I don't really think it was as dramatic as you're making it sound - the Ford Falcon sold 1 million cars in the first two years, and the Ford Mustang sold 1 mill

I don't really think it was as dramatic as you're making it sound - the Ford Falcon sold 1 million cars in the first two years, and the Ford Mustang sold 1 million cars in 18 months. The Falcon continued to be sold for years afterwards, and it appears that there are many enthusiasts who would reject the definition of the styling as plug ugly. Also, if you read the article, it makes it sound like McNamara understood Iacocco's genius salesmanship, and promoted him into a position he could be effective. In the same article, it talks about how Iacocco was president during the Pinto debacle, so it would seem that he had both successes and failures. Overall, I think we need to have a little more balanced view than a simplified retelling of history that says that Iacocco was a hero and McNamara was a tone-deaf robot. Both contributed greatly to Ford and both had their blind spots.