• The Auto Channel, Tuesday, May 15, 2007 11:16 AM

Chrysler--founded by Walter Chrysler and three ex-Studebaker engineers in 1920 to design and build affordable "luxury" vehicles--is a brand steeped in heritage.

Its first model, the 1924 Chrysler Six priced at $1,565, featured two significant innovations: a light, powerful, high-compression six-cylinder engine and the first use of four-wheel hydraulic brakes in a moderately priced vehicle. The 1928 acquisition of Dodge Brothers made Chrysler the third of Detroit's Big Three automakers--and Chrysler one of the most successful industrialists of his generation.

In 1938, a new brand-defining model appeared: the New York Special, soon recast as the richly appointed Chrysler New Yorker. Its longstanding popularity would make it America's longest-running automobile nameplate (1938-1996). Deep in its greatest financial crisis in 1980, Chrysler turned to the all-new K-Car for salvation, which proved to be just the right car for the times. Its "back to basics" era peaked with the 1984 introduction of the minivan.

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