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Life without Chrysler Corporation?

I believe its called "Taken For A Ride - How Daimler Benz Drove Away With Chrysler". I bought the book years ago and it is sitting on my book shelf. Some day I might actually find the time to read it. That whole deal still pisses me off to this day. So many things Chrysler came out with bit the dust because those MF's gutted all they could and laughed all the way to the bank. We lost Plymouth, The Prowler, The Dodge Tomahawk, The Chrysler ME412, and God knows what else so I share the skepticism over this new conglomeration. They also sold off Chryslers electronics division in Huntsville Alabama, which also supported NASA. I also recall a boat load of Chrysler engineers quit or got shown the door! The new business model is: "Engulf and Devour!" Keeping my fingers crossed that Chrysler can survive in some configuration. Ever since then, I wanna puke every time I see a Mercedes. Scum Bags!
 
Losing the Prowler with the Merc takeover was no loss to anyone!...LOL!....and Jeep build quality went up lots, at least for the Austrian built ones we get in the country.....The rest i agree with.
 
Losing the Prowler with the Merc takeover was no loss to anyone!...LOL!....and Jeep build quality went up lots, at least for the Austrian built ones we get in the country.....The rest i agree with.
The Prowler was different, it had magazines talking. And they also killed the Howler, which was the V8 version in the works. And Jeep quality was going up regardless; it was already higher than Benz at that point.
 
This was our familys car from 1970-1982. My brother in law had a 70 440 Sixpack Challenger R/T,those cars made me a Mopar guy!
moms Charger.jpg
 
Let's not forget the long running ford "Louisville" truck line which became Sterling, merged with RAM, started showing promise and then vanished.
 
All of the military and space divisions were sold off by Chrysler long before the merger with Daimler.
Any electronics for the military at Huntsville Electronics in later years were built under contract to other companies.
Why Daimler chose to sell off that division imo was only to make a quick buck when they could have used it to make their own electronics.
I wonder if they had investments in other companies such as Bosch. Siemens bought it and now its gone.
The city of Huntsville and Madison county bought one of the plants and Remington is now there...but with their problems who knows for how long.
 
The Prowler was different, it had magazines talking. And they also killed the Howler, which was the V8 version in the works. And Jeep quality was going up regardless; it was already higher than Benz at that point.
I think even the most optimistic Jeep fan (like me!) would struggle to argue that any Jeep Grand Cherokee was ever built better than the Merc ML equivalent. When Merc took over we got galvanised body shells (Europeans were put off by how badly they rusted before WJ shape) and Merc inline five (WJ) and V6 (WK) diesels that were miles ahead of the 5 cylinder VM crap (with a separate head for each cylinder...lol) they used before. Due to the cost of fuel here very few gas models were sold here....but at the time of the Merc take over both the Chrysler motors were pretty grim and very old tech.....the 4.7 V8 where the valve seats will eventually drop into the combustion chamber...sometimes after just 30,000 miles and a single overheat...and as for the six cylinder 4.slo.....just sit back and wait for a piston skirt to fall of...because it will eventually. I never had an issue with the Merc sale....a good company with a great engineering history....never liked the sale to FIAT...thought the quality would drop to FIAT levels...and that from a big ALFA fan...another FIAT subsidiary...but there is far more to owning an ALFA than build quality...just as well! As for the French takeover...not happy. Their build standards make FIATs look like Rolls Royce. Let's just hope that Peugeot quality interior, plastics and trim don't find their way into any Chrysler's any time soon.
 
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Sacrilege. IT's gotta be like kissing your sister on the mouth....
American icon consumed by foreigners, sucks in my book :wtf:
 
at the time of the Merc take over both the Chrysler motors were pretty grim and very old tech.....the 4.7 V8 where the valve seats will eventually drop into the combustion chamber...sometimes after just 30,000 miles and a single overheat...
I wouldn't call it that old tech, that over head cam engine was only introduced for the 1999 model year. I've heard more about the valve seat problems on the 5.7 hemi...

When Chrysler exec Dennis Pawley proposed helping out by building the M Class on one of their Jeep lines instead of constructing a while new line, Mercedes was concerned about their 3 pointed star coming off a Jeep line. But at the time the Grand Cherokee was scoring higher in independent quality reviews than the M-class. They did indeed start building the Merc on Jeep lines...
 
If anyone has caught the U-tube series "My Car Story with Lou" he features a lot of mopars. My car was featured in 2019 at an indoor auto show by him. He has featured some amazing resto artists with old mopars -late 50's early '60's (among many others) and does a nice job or really videoing these cars. Reason I mention is the Chrysler engineering aside from the mechanics and styling...is the incredible ornamentation on these cars! Geez, 3D emblems inside and out, the way out trim, etc. And almost every year they made major changes! All of the work involved from design to mfg to installation...hard to believe. Some articles hammered on Chrysler during this era for longevity of their cars; but I've seen no difference btw them and GM/Ford. Drive a car in salt they'll rust up. I'll qualify I'm no expert...sad to think of the number of these works of art that found the crushers...
 
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