CHRYSLER, DODGE, PLYMOUTH BRAKES

1935 Chrysler Airflow

After Ford started build-ing horseless carriages,many other people sawtheir potential and theystarted building similarvehicles. Engineers andstylists formed many ofthe early companies sothey were building nicecars, but the companiesdidnt have a coherentbusiness plan. Some of the early companiesmerged together for strength and that didnt nec-essarily help their bottom line. One of the earlycompanies that started having financial problemswas the Maxwell-Chalmers Company. Walter P.Chrysler was asked to reorganize the companyand make it competitive. Chrysler did that with theWillys brand and the company became competi-tive and lasted as a car company until the 50s.The company is still around today as a Jeep man-ufacturer that is currently owned by Chrysler. OnJune 6, 1925, the Maxwell-Chalmers Companywas reorganized into the Chrysler Company andthe former name was dropped and the new carwas called a Chrysler.

1925 Chrysler Roadster

The Chrysler was offered for a reasonable priceand was powered by a six-cylinder engine, andthey were successful. Chrysler products becamepopular because they had advanced engineeringfeatures that made them superior to many otherbrands. One of the interesting features thatChrysler pioneered was hydraulic brakes and thecompany had the system functioning on manycars in the mid-20s. Chrylsers hydraulic brakepatents were assigned to the Lockheed Company.In 1928 Chrysler started dividing their cars byprice and function starting with the low priced Ply

mouth, the mediumpriced DeSoto, and thehigh priced Chrysler.Soon after that, Chryslerpurchased the DodgeBrothers Automobile andTruck Company, and theDodge also became amedium priced car justbelow DeSoto. All of theChrysler truck offerings

were marketed under the Dodge name and that has-nt changed. General Motors used the hierarchyprincipal and it was working well for the Company,so Chrysler borrowed the idea.

Chrysler ran into a situation in the early 30s whentheir advanced engineering and styling created anunexpected problem for the Company. Automotivestylists in the late-20s were using aerodynamics tomake the early cars less wind resistant and morefuel-efficient. Chrysler started designing a new carwith that idea in mind that was very smooth for thetime period and in 1934 they marketed the car asthe Chrysler Airflow. It was a semi-unitized body thatwas very aerodynamic, and it was a magnificent en-gineering and styling achievement. The people whopurchased the cars loved them, but for most peoplethe styling was too advanced, so the sales were lessthan expected. They kept the idea going for a fewyears to see if it would catch on, but the companyalso produced a more conventional car and learnedan important lesson that the American public wasslow to accept radical change.

1934 Chrysler LeBaron Airflow

Chrysler and the other lower priced brands kept thestyling on the conservative side until the mid-50s,when the Jet Age was influencing all of the car com-panies. During WWII Chrysler was working for the

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war effort and one of their assignments was build-ing aircraft engines. The aircraft engines weremore advanced than the automobile engines sothe Chrysler engineers were seeing how the air-craft engineers were developing horsepower withthe use of head designs, cam profiles and com-bustion chamber shapes. Many aircraft enginesused a hemispherical combustion chamber designbecause it worked well with gasoline of various oc-tane levels. There were no sharp edges in thecombustion chamber that could heat up, so therewas a very low chance of premature detonation.After the War, the Chrysler engineers used whatthey learned and started designing a new over-head valve V8 engine that used hemisphericalheads, and it later became known as the Hemi.The first Chrysler Hemi was introduced in 1951and it became a success. The engine had horse-power potential way beyond what the engineershad in mind and it quickly became a favorite withdrag racers. Many of the engines are still beingused on the track in nostalgia racing events andon the street powering hot rods and customs.

1957 Chrysler 300 C engine

In 1955 Chryslers conservative styling started tochange with Virgil Exners successful forward lookdesigns. The mid-50s Chrysler products were nicelooking cars and all but the Plymouth took advan-tage of the Hemi engine design. The Hemi enginewas expensive to build, so the lower price Ply-mouth used a less expensive, more conventionaldesign. Working with Exners designs, the engi-neering of the cars also improved and they werenow using torsion bar front suspension. Fins be-came a popular styling theme with many of thecars from Chrysler and some were very wild.Chrysler also used two and thee-tone paintschemes, and they certainly made a statement inthe 50s and early 60s. The Hemi was popular

with buyers, but they were expensive to produce, soChrysler developed a new wedge head design thathad plenty of horsepower potential and it was intro-duced in 1959. In 1960 Chrysler products startedusing unibody construction because the design wasstrong and light, and because the frame was elimi-nated, the car was easier and less expensive to pro-duce. In 1960 Chrysler introduced the Valiant asanother product that was under the Plymouth in theprice structure. Chrysler also introduced the Imperialas a separate top-of-the-line model. In 1961 theValiant was the first car to use an alternator insteadof a generator and the new system was adopted bymany other car brands.

In 1961 Chrysler decided to discontinue the DeSotobrand because it was competing too closely with theDodge line. Dodge had cars that could compete withthe slightly more expensive DeSoto and also hadcars priced in the Plymouth price range and that hurtthe Plymouth sales. Throughout the 60s there wasplenty of competition between the Dodge and Ply-mouth models, even though they were both sharingthe same Chrysler engine and transmission selec-tions. Using the same engine for the Chrysler,Dodge and Plymouth brands was a cost considera-tion because the company only needed one engineand transmission engineering department.

Chrysler was one of the first companies to get in-volved with high horsepower engines when the en-gineers started realizing the potential of the Hemiengine. The engine grew from 331ci when it was in-troduced to 392ci in 1957 when the engine was usedin the 57 Chrysler 300. The Chrysler 300 was a per-formance model that was equipped with a dual-quad392ci engine that was producing 375 horsepower.Some of the early engines had optional fuel injec-tion, but it was troublesome, so it was discontinuedand all of the cars were recalled, so they could beequipped with the dual-quad intake manifold. In1959 the Hemi engine design was dropped becauseit was expensive to produce, but the new engine thatreplaced it was also very powerful. In 1960 theChrysler 300 models were equipped with 413ci en-gines that featured a wild induction system that wasoutfitted with a pair of AFB carburetors sitting oneach side of the engine with long ram tubes sendingfuel into the combustion chambers. In a few yearsthis engine would be hard to beat when the NHRA

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Super Stock class races became popular.

413 Chrysler Cross Ram Engine

Compact cars were becoming popular, so Plymouthintroduced the Valiant in 1960 that was powered bya 101hp slant six-cylinder engine. The followingyear Dodge introduced a compact Lancer modelalso using the same six-cylinder engine. The DodgeDart was a full size car in the early 60s, but later itwould be the name for a compact car, which is con-fusing to some enthusiasts. When the Super Stockwars were starting to heat up in 1960, there was arumor that Chevy was going to downsize the Im-pala, so Dodge and Plymouth reacted by downsiz-ing their Dart and Savoy models to a 116-inchwheelbase. As it turned out, Chevy did not down-size their car, so the new cars didnt really competewith the Chevy on the showroom floors, but they didcompete in Super Stock racing where the smaller,lighter Dodges and Plymouths outfitted with 413Cross-Ram engines had a major weight advantage.The Cross-Ram used by the Super Stock enginewas an aluminum manifold with shorter runners.

62 DodgeDart (top) 62 Plymouth Savoy (bottom)

In 1963 Dodge and Plymouth both received an im-portant and well needed new body style and alonger 122-inch wheelbase. There was a changein the design department and under a new headdesigner things started improving. The new bodywas smoother than the previous model and boththe Dodge and Plymouth had a more pleasing de-sign. Since the cars were a little larger than the pre-vious models, the engine size was increased to426 cubic inches, so the lightweight super stock-ers still remained hard to beat. As it turned out, in1963 General Motors stopped backing Chevy andPontiac racers because they were having a difficulttime competing successfully, so that certainly gaveChrysler the advantage. Basically Chevy neededa more advanced engine design and the Pontiacwas too heavy.

1963 Dodge Super Stocker

1963 Stage II Max Wedge 426 Cross Ram engineIn 1964 Dodge and Plymouth drag racers startedwith the 426 Wedge engines and were doing well,but a new Hemi engine designed for NASCAR rac-ing became available, and it was an unbelievabledrag race engine. The other engines didnt stand achance against the Hemi in the Super Stock rac-ing, so in the finals it generally ended up being in arace between a Dodge and Plymouth. Sometimesit was a Dodge against a Dodge or a Plymouthagainst another Plymouth. The other cars werentcompetitive against the Hemi. Dodge and Plymouth

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continued racing in the Super Stock classes in1965,