1. It appears that Studebaker tried out hydraulic brakes in ’26, just two years after Chrysler started the trend. Hydraulic appeared as an option on the big President for one year, then disappeared. The company made the switch for sure in ’35, around the same time as everyone else.
2. The ’32 Hudson Terraplane adopted a platform chassis, the first step toward unibodies. Already popular in Europe, the platform has a heavier floorpan welded to the frame beams, allowing the beams to be somewhat lighter. VW is the most famous platformer.
3. Nash’s 1941 compact 600 was the first with a true unibody, and also briefly adopted another Euro technique, the sliding pillar front suspension, direct ancestor of MacPherson. Nash took it back the next year, reverting to A-frames with coil springs.
4. I thought 2024 was Chrysler’s centennial, but it’s hardly mentioned. Google finds a lot of Chrysler dealerships called Centennial, or in the town of Centennial. Finally reached this article which is asking the same question. The answer: When Daimler bought Chrysler it redated the company’s founding to 1925 for obscure legalistic reasons of corporate continuity. When Fiat bought Chrysler it didn’t bother to undo Daimler’s legalistic trickery.
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Irrelevant sidenote: VW’s platform frame was the secret of its (mostly) watertight qualities. The Terraplane was named with aircraft symbolism and advertised by Amelia Earhart. It should have been named and advertised with nautical demonstrations like VW. Zenith’s Commodore McDonald would have been the ideal endorser since Zenith supplied Hudson’s auto radios and Hudson called its top series the Commodore.
Polistra's Mill 