As opposed to the Dodge and Plymouth, for the Chrysler marque itself it was hard to repeat the early success.
After the long period of nearly 20 years the sales figures of 1927 were exceeded and Chrysler usually was placed outside the top ten U.S. marques. The post-war production saw alternating periods of good and poor sales and in the late 1970s the company was close to bankruptcy.
The 1920 were pretty good times though and in 1928 Chrysler took over Dodge to give it a place in the intermediate market. The newly launched Plymouth was able to compete with Chevrolet and Ford.
1934 Chrysler Airflow © dok1/flickr.com
In 1931 straight-eight engines of 242ci (3966cc), 262ci (4293 cc), 284ci (4654cc) und 387ci (6342cc) were added to the range. The latter was used by the new Series CG Imperial and offered 125bhp. That was enough for a top speed of 95mph (153km/h) as long as one of the lighter body options was chosen. There was a great variety of factory and Le Baron semi-custom styles available. But even though the straight-eight Imperial was able to compete with a Lincoln or Cadillac, it wasn’t a good time for luxury saloons and not many cars were sold.
But as Chrysler so far had not produced any milestone car, it was time to design one. It is said that Carl Breer, one of the young designers Walter Chrysler had brought in from Willys, one day saw a group of fighter planes that were so streamlined that they resembled geese. He thought that a streamlined car would not only look good but also slip through the air very efficiently. After six years of experimentation the Chrysler Airflow was launched in 1934. It was a streamlined monocoque construction and to have a better weight distribution the passengers were moved forward and seated within the wheelbase. This guaranteed better handling and superior ride quality.
But even though the car was a great step forward it seemed to be too radical for the customers and only a little over 11,000 were sold in the first year. A milder version named Airstream was launched in 1935 but sales kept dropping and after three years production ceased. But the Airstream’s influence on car design had been of great importance.
