Brief History of Chrysler Motors

Chrysler is the newest of the old line American 'Big 3' car companies. Chrysler cars hit the market in 1925 built in the Maxwell Motors facilities that Walter P. Chrysler had purchased four years earlier.

Walter P. Chrysler got his start in the railroad business as a machinist and mechanic in Kansas. He later ran Buick and when William C. Durant captured GM (for the second time), Chrysler tendered his resignation. Durant offered him an unprecedented salary and Chrysler was smart enough to accept it.

When he quit GM a few years later he was hired to fix Willys-Overland (for another unprecedented salary) which gave him the wherewithal to purchase Maxwell. Chrysler gave the company's product his name and later added Plymouth and De Soto to the product portfolio.

The Dodge Brothers concern floundered after the death of Horace and John; Chrylser purchased it in 1928. Shortly thereafter Dodge Brothers cars became simply Dodge cars.

Chrysler was known for engineering prowess (first mass produced four wheel hydraulic brakes) and in the mid-1930's was in second place in sales for US car manufacturers.

It moved through the late 1950s and into the early 1970s on the strength of the 'Hemi' engine and muscle cars. But by the end of the 1970s Chrysler needed government guarantees to obtain loans. Enter Lee Iacocca as CEO, and pitchman extraordinare, with the old salt, "If you can find a better car, buy it."

Chrysler survived on the strength of K cars and eventually one of the single most significant vehicles to ever exist, the minivan. (And the story of the minivan's origin is worthy of a novel. The short of it is that Ford originated the idea but didn't follow through.)

In the late 1980s Chrysler acquired the terminally ill American Motors, and quickly (and quietly) disposed of everything but the Jeep brand (and that was the reason American Motors was purchased). Along the way Chrysler picked up Bob Lutz and the Dodge Viper and Plymouth Prowler emerged.

Then Daimler-Benz pulled off a hostile takeover in the guise of a merger and that wasn't pretty for all concerned. (That chapter of Chrysler's history is well documented in the book, 'Taken for a Ride', by Vlasic & Stertz.)

But recently Chrysler has been lost in the wilderness, with wrong and uncompetitive product. In the end, Fiat is interested in the manufacturing capacity of Chrysler (and possibly the Jeep brand name). But if the government insists that Fiat absorb some or all of Chrysler's debt, look for the deal to fall through.

The last thing of any significant value in Chrysler is the Jeep name, and that brand's roots go back to Willys-Overland and without Walter P. Chrysler's ministrations in the early 1920s it wouldn't be there now to tempt a potential savior.