Dodge within Chrysler: industry and engineering

In 1928 Chrysler merged with Dodge Brothers, gaining its foundries, its truck business and an outstanding dealer and distribution network. The change ended independent Dodge ownership but not the Dodge name, which continued as a brand within Chrysler's growing portfolio.

The decades that followed brought eight-cylinder engines, wartime manufacturing, and a wave of postwar models that carried Dodge into the 1950s.

Like the rest of the American auto industry, Chrysler turned to the war effort during the Second World War. Civilian car production was halted in 1942, and the company built mainly trucks, tanks, aircraft parts, guns, ammunition and bombs. Dodge's own history records that its production during the first half of the 1940s included radar units and Sperry gyro compasses.

By 1945 Dodge had returned to building vehicles, and it produced its five-millionth automobile in 1946. The full-size Dodge Meadowbrook and Coronet were introduced in 1949, and by 1950 Dodge had launched its first hardtop coupe, the Diplomat.

1950 was also the year a Dodge first entered a NASCAR race. In 1953 Lee Petty earned Dodge's first NASCAR victory.

Dodge operated as one of several Chrysler brands. In 1928 Chrysler also began dividing its vehicles by price and function, creating Plymouth for the low-priced market and DeSoto for the middle of the range, which placed Dodge within a structured family of makes.

Dodge began producing its first eight-cylinder engine in 1930 and offered its first factory car radio the same year. That eight-cylinder engine was discontinued in 1934.

According to Dodge's brand history, the "Red Ram" HEMI engine was introduced in 1952 as the first V8 in a Dodge. The last first-generation HEMI engine was produced for Dodge by 1958.

By the end of the 1950s Dodge was an established Chrysler brand. Its mid-decade concept and specialty vehicles included the Firearrow roadster and the La Femme coupe, a pink-and-white car marketed to women.