Chrysler News

A car dealership in the Adelaide suburb of Frewville will be forced to take down its latest marketing after complaints were raised with Burnside Council. Belcar Chrysler Jeep Dodge dealership, on Glen Osmond Rd, erected a bright orange jeep that rotates atop a 12m pole last month. Burnside Council received two complaints about the jeep last month. The council's communications adviser, Jenny Barrett, said the dealership did not apply for approval. The dealership has been given until February 28 to take it down, otherwise council would take legal action. Belcar Chrysler Jeep Dodge general manager Grant Jasper said the dealership did not apply for approval as it believed it was unnecessary for a temporary structure. He said Belcar offered to submit a retrospective application and lower the pole's height. "We spoke to the council and we were just shut down," Mr Jasper said. "We were flatly told if we made an application it would be denied." Belcar staff were disappointed the "Jeep on a stick", which would have been on display for six months, would be removed.  

With the opening of Peninsula Fiat-Chrysler in Mornington, the Peninsula now has its own dedicated Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge dealership, and soon Italian iconic brands Fiat and Alfa Romeo will join it.

The facilities – set to open in August in the Gold Coast’s only dedicated vehicle precinct -- will house the group's Mazda, Hyundai, and prestige used-vehicle dealerships.They will complement the group's Southport and Tweed outlets and will comprise three showrooms, each with workshop facilities along with customer amenities. The construction project is understood to represent a $10 million investment for the company which is rolling out the facilities on a 1.5ha site at 4 Brabham Circuit.The Frizelle motor group will join the Grand Motors, Von Bibra Motors, and Hinterland Toyota dealerships at the Automall, which also is home to a number of complementary businesses. Its site was purchased at a cost of $9.57 million from RPA Properties in a deal that settled in 2011.The Frizelle group called tenders for the showroom project in October and the construction contract was awarded to Condev, which launched initial siteworks before Christmas. The showroom facilities, conceived by Design Imagery, will share 4950sq m of floorspace and 93 parking bays and each will feature display space, parts and administration areas.They will offer driveway service, house a combined 31 vehicle-servicing bays, and accommodate a range of client facilities including lounge areas and wi-fi-enabled work spaces. The two brand-specific buildings will comply with Mazda and Hyundai corporate image guidelines and all buildings will feature LED lighting to minimise power use.They also will utilise low-emission, energy-efficient glazing to minimise the airconditioning load. Rainwater will be stored for irrigation and general dealership usage. The group's dealer principal, James Frizelle, said the project represented a significant growth milestone for the business and had been made possible by the company's strong customer base."We strongly believe the market will support the expansion at Robina and we will continue to strive to provide top-level sales and after-sales care for our customers," he said. Executive Brett Frizelle said the Automall project presented a prime market area opportunity for the group's Mazda and Hyundai marques which were continuing to grow market share."We have confidence that the Coast market will continue to grow and there is the convenience factor for existing customers of the central-city location," he said. "We also see big opportunities in the used-car segment. "We expect to sell 11,000 vehicles in calendar 2013 and are trading a large number of high-quality vehicles."The Frizelle Automotive Group's dealerships also include Audi, Volkswagen, Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Skoda marques. 

Well, Chrysler has done just that with the SRT V8 Hemi 300. The big American comes with a rich and heroic heritage stretching back through a long line of famed "letter cars" which combined high horsepower and indulgent luxury. It is this lineage which lays claim to being the first "muscle car". In the early 1950s Chrysler in the USA had a dowdy image -well engineered cars but no pizzazz! They hired stylist Virgil Exner to inject some life into their car designs in order to compete with the increasingly more stylish Ford and General Motors (GM) products. Exner's first effort was the `Forward Look' cars of 1955. The range topper in that year was a 'hero' car called the 300 to mark it as the first American production car to have a motor that produced 300 horsepower. Exner's basic premise was simple. Combine attractive and distinctive styling, excellent engineering, a high level of luxury, a big motor delivering outstanding performance then sell them at a nice premium price to people with lots of money. Hence they acquired the label of the "bankers' hot rod". Come 1957 and Exner excelled himself with a range of wide, long and low cars with towering fins. Chrysler's advertising agency came up with the slogan "Suddenly, it's 1960" and sales exploded. The 300C was the most stylish of these stylish automobiles. It is a well document fact that Exner's 1957 cars frightened GM so much they threw out their planned 1959 models and completely restyled every car in the entire range. By 1961 the letter cars-they were now up to '300H'-contained massive 413 cubic inch engines which catapulted them to 100kmph in a little over seven seconds. The letter cars ceased to be part of Chrysler's line up in 1965. Facing competition from Pontiac's cheaper and sexier GTO and a gang of other muscle and pony cars, the 300L was the last of the breed. Letter cars can vary in price. A couple of years ago, a rare 1960 300F went for almost half a million in the USA. A reasonable 300C fetches near $100,000. David Burrell is the editor of www.retroautos.com.au  

...off the coast of Massachusetts, USA. How did it get there? Built in 1956 it was a four-seat, two door hard top coupe. It was destined to be Chrysler's featured attraction at American auto shows in 1957, headlining the arrival of the Virgil Exner styled new, low, lean line of cars. Although designed by Chrysler's stylists, the actual construction was contracted out to the Italian coach-building firm of Ghia. Exner liked Ghia's ability to produce low-volume vehicles and one-off prototypes, and they done a couple of previous show cars for him. Chrysler wanted a fully drivable vehicle, not just a rolling mock-up, so all normal systems for the power train, braking, suspension, were installed. What made this car really different was its revolutionary cantilevered roof, which was secured to the body only at the rear C pillars. There were no "A" pillars on this car. Quite simply, the windscreen supported the roof at the front. There was a power sunroof as well, an advanced feature at the time, which was difficult to integrate into a slender roof structure with no structural support at the front. The door glass was ventless, a styling theme that would become popular some ten years later. Because of the complexity of the Norseman it took Ghia a full year to construct the car. When the car completed it was shipped by Ghia to New York City in July 1956 on the ocean liner SS Andrea Doria, which was involved in a collision off the coast of Massachusetts with the MS Stockholm heading the in the other direction and sank, with the loss of forty-six lives and all cargo. Compounding the loss of the car and lives on the ship was that Xner had been admitted to hospital having suffered a heart attack days before the ship sank. When told of the situation he was philosophical and more concerned for the lives lost than for his car. Divers have been exploring the Andrea Doria since it sank. It lies on only 150 meters of water not far off the Nantucket coast, and some have claimed to have seen the Norseman in the ship's car hold, rusted to a hulk.  

Bands bicker over what holds tracks together: guitars or drums. We find out which rules a different kind of track. The coffee-heads over at Ice Break thought a drag race was the only way to settle the deep-rooted guitars vs drums battle for supremacy.Facebook fans were along for the ride and helped customise two classic Australian muscle cars to represent the two camps – and which will be the prizes in a coming competition. The guitarists were championed by a 1973 VJ E44 Valiant Charger 318 V8, modified to take two in-built Marshall amps in place of the back seats, a custom guitar holder in the trunk, a wah-wah pedal accelerator and a colour-shifting Harlequin paint finish.Drummers were represented by a 1970 XY Ford GT Replica 351 V8, with a snare drum air intake built into the bonnet, a Zildjian cymbal steering wheel, a fully adjustable drum hardware roll cage, and a bass drum beater gear shift.Sydney’s Eastern Creek Dragway was the battleground, with the winner supposedly settling once and for all who holds the track. Aussie muscle car fans have the chance to win the two cars – plus two more that will fight a future battle. Log on to Facebook/com/icebreak for more details. 

But back in the day they made big news in the USA. They are widely recognized as the first truly modern car. In the early 1930s Walter P. Chrysler decided to make a definitive statement by marketing a truly unique car to the US buyers to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the founding of the company which bore his name. Mr Chrysler gathered his three favourite engineers, Carl Breer, Fred Zeder and Owen Skelton and gave them the task of designing an aerodynamic car. Form and purpose was to drive function and styling. Chrysler said it was how cars would be built, ride and look in the future. The engineers decided that the passenger compartment should be cradled between the axles so that rear seat passengers were not subjected to a harsh ride while perched over the rear axle, as was the case in all other cars of the time. This was achieved by moving the engine forward over the front wheels by ten centimetres. Cabin space was dramatically improved as well and the Airflow was the first American car to seat three abreast in comfort. While cars of the day still had wooden frame bodies attached to a heavy chassis, the Airflow featured a steel truss famed body welded to a lightweight chassis. This delivered surprising rigidity and passenger safety for the era. The suspension was also a departure for conventional wisdom. The engineers lengthen the front and rear springs, delivering that classic American car "boulevard" ride-soft, cushy and isolated from the road. All the other manufacturers followed, quickly. Not content with all of that innovation, it was the first car subjected to serious wind tunnel testing. Orville Wright supervised it all and the results determined the Airstream's very different shape. Too different a shape, as it turned out. Despite rave reviews at the New York Auto show in January 1934 the rounded, sloping nose and tear drop rear end did not find favour with the buying public. Sales never met expectations and within 18 months a companion model, the Airstream, was released with a less radical front end. But the damage was done and by 1937 the Airflow was withdrawn. An Airflow prototype still exists today. It is on display at the Chrysler Heritage Museum in Detroit. It's painted a dull brown but its future focus is evident when compared to other cars of the day. An Airflow was driven in the 1953 Redex Trial. There are less than ten currently in Australia. Toyota's first car, launched in 1936, was a slightly smaller copy of the Airflow. www.retroautos.com.au

General sales manager Bruce Partridge said the sales, service and parts teams had a wealth of experience and knowledge in all things automotive, combined with an unrivalled enthusiasm for the brands to share with every customer that visits."At Salters Chrysler Jeep Dodge we pride ourselves on exceeding the expectations of our customers, providing the best in service, sales and care,'' he said. "From buying the perfect car for a customer and their family to providing its 200,000km service, Salters Chrysler Jeep Dodge will be there every kilometre of the way."We look forward to welcoming customers to Salters Chrysler Jeep Dodge.'' The Salters brand lives on at Moorooka following the acquisition of the iconic car yard by Centenary Motors last year. After 37 years on the Moorooka Magic Mile, Alex Salter retired, but the dealership continues to trade under the Salters name, including new and used Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge vehicles. 

The American brand is claiming a record result for the 12 months to the end of May, thanks to the best Jeep performance since the 1990s.Chrysler is also about to light a showroom afterburner with the long-overdue return of its flagship 300C - which has been missing from the lineup for more than a year - and the addition of new SRT8 performance versions of the C-car and Grand Cherokee.The bottom-line number from June 2011 to May 2012 is 15,528 vehicles, a 30 per cent increase over the same period a year earlier. “We are delighted with the group’s sales to date, which show a very strong, consistent rate of growth,” says Clyde Campbell, managing director of the Fiat Chrysler Group.He is one of the keys to the change, taking over the reigns just as Chrysler Jeep Australia was rolled into the global Fiat Chrysler Group and driving everything from a wider model lineup to the shift to a new inner-city corporate headquarters in Melbourne.There is sill a lot of change to come, with doubts over the local future of the Dodge nameplate and a massive expansion of the Fiat family with backing from Europe, but Campbell is optimistic. "The rest of the year looks to be an absolute stand out for the Chrysler and Jeep brands," he says.Reviewing the results for the past year, Campbell says Chrysler Jeep deliveries of 11,931 vehicles in the 2011 calendar year was the best bottom line since 1994 - when the brand was still in the hands of a private importer, Astre Automotive.The arrival of the all-new Grand Cherokee, which is finally a Carsguide recommended vehicle thanks to a new approach to quality and comfort, powered it to the top of the Jeep chart with 5590 deliveries. But Campbell says the introduction of two-wheel drive versions of the Jeep Compass and Cherokee also made a significant contribution to the local growth.