The low-priced auto market of the late twenties was dominated by Ford, challenged by Chevrolet, and seasoned with a progression of lesser marques vying for the 3rd spot on the podium. With its new Plymouth brand, Chrysler Corporation sought to disrupt that arrangement. While Ford was known for its manufacturing efficiencies and General Motors for its marketing prowess, Chrysler Corporation to its core was an engineering powerhouse. Chrysler’s Plymouth was a cut above in terms of performance and refinement.

To say that the Plymouth Cricket was a byproduct of Chrysler’s hurried quest to become a multinational corporation is like saying a staph infection is a byproduct of poor hygiene. Possibly thinking that two wrongs might equal a right, Chrysler decided to appropriate the Hillman Avenger sedan from its new portfolio of British crap. They slapped a Plymouth badge on it and, voila, they had a small car for the U.S. at a fraction the cost. 

The History of the Automobile is littered with tales of cars so advanced that they flopped. Their technical or stylistic achievements were greeted in the marketplace with hesitation and suspicion. Trailblazers paid the price for being first. The 1962 Oldsmobile Jetfire was the first car to use turbocharging, deivering big block power from a smaller more efficient engine. The Jetfire flamed out after 2 years, but a decade later Turbo Saabs and Buick T-Types made inter-cooling cool. The versitile Scout Scarab of 1936 was the first minivan. But after selling a total of 9 copies, it was the last one for 45 years before the Plymouth Voyager took suburbia by storm. Honda’s 60mpg Insight of 1999 introduced us to gas-electric hybrid technology. The Insight barely achieved 4-didgit annual sales, while just a few years later Toyota’s Prius would become the suburban eco-warrior’s front line weapon against climate change.

And then there was the 1934 Airflow, the car that brought automotive aerodynamics into mainstream consciousness…and nearly destroyed the DeSoto brand, and the Chrysler Corporation along with it.

The Volare was probably the most memorable Plymouth of the 1970s, but for all the wrong reasons. It was a memory most Volare owners would like to expunge. It was the most problem-plagued, recall-ravaged car in history. Volare is Italian meaning, ‘to fly.’ But within two years of this new Plymouth’s introduction in 1976, the name came to mean, “I got stuck with a lemon.’

Plymouth rolled out its all-new 1942 models a few months before World War II forced the shutdown of all civilian automobile production. It would be almost four years before America’s industrial might would be relieved of its war-time service. When consumer production resumed in late 1945, demand for new cars was frenzied. Car-starved consumers snapped up any new car they could find. Carmakers had to ramp up production fast. The most expedient way was to dust off their 1942 tooling, swap in some new bits of trim and call them ‘46s. No one would complain that they were getting warmed over 4- year-old cars so long as their odometer read “0.” And why bother spending on brand new ‘47 or ’48 models either, so long as the sellers-market still raged. Not much needed changing but the VIN numbers.

The lineage of the Eagle brand spans five automobile companies from four nations. Eagle was paired with the fabled Jeep line. It sold close to half a million cars over 10-years. Despite all that, you’ve probably never heard of Eagle. Too bad. The story contained all the elements of a good novel; romance, betrayal, farce and tragedy. It even produced a couple of excellent cars. The only thing the story missed was a purpose. No one ever stopped to ask what need Eagle filled. But then, if they had asked, we would have no story. 

The Crofton Bug was a pint-sized truck-let built in San Diego, California from 1958-1964. The Bug was nearly a foot shorter and 1000lbs lighter than the original WW2 Jeep. Do not confuse this Bug with the more famous insect from Germany. The Volkswagen was called the Beetle (and nicknamed Bug) because its U.S. ad agency thought it was cute. The Crofton was called the Bug because it crawled over rocks like one.

There is nothing like an Energy Crisis to arouse America’s entrepreneurial spirit. While the OPEC oil embargo of 1973 gave birth to some odd but economical little cars like the virtuous CitiCar and the dubious Dale, the 1979 crisis sparked by the Iranian revolution brought us the FreeWay.

The Crosley Hot Shot was produced fro 1949 through 1952. It was the first American sports car of the post-war period, predating the Corvette by 4 years. It was the first modern American car to have disc brakes and an OHC engine. The Hot Shot was also the first winner of what would become the famed 12-Hours of Sebring endurcance race.

The Plymouth Barracuda was introduced on April 1, 1964 but it was no joke. It was a sporty derivative of the tried and true Valiant compact sedan. The Barracuda broke ranks with the vanilla Valiant sporting a sleek fastback roof, bucket seats, and an innovative fold-down rear seat that created a long flat cavernous cargo area. It might have been the coolest new car of 1964, had not 16 days later Ford introduced… the Mustang.