You could never mistake this Chrysler 66 for anything but a child of the 1930s. Picture gangsters, gas street lamps and Josephine Baker performing the Charleston at the Follies Bergere. The year 1930 was a momentous year for Chrysler founder, Walter P. Chrysler. Not only was the 66 launched, but also the Chrysler 70. And, oh, he also opened the classic art deco tower, the Chrysler Building in Lexington Avenue, Manhattan.

At 77 storeys tall, or 1046 feet, it was then the world's loftiest skyscraper ... for a short time. It was built in the halcyon days of architecture in one of the world's great cities. From the mid-level corners of the building he marketed his success with five metre long chromium-nickel steel-winged radiator caps, similar to those that adorned his cars. Even today the Chrysler building, although dwarfed by the Empire State Building opened just a short time later, is a sight to behold. So is this 1930 Chrysler 66 doctor's coupe.

Ever wondered why these two door classics are called doctor's coupes? It was a matter of practicality. In those days doctors commonly made house calls. If a patient was giving birth in the middle of the night it was a lot quicker to start a car than to saddle a horse.

This magnificent 66, owned by Steve and Joy Pulford, has been fitted with just about every Chrysler option from 1930. The 66 played second fiddle to the 70 which was an upmarket variant offering luxury items from the even more luxurious 77. The 66 was in today's terms an `entry level' Chrysler. Not that you would know it to look at. This car has front and rear bumpers, dual side-mounted spare wheels, wire-spoke wheels, pedestal side mounted (on the spare wheels) mirrors, and parking/fog lamps mounted on chrome stirrups where the rear of the bonnet meets the body. There's even pouches on the inside of the doors.

Finished in a dashing red with splashes of black with white spoke wire wheels, and white side walls, this Chrysler 66 stands out in a crowd. Adorning the bonnet is the classic Chrysler radiator cap winged emblem that still exists today in a vastly modified form. The cap comes from the well-known radiator cap designer, George Stant. The wings were inspired by a viking helmet. It's this emblem that to this day adorns the Chrysler Building in New York City.

 

That Walter Chrysler was even making cars in 1930 is quite remarkable. Just a year before was the stock market crash and coupled with the Great Depression many car makers did not make it to the late 1930s. Chrysler was one of the many characters to grace America's automobile landscape in the 1920s. He learned his mechanical skills working on the Great Midwestern railroads and later purchased and tinkered around with a Locomobile he bought around 1908.

 

In a few years he worked his way up to be plant manager of Buick before being elevated to the top job at the GM brand. Chrysler and GM boss Billy Durant did not see eye-to-eye, so Chrysler left. He was hired to sort out problems at Maxwell/Chalmers and by 1924 acquired the company and that same year produced the first car to bear the Chrysler name. That car was powered by a straight six – an engine Chrysler would develop for years.

 

His cars were cutting edge with a lot of technology featuring four wheel hydraulic brakes, full-pressure oiling, styling that goes without saying and highly competitive pricing. In 1927 production was at 180,000 plus, a remarkable increase from the meagre 32,000 in 1925.

 

Chrysler has always been known for tough drive trains. That culture started with the straight sixes way back in 1924 and continued with a number of variants of different cubic inch capacity. The 1930 Chrysler 66 had two evolutions, one early and one later in the year. The 112.75 inch wheel base 66 cars were first fitted with a 195.6 cubic inch straight six later replaced with a 218.6 cubic variant. This was the engine from the early 1930 '70' car. The first `66' engine produced 65 hp @ 3200 rpm while the second had 68 hp @ 3000 rpm. The largest engine in 1930, a 309.3 cubic inch version was confined to the top-of-the-line Imperial 6. The bore/stroke in the smaller `66 ' engine was 3 1/8 “ by 4 ½ “ while the larger engine had the same bore, but the stroke was taken out to 4 3/4”.

That Chrysler even exists in 2010 borders on the miraculous. It's had more than it's fair share of ups and downs in an industry known for dynamic changes. To see why it exists you need to return to Walter P. Chrysler back in the 1920's when he founded the company. He built what would become the third member of the `Big Three' – Ford, GM and Chrysler. A lesser player would have folded decades ago, as many did. The bottom line is the Chrysler name has currency which is why it has been supported, rescued, resuscitated so often in it's long history. That history involves some magnificent vehicles including our featured Chrysler 66.We photographed this car at the 2009 Gold Coast Autorama at Mudgeeraba hosted by the Gold Coast Antique Auto Club, where it won `Best Vintage' in it's first outing. Steve bought the car in Melbourne around 10 years ago and took it off the road in 2005 for a four year restoration. This included optioning up the car with the Chrysler extras from the 1930s. The car's history is undertain to the 1960s when it was on Queensland's Atherton Tablelands. It was for sale in Brisbane in the late 1960s and underwent a restoration in Melbourne in 1976.