2019 Deadpool

July 3rd, 2019 at 11:36:43 AM permalink
AZDuffman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 135
Posts: 18136
Quote: Evenbob
What a career. He got an engineering
degree, then went on to Princeton
and got a degree in plastics. He started
at Ford in 1946 as an engineer, but was
really a crack salesman. In 1960 he
was named vice-president and general
manager of the Ford Division. He was
only 35.


I find his results mixed. He was an awesome marketer. His engineering results were to be fair awful. He should have stepped back from design by the 1980s, had he stayed at Ford the Taurus would have looked like a Dodge Dynasty and not sold well. If not for his giant ego, Chrysler might still be independent. Instead he started a chain of events that changed history.
The President is a fink.
July 3rd, 2019 at 12:08:16 PM permalink
terapined
Member since: Aug 6, 2014
Threads: 73
Posts: 11786
Quote: rxwine
Veery Intaresting.

Best I can do for Arte Johnson, laugh in, dies at 90


I remember him from the movie Nashville playing a serious country singer. A total 180 from the goof ball he played on laugh in
Sometimes we live no particular way but our own - Grateful Dead "Eyes of the World"
July 3rd, 2019 at 12:09:42 PM permalink
JimRockford
Member since: Sep 18, 2015
Threads: 2
Posts: 971
Quote: rxwine
Veery Intaresting.

Best I can do for Arte Johnson, laugh in, dies at 90

Was on my list last year. I didn't make one this year.
The mind hungers for that on which it feeds.
July 4th, 2019 at 12:50:27 AM permalink
Wizard
Administrator
Member since: Oct 23, 2012
Threads: 239
Posts: 6095
Quote: AZDuffman
End of the assembly line for Lee Iacocca. Dead at 94.


I saw his commercials thousands of times. I must say that I rather liked him at the time. Was it the 1984 election when there was a "Draft Iacocca" movement?

Looking back, I'll certainly give him credit for being a good salesman, but don't know enough about him to give a score on anything else.
Knowledge is Good -- Emil Faber
July 4th, 2019 at 4:09:34 AM permalink
AZDuffman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 135
Posts: 18136
Quote: Wizard
I saw his commercials thousands of times. I must say that I rather liked him at the time. Was it the 1984 election when there was a "Draft Iacocca" movement?

Looking back, I'll certainly give him credit for being a good salesman, but don't know enough about him to give a score on anything else.


I forget if the movement was for 1984 or after. I think it was after as his popularity boomed when he wrote his book and did the Statue of Liberty thing, both too late for 1984. And the Democrats needed someone after their 1984 wipeout. I could be off.

He was a great salesman and motivator. Like Henry Ford did not invent the assembly line but gets credit for it, same with Lee and auto finance. His finance program made him. After that he was able to do the Mustang and Mark III. Both were platforms others did and he added styling and features. Made Ford a fortune.

Then came the Pinto. He did not intentionally make it unsafe, he just had a $2,000 sales price goal. He tried to do the minivan at Ford, only to be shot down. He got to keep all the market research on it when he left.

He was fired because he was too strong of a #2 in a royal family, but also because he represented the past and not the future.

He did NOT invent the K-Cars. He admitted this. He did get the minivan done, that made Chrysler, not the K-Car. He snapped up AMC at just the right moment. Then his ego got in the way and the damage started. He had to be nudged out. Later he joined in an effort to do a LBO at Chrysler, ultimately causing the Daimler merger and the following disasters.

On the last front, he is the example of my pet peeve that nobody should be both CEO and Chairman. I would support a law banning that practice.
The President is a fink.
July 4th, 2019 at 11:02:10 AM permalink
Evenbob
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 146
Posts: 25010
Quote: AZDuffman
He was a great salesman and motivator..


He thought up the campaign $56
in '56. Pay $56 down for a 1956
Ford and pay $56 a month. It
was a huge success and he was
made general manager 4 years
later.
If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose.
July 4th, 2019 at 11:20:15 AM permalink
AZDuffman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 135
Posts: 18136
Quote: Evenbob
He thought up the campaign $56
in '56. Pay $56 down for a 1956
Ford and pay $56 a month. It
was a huge success and he was
made general manager 4 years
later.


That is $525 today! Amazingly, the average new car today is about $530, though with a term over twice as long as Lee had then.

One thing he really had going for him was timing. He got into autos just as the industry was exploding and setting itself in what would become its standards of doing business. But he did what he had to do to get ahead, including going by "Lee" instead of "Lido." I have tried pointing that out to people who complain about "name discrimination" these days.
The President is a fink.
July 4th, 2019 at 11:32:17 AM permalink
Evenbob
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 146
Posts: 25010
Quote: AZDuffman
One thing he really had going for him was timing.


Ford invented the pay by the
month plan. Imagine being a
Ford repossessor in 1920 when
the only car Ford made was a
black Model T. I bet they nabbed
a lot of wrong cars.
If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose.
July 4th, 2019 at 11:43:30 AM permalink
Face
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 61
Posts: 3941
Quote: Evenbob
She was a big cig smoker, always had
one going. always going to quit. She's
51, right in the age group that gets hit
the hardest. I did have a friend get
killed by cigs at 42, but that's unusual.

You listening, Face? Tick tock..


It's called "health". It goes up and down. You can't study 30yrs of incomplete history and say you've got 10,000yrs of human biology figured out. Just more political powerplays to control the sheep. Sad.
Be bold and risk defeat, or be cautious and encourage it.
July 4th, 2019 at 12:42:24 PM permalink
Evenbob
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 146
Posts: 25010
Quote: Face
It's called "health". It goes up and down. You can't study 30yrs of incomplete history and say you've got 10,000yrs of human biology figured out. Just more political powerplays to control the sheep. Sad.


Wait till you're in your 50's and
can't count the number of people
you know who died in their 50's
from cig related causes. The
connection is undeniable.
If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose.