The Birth of Chrysler Corporation and Its Engineering Legacy

He spares no detail when describing any of a number of Chrysler's firsts, from sorting out the mysteries of the carburettor to perfecting the Lockheed hydraulic braking system. He offers no apologies for Chrysler's biggest flop, the 1934 Airflow, instead highlighting the revolutionary advance it made in the area of the quality of ride for passengers. But he tends to gloss over the negative effect the car's styling had on sales, pausing only to criticize production for adding needless weight to the design. Perhaps the Airflow was just one of those times when the three musketeers won the swordfight at the risk of losing the castle.

There's a real feeling - more intense than in Walter Chrysler's own autobiography, or even in the just-released book by Robert Lutz - that Breer was one of the true pioneers in the automobile industry. Engineering detective work emerges as valuable history as he describes how various technical breakthroughs become possible after careful analysis of often conflicting customer comments and complex circumstantial evidence.

Included also is his fascinating eyewitness account of his trek as a young university student from Stanford in Palo Alto to the devastated city of San Francisco during the great earthquake of 1906.

This book is not light reading, but not only did it hold my interest, but I also find myself returning to it from time to time to refresh my memory of the steps taken in solving various engineering puzzles of the automotive age. For in these solutions one may find inspiration for resolution of technical challenges in any of a number of modern fields of endeavor.