Walter Chrysler’s Rise

AS AN ENGINEER AND A LONG-TIME student of industrial history, I found the article about Walter Chrysler (“‘I Like to Build Things,’” by Stephen Fox, Summer 1999) both interesting and informative. However, it failed to mention the importance of Charles W. Nash in his career. Chrysler credited Nash with giving him his start in the automotive industry.

When William Durant took control of the financially troubled Buick Company, in 1904, he put Nash in charge of his old business, a carriage works. By 1910 Nash had risen to become Buick’s president. Nash was an excellent manager who stressed efficiency and began to make Buick a success even before Chrysler arrived in 1911. James J. Storrow recommended Chrysler to Nash, and Nash hired him as a production manager. The next year Storrow and other bankers ousted Durant as president of what had become General Motors and replaced him with Nash. Four years later Durant regained control of GM, forced Nash out, and promoted Chrysler to president of Buick. Buick succeeded because of a combination of Chrysler and Nash’s management and manufacturing skills and Durant’s ability to raise financial support from banks and investors.

In 1916, after Durant’s return, Nash left GM to start his own company; he and Chrysler remained close friends until Chrysler’s death, in 1940. NashKelvinator swallowed Hudson Motors in 1954 and became American Motors, which was bought by the Chrysler Corporation in 1987. It was a very unfriendly takeover, but some automotive historians find it fitting, since the two companies and their founders shared so much common history.