: 08-2006 |
"Where Have All the Leaders Gone?", the name of Iacocca's new book sums it up. Here is an excerpt, "Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, "Stay the course." Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I'll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!" http://www.bordersstores.com/f eatures/feature.jsp?file=where havealltheleadersgone | ||
Mcp001 Member Username: Mcp001 Post Number: 2566 Registered: 11-2003 |
There's another thread that goes into more detail on this book. | ||
Waxx Member Username: Waxx Post Number: 119 Registered: 09-2006 |
That's deep, Peachlaser. Coleman Young would be very proud right now. Seems like very few of us these days can tell the difference between "a dip of horseshit and a dip of ice cream". | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 5229 Registered: 11-2003 |
Waxx #119 is just a great post. Thanks. Pure Detroit comment. And we love Detroit. jjaba. | ||
Ccbatson Member Username: Ccbatson Post Number: 312 Registered: 11-2006 |
What governing expertise does he have? Not even a good business man (unless you call begging for a government bailout and receiving it success). | ||
Barnesfoto Member Username: Barnesfoto Post Number: 3353 Registered: 10-2003 |
Credited with developing the Mustang, not the Edsel. Some people might call that successful. Certainly a better businessman than George W. Bush, who despite being set up in biz by daddy's friends, still managed to fail miserably every time. Lee got a loan for Chrysler, it was paid back, as I understand (Unlike the money lost in the S&L crisis to thieves like Thomas Keating and Neil Bush) | ||
Burnsie Member Username: Burnsie Post Number: 947 Registered: 11-2003 |
It was paid back 7 years early. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 5230 Registered: 11-2003 |
He restored Ellis Island. That's a tremendous legacy. jjaba, Westside son of immigrants. | ||
Barnesfoto Member Username: Barnesfoto Post Number: 3355 Registered: 10-2003 |
thanks jjaba, I had forgotten about that (I would add that it was restored "successfully", unlike Matty Maroun's restoration of the MCS, announced in 1995 and to this date, not completed) | ||
Patrick Member Username: Patrick Post Number: 4240 Registered: 10-2003 |
Hank the Deuce wouldnt sell poor Lido a property on Provencal or so the story goes. ...fired his ass the next year telling him "I just dont like you." We need more leaders like Henry Ford II | ||
The_rock Member Username: The_rock Post Number: 1711 Registered: 11-2003 |
That's a great quote, Patrick. Then there was Hank the Deuce and his often -quoted saying when he was stopped for speeding ( in California?), "Dont explain , don't complain". | ||
Detroitsuperfly Member Username: Detroitsuperfly Post Number: 20 Registered: 07-2005 |
Yeah, we need more leaders like Hank 2. Who my next door neighbor saw coming out of a restaurant in Grosse Point in the 70s, dropped his pants and pissed on a bush. Sounds like George W. | ||
Fury13 Member Username: Fury13 Post Number: 1534 Registered: 10-2003 |
"Hank the Deuce wouldnt sell poor Lido a property on Provencal or so the story goes. ...fired his ass the next year telling him 'I just dont like you.'" I believe the quote was: "Some people, you just don't like." Didn't the non-sale of the property have something to do with Iacocca being Italian-American? As if Hank himself wasn't descended from peasant WASP farm folk... (Message edited by Fury13 on April 18, 2007) | ||
Whithorn11446 Member Username: Whithorn11446 Post Number: 59 Registered: 03-2007 |
"Didn't the non-sale of the property have something to do with Iacocca being Italian-American? As if Hank himself wasn't descended from peasant WASP farm folk..." Well, Hank the Deuce's second wife Christina was Italian. They did not exactly divorce under the best of terms. The first wife Anne was an Irish Catholic and HFII converted to Catholicism but was excommunicated in 1965. It was a personal thing with Lee, and nothing to do with being a "noble" WASP. | ||
Whithorn11446 Member Username: Whithorn11446 Post Number: 60 Registered: 03-2007 |
That's a great quote, Patrick. Then there was Hank the Deuce and his often -quoted saying when he was stopped for speeding ( in California?), "Dont explain , don't complain". Actually, HFII was caught driving drunk in California in 1974 with Kathy Duross, who was his mistress at the time. Later, she became the third wife. The quote is actually, "Never complain, Never Explain". The quote was used in response to media inquiries about the incident. | ||
Sstashmoo Member Username: Sstashmoo Post Number: 70 Registered: 02-2007 |
Just personal observations about Iacocca. He supposedly was the father of the Mustang and I've also heard it that a young designer on his team designed it and he took credit. At any rate, that was in 65, Fords quality headed south big time. Anyone remember Ford cars in the latter 60's and thru the early 70's? Horrible. He left in the late 70's and Fords quality improved sharply. He went to Chrysler in the late 70's and their quality went south as well, remember the lovely K-cars? Carbs falling off, doorhandles breaking easily, camshafts were soft and wiping out, heads warping, just total junk. Even the tried and true 225 slant 6 started having major issues, crankshafts snapping in the center. An almost unheard of engine problem. The only good engine they had for the K-cars was the 1.7 and it was made by Volkswagen. The 2.8 engine was a mitsubishi and just a total nightmare along with the 2.2 liter that Chrysler tried to manufacture. If you need some fast cash out of your company with little regard for anything else, he's your guy. Him and folks like him did much to damage the reputation of the US auto industry. Just my own opinion. Not to say he wasn't an effective industrialist, he was, he accomplished many good things. His overly aggressive approach to minimize costs and increase production had its pitfalls. Similar to "Hurry-up Henry" Kaisers' Liberty ships breaking in half at sea. It obviously takes longer than 8 hours to build a troop carrying sea-going ship after all. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 5233 Registered: 11-2003 |
If you can find a better car, buy it. (Lee) And if it ain't fly, don't buy. (Snoop) See the USA in a Chevrolet. (Dinah Shore) Mustang came out as a "1964 1/2." jjaba. | ||
Waxx Member Username: Waxx Post Number: 130 Registered: 09-2006 |
I had a 1989 Reliant (frome '94-'97) and as tough as that thing was it was a royal pain in the butt. When it was cold outside, it was cold INSIDE! Likewise during the summer. Hot outside, hot inside. I wonder; Did the 'K' stand for 'killer' (aside the fact that these cars were built on K-frames)? Cause that bad boy-as much as I loved it-was KILLING me (lol)! | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 1241 Registered: 12-2005 |
Sstashmoo--the whole US auto industry, GM and Ford included were asleep at the switch during the latter 70's, quality just kept getting worse. Even the small block Chevy was snapping camshafts. The combined effect of trying to play catch-up on fuel economy and emissions caused all other aspects of production to just go on autopilot, which doesn’t work. Quality isn’t a battle you fight then win; it’s a battle that never ends. Achieving quality is easier than maintaining quality. It's hard to imagine that Chrysler's Quality could have gotten any worse under Iacocca's leadership. Chrysler has always been a case of magnificent engineering of components coupled with the most slap-dash "git-'er done" assembly plants. Walt made his name in the automobile business by taking Buick from careful carriage building practices to "slam 'em out the door" car building techniques. He understood that reducing time on each car=profits, before Henry Ford did. Much of the pre-final assembly efficiency that Ford used with his adoption of the assembly line to auto manufacturing came from Walter P. Chrysler's production planning at Buick. When he took over Maxwell and transformed it into Chrysler he knew that the race was won by thems that got the product out the door the fastest, and that was the corporate culture at Chrysler for decades. Iacocca deserves some credit for basing Chrysler's salvation on a small fuel-efficient platform (K) rather than the recent ideal of "trying to recreate some 1968 magic". He also realized the value in the minivan design, which had been created at Ford, but they would not produce. It has been said that everyone that bought a K-car (at least at the beginning of the run in '81) wasn't buying a four door Aries or Reliant; they were buying a four door IACOCCA! There was some belief in the man, that he was passionate about his industry and making automobiles and wasn't a faceless grey man just in the business to make a huge salary and stock options. | ||
Fnnm400 Member Username: Fnnm400 Post Number: 1 Registered: 04-2007 |
excellent book. I'm about half way thru it.. Garry | ||
Ccbatson Member Username: Ccbatson Post Number: 317 Registered: 11-2006 |
A designer involved with the mustang..OK, renovated/recovered Ellis island..OK, took a bailout/loan and payed it back early..got it. Where's the part about governing or being a good businessman (noting that the above mentioned successes are damage control, not ambitious and innovative business endeavors).? | ||
Patrick Member Username: Patrick Post Number: 4250 Registered: 10-2003 |
If you lived on the east side there is a good chance you have a HFII story to share. Kinda like Stella or Bill Bonds. My mom used to work at Hudsons at Eastland and he would come in wanting to buy plum pudding at their gourmet area. Or how he would drive little piece of shit Escort around with burger wrappers and shit inside it, but had the guys at wold headquarters wash and wax it everyday. He refused to let anyone touch the inside of it. | ||
Gildas Member Username: Gildas Post Number: 952 Registered: 12-2004 |
I recall everyone speaking of what a bad guy he was during the MI governor elections when he didn't like what Granholm was doing and is still doing (or not doing as the case may be) Now that he is railing against Bush, and post election he is a wonderful, smart, insightful, leader. As the political wind blows. | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 8873 Registered: 10-2003 |
Gildas - I don't think that people were saying he was a bad guy. Many of us were upset with him stating how Michigan can make a comeback, how we should elect DeVos etc, while doing from his home in California. If he is worried about Michigan and confident of its return to glory he has many opportunities to purchase a home here. His message wasn't criticized so much as the hypocrisy of trying to speak on behalf or for Michigan while he has lived out of State for many, many years. | ||
Gildas Member Username: Gildas Post Number: 953 Registered: 12-2004 |
Jt1. I would not hold it against him that he is smarter than many for getting out of MI. He is not alone in that regard, if recent data and trends are to be believed. Regarding who to elect, perhaps the perspective of an outsider looking in was useful. MI is becoming to insular and inbred (regarding our politics and regional bickering) to fix itself in the short term. As pointed out by Karmanos today. | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 8876 Registered: 10-2003 |
I agree that anyone that flees this state is probably doing the smart thing for themselves and their family. I also agree that our local politics could use some outsiders. In LI's case however he has been out of state long before it has become the nightmare that it currently is. He was shilling for DeVos from afar. AS much as I saw it he was not offering any insight just shilling for DeVos and raving about Michigan's future from afar. His message fell on deaf ears in my case because he made the wise move and got out. Besides rhetoric on a screen for a friend what did he or would he offer the State and the citizens in regards to direction? |
