Spook

Hi guys!! I don't often post on this board, but I noticed that Dr Evil metioned the Chrysler loan in the early 80's. I worked for Chrysler from 76 until Jan 79. I was pretty young, but the organization didn't impress me much. Sounds like IH really had a better system for inventory. Chrysler built every car for a "sales bank" - we ran all white cars one day, blue the next, and so on. They really couldn't build a car to order for a customer. A lot of options on a Chrysler were dealer installed - the assembly guys would throw things in the trunk for the dealer to do. They ended up with a huge inventory that almost killed them. It was a good place to work. I think in that time period, Chrysler had about 150K employees, about 50K in Detroit proper. I really don't think that the number of employees was the reason Chrysler got the loan from the government. It was pretty much a Lee Iococaa show, all the way. For example, when he took over, Chrysler had 19 vp's. He fired Every single One. He basically took over everything in the corporation. He went to Washington, did the lobbying, went on tv, did ads, negotiated with the union - simply told the union that this was the deal, take it or leave it. The UAW really had no recourse, he had all the cards. Without him, there was no future, and they knew it. Lee Iococaa was a tremendous salesman, and a true leader. And very tough. Maybe if IH had somebody like him, there would still be Farmalls being made. Just think - "If you can find a better tractor, buy it!!"