With one try at his 'dream car' under their belts, Chrysler and the 'three musketeers' began work on the first Chrysler, sold and distributed by Maxwell Motors and their dealers. By June 6, 1925, Maxwell had seen their debt of $5 million turned into a net profit of $4.1 million and their dealer network had doubled to just under 3800. By the end of '25, Chryslers were outselling Maxwells three to one and the Maxwells were dropped. The Chrysler Corporation was born.
The Chrysler 'Super Six' had a modified Ricardo high-compression head and was called the 'Red Head' engine. It was the first U.S. stock engine to have "scientific combustion control". At 201 cubic inches, it had 68 horsepower at 3200 rpm and was capable of a wicked 70 miles an hour! The engine featured a seven-bearing crankshaft, carb air cleaner and a replaceable oil filter. The Chrysler Model 'B' (Model 'A' had been a hand-built prototype) had four-wheel hydraulic brakes and in 1925, its second year of production, featured special rubber engine mounts, pioneering the use of rubber to reduce vibration due to metal-to-metal contact. The model 'B' was available as a 2- or 4-door and sold almost 32,000 units in 1924, a first-year record. The car sold for an official price of $1595, the same as Buick, but was really available at $1395. Walter Chrysler's talent for recruiting the best engineers and administrators again served him well in the late 1920's. Chrysler introduced four new models in 1926: the economy Model 58, a four cylinder priced at $995, a new 6 cylinder, the 60, sold for less than the 1924 Model 'B, the 70 and a new Imperial 80 was top of the line. The numbers stood for the top speed of the models in early Chrysler parlance. For 1927 another model was added, the Finer 70 and Chrysler rose to fifth place with sales of 192,000!
Chevrolet Vice President K.T. Keller joined the team (doesn't it make you feel warm all over to see all these Brand X delinquents 'seeing the light'?) in 1927. A year later, Clarence Dillon offered Dodge Brothers Inc. for sale to Walter P. The Dodge brothers, Horace and John, had both died in 1920 and the heirs sold their shares to New York bankers Dillon, Reed & Co. for $140 million. Dodge was five times the size of Chrysler, and produced solid affordable cars, just $100 more than a Ford. Chrysler tried to compete with Dodge, offering the public the Model 50 but he had no foundries and no forge. He couldn't keep costs down. He recognized the most lucrative market was the low-priced one. Dodge Brothers, Inc. had all this and more, namely an enormous dealer network.
Dillon, Reed & Co. wanted out even though Dodge was thriving so Walter once again pulled off a 'steal': "Make it your lowest offer, Clarence, and remember, you came to me, I didn't come to you." Chrysler closed the brilliant deal two months later after Dodge shareholders agreed and Chrysler was, in just its fourth year, six times larger! K.T. Keller was told to "get your shoes on- we've bought the Dodge!" and he was installed as President in 1929.
Plymouth was so named in 1928 for "the endurance, strength, rugged honesty, enterprise and determination of achievement and freedom from old limitations of the Pilgrim band who were the first American colonists." Chrysler himself drove the first Plymouth off the Highland Park assembly line and wheeled the 109 inch wheelbase four-cylinder $670 car to Henry Ford's office. The car was the first to offer features such as 4-wheel hydraulic brakes, full pressure engine lubrication, aluminium alloy pistons and an independent hand brake. Ford's response was "Walter, you'll go broke trying to get in the low-priced market. We and Chevrolet have that market sewed up, and as sure as you try to step in, we'll stop you." Five years later Chrysler moved ahead of Ford and would stay ahead for almost twenty years!
The Desoto was also launched in 1928. Engineering firsts were safety steel bodies, rubber spring shackles, small diameter wheels, saddle spring-type seat cushions, adjustable front seats and self-lubricating bearings. In 1929 the down-draft carb was another MoPar first. 1931 saw fully automatic spark plug control, corrosion-resistant bodies and Fred Zeder's "Floating Power", mentioned earlier, was the first use of rubber as a vibration damper in autos. In '32, Plymouth was the only auto maker to improve sales over the previous year.
There were many great cars and many engineering firsts through the 'dirty '30's' with the lovely Imperials still treasured as collectors' items with their Deluxe Eight straight eight cylinder engine, the Airflow, the Airstream, the LeBaron Roadster and the New Yorker and the Dodge T-245 cargo carrier military pickup. Dodge President K.T. Keller wrote of our beloved Walter: "Chrysler was an individualist in five things: imagination, energy, personal dignity of work, ability and attainment. He was always trying to improve the things people need and want."
Walter Chrysler died Aug. 18, 1940 at age 65 with over 80,000 employees on his payroll and his company headquartered in the Chrysler building, for years the tallest in the world. His tools remain on display at company headquarters in Michigan and his company, while it has had its ups and downs the last generation ( governments bail-outs, brushes with bankruptcy, Iacocca's lunch box cars, FWD only, a twenty year hiatus from NASCAR, etc.) still excites due to the excellence, nay, superiority of virtually ALL of its offerings in its first fifty years and the promise held in its show car doodlings and rich men's toys like the Vipers, Prowler (soon to be available in Curious Yellow!), Copperhead as well as the utilitarian MummieWagons and stylish FWD V6 LH sedans and gorgeous (but FWD) Sebrings, the beautiful, fast and tuff Dakota and Ram...hell, we're sooooo close to heaven I can almost SEE that 2000 Roadrunner and Super Bee: 360 V8RWD POWER!!!! Time to stop teasing and deliver the goo ds. Walter Percy Chrysler did. "He was always trying to improve the things people need and want." V8RWD. NOW!