History of Chrysler, Plymouth, Dodge, Jeep, DeSoto, AMC, and Others
If you are interested in the history of a particular car, please click here for the vehicles page.
Pictorial histories through 1966
Full-brand histories
- Airtemp
- American Motors (AMC), Nash, Hudson, and Jeep
- Boats and Chrysler Marine
- Chrysler outside the US
- Chrysler en espanol
- DeSoto History
- Dodge pickup trucks
- Dodge UK commercial trucks
- Eagle
- Fargo Truck: the Plymouth truck division
- Hudson: one of the companies that was to become AMC
- Jeep from an Austin reconnaissance vehicle to Bantam to the final Willys design
- Maxwell: the company Walter Chrysler took over and turned into Chrysler and Plymouth
- Mitsubishi and Diamond-Star Motors: the company Chrysler almost took over, and the joint venture
- Nash: another company that was to become AMC
- Willys-Overland (and John North Willys)
- Rootes Group cars: Hillman, Humber, Singer, Sunbeam
Technologies
- Alternative fuels and energy efficiency: turbines, hybrids, electric cars, on-board computers, Lean Burn, aerodynamics, and other interesting projects
- Chrysler technological innovations: interesting work in transmissions, engines, and more.
- Chrysler’s new technology lab at the CTC (1998)
- Electrojector: world’s first electronic-fuel-injection car
- Torsion bar / leaf spring suspensions
Vehicle types
- Fleet and squad cars: police cars, fire trucks, ambulances, and postal vehicles
- Boats and marine engines
- Campers and motor homes
- School buses
- Front-drive performance 1983-1993
- Minivan including development information.
- Plymouth convertibles 1928-1971: concentrating on 1928-1955
- Plymouth delivery vehicles: sedan deliveries and panel trucks
- Plymouth wagons 1934-1954: from the woodies to the steel-bodies Suburban wagons
- Taxis and jitneys: Tough cars for tough duty
Historically significant vehicles and projects
- Racing: Some excellent articles on Chrysler's racing history, covering the Pettys, NASCAR, and much more
- LH series: innovations in the engineering and involvement process
- Cab forward: definition, how it was developed, and why it was important
- Valiant: details on the development and history of the Valiant and other A-bodies (Dart, Duster, Demon, etc.) in the United States, Australia, and elsewhere. Fascinating!
- Military work: Chrysler helps build the arsenal of democracy
- Slant six: the famous, efficient, durable engine, with development stories from the engineers who created it.
- Plymouth Commercial Vehicles: a detailed article covering vans, fleets, and trucks.
- Aerodynamics: from the beginning to the Superbird.
- Plymocoupe ("the flying Plymouth") airplane.
- Little Red Wagon: hemi-powered pickup, the first wheelstander
- Scat Pack and Rapid Transit System: muscle car collections
World War II and military
- Origin of the Jeep from an Austin reconnaissance vehicle to Bantam to the final Willys design
- Chrysler and radar: SCR584 radar-guided anti-aircraft guns - delivered at 20% of the Army’s (and GE’s) estimated cost, in 1 trailer instead of 7, these innovative radar/gun units were part of a crash program that saved many soldiers’ lives.
- B-29 Superfortress bomber: Chrysler's role in redesigning the Wright Cyclone engine so it would be durable and could be mass-produced; in cutting the cost of the engines in half while saving energy in testing and metal in production; and in producing aircraft components
- Preparing for war, 1940-1942: Chrysler dedicates its massive resources to tanks, military vehicles, guns, and airplanes
- Building tanks and the “arsenal of democracy:” Chrysler builds and helps to engineer the M3, Sherman, and Pershing tanks, voluntarily giving up all profits
- Chrylser and the atomic bomb: it’s quite possible that, had Chrysler not been called in, the United States may not have had the atomic bomb for a year or two longer - at the cost of all the nickel in the country. A full history of the development of the first atomic bomb, and Chrysler’s role in building it and the facility that refined all of the United States’ weapons-grade uranium through 1985.
- Wartime cars: sales and production of Chrysler and other vehicles during World War II.
The Walter P. Chrysler Museum
- Interview with the leaders of the museum
- Review of the Walter P. Chrysler Museum
- Allpar meet at the museum, 2006
Fame
- Mopars in movies
- Christine, the reason why non-Mopar folk know the 1958 Plymouth Fury
- Celebrities' Chrysler, Plymouth, Dodge, and Jeep vehicles
- Johnny Cash's Plymouth, and the Johnny Cash Plymouth contest
- Franklin D. Roosevelt's Plymouths
- Mopars on television
- Mopars in music
- Biographies of famous Chrysler folk, racers, etc.
- Pioneers of the American Auto Industry
Factories and manufacturing
- The Dodge Main plant, with photos and operational details
- Assembly plant and factory list, 1924-1980 and 2005-2007
- Empowered work teams and quality in the manufacturing plants (2005)
- Flexible manufacturing
- The last St. Louis Chrysler Lebaron being built (Richard Benner)
- Preparing the Windsor factory for the 2008 minivans: flexible manufacturing, work teams, and more
Engineering and design
- Styling and coloring cars in 1955
- Performance Vehicles Operations team (PVO)
- Vehicle Excitement Team (VXT)
- The platform team system: as described by Francois Castaing and Glenn Gardner; also see "Design of the LH series" below and the LH page itself
- Auto development notes
- Using technology to engineer cars and trucks: see our technology page for more links
- Arizona Proving Grounds (2005)
- Chrysler and the environment, 1993
Engineering and design notes for specific cars
- Neon: innovations in engineering, assembly setup, and employee involvement
- LH series: innovations in engineering and employee involvement (see "the platform team system")
- Durango: Teamwork | Supplier partnerships | Simultaneous design and engineering
Suppliers
- The SCORE program - saving money by involving suppliers
- Extended Enterprise: Chrysler's highly successful supply-chain cost-reduction and innovation system, begun in the early 1990s and still surviving; examples from design of the Neon
- Durango supplier partnerships - $74 million saved before production
Branding and sales
- Logos: a detailed history of the logos used on all major Chrysler brands
- How Plymouth got its name
- How Chrysler calculates sales figures
- eEngineering and DealerConnect - Web-based corporate communication portals
- Creation of the Dodge Ram symbol and other hood ornaments
Corporate information
- Airtemp
- Chronology of Chrysler: year by year, from before the company was actually created
- Cerberus and Chrysler LLC (ongoing)
- Biographies of key Chrysler and related folk
- Chrysler corporate culture
- Chrysler outside the US - organized by nation and by model.
- DaimlerChrysler era
- Dodge Brothers: how Chrysler gained the successful Dodge Brothers company
- Factories as of 2007 | Plant closings - which facilities were closed or sold (1990s-2007)
Cars and trucks made in specific years (highly detailed snapshots)
Corporate (all divisions)
- Car details, including all brands: 1929-32 - War Years - 1957 - 1966 - 1967 - 1978 - 1984 - 1986 - 1988 - 1992
- Chrysler Corporation, 1950-1964, from the inside: There is a lot of information in this well-written series, much of it not readily available anywhere else.
- Chrysler front-drive performance 1983-1993
- Fast Facts, 1997 shows the pride of accomplishment just before the takeover.
- Car prices: 1969 - 2000 - 2002 - 2003 - 2003/04
- Model year changes: 1995 -1998 - 1999 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2007
Jeep and Chrysler
(Also see combined details, including Dodge and Plymouth, above)
- Chrysler cars, 1924-1966
- Chrysler boats - 1966 | 1969
- Imperial, 1937-38
- Imperial, 1969-1973 (the other Chrysler boats)
- Chrysler cars of 1971: Imperial Lebaron, New Yorker, Town & Country, Newport
- Chryslers of 1974 - 1975: New Yorker, Newport, Town & Country
- Jeep and Kaiser: 1958-61 - 1965 - 1975-76 - 1987-89
Dodge and Dodge Brothers
(Also see combined details, including DeSoto, Chrysler, and Plymouth, above)
- Dodge specific details: 1939 - 1946 - 1954 - 1955 - 1966 - 1973 - 1983
- Dodge truck specific details: 1960 - 1977 - 1983
- Dodge cars of 1954: Meadowbrook, Coronet, Royal
- Dodge cars of 1955: the Coronet, Royal, and Custom Royal, with the Hemi Red Ram and PowerFlite transmissions.
- Dodge cars of 1966: Polara, Monaco, Coronet, Charger, Dart, Sportsman vans
- Dodge cars of 1973: Polara, Monaco, Challenger, Charger, and Dart
- Dodge cars of 1983: rebadged Mitsubishis, Daytona, K-cars and EEKs, Omni, Omni Charger, Mirada, Diplomat
- Dodge trucks: 1960 - 1977 - 1983
- Dodge Brothers acquisition: how Chrysler gained the successful Dodge Brothers company
- Dodge Charger - by Burton Bouwkamp, Manager of Dodge Passenger Car Product Planning - big with photos
- Dodge pickup trucks: from the first Dodge Brothers trucks to the start of the new series
Plymouth
(Also see combined details, including Dodge and Chrysler, above)
- Plymouth-specific car details: 1929-32 - 1930 - 1933 - 1934 - 1935 - 1937 - 1938 - 1940 - War Years - 1949-1952 - 1953-1954 - 1955 - 1957 - 1960 - 1962 - 1963 - 1964 - 1965 - 1966 - 1968 - 1973 - 1975 - 1986
- Plymouth of 1930: the Model 30U
- Plymouths of 1933: the PC, PD, and PCXX
- Plymouths of 1934: more innovations in the PE, PF, PG, and PFXX
- Plymouths of 1935: The PJ and others, first commercial van, and innovation; comparison to 1935 Ford. Plymouth when it clearly smoked the competition.
- Plymouths of 1937: see the many advantages of Plymouth in a record sales year
- Plymouths of 1938: many improvements but sales fall - albeit less than competitors. Includes the PT57.
- Plymouths of 1940: the best new Plymouth ever? Advanced styling and engineering threatened Ford's #2 position.
- Plymouths of 1949-1952: the Deluxe, Special Deluxe, Cranbrook, Cambridge, and Concord
- Plymouths of 1953-1954: the Belvedere, Savoy, and Plaza with new automatic transmissions
- Plymouths of 1955: the Belvedere, Savoy, and Plaza with the first Plymouth V8
- Plymouths of 1957: the Bevledere, Savoy, Plaza, and Fury with TorqueFlite, torsion bars, and more
- Plymouths of 1960: the Belvedere, Fury, Savoy, and Valiant; unit-body; TorqueFlite; SonoRamic engines; and more
- Plymouths of 1962: Fury, Sport Fury, Valiant, restyling, unit-body, and more
- Plymouths of 1963: Chrysler's ill-timed downsizing and other details, including the Fury Super Sport.
- Plymouths of 1964: the Fury, Savoy, Belvedere, Valiant, and Barracuda; the Hemi; Canada; and racing.
- Plymouths of 1965: the Fury, Belvedere, Valiant, and the rest; Canada; racing. Lots of details and photos.
- Plymouths of 1966: the Belvedere, Fury, and Valiant, the Street Hemi, and racing
- Plymouths of 1967: the Belvedere, Fury, Satellite, GTX, and Valiant
- Plymouths of 1968: the Barracuda, Fury, GTX, Belvedere, and others.
- Plymouths of 1973: the Barracuda, Duster, Valiant, Fury, GTX, Satellite, and Road Runner meet the Colt and Cricket
- Plymouths of 1975: the Valiant, Fury, and Road Runner in transitional years.
- Plymouths of 1978: a bunch of imports and a bunch of stalwarts
- Plymouths of 1986: want variety? Mitsubishis, EEKs, Gran Fury, Horizon/Turismo, and Voyager!
Memories and stories
- Willem Weertman, engine architect and primary designer of the slant six, 2.2, and other engines, talks about the slant six, Australian Hemi, LA V8s, B and RB V8s, 426 Hemi, 3.3 and 3.9 V6, and 2.2/2.5 engines
- Pete Hagenbuch, engine development engineer, talks about the slant six, Australian Hemi, LA V8s, B and RB V8s, and 2.2/2.5 engines
- Insider's History of Plymouth (and Chrysler): the 1950-1964 period of Chrysler Corporation, including not only Plymouth but also Dodge, Chrysler, and Imperial. There is a lot of information in this well-written series, much of it not readily available anywhere else.
- Running amok with a borrowed Hemi Satellite: Rick Ehrenberg tells what it was like to race a Street Hemi when the muscle car was still in its prime
- Chrysler's George Scott talks about the slant six and other engines
- Washer bags (short)
- Cannonball Run Duster: One Lap of America in a Plymouth (1989)
- Christmas in May: putting a 1949 Plymouth into emergency action
- Stories centering around particular cars:
Bits and pieces
- Car shows from CEMA to the Washington DC Auto Show
- Allpar meets
- Chrysler auction scene, 2007
- Chrysler history books
- The first and oldest Plymouth
- Models and promos: model kits and promotional car replicas including reviews and assembly tips.
- 200 miles per gallon: The California Carburetor
- Toyota history in case you were curious about how much they “borrowed” from Dodge, Chevrolet, and Willys ... or about how the US Army gave them their basic quality system
- Pre-production Lebarons (Richard Benner)
- Valiants, Darts, Dusters, Pacers, Chargers, and other A-Bodies are at valiant.org
