DETROIT – Five automotive legends including Shoichiro Toyoda of the family that founded Toyota Motor Corporation, were inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame during a ceremony held October 16, 2007.
Drawing hundreds to the main banquet hall at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Mich., this year’s inductees also included four-time Indianapolis winner A.J. Foyt, Grand Prix racer Dan Gurney, automotive pioneer Charles B. King, and car designer/manufacturer Sergio Pininfarina. Their names were added to the list of 128 men and women (the great majority of whom are men) from around the globe who are already members.
Jeffrey Leestma, president of the Automotive Hall of Fame, noted that 2007 marks the tenth year that the museum opened its facility in Dearborn and that it had welcomed its 250,000th visitor during the past year. Previously, the AHF was housed for 25 years on the campus of Northwood University in Midland, Michigan, where Dow Chemical Company is headquartered.
“A quarter of all of our visitors are students who can learn about and be inspired by the automotive industry’s greatest pioneers and leaders,” Leestma said. “I’ve often told our visitors that the heroes we honor in the Automotive Hall of Fame were not born that way, they achieved greatness through inspiration, vision, and hard work.”
The hall of fame actually dates back to 1939 when it was founded by Charles King in New York and known as the Automobile Old Timers (AOT) Association, Leestma added.
Indy Champion Foyt is a legend in the racing world with accomplishments that include having the most Indy series victories at 67; the most national championships at seven; the most wins in one season – 10; and the only driver to win the Indy 500, the Daytona 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans (which he won with fellow 2007 AHF inductee Gurney).
Born in 1935 in Houston, Foyt learned about racing from his auto mechanic father, Anthony Joseph Foyt Sr., who built midget racecars. At 18 in 1953, he became a high school dropout to pursue a racing career that sputtered along until he was hired by an Indy car team in 1957.
The following year, Foyt competed in is first Indianapolis 500 race, ranking 16th after spinning out, 52 laps short of the finish line. But, three years later, the then 26-year-old Foyt won his first Indy 500. He also partnered with driver Dan Gurney to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1967 – which was two weeks after his 1967 Indy 500 victory. The video introducing Foyt detailed a number of horrifying accidents that could have cut Foyt’s racing career short including:
• A 1965 crash in a NASCAR race in California where his back was broken his ankle fractured and he received severe chest injuries.
• A fuel tank rupture in a 1966 race in Milwaukee resulted in a fire that burned his face and hands.
• And, the 1981 crash at the Michigan International Speedway where a mechanical failure forced his car into the wall and nearly severed his right arm.
AHF Chairman Jason Vines, who is also vice president of public relations for Chrysler LLC, told the audience that Foyt was unable to attend the ceremony (which was due to a schedule conflict). But, Vines – who is know in the automotive industry for his sardonic humor – mentioned that “A.J. couldn’t be with us tonight because ran into a ramp on I-275,” and brought laughs from the induction night’s attendees.
The Champagne Sprayer
The second auto racer inducted into the hall of fame in 2007 – joining previous race inductees such as Mario Andretti, William France Sr. and William France Jr. – was Gurney whose 15 year career had exploits that included racing in 312 events in 20 countries with 51 different makes of cars. He won 51 races including seven Formula One events, seven Indy Car, five NASCAR, along with wins in Trans-Am, Can-Am, and the endurance races at Nurburgring, Daytona, Sebring, and Le Mans (with Foyt).
Notably, he is the only American in modern Grand Prix racing to build and win with a Formula One car of his own design at the 1967 Grand Prix of Belgium. He is credited with being the first victorious driver to spray champagne into a crowd around the winner’s circle, a gesture that countless other winning drivers have emulated since.
Born in 1931 on Long Island, NY, he began his racing career in 1955 and retired from active driving in 1970 to be a racecar inventor and team owner. However, his 1971 win of the underground Cannonball Run cross-country race inspired his friend, Brock Yates, to write the scripts for the “Cannonball” movies.
Introducing Gurney was his friend, journalist and publisher David E. Davis Jr. who recalled riding with him in a Ferrari racecar going from practice for the Le Mans race to an auto dealership several miles away from the course. “The city was full of people,” Davis said. “The crowds in the streets were begging to do burn outs for them. It was really fun gunning that Ferrari engine and screaming through the gears from one intersection to the next over and over and over again.”
During his acceptance speech, Gurney said that he was surprised that he, a racecar driver, would be inducted merely for his accomplishments on the track. “I nearly said indicted,” he quipped, bringing laughter from the crowd.
Afterward, Gurney said that he was surprised that a lot of racers were already in the Automotive Hall of Fame. “When I think of an automotive museum, I think of the captains of the industry, the engineers, the inventors, and the industrialists,” he said. “When I look at all the people and all the work and all the lives that have led up to 2007 and how the automobile gets pilloried all the time. I want to say that I’m proud of every last bit of pollution we put out. Can you imagine what the world would be like if we were still driving horses?”
Automotive Renaissance Man
Automotive pioneer Charles Brady King may be forgotten today by many outside of Detroit – or even in the Motor City – but one could argue that his induction into the AHF was a long time in coming. King holds the distinction of being the first automotive enthusiast to build and operate a gasoline-powered automobile on the avenues of the “Paris of the Midwest,” i.e. Detroit, around 11 p.m. March 6, 1896, as snow flurries fell.
His friend, Henry Ford, escorted him on a bicycle and King later returned the favor by giving the young tinkerer parts of his engine so Ford could get his first self-propelled conveyance, the Quadricycle, working later in 1896. But King had a number of other accomplishments.
An architect, poet, writer, inventor, musician, painter, and patriot, King was the Renaissance man of the automotive industry’s pioneer days. He first started producing marine engines with partners that included Detroiter Henry B. Joy (later general manager and then president of Packard). He served in the navy during the Spanish-American War, and later worked for Ransom E. Olds’ car company and started or joined other automotive ventures.
He moved to New York and, as previously noted, was one of the founders of the Automobile Old Timers (the original name of the Automotive Hall of Fame) in 1939.
Accepting the award for his late grandfather, who died in 1946, was Robert O. King. “My mom died when I was 14 so my sister and I had to good fortune to move in with my grandfather in his grand estate in Larchmont, New York,” Robert King said. “He was a very busy guy who was always out to help other people in the automotive world he helped Ford, Henry Joy of Packard, and Ransom Olds among a string of others. In the music and the art world he did the same. He was very busy and always tinkering and trying to do things for people and the automotive world.”
Although underaged, Robert King became his grandfather’s driver – with controls on the steering wheel so he could brake the car because his feet didn’t reach the pedals – and pilot. Charles King’s New York estate became well known as a mini-museum filled with a ship model, rock, gun, and steam engine collections.After Charles King’s death, the house was sold to author Jean Kerr who wrote a book in 1957 called “Please Don’t Touch the Daisies” which was turned into a movie three years later. Turning Cars into Art
Famed car Italian designer Sergio Pininfarina became the second member of his family to be inducted into the AHF. He followed in the footsteps of his father, the late Battista “Pinin” Farina, who was recognized by the hall in 2004 for his craft of turning cars into art.
Sergio Pininfarina was ill with influenza. Unable to fly in for the ceremony from Europe, his son Paolo Pininfarina, the deputy chairman of the Pininfarina Group, accepted the award. “My grandfather was a great man – a visionary and an artist,” Paolo Pininfarina said. “When my father became chairman of the company in 1966, he took upon his shoulders a very great responsibility. Under him, the company was transformed into a real international industry with 3,000 employees in the Italy, France, Germany, Sweden, China, Morocco and the United States.”
Sergio was born in 1926 in Torino, Italy. At the time, the family’s last name was “Farina.” Sergio’s father, Battista had the nickname “Pinin” and used it to distinguish himself from his older brother who was known as “Mr. Farina” in the Italian auto industry. After World War II, the grandfather changed his surname – and that of his descendants – to “Pininfarina.”
“People wanted designs by not just Farina but by Pinin Farina,” Paolo Pininfarina explained. Sergio Pininfarina graduated in 1950 from the Polytechnic of Torino with a degree in mechanical engineering. Although interested in designing sports cars, his father involved him in other aspects of the business including engineering, fabrication and manufacturing. Under Sergio, the company produced a number of outstanding automotive designs for Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Bentley, Cadillac, and Peugeot.
He stepped down to become the honorary chairman of the company, turning over management of the family-owned firm to his sons Andrea Pininfarina, who is chairman and CEO, and Paolo. Although in his 70s, Sergio Pininfarina has served as a professor of car design at Polytechnic of Torino, his Alma matter.
Promoter of Bulletproof Quality
Born in 1925, Dr. Shoichiro Toyoda, is the descendant of the Japanese industrialist family that took the mass production system created by Henry Ford and others and changed it into producing vehicles known for their bulletproof quality. (Toyota Motor Corporation’s name is a derivative of the Toyoda surname).
Shoichiro graduated from Nagoya University in 1947 with an engineering degree and joined Toyota in 1952, with specialty in fuel-injection technology. He became a student of the “just-in-time” production system – where the company became the master of making parts in small batches and delivering them to the assembly line hours before they were needed to save on inventory costs, scrap, and improved quality.
Working to improve the company’s quality and competitiveness, Toyoda was named managing director in 1961. He was promoted to a number of different posts and was named president of the company’s marketing organization in 1981. The year before he won the coveted Deming Prize – named after the American quality guru W. Edwards Deming whose methods were adopted by many Japanese firms, though rejected by many American companies for decades.
In 1981, when the company’s manufacturing and sales organizations were merged, Toyoda became the first president of the united Toyota Motor Corporation. Soon afterward, after several failed efforts to ally with Ford Motor Company, Toyoda began negotiating with General Motors to create a joint-venture manufacturing company in the United States. He believed that in order for Toyota to succeed as a global manufacturer, it had to build its products in the markets it served.
Under Toyoda, Toyota and GM created a manufacturing operation called New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., or NUMMI, that opened in 1984 in a former GM plant. Since the NUMMI venture – which is still in operation – Toyota now has 13 factories in North America and a total of 52 facilities in 26 countries.
From 1992 until his retirement in 1999, Toyoda was the corporation’s chairman. During that time, Toyota released its “Earth Charter” which was a roadmap for corporate environmental responsibility.
Talking through a translator – and apologizing that was not as comfortable as he once was with speaking English – Toyoda recognized the contributions of many of the inductees who were presented before him – including thanking Foyt and Gurney for using Toyota engines in some of their cars. He also recognized retired GM chairman John “Jack” Smith and current GM Chairman and CEO G. Richard Wagoner Jr. who were both in the audience.
“It is because of NUMMI, that we established with General Motors, we were able to start the world-class business here in the United States,” Toyoda said “I’d like to say sincerely thank you very much.”
Recognizing that 50 years ago, Toyota first began exporting cars to the U.S., Toyoda recalled taking one of the first Crown brand cars to Detroit and went to Ford World Headquarters, which is located in Dearborn. Since he was not allowed into the Ford headquarters, he had his photo taken outside the building, he said.
“We in the automotive industry must work together closely and at the same time compete against each other so in competition all of us can excel …that will lead to a better environment and a better society,” Toyoda said.
In Memoriam
On a sad note, the Hall of Fame’s Leestma noted the deaths of five inductees during the past year including:
• Warren E. Avis, inducted in 2000, and was the founder of Avis Rent-A-Car;
• Bill France Jr., a 2006 inductee, who along with his father, founded NASCAR;
• Wally Parks, inducted in 2000, who was the founding editor of Hot Rod Magazine;
• J. Edward Lundy, a 2003 inductee, was one of Ford Motor Company’s “Whiz Kids” who rewrote the automotive rules of finance;
• And Jim Moran, a 2005 inductee, was at various times one of the nation’s largest Hudson, Ford, and Pontiac dealers who was the first to use TV advertising plus created a Toyota distributorship covering 42 dealers in five states.
Photos courtesy of Joe Wilssens
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