This Good Guy Will Return.(Column)

Byline: Dutch Mandel

Ask nearly anyone in the car business with a nanometer of sense about Chris Theodore and consensus is he got a corporate leaden parachute. Not that this son of Greek immigrants is without faults, but since his departure from Ford no one has lined up to pummel his character like a pinata. He is just too good a guy.

Theodore, 54, is an engineer's engineer, and until Dec. 1 he was Ford's veep of advanced product creation. What must be said of him is that both sides of his brain work overtime; the creative right half is as stout as his empirical left, and it's a symbiosis that defines him. Throw in a 24/7 work ethic, and it's a wildly successful combination.

Theodore was destined for the car business. As a child he built models, slot cars and soapbox derby entries. He'd "restyle'' cars in catalogs with eraser and pen. A self-described nerd, several of his Henry Ford high-school science fair projects included Chrysler's turbine cars. He got giddy when his mom arranged a tour of Chrysler's Highland Park, Michigan, laboratories. Some guys remember seeing their first Playboy-Theodore remembers ogling his first engine dynamometer.

He is the kind of guy who loves solving problems. When Chrysler's woefully inefficient A604 transmission plagued the firm, Theodore came to the rescue, rightfully earning him a reputation as the man behind the curtain pulling strings, conjuring wonder, merriment and profit. Early in his career he worked at turbocharging DeLoreans, then at Cars & Concepts, a Detroit-area tuner where he learned the value of teamwork. At a struggling American Motors he focused attention on creating the Grand Cherokee. At Chrysler he was integral in creating the "leapfrog'' minivan and also helped develop the platform team concept, the Viper and the PT Cruiser.

Ford's then chief Jac Nasser came knocking in 1999, after Chrysler had entered its "merger of equals'' in 1998. Chris put ...