1909–1977
Ed Cole
Chevrolet general manager, then GM president
Semon "Bunkie" Knudsen, Chevrolet's general manager into the mid-1960s, was reportedly shown an early Chevy II-based sporty-car clay model and liked it — but declined to move forward, reportedly telling the team, "I'll tell you, fellows, the one thing we don't need right now is another car." GM in this era was cautious about proliferating models beyond what it believed the market could absorb profitably.
Semon "Bunkie" Knudsen, Chevrolet's general manager into the mid-1960s, was reportedly shown an early Chevy II-based sporty-car clay model and liked it — but declined to move forward, reportedly telling the team, "I'll tell you, fellows, the one thing we don't need right now is another car." GM in this era was cautious about proliferating models beyond what it believed the market could absorb profitably.
The project was revived only after the April 1964 Ford Mustang proved there was a large, immediate market GM had no answer for. Ed Cole, GM's car-and-truck boss (Executive VP, later GM President in 1967), championed getting a GM competitor into production on an aggressive timeline. Pete Estes became Chevrolet Division general manager in 1965 and is the executive who publicly introduced the finished car and famously described it as something that "eats Mustangs" (see below).