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Chrysler: The Life and Times of an Automotive Genius (Automotive History and Personalities)

Vincent Curcio

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Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
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Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 Stars

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Product Description: Walter P. Chrysler was a man who loved machines, an accomplished mechanic who also had highly developed managerial skills derived from half a lifetime on the railroads, and whose success came from his deep understanding of engineering and his total commitment to the quality of his vehicles. Here, Vincent Curcio presents a richly detailed account of one of the most important men in American automotive history, based on full access to both Chrysler Corporation and Chrysler family historical records.
Curcio traces Chrysler's rise from a locomotive wiper in a Kansas roundhouse to his rescue of the Maxwell-Chalmers car company, which led to the successful development of the 1924 Chrysler--the world's first modern car--and the formation of Chrysler Corporation in 1925. Chrysler was quite different from the other auto giants--a colorful and expansive man deeply involved in the design of his cars, he established his headquarters in New York City and built the world's most famous art deco structure, the fabled Chrysler Building. Because of his emphasis on quality at popular prices, the company weathered the Great Depression with flying colors and remained profitable right up to Chrysler's death in 1940.
The definitive portrait, Chrysler is a must read for all car enthusiasts and for everyone interested in the story of a giant of industry.

Amazon.com Review: It takes a while to get used to Vincent Curcio's highly colored prose, but his old-fashioned narrative technique suits his subject, the Kansas railroad mechanic who rose to become head of America's most dynamic car company. Born in 1875, Walter P. Chrysler came late to the automobile business, joining Buick in 1912, when the early companies were firmly established. Chrysler made his mark by being a great leader who thoroughly understood engineering and production, and who valued the contributions of his employees and directed them to produce high-quality, popularly priced cars. He made it his business to ignore conventional wisdom: he headquartered his company in New York instead of Detroit, commissioned a fabulous art deco skyscraper to house it, and introduced the first mass-produced, streamlined, aerodynamic car in 1934. The Airflow was a financial disaster but hugely influential on future design, and the well-managed Chrysler Corporation made money even during the Great Depression. Chrysler himself became enormously wealthy and enjoyed a lavish lifestyle during the decade before his death in 1940. Curcio's detailed, wide-ranging text offers an instructive history of the automobile industry as well as a full-bodied portrait of a classic American individual, praised by his peers as "one of the world's greatest manufacturers and one of the world's best men." --Wendy Smith

Paperback: 720 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195147057
Dimensions: 9.21 x 6.06 x 1.57 inches
Weight: 2.16 pounds
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Customer Reviews

Genius--and Drive: Avg. Customer Rating: 5 Stars; Having been a car nut all my life, I've owned Chrysler products and knew a very little about Mr. Chrysler. And, I certainly was aware of the corporation from the K.T. Keller period forward. This book proved an engaging and informative narrative of a life that, by today's standards of business, is very much from another time. I had been aware that Mr. Chrysler had had a career at GM before founding Chrysler. I hadn't been aware of his initial involvement in the convoluted railroad business of a century, and more, ago. The initial part of the book covering Kansas and its part of the Great Plains, was great reading even before Chrysler's birth!

In view of the sad course his corporation has taken over the past 50 years, this man's dynamism and determination from teenage years is almost tragic. He died when his corporation was #2 in the American auto industry, looking at an impending world war. One can't help but wonder whether Chrysler Corporation would be today had the leadership quality in that time continued.
Excellent: Avg. Customer Rating: 5 Stars; Excellent biography of a man who was not recognized for his lifelong acomplishments. Little did I know what he acomplished until I read this book. He also never forgot the people along his lifes journey. A good read for everyone.
Extremely Poor Service: Avg. Customer Rating: 5 Stars; Never received this item from the Book Community. Their service was terrible. Will never purchase anything from Amazon ever again.
An Excellent History!: Avg. Customer Rating: 5 Stars; I'm just finishing this up. Its is an excellent history of Chrysler and the early days of the automotive industry. Its very readable and interesting. In fact its actually 2 books: 1) of Chrysler the man and 2) the early days of the automotive industry and arguably should have been split into two. Mr Curcio has obviously spent a lot of time tracking down background information on both these key elements.

I particularly enjoyed the bits about how some of the early developments of car construction and design and how they were integrated into Chrysler and how he used them to make better cars. Some of the bits about the Chrysler building and where the author spend a fair amount of time describing the building's interior were a bit dull, but that was the exception.

In short, this is really a book about the early days of the automobile industry and where Chrysler fit into them as much as it is a biography.
Great information, factual and entertaining...: Avg. Customer Rating: 5 Stars; If you are an automotive historian, you like what you read in this book. WPC was an integral part of the formation of the auto industry and the reader will recognize many figures mentioned in the book. A must read for Mopar and Chrysler historical fans. WPC was an amazing well rounded engineer, marketer, and industry leader...not many had all the qualities he had to build a car company...

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