It’s now been over two decades since Chrysler pulled the plug on Plymouth. After a very promising start, Plymouth had become Chrysler’s volume brand, but it never reached the heights of rivals Ford and Chevrolet, and it eventually faded to irrelevance. Recently, I learned that a car alleged to be the last Plymouth ever built still survives (and had gone up for auction in 2021), so I thought I would compare it to one of the very first Plymouths, a 1928 Model Q four-door sedan.
Unlike Ford and Chevrolet, Plymouth was never an independent automaker or a standalone brand, and it was a relative latecomer to the low-price field: It was introduced in mid-1928 as Chrysler’s cheaper model line, allowing the Chrysler brand to move further upmarket while also leaving space for the equally new DeSoto line. (How Dodge fit into that schema is a much more complicated question for another post.)
The early history of Chrysler is somewhat convoluted. The Chrysler Corporation was essentially born from the wreckage of two older automakers, Maxwell and Chalmers. Maxwell — best known today to fans of comedian Jack Benny — had gone bankrupt in 1920, and in 1921, its receivers had appointed dynamic auto industry veteran Walter P. Chrysler as the company’s new chairman. As Chrysler and Maxwell president William R. Wilson reorganized and revived Maxwell, the separate Chalmers Motor Car Company, with which Maxwell had been closely if rather unhappily associated since 1916, also went bankrupt, with the same receivers. Maxwell bought Chalmers in December 1922 and merged their sales organizations as the Maxwell-Chalmers Sales Corp.
Having revived Maxwell, Chrysler could have similarly revived Chalmers and moved on, but he had great ambitions of establishing his own car company, under his own name. The first Chrysler car, the six-cylinder B-70, was developed in 1923 by Fred Zeder, Owen Skelton, and Carl Breer — Chrysler’s “Three Musketeers” — and designed by Oliver H. Clark. It debuted in January 1924, replacing the existing Chalmers line. At first, the Chrysler was sold by Maxwell dealers, but on the strength of its initial success, Chrysler was able to raise the money to buy out the assets of Maxwell Motor Corporation through the new Chrysler Motor Corporation, which was incorporated on June 6, 1925.
Chrysler’s next step was to replace the four-cylinder Maxwell with a new four-cylinder Chrysler, the 58, which debuted on June 27, 1925. This was more or less the old Maxwell with a new name and a lower price, retaining the 170-cid (2,794 cc) L-head four. The same was true of the subsequent Chrysler Series 50, although its wheelbase was shortened 3 inches, to 106 inches, which then carried over to the 1927–1928 Series 52.
The first Plymouth, which went into production in June 1928, was the direct successor to the Chrysler Series 52. Along with its new name, it boasted updated styling, a longer wheelbase, a bit more power (now 45 hp), three-point rubber engine mounts, and a reinforced frame and axles.
The Model Q was 169 inches overall on a 109.75-inch wheelbase, somewhat bigger than a Ford Model A or a contemporary Chevrolet; Chrysler called the Plymouth America’s lowest-price full-size car.
Chrysler claimed the Plymouth had a top speed of about 60 mph, although the press kit stressed how comfortable it was at more rational speeds of 25–30 mph.
Plymouth’s biggest claim to fame was standard four-wheel hydraulic brakes, now with Lockheed expanding drums. All the six-cylinder Chrysler models had used hydraulic brakes from the start (albeit originally with contracting drums), but “juice brakes” were still uncommon on cheaper cars; Henry Ford famously mistrusted them. The earlier four-cylinder Chrysler models had mechanical brakes, and on the rear wheels only, so the Plymouth Model Q was a definite step forward in stopping power.
Chrysler allegedly chose the Plymouth name for its association with the Pilgrims and Plymouth Rock, but general sales manager Joe Frazer later told Richard M. Langworth that the name was really inspired by the Plymouth Cordage Co., whose rope and twine had a strong reputation, especially with farmers. Amusingly, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office denied Chrysler’s trademark application in February 1929, saying the Plymouth name couldn’t be registered because it was geographical.
These first Plymouth cars were known internally as Model Q, although I didn’t find any indication that they were marketed that way. They were identified as “Chrysler Plymouth,” suggesting a model line rather than a brand, and until March 1930, they were only sold through Chrysler dealers. Chrysler introduced the new model in a show at Madison Square Garden in New York on July 7, with famous aviator Amelia Earhart driving a Plymouth.
Contrary to what you might expect, the Model Q Chrysler Plymouth was not a particularly inexpensive car for its class. Here are the original base prices, FOB Detroit:
- Roadster (rumble seat): $670
- Coupe (rumble seat): $670
- De Luxe coupe (rumble seat): $720
- Two-door sedan: $690
- Touring: $695
- Four-door sedan: $725
- Chassis-cowl: $490
At the time, the prices of a Chevrolet National Model AB ran from $495 for a roadster to $675 for a four-door sedan, while a Ford Model A ran from $480 to $585 — a price difference of $100 or more was not a small amount of money at the time. In August, Chrysler then increased Plymouth prices by up to $15, citing higher labor costs, only to slash certain prices by up to $40 in late December. (The magazine ad pictured above reflects the increased prices.)
Nonetheless, Chrysler had an outstanding reputation, and excitement was very high. Chrysler sold 29,490 Plymouths during the 1928 calendar year, with total Model Q production eventually totaling 66,097 cars. This didn’t include the new Fargo Packet, a half-ton truck riding the Plymouth chassis and using the Plymouth four. Chrysler could probably have sold more cars except that the Highland Park assembly plant was now very badly overextended. That August, Chrysler began planning the new Lynch Road plant, which would be online by January 15, 1929, expanding Plymouth production capacity to 500 cars a day. Chrysler also contracted with Hayes Body Corp. to produce Plymouth bodies. (Early bodies and some later ones were built by Briggs.)
The Model Q was replaced in February 1929 by the Model U, which was now simply called Plymouth, not Chrysler Plymouth. Sales for the 1929 calendar year rose to 84,969. By 1931, Plymouth would be No. 3 in the industry, now sold by Chrysler, DeSoto, and Dodge dealers.
I should emphasize that the blue four-door sedan pictured above is not the FIRST first Plymouth (nor do I know its build date). The actual first Model Q off the line is not known, and whether the first car still survives intact is anybody’s guess. For many years, Chrysler had a 1928 Model Q De Luxe coupe that they represented as the first Plymouth, but after that car was eventually sold, its subsequent owner discovered that its build date was not early enough for it to have really been the first, or even one of the first.
By contrast, the silver 2001 Plymouth Neon IS alleged to be the actual last Plymouth-badged car to come off the assembly lines before Chrysler closed the book on the Plymouth brand in 2001. It’s an LX sedan with the 5-speed manual transmission, but equipped with nearly every other option on the list, including antilock brakes, side airbags, a CD changer (remember those?), and leather upholstery.
The original sticker price was $19,150, including destination charge, but aggressive factory discounts brought that down to $18,210.
Introduced in 1994 as an early 1995 model, the first-generation Neon was arguably the first really competitive compact car a domestic automaker had offered in years, with cute styling, excellent interior space for its size, a fine chassis, and decent power from a 122-cid (1,996 cc) engine. It wasn’t the most refined car in its class, but aggressive pricing (starting at just $9,500 in 1995) made it seem like a great value.
Unfortunately for Plymouth fans, it also marked a new low for the brand: Other than badges and the names of certain trim levels, there was no difference at all between the Dodge and Plymouth versions of the Neon.
The Neon could have been a real winner, but overzealous cost-cutting left it with some persistent reliability woes, including an appetite for head gaskets and exhaust manifold “donuts” that it took Chrysler forever to resolve and that made the Neon a risky choice as a used car or for drive-it-till-it-wears-out owners.
Chrysler introduced the second-generation Neon in early 1999 as a 2000 model. It was a bit bigger than before, with less-cutesy styling and some mild upgrades, although it was now sold less on merit than on price: You could have a 2001 Neon LX with ABS and side airbags for around $2,500 less than a similarly equipped Honda Civic EX.
By the time the second-generation Neon arrived, Chrysler had already decided to phase out the Plymouth brand. Despite its strong start, Plymouth never really overcame its companion-make status. When also paired with DeSoto and Dodge as well as Chrysler (as it was through 1959), Plymouth had more total dealer franchises than Chevrolet or Ford, but those dealers seldom had a reason to push Plymouth very hard if a prospect could be shifted to the more expensive make. In later years, Chrysler could seldom resist the temptation to sell its more interesting products (like the Cordoba, the LH cars, or the PT Cruiser) with Chrysler badges instead. I always saw Plymouth as the budget version, with near-zero brand equity. Chrysler eventually concluded the same thing.
The second-generation Neon was not terribly different in overall size from its 1928 Model Q ancestor. Stretching 174.4 inches from bumper to bumper, the Neon was 5.4 inches longer, but on a 4.75-inch-shorter wheelbase. It was much lower than the Model Q sedan, of course, but, surprisingly, its 2,559 lb base curb weight wasn’t terribly different.
The 2-liter Neon engine was much more powerful than the old 2.8-liter four, making 132 hp to the L-head engine’s 45 hp. Like its ancestor, the last Plymouth could be had with above-average brakes: The standard Neon disc/drum brakes were nothing special, but ordering ABS (standard on the sportier Neon R/T) got you strong four-wheel disc brakes, plus traction control and a tachometer.
By 2001, the Neon was the sole remaining Plymouth — the Voyager minivan had been rebadged as a Chrysler starting in 2000. According to Automotive News data, dealers were still selling Plymouth-badged leftovers through the end of 2001, but it was the final year for the Plymouth brand. (The second-generation Neon continued in Dodge form through 2005.) Plymouth calendar year sales for 2001 totaled 31,234, surprisingly close to what Plymouth managed in its debut season back in the latter half of 1928, when it had seemed to have such promise.
Related Reading
Curbside Classic: 1936 Plymouth – I Can Take It For A Spin? (by Paul N)
Vintage R & T Review: 1995 Plymouth Neon Sport “Tarnished By Opening Night Jitters” (by Rich Baron)
Curbside Classic: 1997 Plymouth Neon – Brightening Up The Compact Class (by Brendan Saur)
Curbside Classic: 2001 Plymouth Neon LX – “Hi” Turns To “Hello” (by Brendan Saur)
I would have expected the last model out of the production line to be saved for a museum (the Chrysler museum had opened a few years before); to fade away in total obscurity is undeserving of a brand that for better or for worse sold millions of cars.
It really shows how little Daimler-Chrysler thought of Plymouth