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Automotive Industry

One-of-a-Kind Heinz - Heinz Prechter remembered - Brief Article

Automotive Industries, August, 2001

The voice on the phone-mail message was unmistakable, yet it still surprised me. Heinz Prechter, chairman of ASC Inc., had left me a short recording. He sounded like he always did: upbeat. And the words percolating through his German accent were as they always were, straight to the point.

Certainly I'd heard the news, Prechter asked? George W. Bush had clinched enough primary-state votes to secure the 2000 Republican presidential nomination.

"I think it will be pretty close with Gore," he advised. "But we'll win. I remember our long talk on the plane. See you."

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I saw Prechter a few days later, at Automotive Industries' annual Executive of the Year luncheon in Detroit. He was a regular attendee of the event, and this time he was wearing a small lapel pin that he proudly thrust up into my face. It resembled a Texas Ranger lawman's badge, except it had Bush's name on it. A personal gift to Heinz from Dubbya himself, he beamed.

This, and other recollections shot through my mind when, returning from an out-of-state July 4 trip, I read that Prechter, 59, had taken his own life. Seeing the front-page stories was like a punch in the gut for me. Of all the top executives I've had the privilege to know in nearly 20 years writing about the auto business, the man the Detroit politicos called the "Duke of Downriver" made one of the greatest impressions on me.

Being from n working-class family, I could always relate to Prechter, who started a humble auto-sunroof business in 1965. Just a young German immigrant with a skill, a few tools, bull-like determination and the American Dream. He had the same love of work as my carpenter-dad and the tradesmen that formed my family's circle of friends. Heinz always seemed unstoppable, and he was. Today ASC is a global player with a reputation for niche-vehicle creativity and customer service. He made his dream come true.

I liked and admired Prechter for many reasons. He was a man of absolutely no bullshit, a trait I find more common in Germans than Americans. Along with that came a beefy handshake that could crack a walnut Despite his self-made wealth and the power that came with it (he was n stalwart in the national Republican Party), he always appeared ready and able to jump back into his coveralls, grab his electric metal shears and start slicing into the roofs of cars again. As an industry titan who knew automaker CEOs by their first names -- what a trip he was to follow at any auto show! -- he never seemed far removed from his metal-smith roots. I'm not sure many of the industry's top execs today could change a tire, but I'll bet Prechter could still install n sunroof by himself.

The plane ride he recalled to me had been a few months earlier, when we were seated next to each other on a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Detroit. The non-stop conversation we shared will stay with me forever. He showed me personal letters he'd received from German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and the senior George Bush, thanking him for his help on various issues. We talked about his myriad "other" businesses, including his cattle ranch and his custom-cut beefsteak store. And we analyzed the unfolding '00 presidential election in chess-game detail --me arguing the merits of John McCain, Heinz unswervingly backing the young Bush. He'd told me then, flat out, that I was backing the wrong man. Ironically, when I read the tragic news of Prechter's death; I couldn't help thinking that McCain's surprise victory over Bush in the Michigan primary surely didn't help in Heinz's long battle with the dark depression he quietly fought for years, and which finally overwhelmed him last month.

This industry and this country need more men and women like Heinz Prechter, but there'll never be another. Tops-off to you, Heinz.

Lindsay Brooke is editor-in-chief of Automotive Industries

Automotive Industry

One-of-a-Kind Heinz - Heinz Prechter remembered - Brief Article

Automotive Industries, August, 2001

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