Over the course of General Motors history, there have been guys that stand alone with respect to their accomplishments. Over the weekend we were hanging out in Texas at the Optima Face Off and got involved in a great conversation about former automotive executives. Names and titles were thrown about and ,many names came to the surface. During the conversation, we got to thinking of another well known GM engineer who had his hand in motors. His name was Ed Cole and he is definitely a gearhead guy you should know.
His education took place at the GM Institute and he was smart enough that the company offered him work before he even got a diploma. It was the start of a 44-year career with the company and one that was filled with public accomplishments and, more importantly for hot rodders, some back door deals and support.
His first major accomplishment came with the introduction of the Cadillac V8 in 1949. He was the lead engineer on the program and that engine was a revolutionary overhead- valve piece that featured high compression and a short stroke. The motor was an instant hit with the burgeoning hot rod crowd and with luxury buyers. Cole was a man on the way up.
He was given the task of opening the Cleveland Tank Assembly plant in WWII, a job that he accomplished three months ahead of schedule. It wasn’t long until he was called back to the mother ship in Detroit.
By 1952 he was the Chief Engineer at Chevrolet and by 1956 he was the General Manager of the largest division of the company. It was here, where he spent only 10 of his 44 years, that Ed Cole would cement his legacy in the realm of American cars. Cole was a champion of the Corvette, giving Duntov the green light to built experimental V8-powered versions of the car to race. He also was the guy who gave Bill Mitchell the go-ahead to drape one of those racing mules with the beautiful Stingray body.
The most important accomplishment of his tenure for gearheads though was the development of the small-block V8. The short story is that Cole saw what was in the works for the next generation of powerplants at Chevrolet when he arrived as General Manager and scrapped that program. He put together an engineering SWAT team that worked six days a week and 10 hours a day to clean-sheet design the small-block. It can be argued that this is the most successful automotive engine of all time, especially within the enthusiast realm.
Cole was also the man in charge of the development of the ‘55-‘56-‘57 models, he pushed hard for the Corvair, and worked to make sure that Chevy had a small car line up because the company had traditionally relied on large cars only.
Cole’s mantra at work was, “kicking the hell out of the status quo,” a phrase that every current GM engineer, executive, and company employee should have tattooed to their arm, or forehead, or eyelids.
Ed Cole is a gearhead guy you should know because without his influence, Ford people would have the mistaken impression that their junk was fast. We kid because we love.
this man has always been an icon and insperation in my life ,im a corvair man and love every bit of unique engineering he designed into the car,early and late models,simple and easy to maintain,along with bill mitchel they were truly engineers of the old error and they were the starting points of many other gm makes of cars,if only these guys were around today.