Everything about Walter Chrysler totally explained
Walter Percy Chrysler (
April 2,
1875 –
August 18,
1940) was an American
automobile pioneer.
He was born in
Wamego, Kansas and grew up in
Ellis, Kansas. He also lived in
Oelwein, Iowa, where there's a small park dedicated to him.
His automobile career began when the
American Locomotive Company (ALCO) decided to diversify into the automobile business. Chrysler was the plant manager. ALCO had some racing success but less in the way of sales success. Chrysler saw the way things were going and took a job at the
Buick Motor Company in
Flint, Michigan in 1911, two years before ALCO quit the automobile business. "What I saw [inFlint] astonished me." he wrote in his auto-biograhy,
Life of an American Workman.
In 1916,
William C. Durant, who founded
General Motors in 1908, had retaken GM from bankers who had taken over the company. Chrysler, who was closely tied to the bankers, submitted his resignation to Durant, then based in New York City.
Durant took the first train to Flint to make an attempt to keep Chrysler at the helm of Buick. Durant made the then-unheard of salary offer of US$10,000 (US$165,000 in today's dollars) a month for 3 years, with a US$500,000 bonus at the end of each year, or US$500,000 in stock. Additionally, Chrysler would report directly to Durant, and would have full run of Buick without interference from anyone.
Apparently in shock, Chrysler asked Durant to repeat the offer, which he did. Chrysler immediately accepted.
Not long after his three year contract was up, he resigned from his job as president of Buick in 1919. Durant paid Chrysler US$10 million for his GM stock. Chrysler had started at Buick in 1911 for US$6,000 a year, and left one of the richest men in America.
Chrysler was then hired by
John Willys to run his
Willys-Overland Motor Company in
Toledo, Ohio, at a salary of US$1 million a year, an astonishing amount at that time. However, Chrysler tried to oust John Willys with an attempted takeover bid that backfired when the shareholders resisted his move and Chrysler left the company in 1921 following which he acquired a controlling interest in the ailing
Maxwell Motor Company. Chrysler phased out Maxwell and absorbed it into his new firm, the
Chrysler Corporation, in 1925. In addition to his namesake car company,
Plymouth and
DeSoto marques were created, and in 1928 Chrysler purchased
Dodge. He financed the construction of the
Chrysler Building and built it in
New York City. In 1928, Chrysler was named
Time Magazine's
Man of the Year.
The Chrysler Corporation went through numerous changes over the years, with the
Jeep and
Eagle brands coming from the acquisition of
American Motors. Despite the retirement of the Maxwell, DeSoto,Imperial, AMC, Eagle, and Plymouth brands, Chrysler continued to be a part of
Detroit's
Big Three until 1998, when the German company
Daimler-Benz, the makers of
Mercedes-Benz automobiles, decided to
merge with the company to form a new car company,
DaimlerChrysler. The Germans have now sold Chrysler to
private equity firm
Cerberus Capital Management.
Chrysler built a country estate in
Warrenton, Virginia in what is referred to as the
Virginia horse country and home to the
Warrenton Hunt. In 1934, he purchased and undertook a major restoration of the famous Fauquier White Sulphur Springs Company resort and spa in Warrenton. Sold in 1953, the property was developed as a country club, which it remains today.
On the estate he inherited,
Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. established North Wales Stud for the purpose of
breeding Thoroughbred horses. Chrysler, Jr. was part of a syndicate that included friend
Alfred G. Vanderbilt II who in 1940 acquired the 1935
English Triple Crown winner
Bahram from the
Aga Khan III. Bahram stood at stud at Vanderbilt's
Sagamore Farm in
Maryland then was brought to Chrysler's North Wales Stud.
Chrysler is buried at
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in
Sleepy Hollow,
New York.
Further Information
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