By Greg Zyla —
Q: Hi Greg, hope all is well. Like so many other “autoholics,” I read your articles at every opportunity and after reading your story on the Plymouth brand I must send you this.
Attached is info I found on Henry Ford and how he led to the Plymouth brand and how the name occurred. I hope you and your readers find it interesting.
Randy explained that Henry Ford fathered many car companies that would one day eventually become his major competitors. Early during the building of the famous Model T, Henry sourced out many components of the Model T, among them the transmission and other parts of the running gear.
Here’s a close up of the Mayflower hood ornament from a 1936 to 1938 Plymouth. (Chrysler)
One of the machine shops supplying these various parts was a small company run and owned by two brothers, John and Horace Dodge. Their company name was simply “The Dodge Brothers,” and Henry was satisfied with the quality of the Dodge brothers’ products. However, as Henry was very demanding – bordering on being very shrewd – he felt he deserved a lower price on all outsourced products.
He put a somewhat devious plan in motion, and although I am not certain of the quantity of items he was buying from Dodge brothers, I will inject simple numbers. If Henry were buying 1,000 transmissions a month, he told John and Horace he was ramping up production of the Model T to where he would need 10,000 transmissions a month.
Wow! What a windfall!
On June 28, 2001, the last Plymouth rolled off the assembly line in Belvedere, Illinois. It was a 2001 silver Neon 4-door that was purchased by a Chrysler executive and ended the Plymouth line. (Plymouth)
So, to fill orders based on Henry’s huge request, John and Horace Dodge needed to enlarge their shop, hire more workers, and invest in more and newer equipment. They borrowed heavily and worked around the clock to build a huge inventory of components for the Ford Model T. This put John and Horace deep in debt.
Henry then launched his plan. He told Dodge he only needed a small portion of the product but would take all of them if they lowered their price. Ouch! In response, the Dodge boys said “Nuts,” and they decided to build their own cars and trucks (in 1914).
Enter a new car company – Dodge.
During Chrysler’s heyday, Plymouth was the company’s lower-priced introductory car that hopefully would find consumers moving up to Dodge, DeSoto, Chrysler, and then top-line Imperial. This 1952 advertisement shows the full line of Plymouth offerings centered on Cranbrook, Cambridge, and Concord. (Plymouth)
Sadly, in 1920, both Dodge brothers died. Their surviving widows then sold the thriving Dodge Company to a holding / investment company. Then, Walter Percy Chrysler entered the Dodge story, but at the time was a top executive at GMC.
Walter was well versed in marketing as well as an astute engineer, so he wanted GM’s top guy, Bill Durant, to add hydraulic brakes to the upper-level GM cars. Durant said no, so Walter cashed out his many GM shares and bought The Dodge Car Company from the holding company.
Enter the Chrysler Company.
In 1924, the new high-end Chrysler cars debuted with hydraulic brakes. Walter also wanted to add a car and truck line to compete with Henry’s Model T and Walter knew he needed to appeal to the rural buyer, i.e. the farmer.
By 1962, Plymouth’s full-size offerings included 12 varieties of Fury, Belvedere, and Savoy models to choose from. (Plymouth)
Walter had his marketing team visit these rural areas and ask farmers what item they use that is a good quality at a competitive price? Most replied they used an item that was made in a little town called Plymouth in the state of Michigan. This item was “binder twine” for making hay bales. This is where the new car and truck line from Chrysler got its name, as Plymouth is named after the binder twine item.
But wait, the story gets better.
Many folks thought that the name Plymouth was to celebrate Plymouth Rock and the Pilgrims. So many prospective Plymouth buyers believed this “error” that the marketing folks at Chrysler decided to have a little fun with this accepted mistake. So in the 1930’s and 1940’s the Plymouth hood ornament featured a rendering of the Mayflower.
However, if you look closely the view is of the rear of the Mayflower so when Plymouth goes forward, the Mayflower is going backwards! Yes, the marketing folks sure had their fun and Plymouth is one of Chrysler’s iconic brands.
This is just my humble opinion, Greg, and I feel Chrysler would still be a major player if Plymouth were still produced.
Sorry for the long story, but I just had to share. Stay safe and enjoy every day Greg.
Signed, your friend Randy Lawton, and I read your column in the Bloomsburg Press Enterprise every week.
Plymouth introduced a compact in 1960 called the Valiant to do battle with Chevy Corvair and Ford Falcon, also introduced in 1960 along with Dodge’s sibling Lancer. (Plymouth)
A: Randy, thanks so much for your interesting story on the history of the Plymouth name, about which I did not know. Readers might recall Randy as he’s been featured in my columns before, and is a noted late model stock car racer along with his son. Lawton was also the main organizer of the Bloomsburg Nationals car shows.
The Plymouth brand was very successful for Chrysler and offered many models, and then even more when compacts and intermediates came along in the 1960s. My favorites were early 1950s Cranbrooks, 1962 Savoys, 1964 Belvederes, 1967 GTXs, 1968-1970 Road Runners, and any Hemi Cuda.
Thanks again Randy for the interesting and well-written memories.
(Greg Zyla is a syndicated auto columnist who welcomes reader interaction on auto nostalgia, Collector Cars and motorsports at greg@gregzyla.com, extramile_2000@yahoo.com, or snail mail to Greg Zyla, Roosevelt St., Sayre, Pa. 18840.)
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