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Updated: 14 May 2009, 13:30 ET
(Created 01 Aug 2002)
[Ref: This is chryslr4.html (URL http://home.att.net/~Berliner-Ultrasonics/chryslr4.html )]

S. Berliner, III's

Chrysler

Continuation Page 4

Consultant in Ultrasonic Processing
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Technical and Historical Writer, Oral Historian
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CHRYSLER Continuation Page 4

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This site has now been visited times since the counter was installed.

(The original Chrysler page, et seq., grew completely out of hand and this had to be added;
please have a look at it, the Chrysler Continuation Page 1, the Chrysler Continuation Page 2,
the Chrysler Continuation Page 3, and
the Chrysler Continuation Page 5!)

These pages are basically unindexed but a HELP section is now on the preceding page and the Chrysler Links section is being recreated.

Chrysler Imperial 8.

[Other material on this page was moved to Chrysler Cont. Page 5 on 11 Nov 03 to make room for additional Chrysler Imperial 8 material.]

'31-'32-'33 Imperial 8 Major Model Year Differences.

plus much more on this Cont. Page 4.

Imperial L-80/L*80 - the "Big Six".

Jeep (moved to Chrysler page 1 on 02 Jul .

Model Chryslers.

'39 and '41 Photos - moved to Cont. page 5 on 11 Nov 03.

Miscellaneous Chrysler Photos moved to Cont. page 5 on 11 Nov 03.

HELP! - What is the approved substitute for Gýrol Fluid Drive coupling fluid? (14 May 08)

More '31-'32-'33 Imperial 8

Major Model Year Differences

One major difference is that the year and the model designation do not always tally; reference to this was already made on Cont. Page 1. Working with the owner of a 1932 CG 5-Passenger sedan on 12 Sep 03 brought several features to light and allowed me to document others of which mention has been made.

The big difference in engine blocks is now visually presented here; the original 1931 CG blocks had straight horizontal ribs down near the pan, running straight back to the bell housing flange and with only two (or three) bolts on a side, aligned vertically. The '32 ribs flare outward near the flange and there is an additional bolt horizontally aligned with the inner bolt on each side, outboard in the flare.

Here are photos taken standing on my head trying to look inside the crate with the spare block I sold with my '31 CG Close-Coupled Sedan:

31 Imp CG flange

31 Imp CG eng mount

31 Imp CG eng nos
(12 Sep 03 photos by and ©: S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)

The second shot shows the lower rib and the third is the area behind the flange and is one step from useless; the bottom one shows the casting number (306429 - 1) and the casting date (4 4 31) cast integrally in the side of the engine with an "H" above the left (casting) number. the blobs on either side of the date appear to be the impressions of screw heads used to hold the date strip to the mold pattern.

In sharp contrast, the '32 CG block shows the flare in the ribs and the wider flange with the extra outboard bolt and the casting date, "2 5 32" (and those same screw heads): (22 Sep 03)

32 Imp CG eng no

Next, let us turn to the front engine mount (we had dismounted the radiator and grille, which gave me access); here are the 4-bladed fan and mount, the left front mount, the right front mount, and a right side detail from just abaft the mount (that shroud is cast integrally with the block):

32 Imp CG rt front mount

32 Imp CG lt front mount

32 Imp CG eng rt front

Lastly, these are the 1931 CG and 1932 CG headlight brackets (please ignore the chrome plating; it's only for Custom Imperials); note the only difference is the boss on the back with two threaded holes to hold the external horn:

32 Imp CG emblem

32 Imp CG 8 crank hole plate
(12 Sep 03 photos by and ©: S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)

The last two show the hood emblem and the "8" crank-hole cover on the '32; they are unrestored in bare copper and bronze, respectively. Note carefully that the "8" has a smaller loop at the top than at the bottom.

A Swiss gentleman sent two outstanding 1933 CL block photos, of the lower left rear showing the flanges and of the rear face (with a paper template, highlighting those outboard bolt holes):

I cropped and doctored them and added the red callouts; the difference is one of year (31 vs. 32/33), not model (GG/CH vs. CL),

He kindly sent more; here are the left side of that CL block with that "H" (Hamtramk?) and the casting date, "22833" [now is that 2-28-33 or 22-8-33 - 28 Feb 33 or 22 Aug 33)? - it's the former], but no casting number, the front and back of the block, the forward side of the bell (clutch) housing, the timing chain cover, and a detail of the cover, showing the casting number, "304888-1" and a "P" (a Chrysler plant or a vendor?).

33 Imp CL 8 015 33 Imp CL 8 018

33 Imp CL 8 024 33 Imp CL 8 026 33 Imp CL 8 027
[photos from the collection (now) of S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved]

However, should you tire of all these details, he also sent along this staggeringly-beautiful shot of his countryman's (Herr Rudi Müller's) 1933 CL convertible coupé:

[photo from the collection (now) of S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved]
{Thumbnail image - click on picture for much larger image}

Uh, oh! Something's rotten in Denmark - no, in Switzerland - well in the woodwork! Here is Rudi's coupé as of 11 Nov 03 (posting date); it needed new wood and it's getting it from the ground-up (so to speak):

[photo from the collection (now) of S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved]
{Thumbnail image - click on picture for much larger image}

What a fantastic restoration!

Now, from Switzerland to Scandinavia, I heard from a gentleman who "recently came to possess a 31 Imperial chassis that had long ago ceased to be a car and had served as a hay wagon on a farm in California". He doesn't "expect to return it to original condition but at least perhaps to something more in keeping with the period of its manufacture and status". I suggested that it would be appropriate to the racer shown below; he had sent me this "picture of an Imperial which was raced in Scandinavia in the 30's" and asked if I thought "the engine and transmission are still available". Highly unlikely, I would think, but I post the picture here in hopes that more information may be forthcoming from knowledgeable Chrysler Imperial fans around the world:

[photo from the collection (now) of S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved]
(image processed to show some semblance of detail)

On 19 Nov 1955, my 1949 Chrysler New Yorker got clobbered; long after that accident, I bought the ill-fated 1931 CG Imperial 8 Close-Coupled Sedan out in Commack, LI, NY, and the gas jockeys over-revved it in first gear and blew the piston before I took delivery; it was running, but sort of sickly, so I towed it home very late at night. The dried-out right rear tire burst a mile from home and burst again (into flames) in my driveway, right next to my frame house with wooden shingles, and on wood-spoke wheels, too!; Happily, I was able to grab the garden hose and put out the flames and cool it down instantly. Here are photos (some rather bad) of the car in the Gulf Station on Commack Road, the previous registration (illegal), in my driveway (with the '54 and '57 Anglias), front and rear down at the right rear, the charred flat tire, the "cave" (interior), taillight and lens (note "CHRYSLER" in lens):

31 CG Home 31 CG Back

31 CG Flat 31 CG Cave

31 CG Tail 31 CG Lens
(ca. Jun 1961 photos by and © 1961, 2003 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)

Well, the car had to garaged immediately to protect it, so I got a scrap 7:50-17 truck tire and mounted it and rolled the beast back into my Model-A-sized garage [I had to remove the entire front bumper (with its inverted top bar and triangular plates) to get the door closed]; then I put the front axle up on blocks and set about pulling the head - oh, my! The No. 1 piston had no crown and there was aluminum powder on the No. 2 crown! The valves on No. 1 were a mess and I could look right down the cylinder! Down came the pan and - oh, my, oh, my!!! I scraped the remnants of the No. 1 piston out of the congealed muck at the bottom of the pan. Out came the No. 1 connecting rod - ee-yuck! In spite of the horror revealed, the cylinder only had a slight nick down low on the wall. While I took a photo of the conn rod and piston fragments, a shattered ring fell off. The head seemed O.K., but look at the plumbing nightmare on the side! See this nightmare for yourself:

31 CG Pan 31 CG Conn 31 CG Ring

31 CG Piston 31 CG Head
(ca. Jun 1961 photos by and © 1961, 2003 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)

For several years, the car sat in the garage (on the right) at my next house, with the radiator off and the front end up on blocks; briefly, I also had my friend's (now owner of both) '32 stored in the adjoining space (left), plus my '49 in the driveway (I blew up and lightened the photo to show the two old Imperials):

31&32 CG
(ca. 1970 photo by and © 2005 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)

Forty years and another owner later and the car is still unrestored. The '31 CG roadster from which the spare engine came follows, Dick Sage's own shots, plus a photo of Peter B. Moore's '31 CG close-coupled sedan in England, all ca. 1961 (dates to follow when then-current correspondence is reviewed):

31 CG Sage 3 31 CG Moore
(ca. 1961 photos from collection of S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)

Also in 1961, I ran across a '31 CG sedan rotting away in Kensington, an even-more affluent village in Great Neck, Long Island; the owner (or executor, as I recall) was determined to give the car to the local Boy Scout troop for a project and could not be dissuaded; wonder what ever happened to the car?

CHRYSLER FRONTS (GRILLES)

{The pictures which follow (cropped) all appear elsewhere on these pages
and credits are given where they occur, uncropped, except for those noted "#".]

Chrysler started out in 1924 with a perfectly plain-jane radiator shell, like this 1928 ^#, then got fancy on the Imperial 80 with a contoured shell (this one is an L*80 of 1927):

Later, they put the body of the radiator inside the hood, with only a thin bead out front, as on this 1929^# and on this 1930 model 77:

They got elegant for 1931 and 1932, as exemplified by these CG Imperial 8s:

The 1932 cars differed only in the addition of external horns, under the headlamps. The 1933 cars were more drastically revised with a slanted grill, matching "V"ed headlamps, deeply skirted fenders, and a massive, one-piece bumper (the fog lamps were an add-on), while the regular-line 1934 cars, called the Airstream^#, while quite similar, had a painted radiator shell:

1934 also saw the introduction of the ill-fated Airflow, modeled after the Union Pacific's then-new streamlined diesel locomotive, the M10000. The first example shown is a Custom Imperial CX with that massive bumper, a three-level set of horizontally-curved plates, and the second is a DeSoto, with a cruder bumper but otherwise the same waterfall grille:

When that change was far too radical for the buying public, Chrysler thrust a bullnose out through the front for 1935, still calling it an Airflow^# but losing the waterfall entirely, and not all that different from the 1935 Airstream^#:

Then they rounded off the top for the 1936 Airstream^# and dropped that for 1937 (one UGLY car!):

They continued the emasculated Airflow^# into 1937 and the bulbous front for the Airstream^# into 1938:

Actually, the 1935-38 grilles were very similar between Airflow and Airstream models; it was the monocoque body and headlight placement that were the major styling differences.

In 1939, Chrysler again took flight, with a rather-strange front, a bullnose rising out of a roll, and, by 1940, finally hit their stride:

Here, also, is a 1940 Chrysler (Windsor?) photo from a Spanish gentleman (he of the fabulous old Mercedes cars), whose grandfather owned it (and a later 46/7/8 shown below):

In 1941, they simply thickened the horizontal bars, extending them to the sides and then, in the very-rare 1942, they ran the bars all around in a welter of chrome:

That Spanish gentleman with the '40 also owned this 1946/7/8 Windsor:

What a backdrop!

The postwar 1946-47-48 Chryslers were basically the same as the 1942, but they pushed the balloon concept to it's limit, out-grinning even Buick; along came Chrysler's 25th anniversary and the lean 1949 Silver Anniversary car was born with many silver spoons in its mouth (I happen to like it) and a double-curved bumper that could move mountains:

My car had it's hood ajar, so here's another^#, and then the 1950, which was sissified:

Look how funny that short 6-cylinder '49 hood looks!

For 1951, Chrysler went to a wide hood and single-bar grille (to accomodate the Hemi V8) and I lost esthetic interest.

[# - photos cropped from images on George H. McDowell IV's Carnut Auto Hobby page.]

Please, if you have good (copyright-free) front views of an original '24, a '34 DeSoto Airflow, '35, '36, and '37 Chrysler Airflows (with the '37 hood closed!), and a '38 Chrysler Airstream, please send them to me to post here.

I must thank a gentleman from Norway (no less!) for sending me a photo of his absolutely-beautiful 1940 Chrysler New Yorker which I used above to illustrate the simple and elegant lines of the grille of that year; here is the whole car:

The owner advises that the car is "original" (as in unrestored), with optional overrider bars, while missing the chrome mouldings around the windshield and, if you look closely,sporting a broken left headlight rim (bad handling by a shipping company).

{Does anyone have a spare headlight rim and windscreen moldings for this car?]

As long as we are on the subject of the Airflow, how about Karen Parker's Aug 2004 photos of a 1934 Chrysler Custom Imperial CX Airflow on display at the Gilmore Auto Museum in Kalamazoo, Michigan:

There's that massive three-piece bumper.

The placard is, unfortunately, not very legible, but it does identify the model beyond question:

Here's another 1934 Chrysler Airflow, shot by S. Haworth at an auto show in Vancouver, BC, in the summer of 1997: (06 Feb 06)

The pictures are from Bolko Rawicz's Automobile Histories and Images site; thanks, Bolko, for allowing me to post them here.

YET MORE CHRYSLER APOCRYPHA and MISCELLANY
(moved to Chrysler Continuation Page 5 on 11 Nov 03)

'39 and '41 Photos - moved to Chrysler Continuation Page 5 on 11 Nov 03.

Miscellaneous Chrysler Photos Chrysler Continuation Page 5 on 11 Nov 03.

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S. Berliner, III

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of this series of Chrysler pages.

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