COLLISION COURSE
Over the past 35 years or so, I’ve been involved in chronicling and conserving the history of American Motors. A fun part of my efforts has been recording the AMC story as told to me in videotaped interviews with former designers, stylists, engineers, and upper management. During this time, I’ve been able to meet with most of the former CEOs and presidents, starting with George Romney and ending with Joe Cappy, AMC’s last CEO. The effort is ongoing.
One of the most interesting people I’ve had the privilege to meet with was Howard Turtle, a mid-level test engineer. Mr. Turtle, who has since passed away, was a soft-spoken, modest man, but in the three hours I spent talking with him I learned more about the history of crash-testing automobiles than I had in the previous 10 years. He’d started with the Nash Motors Division of Nash-Kelvinator and stayed on when it became American Motors. In addition to
