RIP: John Conde (1918-2008)
Sunday-October 05, 2008
I've been expecting this moment for years.
I recently learned that former AMC public relations executive and auto historian John Conde had died. He died on August 29th at age 90, but it took me awhile to discover it.
The funeral directors generously provided an online guestbook. If you ever spent some time with John, please take a moment and share some memories. Here are mine:
John was a fascinating man with a deep and abiding love of auto history.
He had a front row seat to that history as a public relations exec who watched Nash merge with Hudson to form American Motors which later bought the Jeep brand.
We're lucky to have a lot of that history. After John retired from AMC in 1976, he wrote many articles for a variety of auto history magazines. (I hope someone collects his stories someday.)
In addition, he allowed me into his house in 2000 to interview him extensively about his Nash/AMC career. Someday, I hope I can find a way to share these six hours of interviews with car fans.
John almost singlehandedly preserved the history of American Motors even when the company itself didn't care about its past. He once told me that former AMC President Bill Luneberg called him "the company's greatest used car salesman" for his efforts to preserve materials about AMC's past.
In fact, he was allowed to take a lot of that material with him when he retired. The sale of publicity photos and rare product literature helped fund his retirement years.
John was a complex character. On the surface, he could sometimes be curt and irritable. However, he could also be generous and kind. If he sensed your motives were in the interest of helping someone or preserving auto history, he was always very selfless and giving.
John lived through some fascinating times in the auto industry, and we're lucky that he chronicled and catalogued them vividly and prodigiously.
Thanks, John. I'm going to miss you. You're one for the history books.
I recently learned that former AMC public relations executive and auto historian John Conde had died. He died on August 29th at age 90, but it took me awhile to discover it.
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| John reaches out and touches someone in this 1956 Nash publicity photo |
The funeral directors generously provided an online guestbook. If you ever spent some time with John, please take a moment and share some memories. Here are mine:
John was a fascinating man with a deep and abiding love of auto history.
He had a front row seat to that history as a public relations exec who watched Nash merge with Hudson to form American Motors which later bought the Jeep brand.
We're lucky to have a lot of that history. After John retired from AMC in 1976, he wrote many articles for a variety of auto history magazines. (I hope someone collects his stories someday.)
In addition, he allowed me into his house in 2000 to interview him extensively about his Nash/AMC career. Someday, I hope I can find a way to share these six hours of interviews with car fans.
 |
| John talks to Torq-O about the Metropolitan in 1998 |
John almost singlehandedly preserved the history of American Motors even when the company itself didn't care about its past. He once told me that former AMC President Bill Luneberg called him "the company's greatest used car salesman" for his efforts to preserve materials about AMC's past.
In fact, he was allowed to take a lot of that material with him when he retired. The sale of publicity photos and rare product literature helped fund his retirement years.
John was a complex character. On the surface, he could sometimes be curt and irritable. However, he could also be generous and kind. If he sensed your motives were in the interest of helping someone or preserving auto history, he was always very selfless and giving.
John lived through some fascinating times in the auto industry, and we're lucky that he chronicled and catalogued them vividly and prodigiously.
Thanks, John. I'm going to miss you. You're one for the history books.