Dodge Legends (continued)

Dodge Legends also offers a perspective of many aspects of Dodge lore and legend:

• The Dodge Brothers launched their car with an innovative advertising campaign that became a classic. Legendary adman Theodore McManus simply rented billboards across the country. On them first appeared the words "Dodge Brothers." After time had elapsed, sign painters returned to add "Motor Cars" as the next line. After another curiosity-building interval they returned to add the final line: "Dependable." The campaign brilliantly capitalized on the Dodges' fame as suppliers of Model T mechanical parts, and generated intense public interest. The cars backed it up.


• The Dodge Brothers never tried to sell cars based on top speed; their first car "chugged' out of their plant in 1914 with an engine whose basic design lasted until 1928. But they built a durable car and drive train, and that made Dodge cars suitable for racing, especially rough and tumble dirt track racing. By the 1920s Dodge vehicles-some fitted with special 16-valve overhead cam cylinder heads sold by makers of racing equipment-were a familiar and successful fixture on dirt tracks.


• Dodge cars remained "dependable" and, by extension, practical into the 1950s when American affluence made "practical" obsolete in the U.S. market. Virgil Exner revamped Dodge's fusty styling for 1954 and Dodge's version of Chrysler's HEMI V-8-dubbed the "Red Ram"-also became available. Dodge's suddenly sporty image led to its first Indianapolis 500 pace car. Soon Dodge was selling its own version of the Chrysler 300, the D-500. From there NASCAR, drag racing and, ultimately, Vipers running at LeMans, were part of the Dodge image.

The 55,000 square foot Walter P. Chrysler Museum is on Chrysler's Auburn Hills, Mich. complex. The Museum offers three stories of more than 65 vintage, classic, muscle and concept vehicles interspersed with interactive displays and historical exhibits. The Museum also features a 125-seat movie theater highlighting three continuously running short films and a Gift Shop brimming with exclusive and hard-to-find scale models and collectibles.

The Walter P. Chrysler Museum is located at Featherstone and Squirrel Roads and is accessible from I-75 at exit 78.

Museum admission is $6 for adults and $3 for seniors and children 6 - 12. Admission for children five and younger is free and group rates are available. There is no additional charge for Dodge Legends.

The Museum is open 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Tuesday - Saturday and noon - 6 p.m. Sunday.

Visit the Museum's Web site at www.chryslerheritage.com or call 888-456-1924 for further information.

Download a list of exhibition vehicles

Download complete details about exhibition vehicles