From the Chrysler Six of 1924, to the front-wheel-drive vehicles of the 70s and 80s, to the minivan, Chrysler boasts an impressive list of technological ""firsts."" But even though the company has catered well to a variety of consumers, it has come to the brink of financial ruin more than once in its seventy-five-year history. How Chrysler achieved monumental success and then managed colossal failure and sharp recovery is explained in Riding the Roller Coaster, a lively, unprecedented look at a major force in the American automobile industry since 1925. Charles Hyde tells the intriguing story behind Chrysler - its products, people, and performance over time - with particular focus on the company's management. He offers a lens through which the reader can view the U.S. auto industry from the perspective of the smallest of the automakers who, along with Ford and General Motors, make up the ""Big Three."" The book covers Walter P. Chrysler's life and automotive career before 1925, when he founded the Chrysler Corporation, and traces the company's history to 1998, when it merged with Daimler-Benz. Chrysler made a late entrance into the industry in 1925 when it emerged from Chalmers and Maxwell, and further grew when it absorbed Dodge Brothers and American Motors Corporation. The author follows this journey, explaining the company's leadership in automotive engineering, its styling successes and failures, its changing management, and its activities from auto racing to defense production to real estate. Throughout, the colorful personalities of its leaders - including Chrysler himself and Lee Iacocca - emerge as strong forces in the company's development, imparting a risk-taking mentality that gave the company its verve.

About the Author
Charles K. Hyde is a professor of History at Wayne State University and author of many books, including The Northern Lights: Light-houses of the Upper Great Lakes (Wayne State University Press, 1995) and Historic Highway Bridges of Michigan (Wayne State University Press, 1993).

Reviews
As the title indicates, Charles Hyde's history of the Chrysler Corporation takes the reader on a historical journey marked by exhilarating climbs, severe descents, and disorienting changes of direction. The meticulous scholarship never gets in the way of a good story, one that shows how the business cycle, changing consumer tastes, governmental regulations, and management decisions impelled the wild ride taken by America's third largest automobile firm. - Rudi Volti, Pitzer College


Awards
Winner of Michigan Notable Books 2004.



Book Information
ISBN 9780814330913
Author Charles K. Hyde
Format Hardback
Page Count 480
Imprint Wayne State University Press
Publisher Wayne State University Press
Weight(grams) 1050g