Word: mustangers
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...Iacocca, the mind behind Mustang, clashes with Henry II and is fired, then becomes Chrysler...
Bill Ford is so committed to the environment that his office is decorated with biodegradable curtains and carpets. He sits at his uncle Edsel's old desk, near a photo of himself breaking boards to earn a black belt in Taekwondo. His favorite car: Mustang. He recently spoke with TIME's Dorinda Elliott and Joseph Szczesny. Excerpts...
DIED. WILSON PICKETT, 64, volatile R&B star whose gravelly, raunchy delivery on such 1960s hits as Mustang Sally and In the Midnight Hour inspired the 1991 film The Commitments and helped earn him the moniker Wicked Pickett; of a heart attack; in Reston, Va. Despite drug and legal battles, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer remained inventive and determined, answering the disco craze with explosive live performances, which he continued until shortly before his death, and meriting a 2000 Grammy nomination for It's Harder Now, his first album in a decade...
Ford designers could use an unshackling. Aside from a few critically acclaimed hits, such as the new Mustang and GT sports car, the fleet is clogged with bland wheels. Car critics pounded Mays for the 2005 launch of the Ford Five Hundred, a middle-market sedan with all the élan of Wonder Bread. Ford's revival of the legendary Thunderbird, in 2001, flopped so badly that production was suspended last year. Geriatric wonders like the Grand Marquis and Town Car still roll out of Mercury and Lincoln plants, headed mainly for corporate fleets. Only Mazda, which Ford controls, appears...
Across the fleet, Ford is putting more faith in designers, says Mays. Hits like the Mustang persuaded top management to give designers more authority over a model's proportions, and there appears to be less bureaucratic meddling. Thomas, who heads design studios in California and Michigan, says he can negotiate vehicle dimensions directly with his counterpart in advanced engineering, eliminating middlemen in marketing, say, who might nibble away at a strong vision. "The only thing that's going to separate our company from the rest is great design," says Mays. Investors just hope Ford can turn those sketches into sales...