His commercials were a sign of the times — desperate, struggling times that suddenly turned prosperous.
In the 1980s, Ronald DeLuca was the hidden face behind an instantly familiar one — Chrysler Corporation chairman Lee Iacocca, who walked into his company’s own commercials to personally pitch front-wheel-drive K-car platform products to a recession-weary America.
DeLuca, the advertising whiz hired by Iacocca to help turn around Chrysler’s late-1970s death plunge, died last week at 91, according to The New York Times. During his tenure DeLuca and Iacocca cranked out a slew of unusually frank, bold commercials that paid off in a big way.
The two men, both Pennsylvanian-born to Italian immigrants, met in the late 1960s when Iacocca was firmly in place at Ford Motor Company. DeLuca rose up the ranks of ad agency Kenyon & Eckhard, and when Iacocca jumped in to save Chrysler in 1978, he tapped DeLuca’s talents. Together, they helped persuade the U.S. government to hand the failing company a loan guarantee.
After that, the only thing left was the not-so-simple task of convincing jaded Americans that Chrysler wasn’t an archaic relic teetering on the edge of the corporate toilet bowl. They needed to sell product. Once they had it, DeLuca would craft the ad, and Iacocca would make the pitch.
“There was a certain amount of risk involved,” DeLuca told The New York Times in 1992. “The risk was that our company would go down the drain.”
In the early years, the ads featured a folksy Iacocca coaxing people back to the brand with humility (“No cars are perfect, but we think these come pretty close”) and an appeal to basic economics. Say it’s 1981, you have $6,500 to spend and have a broken-down gas guzzler in the driveway. It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that buying a warrantied Dodge Aries or Plymouth Reliant might be a good idea.
The ads were more about dispelling myths and boosting the corporation’s public image then they were about selling cars, Iacocca later wrote.
As the company rocketed back to prosperity with the success of the K-car and its many offspring — including the minivan — the ads became boastful, yet remained wary of the public’s fears. Bold claims were tempered by promises that the company wouldn’t become lax.
DeLuca retired in 1991, but remained a part-time consultant to his former agency. He was on the set of Iacocca’s last commercial — his 61st in total — which aired in 1992. It was Iacocca’s farewell address, which also featured a computer-generated look at the new line of “cab-forward” LH platform vehicles that would carry the company into the 1990s. Product had grown stale, and DeLuca & Co. wanted buyers to know there was a new design revolution underway.
Chrysler: “If you can find a better car, buy it.”
US Auto-buying public: “Challenge Accepted”
“Can you direct me please, to the Accord dealership?”
“Bold claims were tempered by promises that the company wouldn’t become lax.”
And then of course they did.
“If you can find a better car, buy it.”
Many did, but many others still bought them. Guilty as charged – but they served us well.
Mr. Iaccoca however is still with us.
Give me a 1982 Town and Country convertible, few things scream K-CAR louder.
I remember how futuristic and NEW IDEA those Intrepids were. Man that was cool, I wanted my mom to get one instead of the Grand Voyager.
Chrysler did well under Iacocca’s leadership until he began to think it was all about him. Product development suffered with too many K-car derivatives until the LH cars finally were given the go-ahead. But when you compare what they made then in the context of those times, with what they are making now, there is no comparison – those pre-Daimler times were the last great days for Chrysler.
That LeBaron convertible looks like what Hank Kimball would buy after he retired from the County and had to leave the Bronco behind.
I remember….
“Buy a car – Get a Check!”
Classic
“not-so-simple task of convincing jaded Americans that Chrysler wasn’t an archaic relic teetering on the edge of the corporate toilet bowl.”
And all that is old is new again.
At least those ads told you something substantial about the car, instead of just providing vapid good feelings.
Did you notice in the 82 ad, how slowly those workers in the back were shuffling about? My goodness it’s no wonder they were in big trouble.
Zombies in lab coats!
Quick! Go get Carl!
That’s why they’re actors instead of factory workers.
You don’t know!
Also, was Iacocca replaced directly with the dude from the Overboard movie with Goldie Hawn, when they started showing all Dodge variants in red on the commercials?
I remember him well.
Yes! The late Edward Herrmann. He did a lot of narration for The History Channel in the late 90s as well as playing the dad in a Ritchie Rich movie.
The New Dodge. The rules have changed.
Ah yeah, History! He’s the voice of that channel for me, along with the guy who currently voices Modern Marvels.
And let us not forget one of the most significant decisions that the company made back in the 1980s: to use a Cummins inline 6 diesel engine in their pickup trucks. Most people back then didn’t even know this was an option – I remember a distant relative showing us his at a family reunion and he was really proud of it.
Think of how different things would be today if they had not chosen to offer that engine.
The Cummins 6BT probably saved Dodge’s truck division from oblivion. Sales of the diesel Rams paid for the design re-do that produced the 1994 Ram (the original design was stupendously dull).
Indeed. Once they became widely known and available, high-profit margin Cummins-powered Dodge pickups outsold gas-powered ones by a wide margin (I think it was something like two diesels sold for every gas engine Dodge) until the radical 1994 redesign.
@ Kenmore, Hank Kimball in his convertible LeBarron:
“It doesn’t have a top… well, it does but it’s in the trunk. Well, not really the trunk, more like in the… ah… it’s quieter than any tractor I’ve ever driven”
*exasperated Eddie Albert voice*
Mis! Ter!
Kimball!
which was different from
*outraged Eddie Albert voice*
Mis! Ter!
Haney!
Because great actor.
Yay, Iacocca!
Where’s the ad where he zooms off in a Lamborghini? I remember that from the early 90’s.
One thing I noticed about these ads is that they weren’t afraid to talk smack about the competition. Nowadays, for the most part car commercials play like they’re the only ones in the world making cars. The only exception I know of is GM bad-mouthing Ford’s Al truck beds by dumping big rocks in them.
I heard a radio ad the other day for a local dealer:
“And for those of you who still want a steel bed on their pickup, we have Silverados…”
I was like awww sheeet.
“And for those of you who still want a solid dependable wood bed instead of a dented rusty steel bed, here’s a time machine set to 1967.”