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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
At Long Last -- A History of Walter P. Chrysler, June 26, 2000
My mother always said that the good things always came last. And so it is with this biography of Walter P. Chrysler. As I sit and look at the books on my library shelves, I find volumes of information on the men who built the automobile industry. Henry Ford, William Durant, the Dodge Brothers, etc. but there were two notable men missing--Charles Nash and Walter Chrysler. The only work on Chrysler was his own ghost written autobiography which first appeared in serialized form in the Saturday Evening Post back in 1937--and reprinted in book form in 1950, ten years after Chrysler's death. I was fortunate to meet Vincent Curcio, the author of this new work on Walter Chrysler in 1994, at Walter Chrysler's boyhood home in Ellis, Kansas. Six years is a long time to wait but the wait was worth it. Vincent Curcio spent those six years traveling the country, visiting every place Walter Chrysler ever lived--considering his wunder lust while working for the railroads, Curcio had a lot of steps to cover. He was able to meet and interview old timers who had worked with or knew Walter Chrysler personally. Considering their age, this was a vital link to Chrysler that will soon be lost.... Curcio takes us from railroad town to railroad town, then to Chicago where Chrysler saw and fell in love with an ivory colored Locomobile car that he purchased and had shipped to his home in Oelwein, Iowa (after all, Chrysler did not know how to drive at that point!). The book is rich in lore about Chrysler--how he moved from working on the railroad to building locomotives FOR the railroads--and his move to Flint, Michigan where he began working for Charles Nash at the giant Buick works. His clashes with GM founder William Durant led to his early retirement--a retirement that ended when nervous bankers asked him to salvage first the Willys Corporation and then Maxwell-Chalmers. The latter, of course, would be his stepping stone to building the Chrysler Corporation. The book chronicles the rise of Chrysler Corporation, the building of the Chrysler Building in New York City and Chrysler's personal life. Its a warts and all story--from Chrysler's stock manipulations, to his million dollar mistress, to his run-ins with the law over illegal prohibition era booze and illegal taking of game. Every story you may have ever heard about Chrysler, or the cars he built, is in this book--and documented in detail. Vincent Curcio's book is not an "easy" read. At over 600 pages you will not skim through it in a night or two. Its the size of a Bible--and for Chrysler fans, it will be the bible on Walter Chrysler for years to come. I highly recommend it. (Note - portions of this review have been reprinted from the Plymouth Bulletin magazine, published by the Plymouth Owners Club, Inc and is used by permission)
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An engaging look at a fascinating man, July 28, 2000
I picked up this book after reading Bill Vlasic's "Taken for a Ride", about the DaimlerChrysler merger. This book goes back to the beginning of the story, tracing Walter Chrysler's beginnings through the early decades of his car company. Chrysler's life, which was never less than flamboyant, is the ideal subject for a biography (why did no one write one before?), and Vincent Curcio has brought a colorful and engaging style to the story. The book's focus shifts between the company's business decisions, always daring if occasionally foolish, and Chrysler's personal life, which is wildly entertaining. My only complaint about the book is that it might have been a little bit shorter; even Walter Chrysler has trouble filling up 600+ pages. But it's a delight to read nonetheless.
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Man and His Times: Engaging Narrative, Some Mistakes., November 20, 2001
This review is from: Chrysler: The Life and Times of an Automotive Genius (Automotive History and Personalities) (Paperback)
Chrysler : The Life and Times of an Automotive Genius is an entertaining, engaging biography of a man and his times. So much more than a dry biography of one of the major figures of the automotive industry, this book by Vincent Curcio provides fascinating insight into American industrial life in the late 19th and early 20th century. Walter Chrysler was the quintessential "working man," a railroad (and later automobile industry) mechanic by trade who first mastered himself, then proceeded to lead others in the burgeoning automobile industry. His early years in the railroad industry and his transition from mechanic to leader are nicely chronicled along with the development of American transportation history. Mr. Curcio lucidly explains the evolution of modern manufacturing and the integral parts played by seemingly (taken on their own) inconsequential methods and practices. While not as well known as a man (although the car and skyscraper are certainly famous), Chrysler embodied the American entrepreneurial spirit as deeply as any other leader of the auto industry. He was willing to take unusual risks, some resulting in relative failure (the Airflow), but all transforming the nature of the industry. He was not an early pioneer, first joining Buick in 1912. However, he completely understood design, engineering and manufacturing techniques. Perhaps more importantly, his ego was of a different mold. He was not afraid to accept the ideas or contributions of his employees. Chrysler made decisions perceived as unusual. For example, he built the graceful, elegant art-deco Chrysler Building, headquartering the company in New York at a time, its silhouette dominating the skyline of yesteryear. He experimented with unconventional auto designs, unafraid to introduce concepts into full production. Yet for all of this, Chrysler remained an enigma, certainly less famous than Ford or GM's myriad of leaders. Mr. Curcio writes in a unique style, reminiscent of biographies penned in the early 20th century. His prose is fluid, yet the use of oft-archaic language transports the reader into a different era. The book is a real pleasure and there are a number of photographs inspersed throughout the text. HOWEVER, the primary problem with the book is the lack of proper editing and documentation of research in the later chapters. For example, there are numerous typographical errors and poorly constructed sentences. The last few chapters detract from an otherwise fine narrative. One glaring inconsistency is a mention of Chrysler's conversation with Wilbur Wright in Dayton Ohio when he was developing the Chrysler Airflow. That conversation must have been "via seance" as Wilbur Wright died in 1912. Even with the above, I'd recommend the book from the standpoint of biography as well as overall automotive history (as well as industrial history in general).
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