The Chrysler motor company was founded in 1925 by Mr Walter P Chrysler, the formation occurred when the Maxwell motor company was restructured into the Chrysler Corporation.
Walter Chrysler had been hired by the Maxwell Motor Company to sort out what was widely recognised as a company in crisis. Chrysler had a reputation as a no nonsense hard noised businessman which he earned when he turned around the fortunes of the severely ailing Willys car company.
Having firmly established himself in the hot seat at Chrysler, Walter Chrysler oversaw the production of the first automobile under the new Chrysler name. The new 6-cylinder Chrysler was generally well received by the press and public. The new Chrysler had been designed to give customers a well engineered car for a good price. It has been suggested by several people that many of the design elements of the new Chrysler had in fact been under development when Walter Chrysler was at the Willys car company. This suggestion has proved hard to substantiate.
Under the stewardship of Walter Chrysler the Chrysler motor company continued to innovate and to invest significant time and resources into research and development. This was an investment which paid off for Chrysler with the company becoming the second most prominent car company in the US market. Some of the many innovations of Chrysler included; the first mast produced four wheel drive hydraulic braking system, rubber engine mounts and a carburetor air filter.
Chryslers Dark Years the 1930s
During the 1930 Chrysler continued to innovate and actually produced the first range of cars widely available to the public constructed using the principles of air flow and aero dynamics. Chrysler even constructed the first wind tunnel in the automotive industry to do this, this required a significant investment. Sadly for Chrysler the investment although ground breaking failed to pay off. It appears the public were not keen on the new aero dynamic styling of the Chrysler and so turned away form the cars on mass. This significant reduction in revenues left the Chrysler Company unable to continue is investment in new technology at the same rate that it had previously, in fact it was sales of Dodge and Plymouth which kept the company going in the 1930s.
A Slow Recovery through the 1940s and 1950s
The disaster of the aero dynamic cars produced in the 1930s had a big effect on the overall psyche of Chrysler with the cars released in the 1940s and 50s distinctly conservative in design. Sales did grow in this period however as the company began to recover from the disastrous 1930s.
1960s Chrysler Returns to Innovation
Having made its recovery over the 1940s and 1950s Chrysler was now ready to start innovation again and the 60s kicked off with a significant innovation for Chrysler. In 1960 Chrysler became the first of the big three US automotive manufacturers to use Unibody construction. This construction technique, now a worldwide standard improved handling and safety during a crash. Throughout the 60s Chrysler increased its market share and continued to innovate producing the first car to use an alternator as standard. It has been pointed out by many automotive historians that while the Chrysler brand returned to the place of industry leading innovator during the sixties and its financial fortunes certainly improved, Chrysler had began to neglect the Dodge and Plymouth brands which had guided it through the treacherous decade of the 1930s.
