Lyn Murray Writes 2

 

 

Back Story on '32 Ford "Graffitti" Coupe

 

Being an Ole Country Boy from Corsicana and later Tyler, Texas I went to school at night ~~ so it took me 11 years to finish ( Graduating from Wayne State University, Detroit ) ~~ and in the meanwhile we had 5 kids ~~ and I graduated after moving from Atlanta, Georgia to Detroit, Michigan.    Then I got a job in the Auto Industry and moved to Pa. In 1976 where we started the first ( foreign automotive plant in America with Richard Dauch and Jim McClarenon ) VWOA Automotive Assy Plant ~~ And I was the Transportation Traffic Manager there and then when Chrysler Corp. went almost bankrupt ~~ I was asked to go over there to save that Corp. again with my mentor, Richard Dauch ( who later became to CEO of American Gear and Axle ) and Lee Iacocca ~~ I was Traffic Mgr there and then later Production Control Mgr. at Corp Level.

While spending my 29 years with Chrysler Corp. from 1980 - 2009 as management, we were working constantly at work in the office at the various plants around the country and at home.   There were many stories of sacrifice and harsh efforts after we arrived into Chrysler Corp. Who had cut back 50% on staffing and were running on a "Lick and a Prayer".

We had to purge rotten crooked vendors and employees ~~ which were stealing us blind and robbing us of quality and profits.

At one time I personally had to rescue almost 20,000 cars and trucks from haul-away trucking companies spread throughout the country in their storage yards and at Railheads.    One of these carriers went bankrupt and failed to pay their drivers ~~ causing them to strike the carrier holding almost 2,000 of our cars and trucks hostage to try to retrieve their wages they had worked to earn from the haul-away truck carrier.

I approached the Teamsters and cut a deal to pay the drivers directly and we had almost $80,000 in cash in a briefcase between me and the Teamster's Attorney.    By doing this ~~ the more than 100 drivers and workers went from being our enemy antagonist to being our employees and advocates by proxy and they actively helped us regain our cars and trucks.

As we received our cars and trucks we paid the Teamsters involved ~~ directly.  The Haul-away trucker ( who was into Chrysler Corp. For a loan of $2 plus million for their 60 plus trucks and trailers which we found ourselves repossessing at the same time ) was begrudgingly put out of business and replaced by newer and better ones.

This is one of the biggest REPO JOBS I have ever heard of much less conducted.    The damnable thing about it was that this was in the dead of winter and it did not go smoothly on all fronts. It took us at least 3 months to clean up the mess across the country.

And of course there were damaged vehicles and property and a couple of stolen ones as well ~~ but NO CASUALTIES !

While we worked very hard to save and reinvigorate our Chrysler Corporation ~~ we launched the "K-car" and the "Chrysler Mini van" and the new Dodge Truck and the new Cummins Diesel along with many others.    And as you may recall ~~ Mr. lee Iacocca finally paid back our U.S. government Loan Guarantee fully and almost seven years early in the Fall of 1983.

Then we rode high and made good profits until 1987 and Iacocca had to acquire the Jeep Corporation...   It is not enough to say that we were very tired and whooped and worn out by this time.

Chrysler Corp. Had already seen one of this voracious compilations of Old Chrysler people, thrown together with G.M. and Ford and now the new upstart VWOA people and now they threw another entirely different bunch from the American Motors Corporation ( The Jeep bunch ) !!!

WHY ???

What a mess !!!

We had to find peace and quite and recreation wherever you could and that Little 32 Graffitti Ford Coupe was mine.

We worked on her when I had the time from my grueling 80 to 100 hour work weeks and because I was management I was paid NO OVERTIME ~~ I was a slave to Chrysler Corp.

I spent many hours working and drivng and racing Graffitti.    And we won a few and lost a few and we drove her in the Spirit of the Greatest Cruise in the History of the Universe ( before the Cruise was made official in 1995 ) ~~ The Annual Woodward Dream Cruise ~~ held on the third weekend of August every year up and down Woodward Ave. ( the first and oldest stretch of pavement in the Universe ) from Detroit to Pontiac, Michigan....

 

http://www.woodwarddreamcruise.com

 

And of course ~~ Mr. Iacocca was the most dynamic leader in history ~< but he was unforgiving of mistakes and failures and he came down harsh on all of us and direct reports ~~ such as My Mentor ~~ Richard Dauch.

Then you also had a bunch of "Wannabe Super Executives" behind Mr.  Iacocca ~~ who made it even harder on everybody.

So ~~ as Lee was sorta pushed out of Chrysler ~~ others worked deals to bring in Mercedes ( while we had over $2 Billion in our banks ) and have them take us over.... What a mistake ~~ This SuperCar Company wound up Selling Chrysler back after a few years making at least $7-9 BILLION on the deal... ((( Although this time period between 2000 ( with 2001 WTC 9-11FALSE FLAG EVENT and the ensuing financial collapse ) and 2007 was one of worst financial times we have ever experienced.   So even Mercedes can be excused to a great extent ))) !!!

And it was around 1993 that I just about PLOWED RIGHT INTO THE DIRT ~~ I had been used up and I was placed on Disability Leave.  Dick Dauch swooped down to offer me a position with his American Gear and Axle ~~ but I could not go another round ~~ It was time to throw up my hands "NO MAS" !!!!  I had had enough !  I had to heal or die ....

And of course ~~ By 2009 we saw Chrysler Corp. Back in trouble again and on their knees before our U.S. Government for loan Guarantees.  And finally ~~ Fiat became the Company to take possession of leading Chrysler Corp. back to health and we can only hope for the best in the future.

Of course ~~ this caused great efforts in austerity around the Company and my Retirement and Benefits took a Nose Dive being cut back by 20 to 50%.

There are many stories of horrific life in the Automotive Industry.    And this was one of the most horrific of them all.....   Never had we ever seen such horrors of failure coupled with such exhilaration and excitement of glorious victory over the in conquerable woes.

I do not think I would or could rewrite this story with much difference.

Although ~~ It cost me my first wife and the scattering of my five (5) children and their families and my six (6) grandkids across the United States from Michigan to Virginia to California.

Here is a brief rendition of how WIKI wrote this history of Lee Iacocca and the Chrysler Corp.

 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Iacocca

 

1979 Chrysler bailout; the Dodge Aries, a typical K-Car.

Realizing that the company would go out of business if it did not receive a large infusion of cash, Iacocca approached the United States Congress in 1979 and successfully requested a loan guarantee. In order to obtain the guarantee, Chrysler was required to reduce costs and abandon some longstanding projects, such as the turbine engine, which had been ready for consumer production in 1979 after nearly 20 years of development.

Chrysler released the first of the K-Car line, the Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliant, in 1981. Similar to the later minivan, these compact automobiles were based on design proposals that Ford had rejected during Iacocca's (and Sperlich's) tenure. Released in the middle of the major 1980-1982 recession, the small, efficient, and inexpensive front-wheel drive cars sold rapidly. In addition, Iacocca re-introduced the big Imperial as the company's flagship. The new model had all of the newest technologies of the time, including fully electronic fuel injection and all-digital dashboard.

Chrysler introduced the minivan, chiefly Sperlich's "baby", in the fall of 1983. It led the automobile industry in sales for 25 years. Because of the K-cars and minivans, along with the reforms Iacocca implemented, the company turned around quickly and was able to repay the government-backed loans seven years earlier than expected.

The Jeep Grand Cherokee design was the driving force behind Chrysler's buyout of AMC; Iacocca desperately wanted it.

Iacocca led Chrysler's acquisition of AMC in 1987, which brought the profitable Jeep division under the corporate umbrella. It created the short-lived Eagle division, formed from the remnants of AMC. By this time, AMC had already finished most of the work on the Jeep Grand Cherokee, which Iacocca wanted. The Grand Cherokee would not be released until 1992 for the 1993 model year, the same year that Iacocca retired.

Throughout the 1980s, Iacocca appeared in a series of commercials for the company's vehicles, employing the ad campaign, "The pride is back," to denote the turnaround of the corporation. He also voiced what was to become his trademark phrase: "If you can find a better car, buy it."

Iacocca retired as president, CEO and chairman of Chrysler at the end of 1992.

1995 "Return" to Chrysler.

In 1995, Iacocca assisted in billionaire Kirk Kerkorian's hostile takeover of Chrysler, which was ultimately unsuccessful. The next year, Kerkorian and Chrysler made a five-year agreement which included a gag order preventing Iacocca from speaking publicly about Chrysler.

In July 2005, Iacocca returned to the airwaves as Chrysler's pitchman, along with celebrities such as Jason Alexander and Snoop Dogg, to promote Chrysler's "Employee Pricing Plus" program; the ads reprise the "If you can find a better car, buy it" line, Iacocca's trademark of the 1980s. In return for his services, Iacocca and DaimlerChrysler agreed that his fees, plus a $1 donation per vehicle sold from July 1 through December 31, 2005, would be donated to the Iacocca Foundation for diabetes research.

Chrysler's 2009 bankruptcy.

In an April 2009 Newsweek interview, Iacocca reflected on his time spent at Chrysler and the company's current situation. He said:

This is a sad day for me. It pains me to see my old company, which has meant so much to America, on the ropes. But Chrysler has been in trouble before, and we got through it, and I believe they can do it again. If they're smart, they'll bring together a consortium of workers, plant managers and dealers to come up with real solutions. These are the folks on the front lines, and they're the key to survival. Let's face it, if your car breaks down, you're not going to take it to the White House to get fixed. But, if your company breaks down, you've got to go to the experts on the ground, not the bureaucrats. Every day I talk to dealers and managers, who are passionate and full of ideas. No one wants Chrysler to survive more than they do. So I'd say to the Obama administration, don't leave them out. Put their passion and ideas to work.

Because of the Chrysler bankruptcy, Iacocca may lose part of his pension from a supplemental executive retirement plan, and a guaranteed company car during his lifetime. The losses were due to take place once the bankruptcy court approves the sale of Chrysler to Chrysler Group LLC, with ownership of the new company by the United Auto Workers, the Italian carmaker Fiat and the governments of the United States and Canada.

Thank goodness I found another little Texas girl and her three boys as I prepared to come back home to Texas to look after my Mom who was very sick ~~ along with my wife's ailing mother and aunt.

WOW WHAT HISTORY !