For those interested in Chrysler Corporation history -
The 1924 Chrysler replaced the Chalmers. a car line that started out in 1907 as the Thomas-Detroit, a company started by ex-Oldsmobile engineers and backed by E.R. Thomas, who owned the Thomas company in Buffalo (Thomas Flyer). Thomas of Buffalo and Thomas-Detroit were never legally connected, but each sold the others models.. E R Thomas left Thomas-Detroit in 1908 and Hugh Chalmers (National Cash Register) came on board. Chalmers-Detroit built a new plant on East Jefferson Avenue. Over in Highland Park Maxwell was having problems not building enough cars to match sales. By 1916 Chalmers sales were dropping so they signed an agreement whereby Maxwell cars would be built at East Jefferson. The Maxwell holdings at Highland Park would become headquarters of Chrysler Corporation in 1925.
In 1920 Walter P Chrysler had been hired by a banking syndicate to help them recoup their investment in Willys Corporation (a holding company) and Willys-Overland (manufacturers of Overland, Willys and Willys-Knight cars). Chrysler signed on for a two year contract. He was able to get Willys-Overland back in the black, as well as the other companies connected to Willys Corporation. Chrysler made the Willys Corp plant in Elizabeth NJ his main point of interest. A new Willys Six was undergoing testing and the staff testing the car at the plant were not impressed with the car. And neither was Chrysler when he went for a ride. Three men approached Chrysler at Elizabeth and were hired to help develop a new Chrysler Six to replaced the Willys Six - Carl Breer, Owen Skelton and James Zeder (Chrysler's The Three Musketeers).. By 1922 all stock owned by Willys Corp was sold off and the money went toward the debts. The Elizabeth plant and the Chrysler car were sold at auction and William C. Durant, founder and former head of GM, purchased the plant for his new Star car, and the Chrysler became the Flint 55. With his two year contract at an end, Chrysler left Willys.
Chrysler also got involved in another problem for the bankers - Maxwell and Chalmers. The Chalmers car was outdated while the Maxwells had a reputation for losing their gas tanks and breaking rear axles. A second strap was added for the Maxwell gas tank and bracing for the rear axle housing cured those problems. The Chalmers was updated and the new 1924 Chalmers had hydraulic brakes - the Chalmers being the test bed for the brakes. The new Chrysler Model B was a totally new car introduced in January 1924 with hydraulic brakes. It was called the Model B in recognition of the 1921-22 Chrysler Six prototype,
Chrysler had the Maxwell car improved and in June, 1925, the Maxwell name was dropped and replaced by the Chrysler Four for 1926. Also in June 1925 the Chrysler Corporation was formed and took over the former Maxwell-Chrysler Corporation. Other persons to come on board were Joseph Washington Frazer who became head of Chrysler sales, Byron Foy, Jr., who would head DeSoto and marry Walter's daughter Thelma. (in that order) and Kaufman Thuma (K.T.) Keller, a production man Chrysler knew from his GM days.
Chrysler wanted to expand to become a competitor to GM, but he needed forge and foundry capacity to lower his costs of production. Thus the interest in Dodge Brothers. Chrysler planned to make the Chrysler Four into his new Chevrolet-beater. and use the Dodge Brothers Four to fill the gap between the Chrysler Four and Six. But Dodge Brothers had introduced a line of sixes priced above the Four that was dropped after the sixes were introduced and their sales dropped. They still made money, just not as much. Chrysler management figured they could clean up the line-up and restore both sales and profits. Chrysler also looked at Willys-Overland, but were surprised at what they saw. Willys sales were great in 1927 and 1928, almost double Dodge Brothers. but their profits were half DB's. Chrysler went for Dodge Brothers.
In 1929 W-O sales fell almost 50% and the company lost money - this BEFORE the depression started. The problem was the Whippet Four - many people claimed the name was excellent as the Whippet four was just like the Whippet dog - stopped at every pole. The car car also called the "Willys Vibrrator", the engine shook so much. The engine appeared again in the new 1932 Willys 77 and Chrysler let Willys use their new "Floating Power", It helped a little. In 1938 J.W. Frazer left Chrysler for Willys and one of his first decisions was to have the engine reengineered to be a reliable and shake-free engine. The 1939 Willys engine was far superior to its predecessors, so much so it was one of the main reasons Willys-Overland got the contract for the Jeep. After the war Frazer was head of Graham-Paige and joined with Henry J Kaiser to form Kasiser-Frazer Corp.
Chrysler had gone ahead with the new Chevrolet competitor, adopting the name suggested by J.W. Frazer - Plymouth. They also designed and tooled a new DeSoto Six - basically a Plymouth with a Six. The Plymouth was sold by Chrysler dealers while a new dealer network was set up for DeSoto. Also a line of Fargo trucks was planned, from ½-ton to 4 ton. The three were introduced for the 1929 model year in August 1928. Chrysler purchased Dodge Brothers at the end of July 1928, with Dodge Brothers Standard Six, Dodge Brothers Victory Six, Dodge Brothers Senior Six and Graham Brothers Trucks.. On January 1, 1929 the Graham Brothers Truck became the Dodge Truck and in 1929 the car line up reduced to Dodge Brothers Six and Senior Six. The line up was now Plymouth, DeSoto, Dodge Brothers and Chrysler.
In 1933 DeSoto and Dodge changed places, with Dodge being a step up from Plymouth, and DeSoto priced between Dodge and Chrysler. The Imperial was the top sedan in the Chrysler line up in 1924 and 1925. For 1926 it became a series of Chrysler - the Imperial 80, model E. The large 6 cylinder car became the model L for 1929-30 and then a large straight eight engine was used from 1931 to1950. The 1931-1933 Chrysler Imperials were magnificent looking cars, especially the Custom models. For 1934-1936 all Imperials were Airrflow models. For 1937 to 1940 the Chstom Imperial Eight was the biggest Chrysler with a regular size Imperial as the cheapest 8. The arrival of the 331 hemi for1951 brought about the revival of the standard sized Imperial based on the New Yorker while continuing the LWB Crown Imperials. In 1955 the Imperial became a separate make from Chrysler. The last big Imperial was built in 1975, although the name would come back again for 1981 to 1983, although it was car make A and not C. The Imperial would again appear briefly as the Chrysler Imperial, based on the FWD Fifth Avenue.
The Fargo Truck was sold fir 1929-31 model years and then was built for export markets through 1987. Chrysler of Canada built Fargo Trucks for the Canadian market from 1936 to 1972.
A line of export Dodge cars was built 1930-32, with the 1932 model DM being based on the Plymouth PB. These were all built in the U.S., not Canada. For 1933 Chrysler of Canada built the Dodge DQ, basically s stripped model DP , and NOT based on the Plymouth PD as many Plymouth fans believe. The DQ went into production in November, 1932 and the Plymouth PD in April ,1933. Kind of hard to base a car on another model that is not in production until five months later. For 1934 came the Dodge DT, a Plymouth with a Dodge front clip. In 1935 the Dodge DV was the Plymouth with a Dodge front end and it was built in Canada for Canada as well as export, and in Detroit (Lynch Road) for export. The Plymouth-based Dodges lasted until 1959.
Plymouth-based DeSoto cars were built for export from 1938 through 1959, and then based on the Dart for 1960-61. DeSoto Trucks were also built for export through 1987. DeSoto Trucks are still built in Turkey, but not by Chrysler, but the former Turkish distributors for Chrysler.
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