Great Ideas In Motion: A History of Chrysler In Australia 1946 - 1981 (Signed)

Great Ideas In Motion: A History of Chrysler In Australia 1946 - 1981 (Signed) - Buy the book from the Automoto Bookshop

Chrysler had a 30-year history in Australia—June 1951 to August 1981—that was characterised by the proverbial boom-and-bust syndrome. It was certainly an entertaining period during which the company went from a small-time assembler of cars carrying the three traditional name badges of Dodge, DeSoto and Plymouth to one of the larger industrial complexes in the country built around one car—the Chrysler Valiant.

At its introduction in January 1962 the company's dealers were inundated with buyers who wanted to be the first to have one. In the event only 1008 were available before a revised model appeared after just ten weeks. Only 10,009 of the second model were
available and again the dealers were able to sell every one they could get their hands on.

Those days were a far cry from the recent past when those same dealers struggled to sell the Chrysler Royal and the Simca Aronde. Interestingly, the Aronde was probably one of the best small cars at the time blighted only by the dreadful plastics in the interior. Its big brother, the Vedette, was a good car that was ignored by the motoring world.

During the mid-60s Chrysler became involved with the Rootes Group which added cars like the ubiquitous Hillman Imp, Hillman Minx, Hunter and Hustler as well as the conservative-but-luxurious Humber Super Snipe to the company's stable of cars. Five years later the company added the Mitsubishi Galant and, in 1977, the all-conquering Sigma to its range.There was rarely a dull moment!

The architect of much of this growth was David Brown, an engineer who had been recruited from New Process Gears in Syracuse, New York, to head up the Australian subsidiary and make it pay. He has
never really been credited with a major achievement in Australia's industrial history but neither the Tonsley Park nor Lonsdale factories would have been built had he not had the vision and tenacity to pursue them.

Unfortunately it all ended in tears when the last Valiant was driven off the assembly line by Brown in August 1981 thus bringing the Chrysler era in Australia to an end. From that point onwards all the cars and trucks no longer carried the famous Pentastar badge but the three diamonds of Mitsubishi.