Ciao, Chrysler!
Fiat’s completion of its purchase of Chrysler is a milestone not only for the U.S. car maker, but for the entire American auto industry. Chrysler this week became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Italian car giant.
Walter Percy Chrysler, a former train mechanic and General Motors executive, teamed with three ex-Studebaker engineers to start the company in the 1920s. The goal: develop a state-of the-art luxury car that average people could afford. By the eve of the Great Depression, Chrysler has joined GM and Ford to become the Big Three.
In the decades to come, Chrysler would roll out some of the industry’s most stylish vehicles and most recognizable brands, including DeSoto, Dodge and Plymouth. It also was innovative, introducing glass that crumbles, rather than splinters, in 1933, and helping popularize the classic American station wagon. Chrysler also went through its struggles. President Jimmy Carter had to bail out the company with a $1.5 billion loan in 1980, while in 2009 Chrysler went bankrupt, surviving only because of a $4 billion government bailout and a subsequent deal by Fiat to buy a controlling stake.
Here we look back some of Chrysler’s most classic and popular cars.
2014 Chrysler 200s
The Chrysler 200s is introduced at the 2014 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Jan. 13, 2014.1948 Chrysler Town and Country
A 1948 Chrysler Town and Country convertible is displayed at the Meadow Brook Hall Concours D'elegance August 3, 2003, in Rochester Hills, Mich.