Walter Chrysler and 100 Years of the Chrysler Corporation

A century ago, a driven railroad mechanic named Walter P. Chrysler launched a car company that would challenge Detroit’s biggest names and change the American automobile forever. In this special centennial episode, we dive into the bold vision, engineering brilliance, and underdog grit that built the Chrysler Corporation. This is the story of one of America’s most resilient automakers. Join us as we celebrate 100 years of Chrysler, and the man whose name still rides on the hood.

 

Fuel for the Future is presented by State Farm Insurance and Driven by America's Automotive Trust. www.americasautomotivetrust.org

Episode Transcript

(00:04):
He wasn't born into oil money.
He didn't inherit an empire.
He built one with grease under hisfingernails and a passion for mechanics.
Walter Chrysler was a manwho gambled on himself and won.
And in the shadows of titanslike Ford and GM,
he carved out a namethat would touch the sky.
And he did it from the ground up.

(00:25):
This year marks the 100th anniversaryof the Chrysler Corporation.
It's a story of how a railroad mechanicbecame a mogul,
and how one man and one corporation helpedshape America's automotive age
and how ambition, failure and innovationcollided in the fast lane of history.
This is fuel for the future.

(00:46):
Presented by State Farm Insuranceand driven by America's Automotive Trust.
I'm Michael Mann.
Walter Percy Chrysler was born
in 1875,in the small town of Winnebago, Kansas,
a prairie outpostsurrounded by wheat fields and rails.
His father was a locomotive engineeroriginally from Canada.

(01:07):
And Little Walter was obsessedwith all things mechanical.
He'd sneak into factoriesand stare at the machines
that powered the country steam engines.
And these machinesweren't just tools to him.
They were puzzles. Mysteries, art.
At 17, he took a job as a machinistapprentice for the Union Pacific Railroad,

(01:28):
and he worked for $0.10 an hourand slept in tool sheds.
But he learned every bolt, every valve,every hiss of steam was a lesson.
He then spent years traveling
and working for various railroadsas a roundhouse mechanic.
He had a great reputation,but he must have been an anxious person
or searching for something,because Chrysler moved frequently

(01:51):
and always working for the railroads.
As an example,he was in Kansas in 1897, followed
by Colorado, Wyoming, Iowa, amongstmany more.
One could suggesthe should have settled in somewhere, but
these experiences gave him the foundationof knowledge for his later success.
Walter worked his way upat these various companies, culminating

(02:12):
in managerial positionsin both Pennsylvania
and then in Salt Lake City in 1908.
And here's where things get interesting,because right around this time,
Henry Fordhad just introduced the model T,
and the automobilewas about to rewrite the American economy.
Around
this time, Walter Chryslersaw a magazine ad.

(02:33):
And the story or legend has some putit goes
that Chrysler was flippingthrough the Saturday Evening Post
when he saw a photo of a new car,the local mobile.
Walter didn'tjust buy the local mobile immediately.
He took it apart piece by piece.
He laid every part out in his garage,studied the engine like a surgeon,

(02:54):
and then he put it back togetherand drove it.
This wasn't just curiosity.
He was an immediate carenthusiast and full of passion.
By 1911, Chrysler was recruited by CharlesNash, then head of Buick.
Nash offered him a job managingone of Buick's plants in Flint, Michigan,
at the tidy salary of $6,000 a year,

(03:16):
which is over $200,000 in today's money.
But Chrysler turned him down.
He was making doublethat for the locomotive company.
However, this enthusiasm for automobiles
won out and Chrysler ended upaccepting the position.
It was the smartest decisionChrysler ever made at Buick.

(03:37):
Chrysler transformed the production line.
Increasing output, slashing costs.
He was a master of the assembly floor.
Tough. Innovative. Fearless.
But by 1916, Walter wanted a raise
and the company had a new man in charge,William C Durant,
who was one of the foundersof General Motors.
And here's the kicker.
Durant offered Walter $500,000in a mix of salary and stock to stay.

(04:02):
And in today's dollars,that's more than 10 million.
Walter Chrysler accepted.
But he didn't stay long.
Chrysler ended up quitting GM in 1920
as the president of Buick and vicepresident of GM in charge of operations.
And this decisionwas apparently based on Durant announcing

(04:23):
that GM would build a new plant in Flint,Michigan, to manufacture Buick frames.
Well, this was a shock to Walter Chrysler,
who already had a deal in placeto build those frames.
So Chrysler, perhapsnot feeling respected, walked away.
But he wasn't walking away into retirement
in 1920, Chrysler was approachedby bankers who had a mess on their hands.

(04:46):
The Maxwell Motor Company wasdrowning in debt, and they needed help.
They needed a miracle.
So they brought in Walter Chrysler,who agreed to take over
for a fee of $1 million per yearfor two years, plus stock options.
He took the job, cleaned house, redesignedcars,
modernized the factory, and by 1923,Maxwell was making money again.

(05:11):
And then Walter Chryslerdid something radical.
He dissolved Maxwell.
And in its place, in 1925,he founded the Chrysler
Corporation, a new name, a New ERA.
And in just three years,Chrysler would shake the automotive world.
Chrysler didn't just want to compete.
He wanted to dominate.

(05:32):
In 1928, Chrysler Corporationlaunched three new brands
Plymouthfor the economy market, DeSoto, mid-range.
And he bought the Dodge Brothers Companyfor $170 million, a record at the time.
This gave Chrysler accessto a dealer network manufacturing plants,
and instantly catapultedthe company into third place in U.S.

(05:54):
automotive sales, behind only Ford and GM.
But Chrysleralways had his eyes on the sky.
He commissioned what would becomethe tallest building in the world
at the time,the Chrysler Building in New York City.
Designed by architect William Van Allen.
The building was secretly topped with astainless steel spire in the dead of night
to beat the competingbank of Manhattan building.

(06:15):
And when it opened in 1930,the Chrysler Building stood 1046ft tall
as a shining ArtDeco style monument to American industry.
But the timing was not ideal.
The Great Depression had just begun.
Despite the depression, Chrysler weatheredthe storm better than most.

(06:38):
His company was known for engineeringexcellence and innovation.
The first practical four wheel hydraulicbrakes, the floating power engine
mount systemand the early aerodynamic designs
like the airflow in 1934,a product that flopped commercially
but it did influencefuture designs across the industry.

(06:59):
During WorldWar Two, Chrysler became a war machine.
They built tanks, engines,and the legendary Dodge trucks.
Their Detroit Arsenal tank plantwas called the Arsenal of Democracy.
At one point, Chryslerwas producing a tank every 30 minutes.
Walter Chrysler,though, didn't live to see all of this.
He retired in 1935 and passed away

(07:22):
in 1940 at the age of 65.
But the companyhe built became one of the big three
of automotive companiesand continues to this day.
The Chrysler
Corporation would go on to playkey roles in American automotive history,
competing with the giants, navigatingeconomic turbulence, making bold moves

(07:44):
like the minivan revolution in the 1980sunder Lee Iacocca,
and merging with Daimler-Benzin the 1990s.
But at the heart of itall was a man who started in the rail yard
and ended with his namegleaming above the New York skyline.
WalterChrysler story isn't just about cars.
It was about risk, vision

(08:04):
and enthusiasm and passion
and the belief that machines,when built with purpose
and passion,could move more than just people.
They could shape history.
Thank you for listening to fuelfor the future,
presented by State Farm Insuranceand driven by America's Automotive Trust.
Learn more at America's Automotive Trust.

(08:25):
Ford.