Biography

While Iacocca is rightly famous for developing the Ford Mustang, which turned out to be one of Ford's best cars, it must be remembered that he was also in charge of developing the Pinto, which turned out to be one of Ford's worst.

Inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1994.

In 1979 he went to the administration of President Jimmy Carter to seek government loans to bail out Chrysler Corp., something that had never been done for a big company before. He was granted the loans because it was felt that if a major corporation like Chrysler failed, thousands upon thousands of Chrysler employees would lose their jobs and the ripple effect of a company that big closing down could cause possibly hundreds of thousands more job losses (it was also noted that it could be used politically to hammer the Carter administration by the Republicans in the 1980 elections). Lee used the money to develop the K-cars. Many auto enthusiasts believe that the fact that Iacocca could convince the public to buy those poorly made, underpowered and underwhelming cars is a testimony to what a great salesman he really is.

Satisfied the Ford Thunderbird no longer needed a sporting image, Lee was looking for a replacement for the Thunderbird convertible. Stylist Bill Boyer said when Lee saw an artist's rendition of a four door Thunderbird, he stared at the picture while rolling his cigar in his mouth and said "That's the replacement for the convertible!" The four door Thunderbirds were built from 1967-1971.

Release of his book, "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?" by Lee with Catherine Whitney.