Plymouth hit the market in July of 1928, as Walter Chrysler's first foray into the world of affordable entry-level automobiles. The name Plymouth--despite the use of a Mayflower ship logo--wasn't inspired by the pilgrims landing on a rock. It came from something more contemporary. "Every farmer uses Plymouth Binder Twine. Let's give them something they're familiar with!" Chrysler said after a meeting with other company executives. Joe Frazer, pre-Graham president and Kaiser-partnership days, made the suggestion.
In national car sales, Plymouth placed 15th in 1928, but quickly moved to 3rd by 1931 thanks to an all-new design. The Plymouth PA cost $2.5 million to develop and roll out--a high price during the first years of the Great Depression. The Floating Power method of engine mounting was introduced on the PA, significantly reducing engine noise and vibration. It was quickly adopted for all Chrysler offerings, and was used for the next 28 years.
Plymouth's sales spot would remain in the top three until 1961, even taking the number two spot... View more from Ford in 1940 and 1941. Immediately following WWII, Plymouth, like most American car companies, again produced pre-war designs in an effort to quickly get new cars into the hands of returning GIs. Virgil Exner's corporate-wide "Forward Look" theme in the mid-'50s brought with it styling cues never before seen in entry-level Plymouths. An advertising tagline used in 1957 was "Suddenly, it's 1960".
The first Barracudas were an option package on the Valiant in 1964; they became completely separate models in 1967. 'Cuda was a trim option in 1969 and became the marketed name for the high-performance models. Perhaps the most well-known Plymouth of the muscle car era was the E-body Hemi 'Cuda. During the muscle car market boom in the mid-2000s some of the rarer examples--'70 and '71 convertibles--were selling for well over $1 million. Brand recognition and sales were at an all-time high in the early '70s, and production for the brand would peak at 973,000 units in 1973.
Starting in the mid-'70s, Plymouths would increasingly become badge-engineered versions of Dodges and Chryslers. The early Plymouth Volare, and sister-car Dodge Aspen, were plagued with poor production quality. In 1978, every '76 and '77 Volare would be recalled for possible replacement of prematurely rusting front fenders. Lee Iacocca admitted in his autobiography that the car was probably rushed too quickly to the market. Plymouth's Valiant K-car would help save the company following the 1979 government-backed $1.5 billion loan guarantee program. But the sales success wouldn't hold.
By the late '90s, only four offerings were in Plymouth's model lineup; the Acclaim, Neon, Voyager/Grand Voyager and Prowler. Within a year of the Daimler-Chrysler merger, higher-ups decided to discontinue the Plymouth brand. Sales rarely reached over 200,000 cars any production year in the '90s; minivans sold better, but far below Dodge Caravan level. 2001 was Plymouth's final year, the Neon being the only model in the line-up remaining after the Prowler and Voyager were shifted over to Chrysler. That compact car totaled 38,657 units built in 2001, before production ceased and the Plymouth brand folded. View less
Imagine that the engineers at Chrysler were given a blank check to design their ideal sportster or hot rod. The end result of such a real-life scenario was the Plymouth Prowler, a retro-styled car produced in...
