Elliott Estes, 72; Ex-GM President, CEO

Elliott (Pete) Estes, former president and chief operating officer of General Motors Corp., died Thursday afternoon of an apparent heart attack. He was 72.

Estes of Scottsdale, Ariz., was waiting outside a terminal at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport when he was stricken. He was pronounced dead on arrival at 2:35 p.m. at Resurrection Hospital, police said.

Estes was elected president and CEO and appointed chairman of GM’s administration and executive committees on Sept. 30, 1974. He retired from the No. 1 auto maker on Feb. 1, 1981.

Before being elected president, Estes had been director of GM and executive vice president in charge of the operations staff since Oct. 1, 1972.

“Pete Estes was one of GM’s brightest stars,” GM Chairman Roger B. Smith said. “In whatever role he assumed for the corporation, he performed at peak capacity. He demanded excellence from his subordinates, but he always drove himself harder than anyone else.

Started Work at 18

“Although we all feel diminished by his untimely death, General Motors is a stronger and better corporation because Pete Estes served it.”

Estes began his GM career in 1934 at the age of 18, when he enrolled in the General Motors Institute. He gained much of his engineering experience in the early 1940s while working with the late C.F. (Boss) Kettering, famed GM engineer and inventor of the self-starter for automobiles.

In 1956, Estes went to GM’s Pontiac Motor Division as chief engineer and in November, 1961, he was elected vice president of GM and general manager of Pontiac.

Engineering Innovations

Estes was a leading participant in many engineering innovations introduced in Pontiac cars, including the “wide track” principle and development of the Tempest--the first American automobile to have a front-mounted engine and a rear-mounted transmission.

Estes was appointed general manager of Chevrolet Motor Division July 1, 1965. Among his initial moves at Chevrolet were to put increased stress on product quality and the addition of the Chevelle SS 396 and Camaro models.

Under his leadership, Chevrolet became the first individual auto maker in history to build 3 million cars and trucks in a single year.

He is survived by his wife, Connie, and three sons, Thomas, Edward and William.