[Chrysler300] development of the 57 models

["Bob Merritt" <bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>From another list, this message from Burt Bouwkamp:

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The recent letters regarding the 1957 4 dr HT Imperial exhaust system reminded me of an Engineering road trip in the summer of 1956. We (Chrysler product engineers) took the 1957 model prototypes on an extended road trip as a final check that the cars were ready for production. There was one prototype model for each carline - Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto, Chrysler and Imperial. The trip route was from our Proving Ground (Chelsea) to the West Coast and return. Jerome (AZ) grade, Pikes Peak and San Francisco were on the itinerary

On the way out, before we got to Albuquerque we knew that we had a big problem. The body shake in both the New Yorker and the Imperial 4 dr HT's was so bad that it was pointless to continue the trip. After consultation by telephone with Central Engineering management we were told on Friday to return the New Yorker and the Imperial to Chelsea ASAP. Jim Shank (Director of Body Engineering) and I (Chrysler Division Resident Engineer) were selected to return the two cars. Jim and I left Albuquerque Saturday morning and arrived at the Chelsea Proving Ground on Monday about 11 AM. 1,600 miles in two days and before interstate highways! It was an exciting trip. It was before the 70 MPH speed limit and we crossed Kansas at 85 MPH+. One time the Imperial ran out of gas and I pushed Jim at nearly 60 MPH to the next gas station. Jim, of course had no engine so he had lots of steering free play. I could see through his backlight that he had his hands full keeping the car in one lane of the highway. 

Although the bodies were "loose as a goose" on rough roads, the cars were marvelous for high speed cruising and handling on winding roads. The unique torsion bar front suspension got the credit in the merchandizing literature and in the road test reports but the vehicles low center of gravity and the stiff front half of the rear leaf springs were responsible for the dramatically improved handling. After a few hundred miles in the driver's seat we felt like we could thread the eye of a needle with the car or drift through any curve - which we did! The road characteristics were dramatically improved from our 1955-56 models. 

The result of that road trip was that we added structure to the 1957 New Yorker sills and we put the convertible X-member frame (and dual exhaust) on the 1957 Imperial 4 dr. HT. I can't remember whether these changes made Job #1 or whether they were running changes. We of course had the X-member frame design (it was already released for convertibles) but I doubt that our vendors were able to increase production of frames and convertible dual exhaust systems fast enough to meet 4dr HT volume requirements. (In those days we started vehicle production on schedule whether we were ready or not!)

Burt Bouwkamp

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