Customer Reviews

The Birth of Chrysler Corporation and Its Engineering Legacy

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One of the trio of engineers that company founder Walter Chrysler dubbed his "three musketeers", Carl Breer offers an even-handed recounting of many of Chrysler Corporations's engineering triumphs.

He spares no detail when describing any of a number of Chrysler's firsts, from sorting out the mysteries of the carburettor to perfecting the Lockheed hydraulic braking system. He offers no apologies for Chrysler's biggest flop, the 1934 Airflow, instead highlighting the revolutionary advance it made in the area of the quality of ride for passengers. But he tends to gloss over the negative effect the car's styling had on sales, pausing only to criticize production for adding needless weight to the design. Perhaps the Airflow was just one of those times when the three musketeers won the swordfight at the risk of losing the castle.

There's a real feeling - more intense than in Walter Chrysler's own autobiography, or even in the just-released book by Robert Lutz - that Breer was one of the true pioneers in the automobile industry. Engineering detective work emerges as valuable history as he describes how various technical breakthroughs become possible after careful analysis of often conflicting customer comments and complex circumstantial evidence.

Included also is his fascinating eyewitness account of his trek as a young university student from Stanford in Palo Alto to the devastated city of San Francisco during the great earthquake of 1906.

This book is not light reading, but not only did it hold my interest, but I also find myself returning to it from time to time to refresh my memory of the steps taken in solving various engineering puzzles of the automotive age. For in these solutions one may find inspiration for resolution of technical challenges in any of a number of modern fields of endeavor.

If you are at all interested in the development of the American auto industry this book is a must read. As insightful on the development of one particular manufacturer as this book is, it also gives views in to the competitors during the early days. As relevant to Detroit as "The Soul of a Machine" was to Silicon Valley and Boston.

Some of the key inventions in early automobiles - modern engine mounts, modern hydraulic brakes, and more - are described along with the processes that led Chrysler, for a time, to consistently beat Ford in sales and to beat just about everyone in technology. Though much has changed since then, Breer's insights can help both historians and modern engineers and managers.

This book details the many firsts in Automotive history that were developed by the Chrysler Corp. Sealed beam headlights, Fluid Drive, first unit body car in the 1934 Airflow, and many other things that we take for granted in modern cars today.

I think the book is over priced. Finished it in two days. Interesting only from the standpoint that Chrysler was a pioneer on a few items. Since Mr. Breer died in 1960? the automotive technology has exploded, so many of his statements are now not relevant.