46 AUTOMOTIVE NEWS, OCTOBER 14, 1940 thought of the high command, had dug up the capital to launch the lobby 0f tuT Commodore, then the enterprise, Joe Fields, who knew practically crJ? * and veteran of the automobile show every worth-while dealer in the country, had, as vice- several big Tj manufacturers h 'WMYAITO-fiWGRAPHY the plays as well as 1 saga president and general sales manager, guaranteed being i n thai 4l|ft| TOE of the first retail outlets so necessary to launching this new product. itself. Joe suggested the 100 YEARS CN dore and Walter P. toM RUBEER All bases had been covered and the new automobile hire the lobby, adding, “w,Su was industry. So when a show all right.” set to blitzkrieg the automobile And J OV* the Studebaker deal was abruptly terminated, Chrysler vanishing act—a short oneZJr same ing with the right name was set to go. His plans were so perfected that the dotted line of the off he gave the go-ahead necessary day negotiations were broken ment which permitted him f to the late Theodore F. MacManus, who already had the boss: "We own the Chapter XCII—The Probably it ”b£' Chrysler Corp. written his advertising copy. The baby had been born. was just as Mark Twain created advertising broadside Chrysler had to show Pudd’nhead Wilson half a century Well I remember the stir this outside * ago and made him created, boldness way, for the Commodore lobhv as famous as A. Conan Doyle did his of the newcomer in the industry the as good as a ringside bherlock Holmes. Twain made of and the employed to the public eye! seat LI 1 Puddn’head a homely it strategy catch than the Palace in this par philosopher and out of the The broadside was delivered through the Saturday case where a tb? mouth of his creation came brand-new , proverbs car was being mak that might well be likened to today’s wise- Evening Post, issue of Dec. 8, 1923, the first bit of ad- shown for the« cracks. One in particular, vertising Chrysler Simplicity marked that time and practically next door I remember, was a revamD- Walter did. the national show itself. °f “Don't put all your eggs first two-page salutation of Wal- It Cil in one basket” advertisement a ’em coming and going and (V ter —no ler stole the PMddnhead improved this, I think, when he advised, P. Chrysler, motor car manufacturer corpora- show, everyone agr* all your eggs in one basket tion name—and “Chrysler” was asterisked, wfth a note The Commodore lobby and watch the basket.” » Walter Chrysler followed at the bottom “pronounced though Cry-sler,” jammed all the time during ,k' this last precept when he as spelled week, was organizing his own showing the modesty of the man who may have thought for the grapevine telegr, company. At the time his ideas seemingly had clicked its were developing he not only was executive vice-presi- he was unknown in the automobile industry. Backing throughout the automobile dent wor. of the Willys corporation but also was acting as up this page was another page, in the center of which The crowds came to see a car th receiver for and was a centered box “Walter P. Chrysler, motor was a radical departure from Maxwell Chalmers. At the same time reading conventional he and in that it was setfe the Three Musketeers—Fred Zeder, Carl Breer car manufacturer. See preceding page.” The Maxwell a new style in body and O. R. corporation paid $7,000 word—sl4,ooo design it Skelton—had up their sleeves a wonderful for those nine for comparatively small automobi and most revolutionary engine which was to be the the two pages. The Post boasts today that these two plus the Zeder engine which power plant for the car the four of them had lines were “the loudest whisper ever printed.” Followed many had heard about but nn in mind to had seen. It was a build, and which was to be called the Chrysler. So another two-page blast in which Walter Chrysler took six-cyliad, Walter P. had with a wheelbase of inch three eggs in his basket and he was off his mask for the first time and blazoned forth his but, strange to say, prices weres watching that basket as Pudd’nhead advised. Not only plans. announced until the end of c did he have to keep an eye on the dream show when Fields was permits car which was hang up a tag—sl,s9s. to be called the Chrysler, but he also had two addled Corporation Launched to (This la the nlnety-aecond lnaUllmwi eggs to look after—the Willys proposition in Chrla Slnaabaußh’a memolra. one and light Next >« Maxwell and in This was the star of Bethlehem that was to the the Chryaler Corp. continued) Chalmers the other. way Mebbe I should say there were eggs for thousands and thousands of “wise men” in the four in the Chrys- years to come, men who sell Chrysler products ler basket, the fourth one being the Zeder engine which were to was to be, time proved, a and people who were to buy them. Organization plans Akers Says Signs cornerstone of the Chrysler seemingly were perfect. The Three Musketeers had de- Corp. The Three Musketeers, on their own, designed had signed and built the first Chrysler car; Ledyard Mitchell, Point to a Good and built it. John Willys had wanted it; so had William C. Durant; now one of the corporation’s leading executives in so had Studebaker, the archives tell me. charge of New Model Yea Chrysler also wanted it for himself and had international business and then vice-president the inside in charge of manufacturing of Maxwell-Chalmers, had DETROIT. “Formerly it n track, for he had been the D’Artagnan in the Three the closing of the baseball seu Musketeers seen to it that that company kept agoing, had the old combination. This “one for all, all for one” Chalmers that told us autumn had arm partnership, however, plant ready for the manufacture of the Chrys- and we were not was loyal to Chrysler’s business ler; Treasurer commitments with and and Hutchinson had his cash register ready far from the be- Maxwell Chalmers as re- to record the sales General Sales Manager Fields re- ginning of anoth- ceiver of Maxwell and had to look after year. the in- ported—nothing apparently left undone. er Nowa- terests of that combination, which meant he had to give days there is consideration to the efforts Studebaker was reported This was in December, mind you, and the New York another a n n u a 1 to be making to buy Maxwell, get the Zeder engine and national show was only a month away. Chrysler had to happening th a t be ready to debut his car at New York. But imagine heralds the ap- kK§H|S| set up another General Motors. This last was a serious his proach a new disappointment of threat to the Chrysler ambition, but he played fair in when he discovered that the National s e a son the his receivership role. A. R. Erskine, then president of Automobile Chamber of Commerce, which promoted the show, Studebaker, had offered $26,000,000 for Maxwell, and it exhibition in Grand Central Palace, had a rule which presenting newer, is said he was counting on not only getting the plant prohibited an automobile which had not been on the more beautiful, market for a year participating in the Grand Central more efficient ForestH.Ato but also Chrysler and Zeder. The deal didn’t go through cars than were because, it was said, Chrysler and Zeder refused to be Palace show. Maxwell, which also was built by Chrysler, seen the year before," says Fora blue chips in this motorized poker game. and which was an old member of the association, could H. Akers, director of Dodge sw get in but not the Chrysler car. It was like having the “It has become an adage in B Zeder 9 s Engine gates of Heaven shut in your face. business world that as goes a automobile industry, so goes a While these negotiations were going on, Chrysler and It was Joe Fields who saved the day. He knew all the business of the nation general' Zeder had been working on their own plans, the crea- answers for such a job. He’d been an ace sales manager A good automobile year usua for Hugh means a good business year I) tion of the Chrysler Corp. and the introduction of the Chalmers; he had sold the Liberty, the Hup- everybody. Zeder-engined mobile and had gone back with when the latter Chrysler car. The organization had been Chrysler "When the time approaches & perfected. B. E. Hutchinson, the financial wizard, who was building both the Maxwell and Chalmers. This old the unveiling of our new modta was also a very important member of the Chrysler dog did not have to be taught any new tricks—he we, of Dodge, naturally want« dealers and the automobile write to be first to see our new prodn' Therefore, it is a fixed practe with us each year to organs crews of factory-trained persons each group headed by a hes quarters sales executive, to cotxfc introductory in l v dealer meetings v j&SS&sgjsi or more major cities. Accompai' ing these crews are men speci*-’ trained to make surveys of bis ness conditions and to gather bis ness facts. "When the crews have return to the company’s home offit* their reports, covering practica- every section of the United Stat* give us an intelligent picture observable economic trends » business prospects. "I see three distinct factors f ing tangibility to the prediction good 1941 business. The Am I * that the 1941 models offer mor j beauty, . economy and value ever befort. The second factor [ the realization that industrial velopment in this country definitely to the employment many wage earners, more * third factor is that this incre in the nation’s purchasing P° will cause more wornout ONE OF THE last times I saw Walter Chrysler was the red- of the corporation and engineering genius; K. T. Keller, dent now presi- biles to be scrapped in IMI letter milestone celebration which marked the completion of the and executive head of the corporation and B. E. Hutchinson corporation's car which it had built in one year. It who was originally vice-president and treasurer and in previous seasons. | first-millionth president and now is vice- to* was a Plymouth. In the picture the manufacturer is tieing a price chairman of the finance committee. On the left are "So, if the indications I Dan S. Eddins president Plymouth Division; to tag on the radiator cap. Lined up with him are some of the execu- of Harry Q. Moock entire industry are similar I then vice-president and general sales manager of the PPlymouth reported from tives who had contributed so much to making the corporation what and ** P<,Ui which are then\ro°lZn 0 f dealer meetings in 30 major [ it ia today. On Mr. Chrysler’s right are Fred Zeder, vice-president IZ7 PlZ^th a good car year lies ahead o