STLA ignores Chrysler centennial, celebrates Abarth’s 75th

Former tuner brand Abarth will be turning 75 years old soon, and Stellantis is celebrating the anniversary with a special exhibit within its Heritage Hub in Turin. The exhibit will have 38 vehicles including the first 500 tuned by Carlo Abarth, which set six records at Monza. (No Abarth vehicles are currently sold in the United States or Canada.)

The former Chrysler Museum is now the American headquarters of Alfa Romeo and Maserati; Chrysler maintains exhibits for internal and occasional media use at the former Viper (and before that, spark plug) plant on Conner Avenue. The first Chrysler was a 1924 model on sale for most of that year; it was dubbed the B-70. The “B” was likely because the first Chrysler car was developed at Willys in New Jersey, but its birth was prevented by John North Willys’ move to have the company put into receivership. Walter Chrysler and the trio of engineers who led its development later moved to Maxwell Motors and put it into production there.

DaimlerChrysler spuriously changed Chrysler’s anniversary from 1924 to 1925, when the Chrysler Corporation holding company was created in a purely financial move to clear up the stocks and accounts of Maxwell and Chalmers; but the Chrysler marque and its product line dates to early 1924. To date, Chrysler (the marque) and FCA US (the parent company) have not recognized any present or forthcoming anniversary.

David Zatz

David Zatz started what was to become the world’s biggest, most comprehensive Mopar site in 1994 as he pursued a career in organizational research and change. After a chemo-induced break, during which he wrote car books covering Vipers, minivans, and Jeeps, he returned with Patrick Rall to create StellPower.com for daily news, and to set up MoTales for mo’ tales.

David Zatz has around 30 years of experience in covering Chrysler/Mopar news and history, and most recently wrote Century of Chrysler, a 100-year retrospective on the Chrysler marque.