About 1981, under Chairman Lee, Chrysler sold off its tank division, again to raise cash. In a bit of irony, just as Chrysler sold its no longer needed plant in Pennsylvania to Volkswagen, Volkswagen sold its no longer needed plant at Sterling Heights, Michigan to Chrysler a number of years later. VW apparently built the plant as its sales were heading to the sky. Unfortunately, VW suffered a sales collapse and eventually closed the Pennsylvania plant as well. In 1978, Chrysler sold its European operations (UK, France and Spain) to Peugeot who renamed all the vehicles Talbot. A bit or irony there, too, as its British operation, Rootes, had taken over the British arm of the original Talbot organization, Sunbeam-Talbot, in 1935, and its French operation, Simca, had taken over the French arm, Talbot-Lago, (formerly Talbot-Darracq) in 1959. Chrysler Australia was sold to Mitsubishi, also in 1978. Bill Vancouver, BC > According to the big book, Chrysler sold Airtemp to Fedders > in 1978 under John Riccardo and Gene Cafiero, also sold an > unfinished PA assembly plant to VW, disposed of a recreation > area in MT, and got government subsidies from the UK. > > --Roger van Hoy, '55DeSoto, '42DeSoto, '66Plymouth, > '73Duster, '81 Imperial, Washougal, WA > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Mike Sealey" <mopar2ya@xxxxxxxxx> > To: <L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > Sent: Tuesday, May 08, 2001 7:02 PM > Subject: Re: [FWDLK] Air Conditioners/Airtemp History > > > | --- cpollock@xxxxxxxx wrote: > | > | (snips at will) > | > | > This is all I know about Airtemp. Airtemp was > | > Chrysler's air conditioning division and they made > | > air conditioners for almost everything. They also > | > made refrigerators and freezer along with > | > refrigeration units under the "Kelvinator" brand > | > name. Anyone remember those? > | > | Kelvinator wasn't really part of the Chrysler story > | until '87, being a division of Nash-Kelvinator and > | later AMC before being sold to White Consolidated > | Industries in the early '70s... ...Chrysler was, > | however, in the appliance industry in kind of a > | backdoor manner in the '60s, when they made Kenmore > | sewing machines for Sears... > | > | > But Airtemp was also the brand name that all air > | > conditioning units for Chrysler were put under. > | > On factory air cars a small "Air Conditioning by > | > Airtemp" sticker appears on the rear of the > | > quarter windows. This was for all of the > | > Chrysler cars. > | > | True from about '67 on. The sticker Charles is talking > | about, which being later than the FL era has a > | pentastar, also appeared in the lower RH corner of the > | back window in '64-'66. Prior to that, and this > | includes FL stuff, a larger sticker appeared in the > | lower RH corner of the back window. This sticker had > | "Airtemp" in kind of a "'50s modern" script, and > | naturally no pentastar. Not sure what year that > | started, I'm guessing '59 or '60 but could be wrong. > | Earliest car I've seen this early decal in is a '59 > | Imperial, latest was my uncle's '63 Polara. > | > | BTW, the '57 Plymouth owners' manual refers to the > | factory AC as "CarTemp". Anyone ever seen stickers > | saying this or know how long that went on? Seems to me > | the Imperials were using the Airtemp name then. > | Perhaps the Plymouth units came from an outside > | supplier? > | > | > This sticker ONLY appears on factory air cars, > | > not dealer add cars. > | > | Sorta true. '60s-'70s MoPar dealer add-on air had a > | different sticker that said "Air Conditioned by > | Chrysler", and had a pentastar but did not use the > | Airtemp name. It was about this same time that > | Chrysler started using the "Cool Aire" name on the > | aftermarket units. These decals may have said > | something like "Chrysler Aftermarket Sales > | Corporation" (it's been years since I've seen one). > | > | > As for dealer installed air, they all hung under > | > the dash. I have never seen them anywhere else, > | > and that includes all of the various brands. > | > | My grandparents had a '67 Dart with dealer installed > | indash air. It didn't use the control buttons the > | factory unit used, controlled instead by knobs next to > | the lower vent just under the ignition switch, but it > | appeared to use the same vents as the factory unit > | including the AC-specific defroster vents. Years > | later, my parents had dealer installed indash air put > | into their '75 AMC Matador, but that's a whole other > | story. > | > | > As for when and how Airtemp came to be and their > | > eventual demise, I don't know. I would speculate > | > they were sold off in the early 80's as part of the > | > federal restructuring of Chrysler Corp. > | > | Absolutely correct, at least as far as time period. I > | always assumed the events were connected. > | > | ===== > | Mike Sealey, San Francisco CA > | '57 Plymouth Sport Suburban > | > >
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