Neil, you're engaging in a bit of revisionist history.
K.T. Keller was the "Fedora" man, and he was a good bean counter. He
started an expansion program in 1945, without which there would not have
been capacity for major changes.
L.L. "Tex" Colbert took over presidency of Chrysler in the fall of 1950. He
was instrumental in making sure the models were competitive and that the
antiquated six cylinder models were phased out of the senior lines by 1955.
Maybe it was possible to wear a hat in some '55 and '56 models, but by '57
that just wasn't possible, nor was it still a concern to Chrysler, though it
was to my Dad.
You can't get much more "gearhead" than Bob Rodgers, the mastermind of the
Chrysler 300.
Chrysler did promote their high horsepower models in the 1950's, and was not
adverse to the race-them-on-the-weekend, sell-them-on-Monday outlook. The
1953 and especially 1954 Dodges got lots of publicity with the new Red Ram
V8, and being pace car for the Indy 500 in '54 sure didn't hurt.
Kiekhaefer's Dodge teams in '56 surely promoted sales.
I've heard these new 2008 ads are aimed at 14-year-olds. Certainly not a
target market, but any publicity is good publicity.
--Roger van Hoy, Washougal, WA, '55 DeSoto, '58 DeSoto, '56 Plymouth, '66
Plymouth, '41 Dodge
----- Original Message -----
From: "Eastern Sierra Adjustment Svc" <esierraadj@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 1:25 PM
Subject: [FWDLK] Not FWDLK-related, but of some interest to MoPar gearheads!
...[here's the FWDLK part] : can you imagine what the public reaction
(read; Generic Motors, & Fart) to
the Fury's/Adventurers/500's/300's would have been, if CHRY would have
promoted its muscle cars, in
this manner, in 1956/1957 ?----and how different the automotive world
(trying to play catch-up) would have been, if real
gearheads (playing to the affections of post-WWII veterans) had run the
Corp, instead of guys who were (still)
concerned about not being able to wear a fedora, inside a FWDLK'er???
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