Nuts About Lutz

My latest read outside of textbooks has been Six Men Who Built The Modern Auto Industry. It's an interesting book about the six most influential automobile executives from 1970 to today. It's clear the author has one favorite and that is Bob Lutz, presently with General Motors. His first job happen to be with GM back in the early 60's, but he then went to work for BMW, Ford, Chrysler and now back to GM.

Last night I joined my friend Gary for a movie and he arrived at the theater in a beautiful black 2008 Cadillac CTS. Black is the only color they should offer on that car, as it's just stunning and works with every line and surface. I'm glad we waited until after the movie to go over the car or we would have never made it inside. Gary indulged me in a quick spin around the neighborhood by the theater. I've written glowing passages about this car and I still stand by everyone one of them. This is truly Bob Lutz's finest work. (Not that one man is solely responsible for a car mind you.)

Back to my reading. One of the chapters about Lutz discusses his time at BMW is the 1970's. This period was also the gestation time for one of my present rides, the E24 6-Series. Apparently Bob had penned the original concept of this beautiful car first, and left the final look to the design team. But certainly he put his stamp on the continuing development of the car. I just finished washing mine and taking it for a nice Sunday drive and I'm still very much in love with it. I've posted new pics on my Carspace.com page, the link is to the right of this column.

Bob Lutz's other significant vehicle I've owned is the Ford Explorer. He was head of Ford's U.S. Light Truck Operation during it's development period. His design influence made the Explorer more then an extended wheelbase Bronco II. By Making the vehicle wider and longer, he defined the SUV class as to what this segment should be. I personally had four examples of the first generation Explorer from 1991-2001 and it was the perfect trans-continental vehicle for one or two people. My father still has his 2000 5.0L V8 AWD model.

General Motors normal retirement age is typically about 65 or so, but Bob Lutz has blown past that. And it's for our benefit that he has continued to work into his 70's. If John McCain wanted another former military fighter pilot on the ticket, a McCain/Lutz run for 2008 would have a strong chance at my vote.