Walter P. Chrysler was of humble beginnings and worked his way up in the locomotive industry. A Buick investor recognized something in him and asked him if he would entertain working in the automobile industry. He then started as the works manager for Buick in 1910 and left in 1919 as president of the company. Chrysler had tried to leave Buick earlier, but Durant made him an incredible offer of $10,000 a month ($250k+ 2024$) for three years if he would stay on.
Chrysler left Buick with $10M ($175M 2024$). Chase National Bank approached Chrysler, offering him an extremely lucrative position managing the business of John North Willys. (Often mispronounced, the name is pronounced like ‘Willis’. Don’t believe me? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzkJtrM_bqs)
Before We Get to Chrysler Corp…
Chrysler left his assignment at Willys after two years. His next assignment was with the turnaround of the Maxwell Motor Company, which had been merged with Chalmers. Making use of three exceptionally talented engineers, the Chrysler B-70 was introduced with fanfare in 1924. It was an immediate success, setting the first year industry sales record.
A Forward-Thinking Car
The first Chrysler was an interesting car. It had a displacement of 201.5 cubic inches, a 4.7:1 compression ratio, and made 68hp. Priced at $1395, this car was unique in the market. There weren’t any other cars with high compression engines in the mid-priced field. (Yes, 4.7:1 was high compression at this time; Ford’s c.r. was 3.98:1 in 1924) The B-70 also had four-wheel hydraulic brakes, full-pressure lubrication and aluminum pistons. In mid-1925 the Chrysler name replaced Maxwell. The B-70 was soon replaced with two more sixes and a four-cylinder model. Chryslers did well in racing events of this era.
Dodge
Horace and John Dodge had been suppliers of engines and transmissions to Ransom E. Olds, and then to Henry Ford. They decided it was time to produce automobiles themselves, with their first product reaching market in 1914. It was immediately successful. It had a welded all-steel body, manufactured by Budd, and 12 volt electrics. The brothers sold 45,000 cars in 1915 and were in fourth place in the domestic automotive field in 1916. They had a sterling reputation for quality and everything they touched was golden.
Dodge Brothers moved into second place in the industry in 1920. Tragically, 1920 saw both brothers die! John died of pneumonia and Horace of cirrhosis. John had been born in 1864 and Horace in 1868. Both brothers were regarded as exuberant drinkers, which likely played a part in Horace’s death. John was said to have died of the Spanish Flu.
Spanish Flu
This was more properly known as The Great Influenza. It’s start was traced back to a pig farm in rural Kansas, where the virus jumped from pigs to humans. It oddly became known as the ‘Spanish Flu’ because Spain was one of very few countries reporting true death and affected numbers. Spain was not in WWI, and the combatant countries were fearful of reporting true numbers. The movement of US troops to Europe greatly facilitated the spread of the influenza.
The pandemic exhibited four different waves, something that we more recently saw with COVID-19, in 1918 through 1920. Approximately 500 million people worldwide were infected, with estimates of deaths anywhere from 21 million to 100 million.
The deaths of both brothers essentially ended the company’s upward rise. Sales suffered without the brothers at the helm. The widows of the brothers sold the company to investment bankers in 1925 for the record sum of $146,000,000 ($2.52B 2024$). Sales continued to be lackluster under the new owners, who sold to Walter Chrysler in 1928, for the sum of $170,000,000. Within a year, the company climbed from thirteenth place to seventh place. The make name remained Dodge Brothers until about 1930.
Plymouth
Walter Chrysler created Plymouth in 1928 as a make to compete against Ford and Chevrolet. All three companies, GM, Ford, and Chrysler desired three different tiers of offerings, entry, mid, and high-end. Plymouth would sell 50,000 cars their first year, which was certainly noteable, but a fraction of the numbers put up by Ford and Chevy. However, Plymouth would soon become the rock to anchor Chrysler corporation during the turbulent times of the Great Depression.
In the 1930’s economy a car company that didn’t have a low-priced make was going to find life very challenging. Plymouth sales increased every year, greatly facilitated by the existence of Dodge dealerships. Plymouth models were in tune with what the buying public wanted, offering such things as features as four-wheel hydraulic brakes, aluminum pistons and full pressure lubrication. Chevrolet and Ford wouldn’t compete with these features for several years. By 1934 the market share of Plymouth was about 25%, an unprecedented accomplishment for a new company.
DeSoto
This company was created by Walter Chrysler in 1928, the same year that he purchased Dodge Bros. DeSoto’s incredible first year sales were more than encouraging, with it placed just below Dodge. As time went on, though, it would become apparent that Chrysler really didn’t need DeSoto, as they had addressed that market niche with Dodge.
The yearly sales dropped every year from the 81,000 of the initial, record year. In 1933 DeSoto was moved to be above Dodge in the market, a move which had dire consequences. DeSoto models would become more like those of Chrysler itself, including the ill-fated 1934 Airflow models. Kind of a case of ‘right product’ but ‘wrong time’. DeSoto would solder on through the 1960 model year.
