Re: IML: The Cold War and Chrylser's Forward Look hit piece

["Bill Watson" <wwatson5@xxxxxxxxx>]

Chrysler's use of the word "Imperial" dates back to 1925 when it was used
for the fanciest Chrysler Six sedan.  For 1926 the Imperial became a series
name and finally a make in 1955.  Other makes, such as Cadillac, also used
Imperial to denote their top limousine models.

To Americans of that era Imperial meant royalty, wealth, opulence.  Which is
just the name car manufacturers wanted for their most luxurious offerings.
The top of American society at that time tripped over themselves to have
various members of European monarchies, deposed, exiled or not, grace their
dinner parties and other social functions.

As to the United States and an empire, the Americans started building one
with the Spanish-American war.  Remember the Maine?  As a result of that
war, the United States gained control of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the
Philipines.  The United States also gained control of a string of islands in
the Pacific at that time to act as coaling stations for the U.S. Navy.
Concerning American acquitions in the expansion of the American nation, only
Louisana and Alaska come to mind as outright purchases with no force (Texas)
or subterfuge (Hawaii) used to gain control.  In this century the American
government has been involved in proppng up various regimes around the world
that are pro-American (most have neither been free nor democratic) plus
building a world-wide string of armed forces bases, including one in Cuba..
In addition the United States has been using economic and trade
threats/actions to force other nations to accept American policies,
regardless of the damage they might do to the other nations.  None of these
actions could not be described as anything other than imperialist.

This brochure, by the way, was produced during an American industrial show
in Moscow.  Numerous American firms displayed consumer items such as
washers, driers, televisions, and stereos.  It was during this exhibition
that Vice-President Nixon and Premier Khruschev had their famous "kitchen
talks", with Nixon arguing with Khruschev the benefits and rewards of
capitalism vs communism, in one of the show's kitchen displays.   Khruschev
visited the United States around this time as well.  The most memorable
incident of that trip was his disappointment that the American government
would not let him visit Disneyland.

The Trabant was an East German product.  The other East German car, the
Wartburg, was based on the 2-cylinder, 2-cycle, FWD,  DKW and was exported
to Western Europe.   The DKW firm had plants located in what became East
Germany and thus the Russians confiscated the factory and car, initially
calling it the IFA.  Simiilary, the former BMW plant in Eisenach was taken
over and the plant began producing EMW cars.

Russian cars copied American vehicles in many instances, thus being a few
years behind the Americans.  The postwar Pobeida looked like a Russian
version of a 1940's Plymouth.  When it was replaced by the Volga in 1955,
looking for all the world like a copy of the 1953 DeSoto Diplomat, the
Pobieda was shipped to Poland where it became the Warzawa.  The Volga was
exported to western Europe for a number of years.  The Chaika, successor to
the ZIM, looked like a cross between a Rambler and a Checker (and not
Packard as many claim) while the extremely limited production ZIS and ZIL
copied Cadillac (1930's and 1960's) and Packard (1940's and 1950's).   The
Russians also exported the Moskovitch, a small rear-engined car, to Europe.
And of course there are all those trucks and cars built with Model A
engines.   In the early 1930's Henry Ford and his company helped the
Russians build a plant.  The result was a long line of vehicles that used
the Model A engine and mechanicals. including the Russian version of the
Jeep in the 1940's.

Czechoslovakia produced the most advanced cars with the Skoda selling its
cars around the world, including North America.   The Tatra was a larger,
limited production, rear-engine car with an aluminum V8 engine.

Bill
Vancouver, BC



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Hugh & Therese" <hugtrees@xxxxxxxx>
To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, March 26, 2005 9:39 PM
Subject: Re: IML: The Cold War and Chrylser's Forward Look hit piece


> And we wonder why they thought there was an American Imperialist agenda.
> This brochure resonates with several layers of irony.  Discussing them
would
> be too far from the main stream focus
> of this list even for me.  I will repeat that I think the worst thing
about
> these cars we love is the name they were given.  To me, it just doesn't
jive
> with American ideals.  I even wonder if it appealed to the
> wealthy individuals who were looking for a prestige vehicle.  It's a sour
> note for a country which, though it has had the opportunity to set up an
> empire both in Europe and Asia, never did so.
>
> Hugh
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Kenyon Wills" <imperialist1960@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: "IML" <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Saturday, March 26, 2005 11:00 PM
> Subject: IML: The Cold War and Chrylser's Forward Look hit piece
>
>
> > Every once in awhile you come across something really
> > special.  That's the case with the latest 1959 item
> > posted to the club website.
> >
> >
> > Here we sat, at the height of the Cold War, in the
> > middle of the Jet Age and just at the beginnings of
> > the Space Age.  Things are frosty as ever with our
> > scary neighbors over on the other side of the Iron
> > Curtain, and we are just months away from the Cuban
> > Missile Crisis.
> >
> > What better time to let the Godless Communists KNOW
> > that they're holding onto the short end of the stick?
> >
> >
> > How Can Chrysler Help?
> >
> > How about a nice little print item that shows the best
> > sides of our society's technological and cultural
> > advantages as a backdrop to the most cutting edge,
> > FORWARD LOOK cars being produced on this side of the
> > world?
> >
> > If you've never seen a Trabant up close, which was the
> > car being built for the People of Russia at the time,
> > it is such a far cry from western cars as to be
> > laughable.  The one that I inspected in the early
> > 1990's was a relatively recent 1985 model and it had
> > totally mechanical rod linkages that operated the
> > braking system.  It's my understanding that as with
> > Checker Cabs, they designed them and then just ran the
> > assembly line forever without much change.
> >
> > Anyway, that's what was going on over there.
> >
> >
> > Now, you're sitting in your office in Moscow in 1959,
> > a powerful official, having arrived at work in your
> > chauffered ZIL limousine, and you get a special
> > russian language brochure from Amerika.
> >
> > Inside you find what must certainly be the most
> > spectacular pack of capitalist lies and propoganda yet
> > created.  Certainly this is trumped up hype.  You
> > glance around furtively, but open it anyway - can't
> > hurt to look:
> >
> > http://imperialclub.com/Yr/1959/59Russian/index.htm
> >
> >
> >
> > How jealous would our former enemies have been about
> > this?  The text is REALLY interesting, as Chrysler
> > probably wasn't planning this item as a prelude to
> > selling cars there.  Who thought it up?  Who was it
> > sent to?  What did they think?  It's fun to imagine
> > the "what if's".
> >
> > =============
> >
> > A quick note about what you don't see:  These pages
> > all came out of a brochure that was scanned one page
> > at a time.  Most of the spreads are actually two pages
> > with a break in the center of the photo that were
> > electronically blended together using photoshop and a
> > good number of hours to "create" each one.  Despite
> > looking so good as you glance through this, the things
> > that look easy usually aren't.
> >
> > I'd like to take a moment to say thanks to our
> > Webmonster Volunteers, and Mark Evans in particular.
> > This brochure is a special one, and it looks really
> > dynamite.  The folks that work on the website and the
> > admin list to help keep things lubricated tend to be a
> > quiet lot.  Thanks for doing such nice work for free
> > so that this sort of thing is available for public consumption.
> >
> > Kenyon Wills
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -----------------  http://www.imperialclub.com  -----------------
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> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
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