Plymouth

The Big Three US car manufacturers have always had several divisions competing at different sectors of the market, and Plymouth has been at the low-end of the Chrysler range. The name was the brainchild of then Chrysler Sales Manager Joseph Frazier, he using Plymouth Rock for his inspiration – the place where the Pilgrim Fathers first set foot on American soil.

Much like the competition, Plymouth borrowed heavily from the parts bin of its parent company, but where it was different was in how advanced those parts were. While Ford and Chevrolet still used wooden frames and mechanical brakes, the Plymouths used an all steel body and hydraulic brakes.

This made them a little more expensive than the competition, but they were undeniably a superior car in every way. It was pretty obvious to most just how superior the Plymouth was, and they enjoyed immediate sales success. In 1930, at the beginning of the Great Depression, Plymouth sold some 68,000 cars, quite a feat for a division barely 2 years old! To keep costs down, the early Plymouth’s used 4 cylinder engines, but unlike the competition the engines were mounted via rubber bushes, giving them unrivalled smoothness for a four cylinder. It quickly assumed 3rd position on the US sales charts, even beating parent Chrysler.

A six cylinder engine arrived in 1933, this addition to the line-up helping the marque go from strength to strength. In 1940, when Walter Chrysler died, Plymouth were manufacturing a half-million cars per year. After the war new Chrysler chief K.T. Keller insisted on a sensible three-box style for the new Plymouth’s, instead of the more forward looking “streamliner” style that was becoming increasing popular. Sales took a dive, and continued to slide until revolutionary stylist Virgil Exner was brought in during the 1950’s.

He brought Plymouth into the “tail-fin” era long before the competition, and once again Plymouth were a “style leader” rather than follower. The heady days prior to World War 2 were never to be revisited, but the marque was at least salvaged. Plymouth pre-empted the move toward more compact cars in the early 1960’s, the resultant Valiant being popular – never more so than in Australia. In the late 1960’s came such wonderful iterations as the Fury and Belvedere, along with the Mustang punishing Barracuda.