By Peter Holderith
The late seventies were a truly unfortunate time for the American Automobile. The Japanese had sailed their superior, more economical cars across the Pacific. General Motor’s response was akin to an old man heckling passing whippersnappers from his front stoop. It looked bad from the outside, and it wasn’t much better on the inside. Ken Root, a former designer for GM during this tumultuous period, gave some details.
“A lot of the older guys were leaving, and they were bitching and moaning about all of the safety stuff, and ‘oh, we gotta make it smaller.’ “
“They didn’t make it really inviting to be there.”
GM’s sales were suffering due to the oil crisis of 1973. The automaker was struggling to adapt to a market where big V8s seemed totally obsolete. Foreign makes such as Volkswagen, Honda and Toyota were eating their lunch. Root insisted it wasn’t all bad, but concepts he and others liked were being shoved out into the hallway. He cites this poor studio culture as a reason behind his short tenure at the Detroit automaker (only two years).
A Bouncy Oldsmobile
Root says he contributed most to the design of the 1978 five-door Oldsmobile Cutlass; and just as the corporate bean-counters were having troubles, the designers were too.
“We had these sort of ritual viewings of the big [full scale] clay models outdoors” Ken told me.
“They had like a forklift converted to pull out the model, which was on a dolly. As it was coming out of the door, it sort of bounced a bit, and the whole front end fell off.”
With only an hour and a half until the big outdoor showing, the designers had to fix the mess. The model was in pieces, and its paint would have to be hastily retouched once it was back together.
“Somebody ran into the shop, and they had the shop guys make some big broomsticks with a point on the end.”
This–of course–was made more complicated due to the structure of the unions at General Motors. The designers could only instruct others what to do, not do it themselves. Union modelers had to do any and all repairs to the clay. The designers could only stand on the sidelines, giving instructions. Union woodworkers in the shop also had to make the sharpened wooden stakes.
After the stakes were wedged into the body of the car, the front fascia was jacked back up into place. Several designers pushed it back on, and repaired the paintwork. All of the modeling clay at the time was also sulfur based, and as a result, it stunk like rotting eggs. This did not make the job easier. Despite this stinky setback, the design was just barely ready for the deadline.
“We made the show.”
GM Today
This is a pretty good representation of GM at the time. It was dysfunctional, things went wrong, a lot of people probably didn’t want to be there, and the car’s that they produced looked like it. Those times are now nearly forty years behind us, but GM today is still having trouble with its appeal.
They are struggling to adapt to a changing automotive landscape. The Bolt is their only full electric model, and it looks like a slightly chunkier BMW i3 with a few too many teeth. The new Chevy Menlo is a handsome crossover with 255 miles of range, but (for reasons that elude pretty much everybody) it will only be sold in China.
At least we can be relatively certain that–whatever GM comes up with–the front won’t fall off the final production model.
Jeff Glucker
Brit cars were even worse at that time. (sigh)
It wasn’t just the designers who were struggling. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/338842f5ffa100313791bf46fe4af98ca82463e6da5eb0ec47ecee2e0a7ed4ad.jpg
as seen in Daytona Beach, 2013ish
In 1981, mid model year, they moved Corvette production to Bowling Green, rumor has it that the last St. Louis built cars were about half finished with beer cans in the doors and other such evidence of a spiteful and dysfunctional operations. It’s a miracle they survived as long as they did without a bailout.
Mr. Root’s anecdote sounds 100% believable.
Also: The ’78-’80 Cutlass and Century fastbacks weren’t actually hatchbacks. Like the British Leyland Princess and Allegro, they looked like they should have one, but didn’t (as well as the fixed rear door windows, an attribute shared with the other A-body 4-doors and wagons).
The Allegro’s abbreviated trunk opening is sufficiently limited and irritating that I’m reminded it should have been a hatchback pretty much every time I use it. Maybe I should get a Princess; I’m sure those are better…
Perhaps a Renault 7 would be good?
It wasn’t just the designers who were struggling. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/338842f5ffa100313791bf46fe4af98ca82463e6da5eb0ec47ecee2e0a7ed4ad.jpg
as seen in Daytona Beach, 2013ish
I no-shit saw one just this month in my neighborhood, and in good shape, and I’d never seen it before so it must have arrived recently and possibly under its own power? I don’t live in the kind of place where you take pictures of other people’s cars or I woulda.
It’s possible; there can’t be that many still around.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1f33a1d1cfb68cead72d157d8fa09329d38f34514fe8f7ab0f616f4b4f29bdb7.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e42d307e765d9585f706db18b7f54267c52b9f1619288c10c1e95ea863fd2e56.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0956c60d4ca00dc0ef3b89c87d0fb60d9c3d23a535f151a3f00d7e16de10991a.jpg
And GM in 2014 was not so nice a place to be either.
“Why in the world would a company with the stellar reputation of General Motors purchase a part that did not meet its own specifications?” Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, asking GM CEO Mary Barra.
(Translation: Why did your cars kill 13 of your customers and cause havoc and terror to scores of others?)
Barra: “I want to know that as much as you do. It is not the way we do business today. It is not the way we want to design and engineer vehicles for our customers… whatever mistakes were made in the past, we will not shirk from our responsibilities now and in the future. Today’s GM will do the right thing.”
(Translation: Gee-golly Wow I’d sure like to know, too! Oo-ee! That’s a doozy; thirteen dead
debtorscustomers. Well, tomorrow’s another day!)https://www.cnbc.com/2014/05/16/the-corporate-culture-behind-the-scenes-at-general-motors.html
Bullshit in 1974 still smells like bullshit forty years later.
GM is also setting itself up for a new product crisis. They have basically left Europe – Opel, Vauxhall, SAAB, Daewoo and Chevrolet; gone. They’re all in on China which is overdue for a correction but at least they have fair to good quality EVs there. In the US, it’s the bigger, heavier, testosterone-dripping style of engineering that made them bellyflop in the 70s, too. Their “real customers”-campaign turned into a laughing stock, solidifying the impression that people buy GM not for quality vehicles, but to save money. I’m not sure how they do in South America, Africa and Australia, but I figure Daewoo of Uzbekistan won’t be a saviour either.
GM is also setting itself up for a new product crisis. They have basically left Europe – Opel, Vauxhall, SAAB, Daewoo and Chevrolet; gone. They’re all in on China which is overdue for a correction but at least they have fair to good quality EVs there. In the US, it’s the bigger, heavier, testosterone-dripping style of engineering that made them bellyflop in the 70s, too. Their “real customers”-campaign turned into a laughing stock, solidifying the impression that people buy GM not for quality vehicles, but to save money. I’m not sure how they do in South America, Africa and Australia, but I figure Daewoo of Uzbekistan won’t be a saviour either.
Considering Holden is exiting* the passenger car (i.e. anything not a truck, van, SUV or crossover) market due to a combination of shrinking sales and their two remaining models (the Commodore and Astra) being products of Opel (which is now PSA/FCA), they’d better pray to the ghost of Peter Brock that the metaphorical basket in which all their eggs are now located doesn’t get smashed.
*Yes, they plan to offer RHD C8 Vettes through Holden dealers, but the cynic in me says that’s mainly to draw Mick and Sheila Q. Public into the showroom and get them to leave in a new Acadia or Colorado.
Holden will be lucky to survive, last year they sold 43,176 vehicles for 4% market share, 10th most popular brand. Outsold by the Toyota Hilux alone. Not enough to support even the diminished dealer network, and there are few prospects of future rhd product.
Incidentally in the late 70s Holden also had a head in sand approach to emissions, and were about to downsize to the Commodore, leading to them almost going bankrupt within a decade. They recovered strongly after that however and had a very strong 1990s.
Even with their troubles I doubt if the environment was ever as bad as what’s been described here.
https://media2.giphy.com/media/4ahIi3U37NAxcLQEpE/giphy-downsized-medium.gif
They have their domestic hopes pretty firmly pinned to full sized trucks and SUV’s, none of their other products compete as market segment leaders. Maybe electrics are the wild card in the equation this go around, but gasoline is on a pretty long run of being in the cheap part of the cycle. If gas prices spike up again, it’s going to be really ugly.
…and that’s the next parallell. Both a detoriation in the Middle East, peak petrol and a myriad of other political and climate-related issues can drive up gas prices. The only thing pulling the other way is the tail end of the happy ’10s – but a recession won’t help GM either. I wonder if they would be bailed out again?
I’m also very surprised that Holden only has a 4% market share in Australia. Thought they were bigger!
…and that’s the next parallell. Both a detoriation in the Middle East, peak petrol and a myriad of other political and climate-related issues can drive up gas prices. The only thing pulling the other way is the tail end of the happy ’10s – but a recession won’t help GM either. I wonder if they would be bailed out again?
I’m also very surprised that Holden only has a 4% market share in Australia. Thought they were bigger!
Sales have dropped by half in the last 2 years. More difference than just the loss of the local Commodore.
Also smacks of “officially I don’t know”. Having a revised part that didn’t have a new part number was unusual to say the least too.
Is it being too mean to point out that although their cars killed them, their estates had to finish paying off the loans on the wreckage to the company that built those cars?
Pls say you’re making this up?