Iacocca’s seven-month bout with rheumatic fever as he entered high school rendered him, four years later, ineligible to be drafted into World War II. He earned a degree in industrial engineering in 1945 from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, a master’s degree in mechanical engineering through a fellowship at Princeton University, then began work in 1946 at Ford.
After one year in engineering, Iacocca was granted a move to sales. In 1956, with his eastern Pennsylvania sales district lagging, he introduced the “56 for ’56” program, offering car buyers a new 1956 Ford for $56 a month for three years, with 20% down.
Sales Soar
His district went from last place to first, selling an additional 75,000 cars, and Iacocca the car salesman was on his way to more senior positions at Ford. At 33, he became head of national car marketing.
Also in 1956, Iacocca married his longtime girlfriend, the former Mary McCleary, who had been a receptionist at Ford’s office in Philadelphia. They made their home in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and had two daughters, Kathryn Lisa Hentz and Lia Antoinette Nagy.
Putting his stamp on the Ford division after taking charge in 1960, Iacocca canceled U.S. release of the Cardinal, an inexpensive subcompact under development by Ford of Germany.
“It was a fine car for the European market,” he wrote in his memoir, but for Americans, “it was too small and had no trunk.”
Pinto Lawsuits
Following the success of the Mustang, he was given responsibility for planning and marketing all cars and trucks in the Ford and Lincoln-Mercury divisions.
The subcompact Pinto, introduced in 1971, was a blot on Ford’s record in the Iacocca era. A raft of lawsuits alleged that a flawed design made the car susceptible to fuel-tank fires if struck in a rear-end collision. Ford recalled 1.5 million of the cars in 1978.