Chrysler, Walter P.

Chrysler, Walter P. (Percy) (1875–1940) manufacturer; born in Wamego, Kans. He left the American Locomotive Company in 1912 to become works manager of the Buick Motor Company; he was Buick's president from 1916 to 1921, when he became president of the Willys-Overland and Maxwell Motor Company; this became the Chrysler Corporation in 1925. In 1928 he bought Dodge Brothers, Inc., and introduced the Plymouth car which had the industry's first high compression engine. When he retired in 1935, Chrysler Corporation was the second largest auto manufacturer in the world. His autobiography, The Life of an American Workingman, was published in 1937.