- Walter Chrysler
Walter Percy Chrysler was a German American automobile pioneer. He was born in Wamego, Kansas and grew up in Ellis, Kansas. He also lived in Oelwein, Iowa, where there is a small park dedicated to him. His automobile career began when the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) decided to diversify into the automobile business. Chrysler was the plant manager. ALCO had some racing success but less in the way of sales success.
- Dick Chrysler
Dick Chrysler (born April 29, 1942) is a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan. Chrysler was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and graduated from Brighton High School in Brighton, Michigan. He became vice-president of Hurst Performance and the founder and president of Cars and Concepts (which bought out Hurst), and RCI. Chrysler lost in his first campaign for the United States House of Representatives in 1992 to Bob Carr.
- Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE (May 29 1903 - July 27 2003), was an English-born American entertainer who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, on radio and television, in movies, and in performing tours for U.S. Military personnel, well known for his good natured humor and career longevity.
- Kirk Kerkorian
Kerkor "Kirk" Kerkorian (born June 6, 1917) is an American billionaire, and president/CEO of Tracinda Corporation, his private holding company based in Beverly Hills, California. Kerkorian is known as one of the important figures in shaping the city of Las Vegas, Nevada and, with architect Martin Stern, Jr. the "father of the megaresort." Kerkorian splits his time between his residences in Beverly Hills and Nevada. One of the richest residents of Beverly Hills, …
- Carroll Shelby
Carroll Hall Shelby, (born January 11, 1923 in Leesburg, Texas) is an American racing and automotive designer and former racing driver.
- Jerry York
Jerome B. York, commonly known as Jerry York, is an American businessman, and the Chairman, President and CEO of Harwinton Capital. He was the former CFO of IBM and Chrysler. He was also CEO of Micro Warehouse and joined the board of directors of Apple Inc. in 1997. He is a chief aide to Kirk Kerkorian and his Tracinda investment company. Most recently, Kerkorian helped elect York to the board of directors of General Motors, …
- Virgil Exner
Virgil Max "Ex" Exner, Sr. was an automobile designer for numerous American companies, notably Chrysler and Studebaker. He is known for his "Forward Look" design on the 1955 through 1961 Chrysler products and his fondness of fins on cars for both aesthetic and aerodynamic reasons. Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Virgil Exner was adopted by George W. and Iva Exner as a baby. Virgil showed a strong interest in art and automobiles.
- Nick Price
Nick Price (born April 5, 1993 in Dallas, Texas) is an American actor. He began acting in commercials as a child and has since appeared in films and on television, as well as doing voice over work.
- Peter Horbury
Peter Horbury is a car designer currently in charge of all design for the North American Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury brands. He was named UK magazine Autocar’s Designer of the Year in 1998 and during his 30+year career has been actively involved in the design of more than 50 cars as well as trucks, buses and motorcycles.
- Jürgen E. Schrempp
Jürgen Erich Schrempp was until December 31, 2005, the CEO of DaimlerChrysler, a German-American car and truck manufacturer. Following a decision of the board taken on July 28 2005, he was succeeded on January 1, 2006, by Chrysler frontman Dieter Zetsche. Schrempp was the architect of the merger between Daimler Benz and Chrysler, which ultimatly ended in failure. Mr. Schrempp currently resides in Munich, Germany.
- Peter Senge
Peter Senge received a B.S. in engineering from Stanford University, an M.S. in social systems modeling and Ph.D. in management from MIT. He lives with his wife and their two children in central Massachusetts. Peter M. Senge is a senior lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
- Bryan Nesbitt
Bryan Nesbitt is an automobile designer. Currently working for General Motors, Nesbitt designed the Chevrolet HHR and has been criticized for the similarity of that vehicle to his previous Chrysler PT Cruiser design for Chrysler. Since February 2004, Nesbitt has been the Executive Director at GM Europe's design center. In this capacity, he heads the GM Europe design organization, responsible for all Opel, Saab and Vauxhall design activities.
- Freeman Thomas
Freeman Thomas is an automobile designer active in the 1990s and 2000s. He worked at Volkswagen's California design studio with J Mays, where he was involved in the design of the Volkswagen New Beetle and Audi TT. He joined Chrysler in 1999 and moved to head DaimlerChrysler's Pacifica Studios in 2002.
- Lee Iacocca
Lee Iacocca became president of Ford Motor Company on this day. Iacocca joined Ford as an engineer in the 1940s, but quickly moved into marketing, where he gained influence quickly as a supporter of the Ford Mustang. Iacocca was eventually ousted from Ford on October 15, 1978. He went on to become president of the struggling Chrysler Corporation, which was saddled with an inventory of gas-guzzling road-yachts, just as the fuel shortage began.
- Burt Rutan
Elbert Leander "Burt" Rutan (born June 17, 1943 in Estacada, Oregon) is an American aerospace engineer noted for his originality in designing light, strong, unusual-looking, energy-efficient aircraft. He is most famous for his design of the record-breaking Voyager, which was the first plane to fly around the world without stopping or refueling, and the suborbital rocket plane SpaceShipOne, which won the Ansari X-Prize in 2004.
- Buddy Arrington
Buddy Arrington (born July 26 1938 in Martinsville, Virginia) was a NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup (now NEXTEL Cup) driver. He has the second most starts without a win, and manged to finished in the top 10 of NASCAR points twice; in 1979 (ninth) and 1982 (seventh). He was known as a Mopar (Chrysler vehicles) loyalist till the end. His best career finish was third at Talledega in 1979 (ironically in an ex-Petty Dodge Magnum) one lap up of Richard Petty.
- Ni Amorim
Ni Amorim is a race car driver born in Porto, Portugal on March 1, 1962. He started competing in circuit racing and rallying in 1982, but in the mid-80s it became clear it was in the race tracks he felt most at ease, becoming a mainstay in various one-make cups and the Portuguese Touring Car Championship, which he won in 1989, 1990 and 1993, driving the Poligrupo Ford Sierra RS500 and the works Opel Astra (this one in the Supertouring regulations).
- Paul Goldsmith
Paul Goldsmith (born October 2, 1925 in Parkersburg, West Virginia) is a motorcycle Hall of Famer and former USAC and NASCAR driver.
- Charles W. Nash
Charles W. Nash was a United States automobile entrepreneur. Nash was born to a farming family in Cortland, Illinois on what is now route 38 Lincoln Highway. After his parent's separation, at age 6, he worked as a farm-hand in Michigan as an indentured servent. Then a shepherd to the owner of hay-bailing machinery, then moved to Flint, Michigan where he became a supervisor at a carriage for factory in 1890. In 1897 he had a chance to drive an early automobile, …
- Jean Daninos
Jean Daninos was a constructor of luxury cars Facel Vega. He was the brother of the romancier Pierre Daninos, had founded the society Facel (Forges et Ateliers des Constructions d'Eure-et-Loir) in 1939 to realise his dream to design his own automobile. This engineer had collaborated before with Citroën for the "Traction Avant" and worked in aviation.
- George W. Mason
George Walter Mason (March 121891 - October 91954) was an American industrialist. During his career Mason served as the Chairman and CEO of the Kelvinator Corporation (1928-1937), Chairman and CEO of the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation (1937-1954), and Chairman and CEO of American Motors Corporation (1954).
- Vincent Chin
Vincent Chin (1955 - June 23, 1982) was a Chinese American industrial draftsman murdered in 1982 in the United States, in the Detroit, Michigan enclave of Highland Park by two white autoworkers, Chrysler plant superintendent Ronald Ebens and his recently laid off step-son, Michael Nitz. Raised in Detroit, Chin was the adopted son and the only child of Bing Hing Chin and Lily Chin.
- François Castaing
François J. Castaing is a 27-year veteran automotive executive with Renault, American Motors, and Chrysler. He is an engineering graduate from École Nationale Supérieure d'Arts et Métiers in Paris, and worked in Europe for Gordini and Renault before being named Vice President for Product Engineering and Development at American Motors Corporation (AMC).
- Thomas B. Jeffery
Thomas B. Jeffery (1845-21 March 1910) was an inventor and manufacturer of bicycles and early automobiles.
- Raymond Sommer
Raymond Sommer (born August 31, 1906, Mouzon, in the Ardennes "département" of France - died September 10, 1950) was a Grand Prix motor racing driver. Sommer was born into a wealthy Sedan, France carpet making family. His father, Roger, broke the Wright Brothers record for the longest flight in 1909. It was not until 1931 that Raymond started to display daredevil tendencies of his own, entering motor races in a privateer Chrysler Imperial.
- Frank Nelson
Frank Nelson (May 6, 1911 - September 12, 1986) was an American born comedic actor best known for playing put-upon foils on radio and television.
- John Samsen
John 'Dick' Samsen was a Chrysler designer most notable for his work on the Dodge Dart and Plymouth Barracuda. He has his own website, http://cardesign.homestead.com/Barracuda.html
- Mario Boano
Felice Mario Boano was an italian automobile coachbuilder. With Giorgio Alberti, he bought the Carrozzeria Ghia in Torino when their friend Giacinto Ghia died (1944). At Ghia he and Luigi Segre were central in several low-roofline designs; the Alfa Romeo 2500 CC, Lancia Aurelia (1950), Karmann-Ghia (1953), Chrysler K200, Alfa Romeo 1900SS, and some Ferrari 166 of berlinetta style.
- R. J. Thomas
Roland Jay Thomas (also known as R.J. Thomas) (June 9, 1900 - April 18, 1967) was born in East Palestine, Ohio. He grew up in eastern Ohio and attended Wooster College for two years. The need to help support his family caused him to leave college and go to work. In 1923, he moved to Detroit, where he worked in a number of automobile plants.
- Joseph W. Frazer
Joseph Washington Frazer was an early-to-mid 20th Century American automobile company executive (Chrysler, Willys-Overland, Graham-Paige, Kaiser-Frazer Corporation) and a cousin of George Washington.
- Jennifer O'Neill
Jennifer O'Neill (born February 20, 1948) is an American actress and author. Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the daughter of a Spanish-Irish businessman and his English wife. As a teenager, O'Neill worked as a fashion model and appeared in television commercials and on magazine covers. In 1968 she landed a small role in "For the Love of Ivy". In 1970 she played one of the lead female roles in "Rio Lobo" starring John Wayne.
- Ralph Teetor
Ralph Teetor (1890-1982) was a prolific (and blind) inventor who invented cruise control. He was also the longtime president of the very successful automotive parts manufacturer The Perfect Circle Co. Corporation in Hagerstown, Indiana, a manufacturer of piston rings. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1912, which surprised the faculty because they originally thought that he couldn't do the required work.
- Roger Altman
Roger C. Altman Chairman Evercore Partners, Inc.
- Miguel Arteta
Miguel Arteta (born 1965 in San Juan, Puerto Rico) is an American director of film and television, best known for his independent film "Chuck & Buck" (2000). Born to a Peruvian father and Spanish mother, Arteta grew up all over Latin America due to his father's itinerant existence as a Chrysler auto parts salesman. He went to high school in Costa Rica, but was expelled, and went to live with his sister in Boston, Massachusetts, where he learned filmmaking.
- George Burt
George Burt was Canadian Director of the United Auto Workers (UAW/CAW) from 1939 to 1968. His father was a brickmaker and active trade unionist. Burt worked as an apprentice plumber before getting a job on the General Motors assembly line in Oshawa, Ontario in 1929. Like many auto workers, his pay was so low that he was forced to go on welfare at times during the Great Depression.
- Ross Ellis
Lieutenant Colonel Ross Laird Ellis was a politician and a military man from Alberta, Canada. He primarily served in the Canadian Military. He joined in 1932 and rose through the ranks to become head of The Calgary Highlanders. He retired from active service in 1945 and bought a Chrysler dealership in High River, Alberta. Ross launched his political career in 1947 by getting elected to the High River town council.
- Juanita M. Kreps
Juanita Kreps was born in Lynch, Kentucky, on January 11, 1921. She received a B.A. from Berea College and, in 1944, an M.A. in economics from Duke University. Kreps taught economics at Denison College in Ohio and then at Duke, becoming a vice president of the university in 1973. She also became director of the New York Stock Exchange -- the first woman to hold that post.
- Charles T. Jeffery
Charles T. Jeffery was an American businessman. He was the son of Thomas B. Jeffery, founder of Thomas B. Jeffery Company, an automobile manufacturer. When his father died in 1910, Charles Jeffery assumed control of the Thomas B. Jeffery Company. Under his guidance, the firm continued to prosper. His most significant success was in the large number of heavy-duty trucks he manufactured.
- Loren Miller
Loren Miller was a civic reformer and libertarian activist in the first half of the 20th century. Perhaps Miller's most lasting contribution was his success in convincing business magnates to support libertarian causes and organizations. The most notable case was William Volker who, at Miller's suggestion, founded the William Volker Fund in 1932. Other examples included Jasper Crane of DuPont; B. E. Hutchinson of Chrysler; Henry Weaver of General Electric; Pierre Goodrich, …
- Jacob Kraemer
Jacob Kraemer (born on May 19, 1990 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada) is an actor who currently plays Ben Harrison on the show "Naturally, Sadie". He grew up playing tag and has one half-brother. In the 2003 made-for-TV movie "The Elizabeth Smart Story", he acted as one of Elizabeth Smart's brothers. Jacob's parents own a Chrysler car dealership in Ajax,Ontario.