Re: IML: Front-wheel-drive Imperial? Radial Engine, Too (Photos)

["Bill Watson" <wwatson5@xxxxxxxxx>]

The radial engine cars actually came after the Airflow.  While developing
the Airflow, a brief thought was given to a rear engine placement - a very
brief thought - but no consideration of FWD.

Prior to developing the Airflow, Chrysler engineers determined that the cars
of the late 1920's and early 1930's had less air resistance when being
driven backward (page 144 of Carl Breer's book).   Further development ideas
are given on page 146 - moving the passenger compartment forward with the
rear seat ahead of the rear axle.   On page 147 Breer states they moved the
front axle up close to the cowl , and to continue his narrative :

"Where are you going to put the engine?" was the next question.  If we
placed the engine in the rear, it would mean a compete tear-up, and the car
would be rear end heavy unless we limited engine power to hold down engine
weight.  A car with a heavy rear end on the road would act like an arrow
that was shot with the feather end forward.  So it was an engine in the
front or nothing.  Traditionally, front mounted engines has been located
behind a cross-beam type front axle, the object being to have it low enough
to be in line with the propeller shaft.  That did not suit us, but to locate
the it foward of the front axle was out of the question.  These was only one
place left - over the front axle, a first in our industry."

Mr. Breer does not mention when the FWD cars were built (there were two)
only that Walter Chrysler did not cut the engineering budget after the crash
of 1929 (page 90).  The photo shown on page 89 of the book with R. Ken Lee
standing beside it was taken around 1936 while the car was undergoing tests.
The car to the left in the photo was the first "Star car" completed a year
earlier, 1935 Ford grille and all.   The 1936 car was designed under Ted
Pietsch, who would later work for Studebaker.  And as you can tell by the
photo, the "Star cars" were very small cars with a wheelbase of about 98
inches.  The engine had 5 cylinders, displaced 66.6 cubic inches and put out
about 30 brake horsepower.

Breer makes no mention of any other FWD car in his book.  However, the book
is not long, 201 pages not including the index and some pages showing photos
from Mr. Breer's collection.  I say not long as Mr. Breer's book covers a
period of about 50 years.  It is known that Chrysler experimented with FWD
in the late 1940's and early 1950's building a test car based on a 1949
Dodge Wayfarer sedan.

Bill
Vancouver, BC


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike & Christine Trettin" <mtrettin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, December 04, 2004 11:06 PM
Subject: IML: Front-wheel-drive Imperial? Radial Engine, Too (Photos)


> > That is cool. Rob and I had gotten close with '32 and '34, but I guess I
> > should ask, Kenyon, do you know if the Star Car concept vehicle was a
> > front wheel drive set up? Was that even the name of it?
> >
> > I still haven't gotten over to the storage to look that up in my
reference
> > material.
> > Paul
>
> Your question inspired me to dig up a book by Carl Breer that contains
some
> interesting memoirs about the early days of Chrysler Corporaration.  Here
> are some excerpts relevant to this discussion:
> http://www.imperialclub.org/Articles/Breer/index.htm
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Mike Trettin
> 1956 Imperial Sedan, Turquoise
>
>
>



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