VERY RARE and authentic Walter P. Chrysler Sr. SIGNED Buick Motor Car Company DOCUMENT. Document is dated June 20th 1913 and is genuinely SIGNED / AUTOGRAPHED by “W. P. Chrysler” along the bottom as “WORKS MANAGER”. The HEADING along the top of the document reads, “STANDARD PRACTICES Number 19”. Under that heading is typed the following – “Revision of Factory Numbers”, indicating a change in the “Paint Department” nomenclature.
Walter Chrysler’s signature is extremely difficult to find on BUICK MOTOR CAR COMPANY material, especially this early in his business career (38 years old) and only TWO years after he had entered the automotive industry. This is a very affordable autograph of an important, early American automotive pioneer.
WALTER PERCY CHRYSLER (1875 - 1940) was an American automotive pioneer who founded the Chrysler Corporation. He began working as an apprentice machinist and mechanic for several railroads. The pinnacle of his RR career was achieved as the “Works Manager” for the Allegheny locomotive shops of the American Locomotive Company in Pittsburg. Chysler’s automobile career began in 1911 when he met with Charles W. Nash, the President of Buick Motor Company. Walter accepted a job as production chief or “Works Manager” of the Buick factory in Flint, Michigan and undertook major efforts to cut production costs. When William C. Durant regained control of General Motors in 1916, he convinced Chrysler to remain with Buick Motorcar for three years at a salary of $10,000 a month. After 3 years, Chrysler resigned his position as General Motors Vice President of Operations and sold his GM stock for $10 million. He was then hired to reverse the fortunes of the Willys-Overland Motor Company, at a salary of $1 million a year for two years. Chrysler left Willys in 1919 and acquired an interest in the struggling Maxwell Motor Company. Chrysler founded the Chrysler Corporation in 1925 and absorbed Maxwell into the new company. He purchased Dodge Brothers in 1928 and created the Plymouth and DeSoto brand names. Chrysler was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1967.