The short wheelbase Deluxe was replaced with the entry-level Concord while its long wheelbase brother morphed into the Champion. The top of the Plymouth hierarchy was now occupied by the Cranbrook.
While other automakers were starting into their "longer, lower, wider" years, Mopar styling in the early Fifties was still resolutely upright, with tall greenhouses, largely due to the insistence of Chrysler's then chairman, K.T. Keller, that a gentleman should be able to operate a motor vehicle while wearing his hat.
K.T. Keller had a lot to do with the design of Chrysler's vehicles from the time he became president in 1935 until he retired from the presidency in 1950. Whenever mock-ups of new cars were displayed Keller would show up with a hat and two dairy containers in tow. As well, Keller was not a thin man, although not as hefty as George Mason at Nash. Keller would climb into the front seat of each car wearing his hat and jounce around. The stylists would be standing at the sides, watching Keller's hat. For if his hat hit the ceiling, the car's roof line would have to be raised. And he would do the same in the rear. Once that was done, he would open the trunk and put his dairy tanks in and close the lid. If the lid closed, the stylists breathed a sigh of relief. If not, work would begin to raise the trunk line. And now you know why Chrysler's trunks and rooflines were so high through 1954. The 1955 models were the first since the 1937 models not done under Keller.The '51 and '52 Cranbrooks were powered by Chrysler's 218 cubic inch flathead straight-six, the basic architecture of which dated back to 1924. Installed in the 1952 Cranbrooks, like the Lido Green sedan in the photos, it was rated at 97 SAE gross horsepower, and backed with a column-shifted three-speed manual transmission.
This one was photographed with a Fujifilm X-T2 and an XF 16-80mm f/4 R WR OIS zoom lens in April of 2022.
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