Hemmings Classic Car – October 2019

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SPECIAL SECTION:

BARN FINDS

Pioneering Achievements

Forward thinking and top-notch engineering underscore

Chrysler as one of America’s enduring marques

BY JEFF KOCH

SPECIAL SECTION: CHRYSLER CLASSICS

I

f you’re going to name a car after yourself, it

had better be something pretty special. And

Walter P. Chrysler, whose career as a journey-

man railroad machinist and mechanic had taken

him throughout the West and Midwest, put that

knowledge to use building cars.

The original 1924 Chrysler B-70 bristled with

innovation: aluminum pistons, a counterweighted

crankshaft with seven main bearings, full-pressure

engine lubrication, air cleaner, oil fi lter with remov-

able element, tubular front axle, hydraulic shock

absorbers, four-wheel hydraulic brakes (developed

in conjunction with Lockheed), and more. Priced to

compete with the Buick Six, it offered more power,

higher compression, and weighed a whopping

700 pounds less.

This engineering-led philosophy continued for

decades: By 1928, Chrysler employed more than

500 engineers. This philosophy led to some of the

most driveable cars of the era. It also led to one of

the great fl ops: the Chrysler (and De Soto) Airfl ow.

Carl Breer, Director of Research at Chrysler in the

early 1930s, dreamed of a car in harmony with

itself—all parts designed specifi cally for the goal

of advancing driver and passenger comfort and

effi ciency. Wondering why aircraft had evolved so

radically and rapidly when cars had not, Breer set to

work. The form of the car itself, to that point more

a compilation of parts than a unifi ed whole, would

need to change. Streamlining, it turned out, was only

part of the story: That aero-slick, Streamline Moderne-

masterpiece body hid longer springs for a better ride,

and an engine pushed forward to both allow more

cabin room and improve ride. Typical metal-skin-

on-wooden-frame construction was eschewed for a

hybrid structural concept, which made a framework

of metal beams with crisscrossed trusses for strength.

Body panels were welded to the frame, so body

and chassis were essentially a single unit, offering

superior strength over conventional body-on-frame

techniques at a weight savings.

Poor sales scared Chrysler back to a semblance

of normality, although the marque built a series of

cars in the 1930s that are recognized today as Full

Classics by the CCCA: 1926-’32 Imperial and Series

80, including Series CG, CH, CL; 1929 Chrysler,

six-cylinder, Model 77; 1932-’39 Custom Imperial

Series—CL, CX, CW, C-3, C-11, C-15, C-20, C-24;

1934-’37 Airfl ow Imperial Eight models CV, C2, C10,

C17. Select post-WWII models are also Full Classics.

Postwar, the race was on to develop new OHV

V-8 power. GM may have been fi rst, but Chrysler

came up with an engine name that resonates to this

date: the Hemi. Chrysler used data gained from

50

CHRYSLER

INNOVATIONS

54

1955-’65 300

“LETTER CAR”

60

1977-’79

LeBARON