Iacoca's opinion in Mustang Monthly

[jshcobra]

Even Lee, himself, is into II bashing-- in this month's Mustang Monthly interview, he confirmed that he was the person who insisted the "II" designation be added to the name because he felt the car didn't deserve the regular "Mustang" name.

As some consolation, he feels the 71-73 cars were even less deserving and went so far as to call them "pigs."

But considering that all this is coming from a man who allowed the K-car to go into production and thinks electric scooters are cool, I guess it's not so bad.

 

[Cool Wheels]

These guys make their living on being *******'s. After I wrote that editor a rebuttal, he emailed me back with a string of boring, prewashed rhetoric defending his stupid opinion. It's obvious that these guys spend the entire day with their heads up their own asses sniffing at what their editor fed them for dinner.

I can't remember who said it, but I agree in that the fact that not everyone likes the Mustang II makes it even more desireable to drive one. It's not what someone else thinks (let's face it - we are all continually brainwashed by the media). It's what you think AND what you feel, deep inside when you see the moonlight caught by the curves on your car. I love 'em. To hell with anyone else.

 

[HaveII]

So basically what he is saying is that he led Ford through building what was a revolutionary car for it's time, but his "own" project was not worthy of the Mustang name? He's putting himself down. I'll bet he was singing a different tune when it was being designed and built. I seem to recall him referring to the car as his "little jewel" and him being very proud of the resulting sales. I would not be surprised if he wanted the "II" designation because he thought that his "Mustang II" was so far superior to all previous Mustangs that he did not want "his" car to be put down in the same class. I think he is SENILE!

 

[dmoody]

What exactly did he say... I should have bought the mag :-(

d

 

[1970impala]

Even Lee, himself, is into II bashing-- in this month's Mustang Monthly interview, he confirmed that he was the person who insisted the "II" designation be added to the name because he felt the car didn't deserve the regular "Mustang" name.

As some consolation, he feels the 71-73 cars were even less deserving and went so far as to call them "pigs."

But considering that all this is coming from a man who allowed the K-car to go into production and thinks electric scooters are cool, I guess it's not so bad.

oh man, i'm really upset, i had a decent opinion of this guy till now. hell, he designed the car!!!!!! WTF?

 

[78Mach1]

oh man, i'm really upset, i had a decent opinion of this guy till now. hell, he designed the car!!!!!! WTF?

I had a decent opinion of him too(his work at ruining other makes aside)- until I tried putting the headers in last weekend lol.

Like the saying goes- Opinions are like *ssholes- everyone has them, and they all stink. We like the cars so everyone else.

 

[jshcobra]

oh man, i'm really upset, i had a decent opinion of this guy till now. hell, he designed the car!!!!!! WTF?

In the interview, he hints at having tried to influence the styling by going to the studio and messing with the clays, but was repeatedly told to "get out of the kitchen" by the designers. I think he had something else in mind for his "Little Jewel" in terms of the roofline. He also seemed to have been bothered by the 4cyl. drivetrain. Apparently, that old 170 cid six was a powerhouse to him...

 

[78CobraII]

Given how everyone has taken to "revising" history with regard to the MII, his opinion of it was not as bad as I expected. It seems to be fashionable among some Mustang fans to kick the MII and I wasn't expecting any better from Iococca.

Can you imaging what the '71-'73 owners are saying about him right now?

(No I don't agree with his opinion of that car either).

"Back in the day" about the only poor reviews of the MII were from the diehard GT-350 and big-block Mustang fans and in a way they were right since the MII was not a performance car. All it needed was a little engine work though...

 

[Eos]

Given how everyone has taken to "revising" history with regard to the MII, his opinion of it was not as bad as I expected. It seems to be fashionable among some Mustang fans to kick the MII and I wasn't expecting any better from Iococca.

Can you imaging what the '71-'73 owners are saying about him right now?

(No I don't agree with his opinion of that car either).

"Back in the day" about the only poor reviews of the MII were from the diehard GT-350 and big-block Mustang fans and in a way they were right since the MII was not a performance car. All it needed was a little engine work though...

The 77 camaro wasn't a performance car either.

 

[cobraii74x]

It doesn't matter what the truth is about the II. I have a teacher who has a Gremlin and bashes on my II because it is small and pinto like ? The fact the only people who like the cars are the owners and the people who don't know what they are.. I am in the generation of ricers and suvs :damnit: so people see it and they say "nice car what is it" but the people who know what it is bash it because of all they have heard! its cool to hate an MII's. if i dont like car its because the way it looks.. not because it came with a 4cyl. look at all the fox bodies that came with 4 bangers.. no body says they are junk and they came with junky engines too..
Lee can kiss my buttocks because if the II was the hottest car now.. he'd be in love with it and

 

[Stang2Man]

if you wanna get technical Lee Iacocca did't design any of the Mustangs, he's nothing but management and tried to influence the designers after he was presented with certain designs. Sadly I don't remember the name of the 1965's designer, I do know though that Shinoda designed the package for the Bosses and designed the body for the 71-73's, I don't believe I've ever actually seen a name tagged to the II's body other than the design studio in Italy by the name of Ghia.
I've read the older articles before about the Mustang II being his "little jewel" wish I had that biography with me now of Lee Iacocca by David Abodaher. It was actually a pretty good covered his entire career, I believe sometime close to retirement maybe? with Chrysler.

 

[1WildII]

Wow as a MII fan and a big body fan, I have to say F*** em all if they dont like my car, "thats why I own it and you dont." I remember when I first saw my Cobra sitting in an alley, just beat to hell, flat tires, spoiler fell off, louvers fell off, junk on the inside, but I remember seeing Cobra II on the door and a V8 Badge on the fender, I love my cars and if anyone talks trash about my Cobra or '71, I leave em in the dust and they can tell it to my tail lights.

 

[Northern J II]

Mr. K-car does not like II's?? That's it I am goin to sell the II now. Going to buy a red Chevelle with black stripes a 502 big block, 17" American Racing Torque Thrust II's. Going to read Car Craft and Hot Rod and let their advertisers deside what I am going to buy next. Or I am just going to enjoy my favorite car and ignore all outside influences Iacocca was also said the 70's German/English Capri was more of a Mustang then anything Detroit was putting out. They were/are neat little cars, but the II is superior in every way IMO

 

[hot4boss]

SHINODA did NOT design the 71-73

Actually he thought they were "quite ugly" as he put it.

He did the 69-70 though and the Boss, and Boss Shinoda

Hey if you love the car, then just be happy, dont worry about what others say, it's what you like that is important and if people dont respcet that then they can go takle a flying leap off ........etc... etc

Mustang II is a very hot collectable now as most went to the crusher

 

[Eos]

Actually he thought they were "quite ugly" as he put it.

He did the 69-70 though and the Boss, and Boss Shinoda

Hey if you love the car, then just be happy, dont worry about what others say, it's what you like that is important and if people dont respcet that then they can go takle a flying leap off ........etc... etc

Mustang II is a very hot collectable now as most went to the crusher

That ofcourse sounds good...but in reality its not true. If other people don't like the car then there will never be a market for them and if there is never a market then there will be no restoring because we wont be able to get parts for the II's. So people need to like them for that to happen.