The Company Car

1985 was a great year for Jeep Grand Wagoneers, including the one I selected when I became general counsel of Sperry in New York.  The company leased a new car for my use within a $30,000 sticker price allowance.  I chose the right car for our needs in Connecticut, a $24,000 Jeep Grand Wagoneer.

Frank Sweeten, senior vice president of personnel at Sperry, seemed taken aback.  He probably expected that I would follow the time-honored practice of applying the $30,000 allowance to a more expensive car, while paying the difference.  Instead, I unexpectedly selected a less costly car, potentially saving the company $6,000.  I hadn't given it much thought at the time, being satisfied with getting the car I wanted at no cost to myself.  This frugality restored my standing with Frank after my earlier faux pas of advising the entire law department, including myself, to stay home during a marginal hurricane without first clearing it with Human Resources.

When I started with Apple, I had the Wagoneer shipped to California, where I drove it pending obtaining an Apple company car.  An outspoken young lawyer offered the unsolicited advice that people in Silicon Valley generally drive better cars. Swayed somewhat by his advice, I set aside my Midwest inhibitions and applied the entire Apple $40,000 allowance toward a beautiful 1987 12-cylinder Jaguar XJS sports car.

As Mary and I were returning from my speaking engagement at the Intel law department annual retreat in the Santa Cruz Mountains, we assumed that the cars honking their horns as they passed were simply objecting to my usual slow driving. We then heard a female voice over a loud speaker commanding us to pull over.  She was a state trooper who proceeded to warn us that our car was emitting sparks from both its exhausts. We slowly made our way down the mountains followed by the state trooper. The next morning we once again called the Jaguar dealer. 1987 must not have been a good year for Jaguar.

Of course the Wagoneer performed flawlessly, while the Jaguar spent most of its time at the dealer suffering from an assortment of mysterious maladies. My conservative approach at Sperry put me in the good graces of the head of personnel. My splurge at Apple resulted only in a lemon.