A superb and rare photo of the Plymouth
Reliant.
Plymouth
(founded 1928 - dissolved 2001) was a marque of automobile based in the United States,
marketed by the Chrysler Corporation and DaimlerChrysler. The Plymouth automobile was introduced on July 7, 1928. It was the
Chrysler Corporation's first entry in the low-priced field, which at the time
was dominated by Chevrolet and Ford. Plymouths were actually priced a little
higher than the competition, but they offered standard features such as
external expanding hydraulic brakes that the competition did not provide.
Plymouths were originally sold exclusively through Chrysler dealerships. The
logo featured a rear view of the Mayflower ship which landed at Plymouth Rock.
However, the Plymouth
brand name came from Plymouth Binder Twine, chosen by Joe Frazer for its
popularity among farmers. The origins of the first Plymouth can be traced back to the Maxwell
automobile. When Walter P. Chrysler took over control of the trouble-ridden
Maxwell-Chalmers car company in the early 1920s, he inherited the Maxwell as
part of the package. After he used the company's facilities to help create and
launch the Chrysler car in 1924, he decided to create a lower-priced companion
car. So for 1926 the Maxwell was reworked and re-badged as the low-end Chrysler
"52" model. In 1928, the "52" was once again redesigned to
create the Chrysler-Plymouth Model Q. The "Chrysler" portion of the
nameplate was dropped with the introduction of the Plymouth Model U in 1929.
While the original purpose of the Plymouth
was simply to cover a lower-end marketing niche, during the Great Depression of
the 1930s the car would help significantly in ensuring the survival of the
Chrysler Corporation in a decade when many other car companies failed.
Beginning in 1930, Plymouths were sold by all three Chrysler divisions
(Chrysler, DeSoto, and Dodge). Plymouth
sales were a bright spot during this dismal automotive period, and by 1931 Plymouth rose to the
number three spot among all cars. In 1939 Plymouth
produced 417,528 vehicles, of which 5,967 were roadsters, or two-door
convertibles with rumble seats. The 1939 Roadster was prominently featured at
Chrysler's exhibit at the 1939 World's Fair, advertised as the first
mass-production convertible with a power folding top. It featured a
201-cubic-inch, 82 horsepower (61 kW) version of the Chrysler
Flathead Six engine. For much of its life, Plymouth was one of the top selling American
automobile brands, along with Chevrolet and Ford ("the low-priced
three"). Plymouth
even surpassed Ford for a time in the 1940s as the second most popular make of
automobiles in the U.S.
Through 1956, Plymouth
vehicles were known for their durability, affordability and engineering. In
1957, Chrysler's Forward Look styling theme produced cars with much more
advanced styling than Chevrolet or Ford, although Plymouth's reputation would
ultimately suffer as the cars were prone to rust and sloppy assembly. Because
of its new "Forward Look" styling, however, 1957 total production
soared to 726,009, about 200,000 more than 1956, and the largest output yet for
Plymouth. The
marque also introduced its limited production Fury line in 1956, and it too
benefited from the crisp Forward Look designs. The Plymouth brand lost market share rapidly in
the early 1960s. While Plymouth
was a styling leader from 1957 to 1958, its 1959 through 1962 models were
awkwardly styled cars that failed to strike a chord with the public. Plymouth also found itself
in competition with its own corporate sister division Dodge when the
lower-priced, full-size Dodge Dart was introduced for 1960. Rambler, and then
Pontiac would assume the number three sales position for the remainder of the
decade. Plymouth
went into a decline from which it would never fully recover. The marque
regained market share following the introduction of the 1965 models, which
returned Plymouth
to full-size vehicles and more mainstream styling. Plymouth regained its traditional third place
in the sales race in 1971 and 1974, primarily with its popular Valiant and
Duster compact models, but as a brand Plymouth
was hardest hit by Chrysler's financial woes of the late 1970s. Marketing
decisions progressively thinned Plymouth
lineup while giving new models to the Dodge and Chrysler brands; by 1979, the Plymouth range consisted
of only the domestically produced Volare and Horizon models, and some rebadged
Mitsubishi imports. Despite the introduction of popular models like the 1981
Reliant and 1984 Voyager, Plymouth
sales and production numbers continued to decline. Such was the extent of the
badge engineering that substantially identical Dodges and Plymouths were being
sold at substantially identical prices, eroding the last of Plymouth's market distinction and quashing
any significant reasons for buying one over the other. Most Plymouth models offered from the late 1980s
onward, such as the Acclaim, Laser, Neon, and Breeze, were badge-engineered
versions of Chrysler, Dodge, or Mitsubishi models. Chrysler considered giving Plymouth a variant, to be
called the Accolade, of the new-for-1993 full-size LH platform[2], but decided
against it. By the late 1990s, only four vehicles were sold under the Plymouth name: the
Voyager/Grand Voyager minivans, the Breeze mid-size sedan, the Neon compact
car, and the Prowler sports car, which was to be the last model unique to Plymouth. After
discontinuing the Eagle brand in 1998, Chrysler was planning to expand the Plymouth line with a
number of unique models before the corporation's merger with Daimler-Benz AG.
The first model was the Plymouth Prowler, a modern-day hot rod. The PT Cruiser
was to have been the second. Both models had similar front-end styling,
suggesting Chrysler intended a retro styling theme for the Plymouth brand. At the time of Daimler's
takeover of Chrysler, Plymouth
had no unique models besides the Prowler not also available in the Dodge or
Chrysler lines. Further, while all Plymouth
dealers also sold the Chrysler line of cars, many Dodge dealers sold only
Dodge; it would have caused much greater disturbance to the dealer network to
discontinue Dodge than Plymouth.
Consequently, DaimlerChrysler decided to drop the make after a limited run of
2001 models. This was announced on November 3, 1999. The last new model sold under the Plymouth marque was the
second generation Neon for 2000-2001. The PT Cruiser was ultimately launched as
a Chrysler, and the Prowler and Voyager were absorbed into that make as well.
Following the 2001 model year, the Neon was sold only as a Dodge in the US,
though it remained available as a Chrysler in Canadian and other markets. The
Plymouth Breeze was dropped after 2000, before Chrysler introduced their
redesigned 2001 Dodge Stratus and Chrysler Sebring sedan.
This is a very nice and very rare photo that reflects a wonderful era of
Plymouth ‘s
automotive history in a wonderful way.
This is your rare chance to own this photo, therefore it is printed
in a nice large format of ca. 8" x 11" (ca. 20 x 27 cm). It makes it perfectly suitable for framing.