The Legacy Of Lee Iacocca

[Palumboism]

In 1975 Henry II "The Deuce" authorized $1.5 million in company funds for an investigation of Iacocca’s business and private life in 1975. Suffering from a heart condition and aware that the time for his retirement was approaching, Ford made it clear that he eventually wanted to turn the company over to his son Edsel, then just 28. In early 1978, Iacocca was told he would report to another Ford executive, Philip Caldwell, who was named deputy chief executive officer. In his increasingly public struggle with Ford, Iacocca made an attempt to find support among the company’s board of directors, giving Ford the excuse he needed to fire him. As Iacocca later wrote in his bestselling autobiography, Ford called Iacocca into his office shortly before 3 pm on July 13, 1978 and let him go, telling him “Sometimes you just don’t like somebody.”


https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/henry-ford-ii-fires-lee-iacocca

[Palumboism]

Iacocca Bid to Oust Henry Ford Led to His Firing, New Book Says
By JAMES RISEN

Hayes writes that Iacocca, then president of Ford, tried to convince company directors that Henry Ford, then the chairman of Ford Motor, was senile. While Henry was in China, Iacocca met with at least two directors and said he should be given greater power to run the company because Ford was no longer able to run things.

"The king was away in Peking," Hayes writes. "What better time for a palace revolution?"

Hayes says Iacocca told directors that "Henry was senile and not up to the job, and indicated that there were others in the company who shared his opinion."

In an interview Thursday, one former Ford director who was intimately involved in the Ford-Iacocca feud confirmed Hayes' version of the story. Dr. Franklin D. Murphy, director emeritus, former chairman and chief executive of Times Mirror Co., which owns The Times, said he is convinced that Iacocca was trying to make a "preemptive strike" against Henry Ford by going directly to the board to oust Henry.

At a board meeting July 12, Ford demanded a vote of confidence from the board, Murphy recalled. "He was adamant. He said, 'When a man does what Iacocca has done when my back is turned, I have no alternative but to seek a vote of confidence. It's me or Iacocca.' "

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-03-02-fi-1691-story.html


Things get more vicious in the board room than Getbig.  

[IroNat]

Iacocca thought Ford was his company.

Wrong.

[Irongrip400]

1969 Boss 429 is the coolest car ever. Was shinoda but whatever.