lee iacocca

Bid On A Ford Mustang And Lunch With Lee Iacocca

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Auctions

An auction from CharityBuzz lets you not only have lunch with a legend but drive one too. They are selling #19 of 45th Iacocca Silver Anniversary Edition Ford Mustang as well as lunch with the "Father of the Mustang" Lee Iacocca in Los Angeles. Only 45 "2009½" Iacocca Silver Edition Mustangs were built all in a special silver color.

The Iacocca Silver Edition Mustang is a collaborative effort by Mr. Iacocca, designer Michael Leone, and Gaffoglio Family Metalcrafters. It starts with a 2009 Mustang GT platform, which is then uniquely modified and "coach built". All come with a standard 5-speed manual transmission. The suspension has been upgraded with a Ford Racing Performance Handling Package. The car has custom-made 20" wheels and Ford Racing 14" Brakes (designed by Brembo). The proceeds for this item benefit Keep Memory Alive which supports research into disorders that affect memory. All proceeds from the sale benefit the foundation. The auction ends on February 23. The estimate is $120,000, last time I looked the bidding was up to $80,000.

[via the NY Times]

Gallery: Lee Iacocca Through The Years

Tags: charity auction, charitybuzz, keep memory alive, lee iacocca, mustang

Continue reading “Bid On A Ford Mustang And Lunch With Lee Iacocca”

Lee Iacocca To Lose Company Car And Pension In Chrysler Bankruptcy

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos

It's trendy lately to rage against the cushy deals that retired execs get but it saddens me a little to learn that Lee Iacocca, the car executive who turned Chrysler around n the 1980s, may lose a major part of his pension and a guaranteed life-long company car as part of the fall-out from Chrysler's bankruptcy deal. Reuters reports that Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli told a U.S. bankruptcy court that Iacocca's pension would be among the obligations Chrysler won't be paying if it gets bankruptcy court approval to sell itself to a "New Chrysler" to be owned by its union, the U.S. and Canadian governments and Fiat. Iacocca's retirement was part of a supplemental executive retirement plan including non-IRS qualified pension funds that are therefore subject to bankruptcy. Chrysler is also stopping a program that gave company cars for life to former executives and directors including Iacocca (shown above in 2005 with a Mercedes Maybach).

Iacocca, who was the president of Ford in the mid 1960s, came to national attention in the 1980s when he starred in the Chrylser commercials touting the quality and durability of his American-made cars. The gallery below traces Iacocca's career including his ill-fated adventure in selling electric bicycles. In a commercial from 1984, placed after the jump, it's interesting to see how Iacocca dealt with the bankruptcy facing his company over two decades ago. His straight talking approach and focus on hard work appealed directly to the American people buying his cars. As he says in the commercial: "I have one, and only one, ambition for Chrysler, to be the best."

Gallery: Lee Iacocca Through The Years

Source

Tags: bankruptcy, chrysler, lee iacocca, LeeIacocca, pension

Continue reading “Lee Iacocca To Lose Company Car And Pension In Chrysler Bankruptcy”