It # 39; a Mad Mad Mad World
History of insider Chrysler and Plymouth Part 1, 1946-1953.
As Chrysler has been granted to Daimler in 1998, Curtis Redgap went through the papers of his familyвЂ, memories, and other sources to provide us this vision of Chrysler Corporation at a crossroads earlier this year, we revamped and reissued collection and added photography; we are proud to present the new series.
As World War II ended, Chrysler president KT Keller became heavily involved in the electronic side of Chrysler Chrysler Corporation was deeply involved in the Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic bomb and many other military projects What -t he to do with absolutely nothing automobile Chrysler was a large military contractor this time, and its electronics division was none.
U S army had been stunned by the capabilities of the German V-2 missile President Harry Truman T K Keller appointed to run in 1950 own army missile program; Keller has never looked back to the automobile business Chrysler†It was in chaos, with nobody at the helm for years; divisions clashed be as hard as they competed against Ford and General Motors from 1946 to 1950, despite the heavy pre-war investments and benefits, Chrysler survived mostly on new cars of repressed demand and the booming economy.
Customers went to want solid and dependable, reliable cars, anvil as a prime selling factor in the days where failures were far too common, preferring “fancy” models like the new Hudson-down with its lowered floor and racy transmission profile automatic steering power, electric brakes, power windows and high power engines were growing rapidly.
Chrysler looked to his guidance President His response was to continue as they had been  †strong, silent, and indigestible Keller said the “won style t hit your hat, and neither will get in one of ” our cars.
Plymouth was, as always, the largest division † but the company believes that, since it was the car “small margin”, it depended on other divisions manufacture Plymouth surpassed half a million cars in 1936 520025 and he never looked back † until Buick gave members of the Chrysler board a shock in 1954 when Plymouth fell to fifth place in production behind Buick and Pontiac.
My father and grandfather owned a complete MoPar concession, one of the few outlets that deal directly with the factory, and was not a franchise; they could sell all brands, including Dodge trucks They relevant log entries to the Company from one year to two 1953 Plymouth hated, because of its stubby design, poor quality of assembly and the lack not for automatic equipment, no power steering, no power brakes, and it was dusty and leaky gas load, just above the rear bumper, caused, in my grandfather†words, the more gas spills “Carter that was starting to wax pills ”.
1951 was a critical year, and the materials were difficult to obtain because of the action ” Korean automakers “police assured President Truman that he would have all the things necessary armed forces, and even support auto production Truman did not, therefore, must formally declare war and end again in automobile production; but automakers, compromises must be made of key materials, especially steel, are in short supply Chrysler sheet was thinned, some spacers have been eliminated, and fasteners are spaced 1952 The Plymouth was visibly quieter the 1949 and 1950 models.
Dodge was to receive its own V-8 Hemi engine “double rocker” Plymouth in 1953 should have received its own V-8 in 1954; it had already been agreed that the Plymouth V-8 would head the “polysphere” cheaper and lighter Plymouth took the chin with critical materials for the manufacture of engines get, the Council stuffed Plymouth†V-8 in the year 1955 Dodge earlier also cried he didn t have the capacity to build engines for its own vehicles, trucks and its division of Plymouth too.
In addition, the project company†first fully automatic transmission JUS95A which later became the Powerflite was set up to study further to meet the needs of PlymouthвЂ вЂ Â In short, it was not given in Plymouth Finally, when the government threatened to cut access to the materials needed to build cars, the Council decided that Plymouth would be the first to stop production if this happened.
Despite all the bad things thrown its way, Plymouth managed to hang on his third place in the race traditional production, but not by much, as a Buick outbreak was snapping his heels.
In 1953 things were better President Dwight D. Eisenhower had obtained the North Koreans to the negotiating table, slowing the war material demand Plymouth†new models, while they looked the same to inside as they had since 1941, looked new on the outside, and management was convinced that they were on the right track when new car sales have taken off at a rate that equaled the record year 1951 more than 660000 Plymouths this until July 1953.
When the Korean War ended, Ford began a blitz of selling all-out to find the one place; Chevrolet joined the fray Dealers had to unload their cars, because the factory was just throw them on their door, they ordered them or not suddenly everyone started to sweat.
Plymouth, running on capacity grew to 20,000 cars per week It was the best they could do without the help of other divisions Despite sacrifice quality for numbers, it is not enough Ford worked 26,000 cars per week and Chevrolet took all the space we had other GM divisions to reach 37,500 cars per week.
Suddenly it occurred to Highland Park Plymouth as the ability not only failed, it also lacked the glitz of its competitors While other cars were growing, Plymouths declined While other cars placed on the chrome trim, Plymouth took off While the competition is ramping, Plymouth had les six that were flathead around for over 20 years Plymouth could not profitable to his NASCAR record curiously gained more since Plymouth usual drivers had gone to power V-8 Dodge and Oldsmobile.
Plymouth was one of the seven cars that did not have an automatic transmission, or even semi-automatic There was no power steering, no power brakes, no fancy package of any kind yet, at the end of the production year 1953 Plymouth clinging to third place.
One of the last things K T Keller did before his retirement was to hire a new designer business; the 1954 models have been set and are not affected The arrival of the new designer met with little notice † but the disastrous end of 1954, Virgil Exner had to be put on a pedestal in Chrysler.
Chrysler Car Insider history and society Plymouth 19461953, initiated, history, chrysler.