Riding the Roller Coaster: A History of the Chrysler Corporation

Great Lakes Books Series

by Charles K. Hyde

From the Chrysler Six of 1924 to the front-wheel-drive vehicles of the 70s and 80s to the minivan, Chrysler boasts an impressive list of technological "firsts." But even though the company has catered well to a variety of consumers, it has come to the brink of financial ruin more than once in its seventy-five-year history.

How Chrysler has achieved monumental success and then managed colossal failure and sharp recovery is explained in Riding the Roller Coaster, a lively, unprecedented look at a major force in the American automobile industry since 1925. Charles Hyde tells the intriguing story behind Chrysler-its products, people, and performance over time-with particular focus on the company's management. He offers a lens through which the reader can view the U.S. auto industry from the perspective of the smallest of the automakers who, along with Ford and General Motors, make up the "Big Three."

The book covers Walter P. Chrysler's life and automotive career before 1925, when he founded the Chrysler Corporation, to 1998, when it merged with Daimler-Benz. Chrysler made a late entrance into the industry in 1925 when it emerged from Chalmers and Maxwell, and further grew when it absorbed Dodge Brothers and American Motors Corporation. The author traces this journey, explaining the company's leadership in automotive engineering, its styling successes and failures, its changing management, and its activities from auto racing to defense production to real estate. Throughout, the colorful personalities of its leaders-including Chrysler himself and Lee Iacocca-emerge as strong forces in the company's development, imparting a risk-taking mentality that gave the company its verve.

394 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2003

Reviews

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always had a fascination with cars. Back in the fifties I use to think the car’s looked beautiful but now they all look the same. I remember in High School I was furious because the administration would not allow me to take auto shop, they said only boys could take the course. I do enjoy reading about automobiles planes and ships and now no one call tell I cannot read the book.

Americans are a nation of car cultures, plural. Automobile racing is a popular spectator sport. The early adoption of the automobile for private transportation and the restoration of old cars to the making of street rods are popular.

It is surprising that there are few authoritative scholarly histories of automobile companies written. Last year I read the biography of Henry Ford and found it most interesting. So when I saw this book on Chrysler displayed on Audible, I bought it.

Hyde tells the story behind Chrysler- its products, people and performance over time with particular focus on the company’s management including Lee Iacocca. The author begins with the story of Walter P Chrysler in 1925 and ends with the merger of Chrysler and Daimler-Benz in 1998. I was hoping this was a biography of the Chrysler brothers but it is primarily a business history book. Hyde discusses assembly line production and the architecture of automobile plants and their management. Hyde is an economic historian and an industrial archaeologist. He is a professor at Wayne State University in Detroit since 1974.

The book is balanced and Hyde does not shy away from making critical observations. I found the book an interesting story of the smaller component of the big three American auto companies. Dave K. Lawson narrated the book.

[Graham Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well-researched, written by the same guy who did the Dodge Brothers book. This one has more to it because Chrysler lived longer than the Brothers, and then he bought their company, so the story keeps going. Hyde puts together a highly readable history.

[George Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great automotive book from the Wayne State University Press. This book traces the history of Walter P. Chrysler and the Chrysler Corporation from Walter's childhood though Chrysler's merger with Daimler Benz. Per the book's title, Chrysler Corporation's history is a series of successes (the first Chrysler cars, the purchase of Dodge Brothers, the 1957 Forward Look cars, and the Minivan) interrupted by dramatic failures: the 1934 introduction of the Chrysler and DeSoto Airflow cars, K. T. Keller's bland designs that cost Chrysler 2nd place status in the Big 3 after WW2, poor quality in the late 1950s, Virgil Exner's downsized and strange early 1960's full size cars, failure to produce small cars during the 70s gas crises, and Iaccoca's decision to invest in non-automotive business rather than replace the aging K-Care platform. Chrysler suffered from a string of weak management after Walter Chrysler retired. Lee Iaccoca was the only strong leader after Walter Chrysler, but his oversized ego cause him to morph into Henry Ford II, his nemesis at Ford, at the end of his tenure. The book was published in 2003, thus it does not cover Chrysler's decent into bankruptcy and acquisition by Fiat. It does record the early failures of the Daimler-Chrysler merger, and notes that the merger may not have been a wise decision.