History of Chrysler, Plymouth, Dodge, Jeep, DeSoto, AMC, and Others

If you are interested in the history of a particular car, please see the vehicles page.

Chronologies

• See our new Chrysler and its cars and trucks, by year section
• Pictorial histories through 1966: Chrysler | DeSoto | Dodge | Plymouth | Imperial

Full-brand histories

Airtemp American Motors Corporation and Jeep Jeep from Austin to Willys Hudson: reliable and upscale Nash: small and sophisticated Willys-Overland (and John Willys) Eagle, the shortest-lived brand Boats and Chrysler Marine Chrysler outside the US DeSoto History Dodge trucks Cummins engines Fargo Truck Dodge UK commercial trucks Karrier/Dodge trucks in the UK Fiat Maxwell: the company that turned into Chrysler Mitsubishi and Diamond-Star Motors Perkins, which supplied diesel engines to Chrysler Rootes Group: Hillman, Humber, Singer, Sunbeam Simca, makers of the best-selling car in France

Technologies

 

• Alternative fuels and efficiency: turbines, hybrids, on-board computers, aerodynamics, and other interesting projects
• Electric cars
• Lean Burn
• Chrysler technological innovations: work in transmissions, engines, and more.
• Chrysler’s CTC technology lab (1998)
• Electrojector: world’s first electronic-fuel-injection car ... from 1958
• Torsion bar / leaf spring suspensions
• Arizona Proving Grounds | Chelsea Proving Grounds

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
• 1928-1957 Model / Serial Number Guide

Historically significant vehicles and projects

• Racing: Some excellent articles on Chrysler's racing history, covering the Pettys, NASCAR, and much more
• 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!
• 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
• The best and worst of the Daimler Decade, 2000-2009

Chrysler military and space flight work

• 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
• Missiles and Space Flight: the Redstone missiles; the Saturn missiles and NASA
• Chrysler and the atomic bomb: 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 Chrysler’s role in building the first atomic bomb and the facility that refined the US’s 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
  • Bluesmobile (Dodge Monaco)
• 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

• Chrysler factories (including autoworker stories)
• Empowered work teams and quality in the manufacturing plants (2005)
• Flexible manufacturing
• Chrysler Technical Center / Auburn Hills Complex
• Arizona Proving Grounds | Chelsea Proving Grounds

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
• Design and manufacturing of the LH series: innovations in the engineering and involvement process
• Cab forward: definition, how it was developed, and why it was important
• Auto development notes
• Using technology to engineer cars and trucks: see our technology page for more links
• Arizona Proving Grounds (2008) — both Wittman and Yucca
• Chrysler and the environment, 1993
• Why Chrysler switched side marker light designs each year for three years

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: the logos used on the major Chrysler brands (see Dodge, Plymouth, Mopar)
• How Plymouth got its name
• Chrysler bankruptcy and dropping 789 dealers
• 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

• Five year plan (2009-2014) | 2008 Recovery Plan | 2009 Recovery Plan
• 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 | Plant closings - which facilities were closed or sold (1990s-2007)

Memories and stories

• Biographies and interviews
• 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)
  • Preparing the 340 Duster for the One Lap
  • One Lap of America 1995: Plymouth Valiant and Dodge Omni
• Christmas in May: putting a 1949 Plymouth into emergency action
• Stories centering around particular cars:
  • Fury
  • Valiant/Dart/Charger (A-Body)
  • Volare/Aspen

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
• Repeating a historic cross-country trip in a 1909 Maxwell
• 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

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