Posted on 07/05/2019 7:46:08 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
If everybody is right is anyone wrong?
Earliest US example of “crony capitalism”.... the whiskey tax of 1791. While ostensibly to pay for the Revolutionary War debt, it was impossed in such a manner as to greatly benefit the large distillers on the coast at the expense of the small distillers on the frontier.
PS...guess who was the largest distiller of spirits in the US at the time.
“In truth, it was the American taxpayer who “saved” Chrysler, not Iacooca. And thanks to Iacocca, the taxpayer did so against his will since Iacocca was an expert at leveraging the coercive power of government to make others pay for his corporate schemes.”
Iococca’s big initiative at Chrysler was the K-car. Mechanically not much better than the junk that Chrysler was selling before he got there. Iococca managed to get direct loans, but more than that, just about every US government car in the fleet was a K-car. If it weren’t for the fleet sales, the K-car would only have been a modest success.
OTOH, the K-car platform was used to develop the Chrysler & Plymouth mini-vans. Those were wildly successful.
But even for all that Chrysler was no longer a complete car builder. Aside for the aenemic 4-cylinder engines, all the V6 engines at that time came from Mitsubishi. And bringing the Jeep brand under Chrysler also helped keep the wolf away from the door.
My turbocharged 4-cylinder GLH was far from anemic
The only Mopars I ever liked were built and driven by Sox & Martin.
Just a wild guess - was it a Kennedy? Maybe Joe Kennedy’s father or uncle?
Nah, seekandfind is just crying like a bitch because he misses “free trade” with China.
He does this every now and then but is even TOO MUCH of a bitch to respond to posts made.
Thanks for the history lesson, by the way. I had no idea that kind of crony corruption was seeping into the USA prior to 1800.
Iococca’s other big claim to fame was his *fathering* of the Mustang while at Ford. Even there his role was that of a con-man. The idea of a pony car was percolating around the auto industry for several year. In Philadelphia the Budd Company — which did body stampings for Ford & American motors — had built mockups for AMC & Ford. They called the Ford version the “X-Bird”.
A Ford delegation came thru to look at the “X-Bird”. Nothing happened initially. Ford hadn’t attempted a new, from-paper design since the Edsel and Henry Ford II wasn’t about to approve a new car model. A couple of years later Iococca basically told Ford what a new car would cost to design & tool, then cut that figure in half. Ford didn’t think he could do it, but the low-ball number got him to agree.
Essentially the ‘64 Mustang was a re-skinning of the Ford Falcon model, so essentially the “new model” was just a shell.
The base engine did not have a turbo-charger.
Lee Iacocca?
so?
My brother had base 4 cylinder Mustang. Wanna talk about an anemic piece of trash
“Have you read Lee Iacocca’s book?”
“Are you kidding? I own it! I haven’t, read it, but...”
Later, they made the minivan, based on the K-car.
Whatever. Not arguing your experience with an optioned engine package.
Initially, there were plans to use the British Ford V4 engine in the first Mustangs, but they went with the more familiar 170 cu in 6 as the base engine.
The Mini-Van was, in my opinion, Iococca’s crowning achievement. He basically created something entirely new. The Mustang-Pony Car concept was “out there” and I think would have happened elsewhere — by 1966 at least.
The in-line 6?
Remember the Falcon 260 Sprint ?
It was the Mustang before the Mustang appeared.
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