5.2.77: Ret. GM president, Ed Cole dies in small plane crash

Edward Nicholas Cole: The Father of the Small-Block Chevy & Godfather to the Corvette

Ed Cole was the father of the small-block Chevy engine and one of the Corvette’s Founding Fathers. The basic design of his small-block engine was in continuous production from the fall of 1954, when first installed in the new 1955 Chevrolet cars, through to the end of the production of the 1997 Z28 Camaro and Trans-Am, and Formula Firebirds.

General Motors’ corporate policy called for mandatory retirement at the age of 65

In a very short time, three major Corvette champions were put out to pasture by GM. Ed Cole in 1974, Zora Arkus-Duntov in 1975, and Bill Mitchell in 1977. But after retirement, Cole wasn’t done with the automobile industry. Upon his departure from GM, Cole became chairman and CEO of Checker Motors Corporation. Later, he became chairman of the air freight company, International Husky.

Cole was a serious car guy and worked as hard as he could within General Motors’ rigid culture to make sure that performance cars were always a part of the family of GM cars.

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Like many people who enjoy high-performance cars and racing, Cole was an avid flyer. Flying in a storm is never a good idea, and we’ll never know if he was stuck in a situation and felt that he had to land, or if he arrogantly thought that he could handle it.

The private twin-engine Beagle B.206 Series 2 plane Cole was piloting crashed after he flew VFR into adverse weather conditions and suffered spatial disorientation. What a shame. The automotive world lost a giant, and he was only 67 years old. – Scott

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