* - The Master Nitpicker Strikes! - Chrysler messed up big time on their old Heritage pages:

For 1924, they do talk about pioneering 4-wheel hydraulic brakes but they end by mentioning the 1927 Imperial 80 as their first true convertible (as opposed to a roadster) without noting that it was first brought out in 1926 (as the E-80, renamed L-80 in 1928).

For the 1930s, they start with the doomed 1934 Airflow but illustrate it with a 1935 Airflow (with a prow added to suggest a more-familiar radiator and hood); there is no mention whatever of the great 1930 straight 8 and the fabulous 1931 CG Imperial 8 series and its custom-bodied offspring.

For the 1940s, they state that war production included "Pershing tanks and 40mm trailer-mounted anti aircraft guns".  They produced thousands of M3 Grant/Lee and M4 Sherman tanks, which won the war; the Pershing only came along at the very end.  The 40mm towed mount was not trailer-mounted but had integral retractable road gear.

For the 1950s, they claim 1951's Hydraglide as "the industry's first power steering unit"; Pierce-Arrow had that in the 30s and Rolls-Royce shortly after that (besides, Hydraglide was a tranny, NOT a steering gear!).

Beyond that, the heritage series deteriorates into some facts and mostly ad hype.

1963 Chrysler Turbine Car fans should go to the Chrysler's Turbine Car page (but come on back).

I had a 1931 Chrysler CG Imperial 8 Close-Coupled Sedan {see below} and a 1949 Chrysler C-46 Highlander 8 Club Coupé with Gyról Fluid Drive¹ and an M-6 Transmission¹.  The '49 is the Silver Anniversary car with an enormous hood and trunk.  While working at Aberdeen Proving Ground in the early '50s, I drove an earlier '49 Sedan; once it was parked directly behind a gun emplacement where I was firing the 120mm AA (antiaircraft) gun.  It was cool and dry (read dusty) so I had the windows shut tight.  After the firing test, I came back to find the car looking like a double-ended, angry alligator!  The shock waves had popped both the hood and the trunk lid (without breaking the locks!) and they stood gaping.

The '49 was to have gone back on the road 03 Dec 97; it started and died and didn't start until 03 Jan 98, at which point, with the aid of some starting ether, she fired right up after 8 years and ran like a dream (a bad dream)!  (UH-OH!  I got a speeding ticket the last time it was running)!  Well, no such problem this time but she started to heat up (most unusual for a Chrysler!) and, on returning home, I found the water pump seal had blown out totally!  Happily, I have a brand-new spare; I also need to replace the clutch (I have a full set of parts) and I just got a new left rear tail light lens (a tree limb fell on its predecessor).

NOTES:

1.  Gyròl Fluid Drive was simply a one-to-one hydraulic coupling that allowed slip between the clutch and the drive shaft.  A "full" explanation has been moved to Continuation Page 6.

2.  The M6 Prestomatic semi-automatic transmission was the workhorse of the late-'40s and early-'50s cars.  A "full" explanation of this and the earlier and simliar M4 Vacamatic, both of which shifted with a definite "CLUNK", has been moved to Continuation Page 6.

Speaking of the Silver Anniversary cars, does anyone remember the jingle?

In your beautiful Chrysler,
the Silver Anniversary car,
it is new.
In your beautiful Chrysler,
it's so thrilling to sit at the wheel.

It's got {this and that and the other thing};
it is higher and longer
{or whatever,  - 

who remembers the whole thing and will e-mail me?}.

It wasn't "Come away with me, Lucille, in my merry Oldsmobile", but it was catchy (hey, I remembered it).

Oh, come on, folks; some other old crock out there must remember the whole ditty.

The '49 was finally sold in 2007 to a gentleman who will supposedly have it fully restored in time for a Coast-to-Coast trip in the Spring of 2008.   (24 Feb 08)

Here she is, my Pride and Joy in a contemporary ad; surely one of the most gorgeous closed 4-door cars ever built! And then there's a photo of her as I found her in Commack, missing a few things (and with the upper bumper bar and bumper retainers inverted!); surely one of the ugliest clunkers ever seen:

Amazing; on 06 Jun 2008, I just happened to run across a picture I took on 29 Apr 1956 of Jim{?} Groendyk's (ex-Gordon Biehn's) 1933 CG Custom Imperial 8 Waterhouse Victoria with its top up!   (06 Jun 08)

(cropped from 29 Apr 1956 picture by and © 2008 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved}

[Might that be Jim behind what appears to me to be Bob Turnquist's Packard convertible?]

Later, I did locate a block with cam and crank shafts and they were from a restored '31 Le Baron CG roadster; when I sold my car, the spare block/crank/cam went with it (like - don't ask me for it!).

There's quite a story about the '31 Imperial.  One day ca. 1954 or so, I was driving around on Long Island and spotted a 1937{?} Cadillac limo and, on a whim, I followed it home.  That turned out to be in Rockville Centre and the driver (and owner) was a bit put out that I'd been following him.  In those days I was still a Charter Member of the Classic Car Club of America and one thing led to another and he invited me into his turn-of-the-century cottage.  Wow, it had been decorated and furnished by Louis Comfort Tiffany, himself!  In his garage, which was being reroofed by a young German-American carpenter was a 1931 Chrysler CG Imperial 8 Close-Coupled Sedan.  The man was none other than the youngster who had picked the car up new at the factory, John F. Nonenbacher, Jr., for his father, by then the late JFN, Sr.; both were managers of the late José Greco*, the famed flamenco dancer.  Both cars had been used, sequentially, to take Greco to his grand openings; look at theatrical picture books or newsreels from the '30s and early '40s and you'll see them.  Many years later, I heard of an old Chrysler out in Commack, more or less the center of Long Island, and I went out to look for it, at a Gulf station on Commack Road, just south of the Long Island Motor Parkway.  It was love at first sight, a 1931 Imperial 8 Close Coupled Sedan, rough, with one of the six wheels missing, but in running condition!  I put a deposit on it and came back a week later with a Jeep to escort it home.  It ran rather badly, coughing and spitting, so I switched it off and towed it home.  Have you ever towed 17½' of Imperial behind a Jeep with a rigid tow bar?  If the road crowned to the right, the car swerved to the right, which pulled the Jeep to the left, and vice-versa.  We swerved and over-corrected all the way home, some 20 miles.  A ½-mile short of the house, alongside a Coca-Cola warehouse, the right rear tire blew out with an incredible blast echoing off the Coke building.  Well, the tires were old and dried out and it was only a ½-mile to go so I told the Jeep driver to keep going.  All was well until we pulled up in front of my driveway.  The Jeep had to be disconnected so we could push the car up the driveway.  The flat tire seemed awfully hot!  After the Jeep left and I stood there admiring my folly, the tire burst into flame!  Happily, the garden hose was a few feet away and put out the flames and cooled the tire down.  And all this with dried-out wooden spoke artillery wheels, to boot!

Later, I pulled the plugs and looked in; #1 cylinder had no piston crown!

Under the drivers seat, looking for the tool kit that wasn't there, I found a piece of paper with a German name on it; looking in the local telephone book produced nothing; the Suffolk County book had the name.  A quick phone call elicited that he was German-American and a carpenter.  A quick ride out there and immediately inside his house, on the wall, was a signed picture of José Greco.  You got it!  He put me in touch with Nonenbacher, who took me into his cellar, where he showed me the original trunk for the car, still in its original olive paint with antiqued gold trim, with a mint Pilot Beam steering headlamp inside (not from the CG).  He gave me the trunk and wouldn't take any money for it.  He also remembered the gas station to which he had taken the missing wheel to have a flat fixed, but the wheel was long gone from there.

* - 05 Jan 01 - I regret to note that José Greco, called "The World's Greatest Spanish Dancer", died at the age of 82 at his home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, 30 Dec 2000; he was born in Spain but moved to Brooklyn when at age 10 and only retired in the 1960s.  I had the great pleasure of seeing him dance; it was an incredible experience the first time and never failed to continue to be so.

For many years, there was a 1931 CG full-length sedan parked in front of a doctor's or dentist's office in Garden city; it was driven, quite literally, by a little old lady.  Then it ceased to appear there.  It turned up for sale at a time when I really couldn't handle the cost and I regretfully turned it down; although I did get to drive it - it ran effortlessly, smoothly, and quietly, as it had when new.  When the Bird Estate auction of magnificent cars took place at Twin Ponds in Matinecock (west of Oyster Bay) around 1965 or so, there was that CG sedan in the parking area.  I found the owner and rode all the way home with him, which turned out to be in Massapequa on the former site of the Frank Buck Zoo; the Monkey Mountain was still standing then.  Where is it now (the car)?

About this time, there was a CH Imperial around; that's a slightly shorter version of the CG with same huge 385 cu. in. engine.  One day, a horn blared in my driveway and there it was, overflowing with a family.  The driver was a Chrysler fan I'd met around; recently, he turned up again as President of the local Chrysler club.  The fellow I sold my CG to, and that's a great story I'd love to tell if it didn't violate privacy, had an unusual '31 CG.  It is well-documented that only two Waterhouse-bodied '31 Imperial 8 Victorias survive (of six built); my friend has the third of those two!  And it's no fake; his father had it on their farm for many years before he rescued it and brought it home to Long Island.

Then there was the time {ca. 1963?} my father had quite a bad time with Chrysler service (unusual) and was so incensed that he wrote a letter directly to Walter P(ercy). Chrysler, himself.  I TOLD him ol' Walt had died years before (1940 to be exact), but he was so furious that he sent the letter anyway!

My every-day car was a sadly-beat-up Plymouth Tourismo, a so-called 3-door coupé or fastback, into which I had a full sliding sunroof grafted.  Because the roof is so very short, and because I didn't want one of those tilt-up-and-back sunroofs, I had an after-market Porsche sunroof mounted; the curvature was ever-so-slightly greater than my roof's, but who'd notice?  In the wee hours of the night after I had picked it up new, while parked on the street, it got slammed by some clown who pushed in the whole left side abaft the door and drove off into the night - GOOD MORNING!.  Then the clutch gave out at only 28,900 miles and I had quite a brannigan with Chrysler over that!  Luckily, I have a long record of extreme high mileage on clutches and had a '70 Duster do the same thing, so Chrysler made an accomodation (good thing!).  That car has been to Hell and back with me, since!  In 1988, I had a seminar to run in Cleveland, many weeks vacation saved, and a yen to see where the Vikings landed and lived in l'Anse-aux-Meadeaux in northeastern Newfoundland, so I took a slight detour over the U. S. Labor Day weekend and then some.  Like a slight 6,000 miles!  I drove up through the Maritimes, took the ferry (an ocean-going ship) across to Argentia^@ (the old U. S. Navy base), then drove over bare black lava countryside to St. John's, on a Saturday, where I had been assured there was a bank open; it wasn't!  There was an ATM working out at the airport, so off I went there; it turned out to be Gander, the old World War II transoceanic ferry flight departure point for the airbases in Scotland (Gatwick, Prestwick?)!  Who'd have ever thought I'd DRIVE to Gander?  But I've got a photo^@ of the little Tourismo sitting in front of the terminal at Gander!  On the way up along the St. Lawrence coast, I'd noticed that the ferry to Labrador was still running, so on the way back to the ferry to Sydney, New Brunswick, I took the Labrador ferry across and drove the 24 miles northeast along the St. Lawrence toward the end of the road, as far northeast as you can drive on the continent.  I had to ford a runoff^@ at a construction zone and ran off the end of the pavement, where I hit 100,000 miles^@ and where it got so muddy I couldn't proceed.  By then the light was failing so I turned back, having to jockey the poor beast in its own length in hub-deep mud; by the time I slogged back to the runoff, it had turned into a torrent and I barely got across without being washed into the river!  I have pictures of all this^@; such fun!  I then drove to St. Charles, Illinois, and hit 250,000 miles on the way past Akron, Ohio.  Too bad I wasn't able to stretch the clutch life past 278,900 miles, which would have given me 250,000 on one clutch; it finally gave out at some 230,000 miles or so total, which is still not bad on a single clutch, and that on a 5-speed tranny!  Then I topped 258,000 miles on the car; it wasn't worth a new clutch, but I put one in anyway because I enjoyed driving the car so much.  On 04 May 9?, it finally got a third new water pump (the first let go around 40,000 miles).  I hated to part with her but she had been rapidly parting with me; the oil rings were finally going, using a quart of oil every 200 miles or so.  So, she had to go, even though she was going strong (well, maybe not SO strong towards the end); goodbye, old friend!

CHRYSLER HERITAGE

I'd done it for you, but it became emasculated (nothing on the 1931-era Imperials, for instance); now it is even harder to navigate (and calls for endless cookies) - click here: WALTER P. CHRYSLER MUSEUM, then start exploring, and good luck!

There is a fair corporate history, but it's also convoluted; I'll excerpt it here.

I hope to get something on Willys-Overland; I have a bit on the old WWII JEEP.  And let's not forget FARGO trucks (bet you did)!

For those of you who can't find a way to contact the reclusive Chrysler Corporation (funny, Daimler goes all out to be accessible to its customers!); here is the mailing address and phone number: