Jive-Bomber submitted a new blog post: Chrysler: The Underdog Always Brought Their A Game... Continue reading the Original Blog Post
Their dependability was displayed on the battle field in ww2. This playing a part in a soldier getting back home and buying one.Leaders in, gear reduction starters, torsion bar suspension, hemi combustion,oil and air filters,hydraulic brakes,rubber engine mounts(termed floating power) mini vans,unibody,use of alternators. Most of this is still used today in high tech cars and trucks. Also- Lead,Follow or get out of the way
50’s era Chrysler products where wayy ahead of the times , some of the snazziest dashboards in the industry . Got a little “ weird “ tail end of the 50’s early 60”S but still built a rock solid ride that was pretty fancy by ford and Chevy levels .
I think they were the first with cruise control, too. They called it Auto-Pilot. First came out about 1964 I believe.
I've owned several OT Mopars over the years. No complaints from me... The B & RB engines were always simple, reliable and made good power.
Nash in '49-'50 had unibody construction. Chrysler just perfected it! (Nash's design flaw. The battery was positioned so it drained right into and around the frame channel) There was probably some other make (before depression or right after) that had unibody construction. You forgot to mention power steering. However it was only avalible (stantard equipment) on the '51 Imperial and NY'ers. Optional on the Saratoga and Windsor. With the big Hemi motor and AC compressor, one could easily turn the steering wheel with a pencil sitting still at an idle! Public still bitched "they couldn't feel the road"! It was a couple years later when PS was even avalible on the "bread and butter" cars. I'm not sure, but didn't Chrysler perfected the in car air coditioner? Or am I thinking of another make? First car with an air condition was '39 Packard, but the unit was the size of a Crosley! Faster you went the colder it got! Lee Iacocca (CEO of Chrysler) was the author of the "Lead, Follow, or get the %$@# Out Of The Way!"
An auto tech instructor from years ago said that sound was the mating call of the "Highland Park Hummingbird".
61 Darts are way more cool than Valiants you would have thought they would put them on the full size models
My first early Hemi build came when I built the 354 in my avatar roadste i was amazed at the quality of materials, and the quality of the castings and forgings. I was used to the other American manufacturers and not early Hemis. Filleted journals, no casting flash, ultra high quality on every surface of the block, heads, and internals. It's no wonder that they quit producing them. I am sure the big extra efforts in casting, forging, and machining was much more expensive than GM or Ford ever spent on a garden variety, grocery getter engine. My hat is off to K T Keller and all the engineering staff for their efforts.
Americans abandoned the hemi design. Japan copied it and with other U.S. advised (Deming) quality controls became a leader in U.S. car sales. We realized our mistake and now use it again.
Mopar guy here, currently working on a 23 Ford with a SBC. They had a lot of advanced engineering. The styling came and went, like some others. https://www.motales.com/chrysler-corp/firsts.php
MoPar built its name on superior engineering, not planned obsolescence like General Maintenance............. and it showed.
A lot of TV sound track guys loved that sound, it seemed they used it for any car starting in the ‘60’s. It always was odd to me when a Ford or GM product started up with that high pitched whine.
Back in the mid '70s one of my auto tech instructors was explaining the general differences between the buyers of GM and MoPar vehicles. His observation was that folks more interested in the looks, body fit, paint finish, and interior trim over durability, suspension, engine and driveline quality tended to buy GM cars. And people who were more concerned about better engine, driveline, chassis and suspension engineering and less concerned with fit and finish issues, fancy interior trim and the occasional squeak or rattle leaned toward Chrysler vehicles. One of my classmates raised his hand and asked, "Well then why would anybody buy a Ford product?" The teacher replied, "You know, I've never been able to figure that out!"
A 74 year old buddy is a hard core GM/Chevy fanatic. He often volunteered the Mopar muscle cars had transmissions and rear axles up to the task, and GM usually did not. Gotta look up Burt one of these days. Been too long. As part of the development of the Gen 1 Hemi, the Engineering group required engine life equivalent of 100,000 miles. The cam and lifters were one area that took a lot of development work. https://www.allpar.com/threads/the-original-chrysler-hemi-engine.229931/
“…A few examples that stand out to me are their torsion bar suspension and push button automatics… Not to mention being first car brand with hydraulic brakes, electric wipers, ignition key starting, and even the first to use an alternator.” “And for cool factory options, how about a under dash record player? Check it out: Hello, And check it out we did. An under the dash record player sitting on the hump looked fantastic. The high hopes of playing the whole record from our collection holders was awesome. After one was hooked up to a neighbor’s car, it played our 45s like no other. The sound was through the stock dash radio speaker and one we hooked up to the back seat area. The sound was very nice and very cool. It was one of the first under the dash record players. So, with the hopes of the same sounds from our favorite records, we drove off down the street. The flat street was nice as the sounds were similar to what we could hear on the local AM radio stations, but the selection was from our own collection. But, as soon as the brake pedal was applied, the slowdown made the needle skip. Then, once we stopped, it was fine. As soon as we started up again, the initial acceleration made it skip again. Then the smooth flat road ahead made it fine. Any time we applied the brakes and the car dipped or angled up/down, the needle skipped. So, we quit listening to the record player. Jnaki The convenience of having our own records and choices made the record player great. But, the drive-ability of the car with the record player running and stopping made for some anxious moments. The item was a large box sitting under the dash. But, the movement of the car was not conducive to having an error free record playing without skipping or skidding across the small record. After a flurry of installs we saw, they disappeared faster than they arrived. Now, for the Number 3 corporation doing something right, but, with some trepidation… when the race was on for stock car models going fast at the drag strip versus cruising cars, the Chrysler corporation did alright. With the larger motors, they were fast. But, the cars themselves could not compare to the Fords and GM designs for everyone. Sure, the lightweight cars were super fast, they sounded great, although the amenities and style of the cars from Chrysler were, yes… definitely, number 3. The word “tinny” comes to mind and the inside design left a lot to be desired. But, the one thing was not the record player, but the swivel bucket seats were sought after for our own cars. YRMV Note: For the amount of cars cruising and hanging around the local drive-in restaurant parking lots for the weekend hot rod gatherings, the Chrysler Corporation cars were almost non-existent in our area of So Cal, in Bixby Knolls/Belmont Shore/Seal Beach. We had to drive into the outskirts of Downey and South Gate to another drive-in restaurant parking lot to see any of the powerful Chrysler products. Even then, there were only a few of them around. YRMV It was interesting to note that we lived so close to the one Dodge/Chrysler/ Plymouth dealer in So Cal. Glen E. Thomas dealership was near our high school and always had the big motor sedans in stock. But, as many as we saw in the dealership, they were like ghosts on the street. The Milne Brothers in Pasadena were also big names in Stock Class racing sales. At the local drags, they were the ones making some big noises and going fast. The advertisements in the local Drag News Weekly were like showroom information. There were plenty of those every week from every dealer in So Cal. But, for our own teenage/20 something street scene, where the heck were they???
Chrysler also developed the rubber valve stems, so they didn’t break if a wheel cover came off. the Valiant was all new for 1960 so it got the new alternator as well, as already said, in 1961 all Chrysler vehicles got them.
Funny how the narrator mentions at the end the 9 new features to be talked up are 9 sales ''weapons'' to be used. Chrysler was taking this competition seriously!
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