Another Machine Shop Empire

Walter Percy Chrysler was fifty when he founded the Chrysler Corporation on June 6, 1925. He had spent his career working for other people's companies, fixing their problems. Railroads, Buick, General Motors. A mechanic who understood engineering, a manager who understood labor, a businessman who understood customers.

Born in Kansas in 1875, son of a railroad engineer. Dropped out of high school to work in rail yards. Swept floors, learned machinery, repaired locomotives. By thirty, managing an entire railroad shop. In 1908, he saw his first automobile at the Chicago Auto Show. He bought it for $5,000 he did not have. Not to drive it. To take it apart.

the chrysler building, midtown manhattan, completed in 1930 -- the tallest building in the world at the time. source: wikimedia commons

He joined Buick in 1911. Within four years, Buick produced more cars than any other company. He became president, then VP of GM, but clashed with founder William Durant and left. In 1921, he took over the failing Maxwell Motor Company and introduced the Chrysler Six in 1924 -- high-compression engine, hydraulic brakes, affordable price. It sold 32,000 units in its first year. In 1925, he reorganized Maxwell into Chrysler Corporation. Within three years, he acquired Dodge and launched Plymouth and DeSoto.

He also built the Chrysler Building, completed 1930 -- for eleven months the tallest building in the world. Art Deco with automotive motifs: eagle gargoyles modeled after hood ornaments, a stainless steel spire like a radiator grille. Architecture as advertisement. Chrysler retired in 1935 and died in 1940. The company would see mergers, bankruptcies, and bailouts, but the core principle remained: engineering matters, design matters, and the only way to compete is to build something better.