Dave Duricy

Consider them the original odd couple. Walter Chrysler ate country-fried steak with French fried potatoes. Henry Ford ate soybean biscuits. Walter Chrysler built the Chrysler Building in mid-town Manhattan. Henry Ford built Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. Chrysler liked the Ziegfeld Follies. Ford liked a good square dance. Despite their differences, Walter and Henry had …

When Henry met Walter: The Strange Case of the Carrot PieRead More »

Imagine that you are Chrysler Corporation in the Sixties. You created the muscle car in 1955 with the Chrysler 300. Now, the muscle car craze rocks thanks to 300-wannabes like the Pontiac GTO. What do you do? Cancel the 300. Huh? You read correctly. Chrysler trashed the Letter Series 300 at the height of the …

Here’s Your Hat: the 1965 Chrysler 300 LRead More »

Every Dodge Boy under a white hat digs Vanishing Point. The doped-up, dropped-out 1971 film lays down what the Dodge Scat Pack preached, “Speed means freedom of the soul.” But, man, when you’re drivin’ another cat’s 1970 Challenger R/T and you got nothin’ to lose, freedom ain’t easy. It can send you trippin’ right out …

Vanishing Point: Suspect Vehicle 1970 Dodge ChallengerRead More »

“Hello. Sterling, Cooper, Draper, Pryce. Please hold.” If  Mad Men‘s Rodger Sterling isn’t an homage to ad man J. Stirling Getchell, he ought to be. Getchell ran away from home at age 17 to fight Pancho Villa. Then Getchell threw himself into World War I. Later, Getchell made a name for himself at the George …

A Mad Man Who Coined “The Big Three”Read More »

It was May of 1945. Germany was collapsing. Magnus von Braun bicycled from the village of Oberjoch in the Bavarian Alps towards the advancing U. S. Army. Magnus had a message; a group of German rocketeers wanted to give America the moon. Using broken English, Magnus surrendered himself, his brother Wernher von Braun, and members …

The Ballistic ChryslerRead More »

In June 2017, the Great Race planned a stop for the night in Auburn, Indiana. That seemed a good excuse to visit one of my favorite places, the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum. The museum lives in the restored headquarters of the Auburn Automobile Company. Auburn automobiles ended in 1937. The corporate showroom is still one …

Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum and the Great RaceRead More »

On June 1st, 2018, MSN published a list of The 10 most important Chrysler vehicles. The list is better than most, and it had me until it substituted a 1958 Chrysler Windsor for a 1960 model. Sure, Chrysler styling was advanced in ’58, but c’mon. Like many publications, MSN missed the important Chryslers that still …

Just Ten Important Chrysler ProductsRead More »