A Far Too Brief History of Plymouth

the new plymouth neon also has dual airbags available anti-lock brakes and a sophisticated impact management system the rich it would appear do not have it all plymouth tends to elicit yawns from most people at least those who remember it for most of my lifetime while they had a few interesting vehicles like the prowler most were just cheap and decontented dodges but for a brand created to compete against the low prices of chevy and ford plymouth has an interesting story and this is a far too brief history of plymouth so welcome back to all cars y'all i am john and i want to say thank you to my patreon supporters for reaching out and help supporting this i'll admit i don't love plymouth for most of my life they were just the cheap chrysler product always slightly less attractive and less as equipped as their dodge counterparts but unlike other brands such as pontiac and mercury that were canceled i find that i miss plymouth i find myself thinking that chrysler as a whole missed an opportunity with the brand now as with my other histories this story doesn't start with chrysler in about 1904 jonathan dixon maxwell who had worked for oldsmobile and benjamin briscoe founded maxwell briscoe company in north terrytown new york to produce a car a fire destroyed the factory in 1907 they opened a huge factory in newcastle indiana intended for raw materials to go in one end and a finished car to come out of the other this factory actually ended up continuing as a chrysler plant until 2004. while they were successful briefly being one of the top three firms next to gm and ford they eventually became part of what was known as the united states motor company that gets its own video at some point but that's a story for another day in 1913 maxwell was reorganized as maxwell motor company and moved to highland park michigan by 1916 they'd sold about 60 000 cars but after world war one they were deeply in debt and walter p chrysler took them over in the early 1920s in 1925 chrysler formed chrysler corporation and maxwell was phased out although their new four-cylinder chrysler 52 of 1926 was largely a maxwell design and this was later reworked into what would be the first plymouth model q plymouth was introduced as a brand name in 1928 as the low priced entry to compete with chevy and ford while priced slightly higher initially they offered more equipment and didn't even get their own dealer network being sold largely through chrysler dealers the logo was of a ship specifically the mayflower that landed at plymouth massachusetts however the inspiration for the name came from plymouth binder twine because of the popularity of the twine with farmers with the great depression hitting and other manufacturers closing down plymouth models helped keep chrysler afloat models were sold through all three chrysler divisions of chrysler de soto and dodge by 1931 plymouth rose to number three in the sales charts among all cars their 1931 model pa had a 190 cubic inch four-cylinder making 56 rampaging horsepowers and boasted quote the smoothness of an eight the economy of a four with its floating power essentially the engine was attached to the frame with rubber mounts to dampen vibrations this also had an unusual for its time features such as a fuel pump hydraulic shock absorbers and an electric gas gauge in 1933 plymouth added a 3.1 liter flathead 6 from chrysler to match engine offerings from ford chevy and pontiac in their brand new plymouth pc with a short wheelbase it sold poorly so they quickly took a dodge chassis with 112 inch wheelbase put the pc body on it with a different hood and fenders and christened it the pd the pc was then redesigned to resemble it and named the standard six by 1939 plymouth produced 417 000 cars and their 1939 convertible coupe with a 3.3 liter flathead 6 producing 82 horsepower was featured at the new york world's fair as the first mass produced production convertible with a power folding top by 1940 and 41 plymouth was challenging ford for second place in sales in the 50s and early 60s chrysler experimented with a turbine powered car while we won't go into that here they used a version of the plymouth belvedere a two-door hard top introduced in response to the 1950 chevy bel air standard power was a 4.6 liter straight six with 97 horsepower in 1956 plymouth introduced the fury a special high-end car based on the belvedere and originally with a 303 cubic inch v8 making 240 horsepower optional equipment included an air conditioner automatic power steering and power brakes in 1957 the new forward-look design led to cars that made chevys and fords immediately look dated and plymouth advertised them as quote suddenly it's 1960. in 1957 production soared to 726 000 units jumping about 200 000 over 1956 sales however these cars had poor quality and corrosion protection they were very rust-prone and greatly damaged chrysler's reputation in the 1960s these quality issues hurt sales but plymouth remained profitable and in 1961 the valiant compact became a plymouth and with rumors that the 62 chevys were going to be downsized chrysler introduced a smaller standard plymouth unfortunately they were caught wrong-footed as chevy didn't shrink their cars and this time when bigger was better plymouth hit a sales slump in 1963 the fury belvedere and savoy were all slightly larger with new body styles and restyled again in 64 and in 65 the fury was built on the new sea body platform it was offered a fury 1 fury 2 and fury 3 as well as a sport fury intending to combine luxury and sport the savoy was discontinued and the belvedere classified as an intermediate and keeping the bee body platform as performance increasingly took center stage in the late 60s plymouth responded the barracuda was introduced in 1964 based on the valiant and with a slant 6 or a 4.5 liter v8 in 67 they introduced the belvedere gtx with either a 7.2 liter super commando or the 7 liter hemi v8s in 1968 they stripped down a belvedere coupe and called it the roadrunner the 1970s is with other car manufacturers it's a rough time for plymouth new emissions and safety regulations along with high gas prices and an economic downturn meant demand dropped for all muscle cars performance deteriorated as engines were strangled and the big block options were discontinued in 1970 the barracuda was separated from the valiant and no longer a fastback being only a coupe and a convertible built on a shorter wider version of the chrysler b-body platform it was now called the e-body and shared with the dodge challenger but not sharing any sheet metal the barracuda ended in 1974 10 years to the day after it began the compact valiant introduced in 1967 continued to sell well in fact setting a sales record in 1971 of nearly 250 000 units it was considered attractive economical a good value and durable they badge engineered a dodge dart swinger as the valiant scamp and in 1972 combined had the best sales of the valiant model with over 303 000 sold through the early 1970s the valiant composed more than 40 percent of plymouth's sales volume in 1974 the next generation valiant was introduced and was rebadged dodge dart and in 1975 the plymouth voler was famously introduced and was its official replacement now the valera was intended to be a more luxurious and desirable car than the dated valiant and the valaire and its aspen twin were motor trends car of the year for 1976 as well as being very well regarded by consumer reports it was downsized extensively wind tunnel tested and had many improvements made during development to reduce weight and improve fuel economy the standard engine was chrysler's 3.7 liter slant 6 with two different v8 options they sold well with 255 000 its first year 327 077 and 217 in 1978. however they developed a horrible reputation such as prematurely rusting a stalling catching on fire hoods becoming unlatched or failure of the front suspension in just its first year it had at least eight serious recalls chrysler had rushed the product to market in need of cash but sales tanked and their poor reputation and huge recall bills helped push chrysler close to bankruptcy realizing the front-wheel drive four-cylinder cars of the imports could meet new requirements that had come out chrysler introduced the plymouth horizon and dodge omni twins based on one of their european platforms they sold well and stayed on sale until 1987 but it was not enough to save the company by itself from the 1980s the story of chrysler's troubles at the end of the 70s and the beginning of the 80s are well known and well covered they were running out of cash they were near bankruptcy they hired lee iacocca and had to go to the government hat in hand to get loan guarantees chrysler had seen the coming downsizing and four-cylinder move and was preparing for it but they were running out of time the government guarantees came through the loans came in and the result was the k-car platform and plymouth got the reliant it's offered as a two-door coupe a four-door sedan and a four-door station wagon these cars catered to american tastes at the time when six passenger two bench seats and a column shifter were still desirable they had a new 2.2 liter four-cylinder and a mitsubishi 2.66 cylinder as an option interestingly the mitsubishi engine had a hemispherical combustion chamber so the 1981 model actually got a hemi badge on the front fenders heresy they sold well their first year with about 150 000 units moving and they were motor trends car of the year from 1981. in the next nine years they sold almost 1.1 million reliance in 1982 they downsized the grand fury again now sharing the m platform with the chrysler 5th avenue and the dodge diplomat this platform dated back to the 76 volere so while it lasted until 1989 the grand fury was never a huge sales success and was technologically obsolete in 1984 plymouth got a version of the new and the groundbreaking minivans called the voyager derived from the k-car it shared many components with the k cars including the instrument cluster and dashboard controls and of course its front wheel drive layout and as you know the minivan was a huge hit for chrysler and in 1987 they made cosmetic updates and introduced the lengthened grand voyager of historic note the voyager and its sibling caravan are considered the first mass produced vehicles to have dedicated built-in cup holders also in 1987 the sundance was introduced another variant of the k-car platform but now called the peabody it was originally intended to be a plymouth horizon replacement but with hyundai and hugo coming into the market they decided to make the car more substantial engines were four cylinders four cylinder turbos and later a mitsubishi 3.0 liter v6 and that was called the duster which really rubbed some people wrong sales were solid in the 75 000 per year range and it ran all the way up to 93. in 1989 plymouth got the acclaim while widely considered the replacement for the k cars the sundance was actually dimensionally closer this was based on an aa platform another stretched and heavily revised version of the k platform engines were the 2.5 liter four-cylinder making about 100 horsepower and an optional mitsubishi 3 liter with about 141 horsepower sales were okay with nearly 78 000 its first year and 110 000 at second but quickly dropped off until it ended in 1995. it's important to note here that plymouths of the 80s were merely badge engineered versions of dodge and chrysler models different wheel choices perhaps unique tail lights the plymouth grille but chrysler was increasingly doing what gm did of badge engineering their products it would just hurt chrysler far more those days of sharing a platform but having some unique body on it and some unique content really had faded away and by the 1990s plymouth had lost much of its identity and was just the cheaper less contented more boring version of dodge models plymouth's overlapped with and competed on features and price against both dodge and the eagle brand and had no unique models for themselves chrysler tried to remedy this by focusing plymouth as the entry-level brand with a new logo but advertisements that focus solely on value meant this actually narrowed down their buyer repeal even more and sales continued to fall in 1993 chrysler introduced the lh car and while i've spoken glowingly before of how fabulous these cars were plymouth was considered to get one to be called the accolade but it never did as mentioned above the sundance was cancelled in 93 and the acclaim in 95. in 1991 the second generation minivan was introduced on a largely carried over platform but in 96 the minivans were redesigned from the ground up abandoning its k-car routes and using the new ns platform and also introduced the driver's side sliding door marketing changed slightly moving the voyager to the entry-level chrysler minivan instead of being a direct counterpart opposite of the dodge caravan but with a 3 liter 150 horsepower v6 engine it has 36 times the cargo space of a porsche 911 in 1994 the breeze was introduced and built on the ja platform specifically to replace the acclaim now i've also spoken very highly of this platform and i think it's largely unappreciated but while it still sold over 230 000 units it never sold as well as the acclaim as the value line the breeze didn't offer a v6 didn't have alloy wheels didn't have leather interior body colored door handles fog lights or auto stick transmission it ultimately ended in 2000. the neon was introduced in 94 as a 95 model year vehicle it's offered as a four door and a two door and with single and dual overhead cam versions of chrysler's 2.0 liter four cylinder making respectively 132 horsepower 150 and were offered with a 5-speed manual or a newly designed three-speed it was a new car designed to directly compete against the japanese models beating them handily both in base horsepower and optional engines and handling sprightly they were very popular for racing but also had some odd option availability such as no power window option for the rear doors it sold well but was never quite the import killing home run it was expected to be the second generation neon was introduced in 2000 now the prowler was based on a 1993 concept car of the same name and was introduced in 97 as a front engine rear drive rear transmission throwback to the 1930s hot rods it had a 3.5 liter v6 from the lh sedans making 214 horsepower and in 99 got a more powerful version with 253 horsepower dramatically helping its performance while it had many features and options that made it a modern comfortable everyday use kind of car it ultimately was just a two-seater with limited luggage space to the point they even sold a trailer for it and expensive without being able to back up its looks with sheer performance the last prowler was built in 2002 having only sold 11 702 versions the pt cruiser was conceived as a unique concept for plymouth to pair with the prowler but ultimately it became a chrysler it's important to note that chrysler merged with daimler in 1998 in the so-called merger of equals and with some hindsight we can see that a company deadset on maximizing the chrysler dodge and plymouth brand's profitability partially through de-contenting the quality of the interior stifling design while we can't know exactly a value mark that has nothing more than badge engineered versions of other cars but with some low volume and individual products like the prowler must have been very unappealing to their new german masters by the late 1990s plymouth had only four vehicles the voyager the breeze the neon and the prowler peak production in 1973 of 973 000 units dropped such that the brand sold less than 200 000 with only a few exceptions after 1990. in 2001 daimler chrysler decided to drop the brand entirely after announcing it on november 3rd 1999. the last new model sold as a plymouth was a second generation dodge neon the pt cruiser as i mentioned before ended up becoming a chrysler as did the prowler and the voyager in conclusion this obviously is not a complete and in-depth history of plymouth and all of its individual models and some of those models that really gave plymouth some some pop i've not mentioned any of the trucks the trail duster the laser so many others the fact is that my memories of plymouth are the truly poor quality 70s products the near bankruptcy the legend that is lee iacocca and then after that a string of boring vehicles that were seldom more than just cheaper dodge as with other brands such as pontiac that may have had a resurgence plymouth was not killed off by a recession it was killed off by a corporation that didn't know what to do with a slow selling brand if you look at the front ends of the pt cruiser and the prowler chrysler appears to have been taking a retro approach to plymouth styling and one must wonder what would have happened if that had continued into the more bread and butter cars if they finally invested in making plymouth stand out for more than just having a low price unfortunately we will be left wondering still i ultimately think that killing plymouth off was the right move a company the size of chrysler should not have three or four brands trying to compete in the marketplace if you consider eagle in there as well consider that toyota is huge and they have two brands with toyota and lexus while they experimented with scion for a while they ultimately canceled it because they couldn't keep it fresh and keep the sales up even ford had to right size and eliminate the mercury division and it's taken about 20 years since then for their future and current and continued investment in lincoln to start to pay off in really excellent products i believe that plymouth and dodge would have forever fought for the value-minded buyer and each would end up cannibalizing each other plymouth had a long and storied brand but who really looks at a 98 breeze and thinks man i'm sorry they're gone unfortunately those days of plymouth having unique metal and being special were far in the rear view mirror by about 20 to 30 years at that point and ultimately i do think it was the right answer for chrysler daimler chrysler to cut them and refocus on their other brands it's a story for another day whether that worked out thanks for watching y'all all right thank you all for being here i appreciate it if you like this video and you want to see more just like it please support the channel please subscribe please thumbs up this video and please leave me a comment below what you think if you've got some memories of plymouth and if you've got some ideas for future histories you'd like to see and finally i need to give a big thank you to my patreon supporters who help make this possible and show their support for independent news pinions and histories thanks guys

Channel: All Cars with Jon

Views: 22,124

Keywords: car, cars, automobiles, trucks, All Cars, plymouth, plymouth cars, plymouth history, plymouth story, history of plymouth, plymouth cars history, plymouth cars story, chrysler plymouth, plymouth volare, plymouth valiant, plymouth prowler, pt cruiser, plymouth acclaim, plymouth breeze, plymouth neon, plymouth barracuda

Id: fERhQZy-oDg

Length: 23min 0sec (1380 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 08 2022