(See front cover)
Last July, in a matter of fact sort of way, Walter P. Chrysler offered the public a new automobile called the Plymouth. On the thirtieth day of that month, Dodge Bros, stockholders approved a $160,000,000 deal which turned over their business to the Chrysler Corp. The Dodge company included Graham Bros., big truck concern.
Early in August, Mr. Chrysler brought out another new car, called the De Soto. Many a man was a little confused for the moment as to whether the De Soto and the Plymouth were new makes by Chrysler or new Chrysler models. But the Chrysler models—"65," "75" and "Imperial 80"—continued to be advertised distinct from De Soto and Plymouth.
In autumn came the news that Walter P. Chrysler was going to build the world's tallest skyscraper, a 68-story colossus towering more than 800 feet above Lexington Ave. and 42nd St., Manhattan.
Almost incidentally, he brought out a new line of commercial cars—the Fargo "Packets" and "Clippers."
The doings of Walter P. Chrysler, already prodigious, now became fabulous. People said that this torpedo-headed dynamo from Detroit with the smile like Walter Hagen's and the sensitive sophistication in oriental rugs, was building up a facsimile and four-square competitor of mighty General Motors Corp. and that he was going to house it in a skyscraper where it could peer down over New York at the General Motors building on Broadway.
Mr. Chrysler carefully explained that his building had nothing to do with his automobile business, that it was a separate enterprise which he had been planning since 1924, when his personal automobile business began to be well under way. "I like to build things," he said. "I like to do things. I am having a lot of fun going thoroughly into everything with the architect."
With the arrival of a new year, however, Mr. Chrysler certified that the major part of the fable was indeed a fact. He announced that the name of the Chrysler Corp. was changed, significantly, to Chrysler Motors. He said: "It welds together the advantages resulting from the common policy of engineering, purchasing, manufacturing and financing under one personal head."
Thus, with a large gesture, Walter P. Chrysler ended twelve months of extraordinary activity. From a motor man with one product, he had become one of the chief U. S. industrialists. Undeniably, he had been the outstanding businessman of the year.
The change from Chrysler Corp. to Chrysler Motors struck much deeper into the automobile world than a mere matter of names. A new competitive set-up began to appear. In 1928, as everyone remembers, the centre-ring automobile battle was Ford v. General Motors. The issue: Could Ford's Model "A" check the growing threat of Chevrolet and General Motors, or would Ford have to accept second place? In 1929, it seemed last week, the issue is enormously complicated by the injection of Chrysler Motors. Can Chrysler challenge General Motors?
In products, the parallelism is nearly perfect. Each organization can offer a car for every pocketbook. Balancing General Motors, Chrysler has "everything except an icebox:"
CHRYSLER GENERAL MOTORS
Chevrolet $525 up
Plymouth $655 up
Dodge Standard 6 $725