Chrysler

Walter Percy Chrysler was an instinctive engineer. Born in 1875 in j Ellis, Kansas, a farmer's son, his first job was as an engine cleaner in aj locomotive workshop run by the Union Pacific Railroad. Soon, howev­er, he became a master mechanic to several Midwest railroads.

But automobiles were his destiny. At the 1905 Chicago Show, ordered a $5000 Locomobile, having borrowed some money from a banker friend, and never looked back.

He learned a lot from tinkering with the Locomobile and used his growing knowledge to secure the position of plant manager under Charle W. Nash, who he eventually supplanted as Buick president. But Ch ler often didn't see eye to eye with General Motors boss Billy Durant. So he quit to form his own car company.

By 1924, Chrysler had snapped up the weakened Maxwell and Chalmers concern and launched a new car under his own name. Although few would have guessed it at the time, the third of America's "Big Three" auto manufacturers had arrived.

With the help of three talented engineers - Carl Breer, Fred M. Zedler, and Owen R. Skelton - the new car would take full advantage of wartime developments in high-compression engine design. Zeder had already roughed-out a plan for a six-cylinder unit with a high-compres­sion cylinder head based closely on the ideas of British engineer Harry Ricardo. This 70 bhp unit was developed to power the Chrysler Six, and although marketed under the Maxwell banner it was the car that would set Chrysler on the road to success.

Chrysler New Yorker

Year: 1993

Style: four-door sedan

Layout: front-engine, front-drive

Engine: 215cu.in.V6,24 valves

Power: 217 bhp

Weight: 3520 Ib

Transmission: four-speed automatic

Good news: stunningly handsome with proportioning that made most European rivals look dumpy; crisp handling with high lev­els of comfort, equipment, and refinement; 135 mph top speed

Bad news: radically shallow rear roofline hurt rearward visibility

Comment: unquestionably the greatest looking large American se­dan of the early '90s. Made the Mercedes S-class look like a hearse.

Dodge

John Francis and Horace Elsin - the Dodge brothers - left their birth-1 place of Niles, Michigan, in the early 1880s with the express intention off becoming engineers. They survived by working in the machine shops of Detroit and Windsor (in Canada), where they gained valuable experience.

In 1899, the brothers helped form the Evans and Dodge Bicyclel Company in Windsor. Their first product was a four-point bearing bicycle of their own design. Small but significant success led to a take over from a Canadian group, and the brothers moved back to Detroit where they established some of the best machine shops in town. They were soon churning out components for the fledgling automobile industry.

Today, Dodge is one of Chrysler's most successful divisions, and one of America's most exciting marques, but it still adheres to the principles of its founders: honest engineering, and high value for money. Anc with cars like the Viper RT/10 bearing its name, the future looks rosy indeed.