Up next in 10
The 1924 Chrysler Story
448 views
Jun 6, 2025
What makes the 1924 Chrysler B-70 so special, other than being 101 years old now! Our view on some key features—engine, suspension, brakes, and more! It was higher performing, more reliable, more convenient... all the things you'd want from a Chrysler!
View Video Transcript
0:00
hi this is Dave from stellpower.com and
0:03
from motel.com and also the writer of
0:06
the book Century of Chrysler which
0:08
covers 101 years of Chrysler from 1924
0:13
when the original Chrysler car the B70
0:16
was launched all the way up to 2025
0:19
which is where we are now 101 years and
0:22
today let's talk about the Chrysler B70
0:25
because it was an amazing car now I
0:27
could start this history by talking
0:29
about Maxwell Motors which started out
0:31
in 1904 and was the first builder of the
0:33
Chrysler i'm not going to go too deep
0:35
into that walter Chrysler was a very
0:37
well-known turnaround artist when he was
0:39
put in charge of the Willis plant in New
0:43
Jersey in Elizabeth he found there the
0:45
three musketeers as they called
0:47
themselves Zader Skelton and Breer who
0:50
had designed a wonderful new car he got
0:52
it named the Chrysler he got everything
0:54
in place and then John North Willis
0:57
wanting control of Overland back shut
0:59
down the entire New Jersey and put it
1:02
into bankruptcy and Walter Chrysler
1:04
moved on but Chrysler set up the three
1:06
engineers and the people who they worked
1:08
with as a separate organization then
1:11
Chrysler moved on to Maxwell Motors
1:13
which was also having trouble and had
1:15
hired him in as a highly paid
1:17
troubleshooter chrysler had Zader
1:19
Skelton and Breer fix the Maxwell car
1:21
fix the many problems that it had had
1:23
when he took over Maxwell Motors while
1:25
at the same time they continued
1:27
developing the new Chrysler and they
1:29
were able because of the delay from when
1:32
they would have made the car for Willis
1:33
they were able to make a much better car
1:36
and this was the second Chrysler that
1:38
they had tried to sell that they had
1:39
gotten really close to so they named it
1:41
the Model B because the first car that
1:44
they were going to make at Willis was
1:46
the Model A this was the Model B and
1:48
then they named it after its top speed
1:51
because they were really proud of the
1:53
high compression engine it had it could
1:55
actually go 74 mph but just to be safe
1:58
they rated it at 70 and that was an
2:00
incredible speed it actually was first
2:03
Chrysler the B70 was about Buick level
2:06
in price but it was a much better car
2:09
than the Buick because it had the
2:11
four-wheel hydraulic brakes as well the
2:13
first mass production car to have one
2:17
not counting the Chalmer's which they
2:19
had tested the hydraulic brakes on and
2:21
not counting any other automakers which
2:24
did a limited run of hydraulic brakes
2:26
that didn't really work because the
2:28
hydraulic brakes that they used they had
2:30
to bring it from a great idea that
2:33
didn't work to a great idea that worked
2:35
under any conditions and that was up to
2:37
Carl Brerier and his team in R&D the B70
2:40
went on sale at about $1,200 for the
2:43
coupe 1,500 or so for the Roadster and
2:46
$2,200 for a Crown Imperial sedan that
2:48
held five passengers a Maxwell would run
2:51
you about $500 as would a Chevrolet uh
2:55
the highest Chevrolet was 775 for Deluxe
2:58
Coupe so you can see that this that it
3:00
was not competing with Chevrolet buick's
3:02
generally cost around $1,500 right in
3:05
the middle and weighed about the same so
3:08
Buick had two vehicles a four-cylinder
3:10
and a six-cylinder and their
3:12
six-cylinder was just about where the
3:14
Chrysler was in price that is so what
3:17
else did the Chrysler have it had 20%
3:19
higher compression than most engines of
3:21
the time it had an air cleaner standard
3:24
which was also highly unusual it had a
3:27
squish area in the combustion chamber
3:28
and clever spark plug placement which
3:30
was the result of many many single
3:32
piston engines with different combustion
3:34
chamber designs all being tested by
3:37
Zeter skeleton and brerier so you got 68
3:40
brake horsepower or gross horsepower
3:42
using the really lousy low octane fuel
3:45
that was then available its top engine
3:47
speed was 3200 RPM which was higher than
3:50
any American passenger car engine at the
3:52
time except for the Duesenberg overhead
3:54
cam engine according to Chrysler engine
3:56
designer William Weirman and it was
3:58
hooked up to the usual 3-speed manual
4:00
transmission an optional replaceable
4:03
element oil filters was an absolute
4:05
first for cars it uh had 201 cubic in
4:09
and it was fed by a vacuum system so
4:11
there was no fuel pump that came later
4:13
generally speaking cars did not have
4:15
fuel pumps in those days the generator
4:17
was driven by the timing chain so you
4:20
were supposed to adjust tension by
4:21
listening to the engine as it ran
4:23
tightened it until it hummed and then
4:25
loosen it until the hum stop the intake
4:27
manifold was surrounded by an exhaust
4:29
gas jacket so it would quickly heat up
4:31
and vaporize any leftover liquid fuel
4:34
that was a Carl Brer idea and the
4:36
thermometer was right in the dashboard a
4:38
first for a mass market car most of them
4:41
used aftermarket thermometers that were
4:43
bought by the owner and and replace the
4:45
radiator cap so although they went up to
4:47
$3,700 for a town car nearly every
4:50
Chrysler in 1924 was under
4:53
$2,000 and they ran from 2730 to
4:57
3225 they had a wide wide range of
5:01
models as was normal for the time all of
5:03
them again metal wrapped over wood
5:05
options included bumpers trunk rack
5:08
spare tire white walls touring trunk and
5:11
an outside rearview mirror so these were
5:13
not luxury cars by Packard or Hudson's
5:16
standards but their features were
5:18
basically performance engineering and
5:20
convenience no dashboards with polished
5:22
walnut but it really excelled in
5:25
performance so just for an example the
5:28
1924 Dodge brothers car had similar
5:31
pricing but mechanical brakes and 35
5:34
horsepower engines so they quickly won
5:36
the Mount Wilson Hill Climb Test just
5:39
like the first year Maxwell had and then
5:42
they sent a driver out to set track
5:44
records all across the country according
5:46
to Carl Brerier they sold 32,000 of
5:48
these 1924 B70s and Carl Brerier said
5:52
people like them because they could
5:54
drive as fast as they dared but the car
5:56
would stay right with them and seemed to
5:57
ask for more so that's a wrap-up of the
6:00
1924 Chrysler B70 and what made it
6:02
special i hope that you will come and
6:04
see me talk about the early Chryslers at
6:07
the Chryslers at Carile 100th
6:09
anniversary celebration of the 1924
6:12
Chrysler in 2025 that's in mid July and
6:16
I hope that you will take a look for my
6:18
book Century of Chrysler or my other
6:20
books on Mopar minivans titled Mopar
6:24
Minivans and on the Dodge Viper and on
6:27
various Jeeps at dave.z us i'll see you
6:31
later
#Autos & Vehicles
#Chrysler
#Classic Vehicles
#Custom & Performance Vehicles
#Jeep
#Motor Vehicles (By Brand)
#Ram Trucks