Chalmers

The Chalmers Motor Car Company was a United States based automobile company which flourished in the 1910s and then faltered in the 1920s post-World War I recession. It merged with the Maxwell automobile company in the early 1920s, and then ended all production in late 1923. The Chalmers Automobile Factory was in Detroit, Michigan.

DeSoto

The DeSoto make was founded by Walter P. Chrysler on August 4, 1928, and introduced for the 1929 model year. It was named after the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto. Chrysler wanted to enter the brand in competition with its arch-rivals General Motors, Studebaker, and Willys-Knight, in the mid-price class.

Shortly after DeSoto was introduced, however, Chrysler completed its purchase of the Dodge Brothers, giving the company two mid-priced makes. Had the transaction been completed sooner, DeSoto never would have been introduced.

Initially, the two-make strategy was relatively successful, with DeSoto priced below Dodge models. Despite the economic times, DeSoto sales were relatively healthy, pacing Dodge at around 25,000 units in 1932. However, in 1933, Chrysler reversed the market positions of the two marques in hopes of boosting Dodge sales. By elevating DeSoto, it received Chrysler's streamlined 1934 Airflow bodies. But, on the shorter DeSoto wheelbase, the design was a disaster and was unpopular with consumers. Unlike Chrysler, which still had more traditional models to fall back on, DeSoto was hobbled by the Airflow design until the 1935 Airstream arrived.

Aside from its Airflow models, DeSoto's 1942 model is probably its second most memorable model from the pre-war years, when the cars were fitted with pop up headlights, a first for an American mass-production vehicle. DeSoto marketed the feature as "Air-Foil" lights "Out of Sight Except at Night".

The final decision to discontinue DeSoto was announced on November 30, 1960, just forty-seven days after the 1961 models were introduced. At the time, Chrysler warehouses contained several million dollars in 1961 DeSoto parts, so the company ramped up production in order to use up the stock. Chrysler and Plymouth dealers, which had been forced to take possession of DeSotos under the terms of their franchise agreements, received no compensation from Chrysler for their unsold DeSotos at the time of the formal announcement. Making matters worse, Chrysler kept shipping the cars through December, many of which were sold at a loss by dealers eager to be rid of them. After the parts stock was exhaused, a few outstanding customer orders were filled with Chrysler Windsors.

Fargo

Though the Fargo brand was used worldwide, it started outside of Chrysler — with the Fargo Motor Car Company of Chicago, which sold a line of Fargo trucks from 1913 to 1922.

For the 1928 model year, with Plymouth and DeSoto doing well, Chrysler created the Fargo Motor Corporation to build and sell commercial trucks.

The Fargo name had the obvious appeal of Old West adventure and reliable transportation.

 
Fargo began producing two full lines of commercial vehicles. The lighter vehicle, called the "Packet," was based on the Plymouth Model Q. The larger "Clipper" came on the Chrysler 65 chassis. Both used a mixture of Plymouth, DeSoto, and Chrysler parts.

In 1930, the Plymouth four cylinder engine of the Packet was replaced by the DeSoto six, and a one-tone "Freighter" line was also introduced. They used parts from a variety of Chrysler Corporation vehicles, such as a Plymouth four cylinder engine and, later, a DeSoto six. Eventually, Fargo had a wide range of vehicles, including dump trucks.

Despite an impressive array of models, from light express and delivery vehicles to heavy dump trucks and semi tractors, Fargo seemed doomed from the start. Almost after Chrysler decided to create the Fargo Motor Corporation, Chrysler's on-again-off-again deal to buy the Dodge Brothers Company was very much "on." With the purchase of Dodge, Chrysler not only grew several times its size, but it now had three truck lines: Fargo, Dodge Brothers (light trucks), and Graham Brothers Trucks, medium and heavy duty lines exclusively built and marketed by Dodge Brothers since 1921.

Chrysler found it quite easy to drop the Graham Brothers marque. The actual Graham brothers had resigned their positions in the Dodge company before it was sold, and were preparing to build their own cars; selling vehicles with a competitor's name was not appealing.

The "Dodge Brothers" name, on the other hand, was both recognizable and respected. The Graham Brothers trucks were rebadged to Dodge Brothers, and offered alongside the new Fargos. Dodge, with its greater name recognition, far outdistanced Fargo in sales.

Chrysler might have been able to continue with the two truck lines had it not been for the Great Depression, which made it difficult to justify the low-selling Fargo line.
U.S. production of Fargos ceased at the end of 1930 after reaching just 7,680 vehicles since the 1928 introduction; Fargo Motor Corporation had been in business for only two years. In most companies, that would have been the end, but Chrysler is not most companies.

Maxwell

The Maxwell was a brand of automobiles manufactured in the United States of America from about 1904 to 1925.

The brand name of motor cars was started as the Maxwell-Briscoe Company of Tarrytown, New York. The company was named after founders Jonathan Dixon Maxwell, who earlier had worked for Oldsmobile, and the Briscoe Brothers Metalworks. Benjamin Briscoe, an automobile industry pioneer, was president of the company at its height.

Maxwell was the only profitable company of the combine named United States Motor Company formed in 1910. Due to a conflict between two of its backers, the United States Motor Company failed in 1913. Maxwell was the only surviving member of the combine. In 1907, following a fire that destroyed the Tarrytown, NY factory, Maxwell-Briscoe constructed what was then the largest automobile factory in the world in New Castle, Indiana. The factory continued as a Chrysler plant until its demolition in 2004. In 1913, the Maxwell assets were purchased by Walter Flanders, who reorganized the company as the Maxwell Motor Company, Inc.. The company moved to Detroit, Michigan. Some of the Maxwells were also manufactured at a plant in Dayton, Ohio. For a time, Maxwell was considered one of the three top automobile firms in America (though the phrase the Big Three was not used) along with Buick and of course Ford Motor Company.

In a short period of time, however, Maxwell over-extended and wound up deeply in debt with over half of their production unsold in the post World War I recession in 1920. The following year, Walter P. Chrysler arranged to take a controlling interest in Maxwell. Maxwell Motors was re-incorporated in West Virginia with Walter Chrysler as the chairman. Around the same time that all of this was happening, Maxwell was also in the process of merging, awkwardly at best, with the ailing Chalmers automobile company. Chalmers production would end in late 1923.

In 1925 Walter Chrysler formed the Chrysler Motors Corporation. That same year the Maxwell line was phased out and the Maxwell company assets were absorbed by Chrysler. The Maxwell would continue to live on in another form however, because the new line of 4-cylinder Chryslers which were then introduced for the 1926 model year were created largely by using the design of earlier Maxwells. And these former Maxwells would undergo yet another transformation in 1928, when a second reworking and renaming would bring about the creation of the first Plymouth.

Plymouth

The Plymouth automobile was introduced on July 7, 1928. It was the Chrysler Corporation's first entry in the low-priced field, which at the time was dominated by Chevrolet and Ford. Plymouths were actually priced a little higher than the competition, but they offered standard features such as hydraulic brakes that the competition did not provide. Plymouths were originally sold exclusively through Chrysler dealerships. The logo featured a rear view of the Mayflower ship which landed at Plymouth Rock, hence the name "Plymouth" as the brand.

The origins of the first Plymouth can be traced back to the Maxwell automobile. When Walter Chrysler took over control of the trouble-ridden Maxwell-Chalmers car company in the early 1920s, he inherited the Maxwell as part of the package. After he used the company's facilities to help create and launch the Chrysler car in 1924, he decided to create a lower-priced companion car. So for 1926 the Maxwell was reworked and re-badged as a low-end Chrysler model. Then at the end of the decade this model was once again reworked and re-badged, this time to create the Plymouth.

While the original purpose of the Plymouth was simply to cover a lower-end marketing niche, during the Great Depression of the 1930s the car would help significantly in ensuring the survival of the Chrysler Corporation in a decade when many other car companies failed. Beginning in 1930, Plymouths were sold by all three Chrysler divisions (Chrysler, DeSoto, and Dodge). Plymouth sales were a bright spot during this dismal automotive period, and by 1931 Plymouth rose to the number three spot among all cars.

For much of its life, Plymouth was one of the top selling American automobile brands, along with Chevrolet and Ford ("the low-priced three"). Plymouth even surpassed Ford for a time in the 1940s as the second most popular make of automobiles in the U.S. Through 1956, Plymouth vehicles were known for their durability, affordability and engineering. In 1957, Chrysler's Forward Look styling theme produced cars with much more advanced styling than Chevrolet or Ford, although Plymouth's reputation would ultimately suffer as the cars were prone to rust and sloppy assembly. Because of its new "Forward Look" styling, however, 1957 total production soared to 726,009, about 200,000 more than 1956, and the largest output yet for Plymouth. The marque also introduced its limited production Fury line in 1956, and it too benefited from the crisp Forward Look designs.