Walter Chrysler’s Rise

YOUR ARTICLE REFERS TO THE COM pany’s “floating power” engine-mounting arrangement. It had one flaw that I, and I’m sure many others, liked to spring on unsuspecting drivers. The gearshift ball on the Chrysler I owned for many years resembled the top half of a billiard ball on a floor-mounted lever. In low gear it almost touched the driver’s right kneecap. I’d invite a friend at the wheel to “check the full-throttle pickup on her”; after that, under power, the gearshift lever would be torqued way to the right. Then when the clutch was depressed, to change gear, the ball would spring back with remarkable speed and slam into the knee, with an impact I can still feel fifty years later.