John Beltz - Setting The Pace

Setting The Pace

Beltz was also discussed at length in the coffee table tome "Setting the Pace: Oldsmobiles First 100 Years" in which co-workers and friends at Olds spoke about John Beltz the man, as well as his influence on the industry during an era of "new frontiers."

Bill Murphy, who was assistant controller at Olds in the '60s described Beltz as "absolutely brilliant. He had a real sense of humor though a lot of it was biting. John had no time for people who weren't interested in their job, or working hard, keeping up to date. He had no patience for that. You had to know what the answer was or you wouldn't give it. John had a wonderful vocabulary, a great fund of stories and sparkling wit, but he was tough and didn't hesitate to call a spade a spade."

The book discusses Beltz's transition to GM of Oldsmobile in 1969, saying, "If Beltz had been well liked before, he was even more popular now - even among the press, who loved his candor and colorful language." Beltz became well known for his ability to win the hearts and minds of the press and the people.

Hurst Olds engineer Jack "Doc" Watson also discussed Beltz's likable personality, explaining, "It was so funny. Anyone who knew John Beltz knew that whatever was on his mind came right out of his mouth. One time he said, 'Doc, you're a nice young man, but I just have to tell you that we know you're buddies with DeLorean, so he's going to get all your good stuff."

Oldsmobile's Bob Somers recalled a meeting he attended with Beltz at the GM building in downtown Detroit, introducing the XP-90, otherwise known as the "all-plastic" car. After Beltz and Somers' presentation, the board turned the proposed project down, and Somers said, "Roche's man gets up and he's got a flimsy overhead transparency. It's got figures I can't even read - little tiny numbers... the guy gets up there and goes whish, right through it. He gets all done and nobody knows what he said. Roche says, 'And that's why we're not going to do it.' And John says, 'Jesus Christ, not only can I not read it, I didn't understand it.' Right in front of the chairman of the board... So that was John Beltz."

The book also discusses Beltz's death in 1972, and the devastation within the Oldsmobile family over losing one of their most beloved bosses. Product delivery manager at the time of Beltz's death, Bob Richards said, "the number-one general manager. He to me was THE general manager. He was just a take-charge, take-over sort of guy. Once he said this is it, everyone knew he meant it."

Assistant Motor Engineer at the time, Tom Leonard also discussed Beltz at the time of his death, saying "John was a super guy. He was probably the most people-oriented person I ever knew. We knew something was wrong, but nobody knew it was cancer. He kept things to himself until the end."

Assembly Plant Superintendent Ken Ricks recalled a meeting with Beltz "Just a couple of weeks before he quit working. I got a call to come up to his office... I went in and saw him sitting behind that desk. He was saffron yellow, looking terrible. He said, 'I tried to get down to the plant to see you three or four times and I just couldn't make it. My only purpose in asking you up here is to tell you how much I appreciate your work.' And you know, that gets a guy right where it hurts. I would have rather had that than a $5000 a month raise. That's the kind of man he was."