Mother Mopar: The History of Chrysler, Dodge, and Plymouth

The Early Days of Chrysler

In the early days of the horseless carriage, hundreds of start-ups were launched by inventors, engineers, stylists, and businessmen, but few of them would last through the Great Depression. One businessman with a track record for successfully running car companies was Walter P. Chrysler, who had run Buick, then saved the Willys brand in the early 1920s. In 1924 he launched the car bearing his name, built on the remains of the Maxwell-Chalmers Company with ideas he had been working on with his engineers at Willys.

The 1924 Chrysler 70 featured quite a few advanced features for its time, including a high compression six-cylinder motor with full pressure lubrication, plus oil and air filters. Of particular interest to us here at Wilwood was Chrysler's introduction of four-wheel hydraulic brakes, a first on automobiles, engineered and patented by Malcolm Lockheed. Chrysler also engineers invented the modern safety bead wheel, which keeps the tires from coming off in the event of air loss.

In 1928 Chrysler launched other marquis to compete in other markets, starting with the low-priced Plymouth and the medium-priced DeSoto. Chrysler purchased the Dodge Brothers Automobile and Truck Company in 1928, as well as Graham Brothers Trucks and Fargo Trucks, so Dodge became a medium-priced car just below DeSoto. Chrysler truck offerings were marketed under both the Dodge and Fargo name.

Chrysler continued to push technology and styling, culminating in the streamlined Airflow cars of 1934 from Imperial, Chrysler, and DeSoto. Adopting smooth styling seen on art deco streamlined locomotives, these cars were wind-tunnel tested with help from Orville Wright. Besides the innovative styling, featuring grilles that flowed into the front fenders, the structure was also innovative. To provide a better ride, the rear seat was moved in front of the differential, which required everything else to move forward and gave the car a near 50/50 weight distribution. Unlike most vehicles at the time, the Airflows used no structural wood and a minimal frame, with the body providing most of the support, which allowed the car to sit lower.

Unfortunately, the look was too advanced for the conservative market at the time and lasted just four years. The Airflow market failure could be why Chrysler became known for the most conservative company styling into the 1950s. Plymouth was famous as the car that won't knock your hat off, with its stodgy styling or its high roofs, when others were going lower and wider.

By producing tanks and aircraft engines during WWII, Chrysler gained valuable insight into what was needed to make more horsepower. The first Chrysler Hemi V8 was introduced in 1951, and it soon became a legend for its performance. The engine had potential horsepower way beyond what came from the factory, and with a supercharger, it quickly became a favorite of drag racers. Chrysler, DeSoto, and Dodge all got their own, different, Hemi engines, which powered the company's top-performing cars until 1958. While many people call the 1964 Pontiac GTO the first muscle car, the 300hp Chrysler's 300 in 1955 really launched the factory horsepower wars, along with the 1956 DeSoto Adventurer and Dodge D-500, powered by dual quad Hemi V8s

Exterior styling remained relatively conservative, but the chassis moved forward with unibody designs and torsion bar front suspension. Then for 1957, the stylists at Chrysler were allowed to swing for the fences, with new designs that were so out there the advertising slogan was "Suddenly it's 1960!" The look of the 1957 Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto, Chrysler, and Imperial lines was such a game-changer, when GM saw them, they scrapped their 1959 and 1960 designs and started over with a clean sheet of paper.

Wilwood Brakes for Early Chryslers

Wilwood doesn't catalog any disc brake kits for these early Plymouths, Dodges, DeSotos, Chryslers, or Imperials, but that doesn't mean you can't upgrade to Wilwood disc brakes. We are adding kits all the time, and the modular nature of our hubs, hats, and rotors often means a kit for your car is just a matter of creating a caliper bracket. Visit the Referral Page on our website, contact us for more information, and submit your request.

Chrysler A-Bodies

Compact cars like the Rambler and VW were becoming more popular, so Plymouth introduced the smaller Valiant in 1960 with a 101hp Slant Six engine. The following year Dodge introduced a compact Lancer model on the same platform. The Dodge Dart began as a full-size car in 1960, but by 1963 it would replace the Lancer as Dodge's compact. Mopar's A-body platform would prove to be versatile, underpinning the first Plymouth Barracuda in 1964, and the 1970s Scamp and Duster, and the Dodge Demon.

Several weeks before the Ford Mustang in 1964, the sporty fastback Plymouth Barracuda was released as a Valiant spin-off. The curved rear glass, which set Plymouth's sporty car apart from the Mustang, was the largest single piece of glass used on a production car at the time. The Dart and Barracuda's base engine was the lackluster Slant Six, but a 273 cubic inch V8 with 180 hp was readily available. The higher performance Dart, called the GT, and Barracuda Formula S came out in 1965 with Commando versions of the 273 making 235 hp.

The Barracuda, Valiant, and Dart were all updated for 1967, and with the smoother sheet metal came more room under the hood. Now savvy buyers could get a 318, 340, 383, 440, or even 426 Hemi in their 'Cuda or Dart, though some were only sold directly to drag racers, not ordinary customers. Mopar still did not have a real direct competitor to the Mustang or Camaro in road racing, but they did have the Dart GT/GTS and Barracuda Formula S if you wanted to race Trans-Am or even SCCA rally events.

Wilwood Brakes for A-bodies

If you want your A-body to stop as well as any other car in modern traffic, Wilwood has a kit for you - even if you plan on keeping your 14” wheels. Forged Dynalite Pro Series Front Brake Kit 140-11022 works with factory 9-inch drum brake spindle and adds 11-inch traditional or drilled and slotted rotors with four-piston Dynalite calipers in red or black powder coat to your Lancer or Valiant on Wilwood's billet aluminum hubs. For drag racing, the Dynalite Front Drag Brake Kit 140-2712 combines a lightweight solid 10.75-inch rotor with an aluminum hub and forged Dynalite four-piston race calipers to save up to 30lbs off of your front end.

For later Valiants, Scamps, Dusters, Barracudas, Demons, and Darts with the factory 10-inch drum brakes or discs, similar kits are available. For 10-inch drums, the Dynalite Pro Front Kit is 140-11023, and the Dynalite Front Drag Kit is 140-2713. If you are lucky enough to have a car with factory disc brakes, the Dynalite Pro Front Kit is 140-15459 with 11-inch rotors, or you can upgrade to kit 140-15461 with bigger 12.19-inch rotors and the same Dynalite calipers.

Numerous rear disc brake kits are available to match the front and mount to your Mopar or Dana rear axle, with an internal drum parking brake. You can find them all listed here: Mopar/Dana rear disc kits.

Chrysler B-bodies and E-bodies

An overheard conversation amongst GM executives led to Chrysler's significant changes for 1962, with the Plymouth Savoy and Belvedere, and Dodge Dart and Polara lines moving to a smaller, 116-in wheelbase B-body platform. It turned out that GM's Ed Cole had been discussing the new intermediate cars coming in 1961 like the Pontiac Tempest and Buick Special, not the full-size line, but Dodge and Plymouth dealers were left with an awkward smaller lineup. The 1962 Dodge Dart and Polara were not showroom stars, and the Dodge Custom 880 was quickly whipped up from the back half of a 1962 Chrysler and the front of a 1961 Polara to give Dodge a proper full-size offering.

Luckily, though smaller, the B-body cars were still big enough to race in NASCAR and NHRA competition. The lighter weight and aerodynamic shapes helped them win against GM and Ford, especially when the 426 Hemi V8 appeared in 1964. These cars gained a little size over the years but still maintained an advantage in weight and handling over actual full-sized models. Eventually, the B-body would form the basis of performance-oriented versions of the Dodge Charger and Coronet, and Plymouth Road Runner, GTX, and Satellite.

Back when winning a NASCAR race actually increased sales the next week, and the race cars were based on stock factory bodies, it was essential to be competitive. When the Charger lost its fastback shape for 1967, Dodge racers found it wasn't as fast on the big tracks. The Plymouth Road Runner had also changed its body style, but without much change in NASCAR. Windtunnel testing revealed the Charger's tunneled rear window created turbulence and drag, and that inset front grille wasn't doing them any favors either.

The next season the limited edition 1969 Charger 500 came out with a new flush-mounted rear window. A grille and headlights from a 1968 Coronet pushed forward in the nose punched through the air easier. Dodge made 392 of these cars to qualify them for NASCAR racing, but Mother Mopar was only just getting started.

After extensive wind tunnel testing, Dodge and Plymouth released the Charger Daytona and Plymouth Superbird on the public and NASCAR competition. Big pointed nose cones were added with hidden headlights, plus rear wings, which mounted more than 2 feet above the trunk. Again these wild bodies were sold to the public to make them legal for racing, but few people wanted to drive them on the street. Other NASCAR teams and carmakers cried foul, and these winged warriors were only briefly allowed to race before the rules were changed, limiting them to just 305 cubic inch motors.

Ford, GM, and even AMC competed fiercely amongst themselves in the popular SCCA Trans-Am for three years, while Mopar fielded warmed-over Darts and Barracudas. This all changed with the B-Body based, 1970-74 E-body Dodge Challenger and Plymouth Barracuda pony cars. With a low and wide body, and shortened B-Body platform now known as the E-body, these cars were immediately popular on the road and track. The look of these cars was so perfect, Dodge essentially re-released it on a modern platform in 2008.

Most people agree 1970 was the high water mark for muscle cars, but Mopar had all-new B-body designs for 1971, with a still respectable amount of power. The Plymouth Satellite, Road Runner, and GTX were all back, and though they were slightly larger, they were more aerodynamic and could still be had with huge V8s, even the 440 and 426 Hemi. The Dodge Charger was back as well as the Coronet, with all two-doors badged as Chargers (including the Super Bee) and sedans and wagons called Coronets, offering similar engine choices. But smog regulation and insurance premiums, not to mention the oil embargo of 1973, stifled these once strong muscle cars' performance year after year. Thanks to their slippery shape, though, this era of Chrysler B-body was quite popular in NASCAR, and according to Richard Petty, is the favorite of his career.

Wilwood Brakes for B-bodies and E-Bodies

Because so many popular cars from Chrysler were based on the B-body, and the platform was used for so long, there are a plethora of brake kits available from Wilwood for it. Most of these fit the 1970-72 E-body Dodge Challenger and Plymouth Barracuda as well, though later models use the kits for the A, B, F, and J body covered later.

For four-piston Dynalite based kits, you can choose from kit 140-11020 with 11-inch rotors to fit over 14-inch wheels, kit 140-9828 with 12.19-inch rotors for 15-inch and larger wheels, or lightweight drag race kit 140-2711 with a solid 10.75-inch rotor. Drag racers will also be interested in the Dynapro Lug Mount Dynamic Front Drag Brake Kit 140-14422 with floating 10.75-inch rotors and the hard-anodized Dynapro four-piston caliper.

Big brake kits with six-piston calipers are available too, with rotors from 12 to 14-inches in diameter to stop these big heavy cars. Kit 140-10740 uses a forged Dynapro six-piston caliper and a 12.91-inch diameter rotor, but still clears most 15-inch wheels. If you are using 17-inch or larger diameter wheels, kit 140-12282 pairs the six-piston Superlite caliper with a 12.88-inch one-piece rotor, while kit 140-10815 uses a lighter 12.88-inch rotor and aluminum hat combination. Or, for the ultimate in brakes for your pro-touring Mopar, bolt on Forged Narrow Superlite 6R Big Front Brake Kit 140-10816 with billet radial-mount six-piston Superlite calipers and huge 14-inch rotors, in slotted or drilled and slotted styles.

Because these cars use popular Mopar 8 3/4-inch and 9 3/4-inch rear differentials, there are more than a dozen different rear disc kits to fit. You can find them all listed here: Mopar/Dana rear disc kits.

Chrysler C-body Brakes

Chrysler's big C-body cars offered America an attractive, better handling option at just about every price point in the 1960s. Even with Dodge and Plymouth downsized for 1962, and DeSoto's demise a year earlier, Chrysler sold a considerable number of big cars in the 1960s and 70s. At the top of the line, Imperials and Chrysler Newports and New Yorkers gave Cadillac and Lincoln a run for the money. If you wanted luxury and performance, or luxury in a family wagon, the Chrysler 300 and Town and Country were at the top of your list. Dodge had the Monaco and Polara, and Plymouth had their Fury line, all of which were hugely popular with law enforcement, thanks to their superior handling and strong performance into the 1970s - watch any cop show from the era, and you'll see what everyone is driving.

Wilwood Brakes for C-bodies

Wilwood has various disc brake upgrade kits for the 1965-72 C-body, as long as you are using the factory drum brake spindles. If you have a factory disc brake-equipped car, you will have to contact us via our Referral Page to see if we can create a kit for you. Numerous rear disc brake kits are available to match the front and mount to your Mopar or Dana rear axle, with an internal drum parking brake. You can find them all listed here: Mopar/Dana rear disc kits.

For a simple disc brake upgrade, with four-piston Dynalite calipers, Wilwood offers kit 140-15196 with 11-inch rotors that work with most 14-inch wheels, or kit 140-15197 with 12.19-inch rotors that fit behind most 15-inch wheels. Or move up to six-piston calipers with the same 12.19-inch rotors with the Dynapro Front Big Brake Kit 140-15198. All three of these kits are available with red or black powder coated calipers and plain or drilled and slotted rotors.

For even more extreme braking needs, Wilwood has six-piston Superlite caliper kits in two sizes. Kit 140-15199 pairs Superlite calipers with 12.99-inch rotors, either slotted or drilled and slotted, and should fit behind 17-inch wheels. Kit 140-15200 upgrades the rotors to massive 14-inch diameter units for maximum braking.

Chrysler in the 1970s and 1980s

The triple whammy of safety, environmental, and fuel economy demands put the brakes on the fun early in the 1970s. Many of the old cars continued but gained big, heavy, government-mandated "five mph" bumpers, or lost a good deal of power. The Chrysler Cordoba first appeared in 1975 as a luxury version of the new Dodge Charger, based on the smaller B-body platform. Both cars were aimed at the personal luxury coupe market ruled by the Chevy Monte Carlo, Pontiac Grand Prix, and Ford Thunderbird. Though not as fast as the 60s muscle cars, they were both equipped with V8s and sold very well throughout the 1970s. For 1980 the Cordoba was all new, and the Charger became the Mirada, both with more angular body styles popular at the time and downsized to ride on the J-Body platform, a modified version of the Volare and Aspen F-body.

The Plymouth Volare and Dodge Aspen had appeared in 1976 to replace the Valiant, Duster, and Dart at the base of the Mopar family tree. This new small car platform still used torsion bars up front, but now they were L-shaped and ran across the frame for tighter packaging. Power was still from the venerable Slant Six in base models, but the 318 ci and even the 360 ci V8 were options in the Road Runner or R/T models. These cars suffered from quality control issues but still sold well, and today can be made into solid performers with updated engines and modern tires.

When the first oil embargo caused everyone to panic about fuel economy, it was just Chrysler's bad luck to be introducing new, larger, full-sized cars for 1974. Hurting due to the lack of sales, smaller full-sized Mopars were hurried into development but didn't appear until the 1979 model year. Revisions to the old B-body platform, originally from 1962, created the R-body, which was the basis of full-size Chrysler Newport and New Yorker, Dodge St. Regis, and Plymouth Gran Fury sedans (added in 1980). These were quite popular with fleet buyers, and not only because they shared so much with older B-body cars they had previously bought.

The Chrysler M-body platform was similar to F-body and J-body platforms and underpinned nearly all their rear-wheel-drive cars in the 1980s. The Dodge Diplomat appeared in 1977, in coupe, sedan, and fake wood-sided wagon, and was made until 1989, becoming their mainstream sedan for police and taxi fleets. Plymouth had the Gran Fury sedan that was nearly identical to the Diplomat from 1982-1989. Over at Chrysler, the M-body was sold as the LeBaron, Town and Country, New Yorker, and Fifth Avenue over the years. The age and primitive nature of these Mopar platforms and powerplants (they were still using the Slant Six and 318 V8) directly contributed to the Chrysler Corporation needing a government loan in 1980 to stay in business

Wilwood Brakes for Later B, E, F, J, M and R-bodies

The fact that Chrysler kept using the same platforms, with minor evolutions, means the same brake kits fit many, many different models and years. If you are going to build a drag car out of one of these malaise-era Mopars, Forged Dynalite Drag Front Brake Kit 140-2719 will take up to 30 pounds of the front of your car and stop at the end of the strip with a four-piston Dynalite caliper and 10.75-inch rotor. For street-driven vehicles, there are two different sized Dynalite based kits. Kit 140-15465 gets you a set of four-piston calipers and 11-inch rotors, in plain or drilled and slotted style. Move up to larger diameter rotors with kit 140-15468, which features the same Dynalite caliper with 12.19-inch rotors.

These later rear-wheel-drive Mopars have not gotten the love the earlier muscle cars have, but that just means they are still inexpensive when you find them. If you have dreams of a pro-touring Cordoba or Mirada and need bigger brakes, chances are we can make you a kit. Visit our Referral Page and contact us for more information.

Modernization, FWD, and the K-Car

In 1979, after a management shake-up, Lee Iacocca took over as the head of Chrysler. He had big plans, based on brisk sales of the small FWD L-body Plymouth Horizon and Dodge Omni, created with help from their European division, which he briskly sold off to concentrate on the US market. Using the L-body as a starting point, Chrysler, Dodge, and Plymouth introduced the all-new front-wheel-drive, fuel-efficient midsize K-cars for the 1981 model year to immediate success. As the years passed, this platform would spin-off more than 50 different models, including the market-changing minivans in 1984. While most of these cars were boring transportation appliances, there were notable turbocharged performance bright spots over the years, some even tuned by Carroll Shelby.

Chrysler purchased American Motors (AMC) in 1987 to get the profitable Jeep lineup, which would quickly become some of Chrysler's most popular products. Jeep and AMC's history is a topic for another day, but along with the Wrangler, Cherokee, and other Jeeps, came the Eagle Premier, which would eventually become the basis for the successful Chrysler LH sedan platform. The "cab-forward" LH cars for 1993 made Mopar a player in the large sedan market in a way they hadn't been since the early 1970s. The Eagle Vision, Dodge Intrepid, and Chrysler Concorde, New Yorker, LHS, and 300M all featured modern V6 engines, four-speed automatics, and were competitive with the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Ford Taurus, and GM sedans.

In the 1980s, before the LHS cars, Chrysler, Dodge, and Plymouth soldiered on with mostly K-cars and K-car related vehicles. Chrysler had sold badge engineered Mitsubishi vehicles for years, even before the Omni, Horizon, and K-car, but in 1989 they started a joint venture called Diamond-Star motors. The first car they produced was the sporty Plymouth Laser/Mitsubishi Eclipse/Eagle Talon in 1990, which really marked the return to exciting cars for Mopar, with optional turbos and all-wheel-drive. Dodge didn't get a version of this car but instead got the larger Mitsubishi 3000 based Stealth, which in top of the line R/T form had AWD and a 300hp twin-turbo V6. The Mitsubishi relationship also contributed to the Dodge Avenger and Chrysler Sebring coupes of 1995.

Wilwood Brakes for FWD Chryslers

As you might imagine, there is not much demand for high-performance brakes to fit the Chrysler K-cars. However, Wilwood does have a high-performance brake pad for the stock front calipers of various LHS based cars and some minivans. Look up your year, make, and model on the Brake Pad Page.

If you have a second-generation Diamond-Star car, the Mitsubishi Eclipse or Eagle Talon, or 1995-2000 Sebring or Avenger coupe, Wilwood offers kit 140-8292. This kit features four-piston Dynapro calipers in red or black powder coat and 12.19-inch plain or drilled and slotted rotors.

Chrysler Heading Into the 21st-Century

The K-car platform could still be found under Chrysler products into the 1990s, but in 1995, all-new Dodge and Plymouth Neons shook things up. These cars shared nothing with the old K-cars or any Mitsubishi, but managed to be more affordable and better performing than just about anything on the market in their class. The Neon American Club Racer (ACR) package was not only a clever name either; these cars were specially equipped for SCCA autocross and showroom stock racing. Power for all the Neons was from a 2.0 liter 4 cylinder with SOHC and 132 hp, or DOHC with 150 hp, which was more than a Dodge Diplomat V8 had a decade earlier.

While the Chrysler Corporation was working hard to develop new modern cars that people wanted to buy, they were mostly ignoring their trucks and vans. The Dodge pickup trucks sold into the 1990s were very similar to those introduced in 1972, and the van was even older. Mopar got serious about trucks with the 1994 Rams, featuring macho styling inspired by big rigs, which looked like nothing else on the road and catapulted their sales numbers back into the same league as Chevy and Ford. Particularly popular were the 3/4 and 1-ton models with the same Cummins turbo diesel 6BT engine used by actual over the road trucks.

The full-size Ram Van lasted from 1971-2003, with just minor updates every few years to meet safety and smog regulations. The Ram Van wouldn't be so lucky as to get a macho new look. After the merger with Daimler-Benz, it would be replaced by the Mercedes Sprinter, with a Ram logo applied. Later after the merger with Fiat, the Fiat Ducato became the Ram ProMaster.

Much like the genre-bending Chrysler minivans of the 1980s, the PT Cruiser of 2001 was hard to classify but easy to sell. Based on the Neon platform, this retro-styled wagon was practical, because of its cargo room, and at the same time fun, because of its styling. Chrysler literally sold a million of them in the ten years they were on the market, not including the convertibles. Despite its cartoon looks, the PT Cruiser was sold with GT and Turbo versions that were no joke on a twisty road.

Some sparks of performance flared up during these years, the most notable being the 1991 Dodge Viper. The Viper was conceptualized as a bare-bones American sports car like the original Shelby Cobra, but unfortunately, there was no rear-wheel-drive platform to build it on. While it was an exciting looking car, and certainly fast because of the powerful motor, it featured suspension (and six bolt wheel hubs) repurposed from the front of a Dodge Dakota truck. The V10 engine was based on the architecture of the old LA 360 ci engine dating to 1964.

The 1997-2002 Plymouth/Chrysler Prowler was the second notable performance car. Many people discounted the Prowler because it "only" had a V6, but that motor put out more than 250 hp most years, and modern cars are rated in net horsepower. Muscle cars were rated in gross horsepower, so the Prowler was as fast as many 1960s Mopars rated at more than 300 hp in the glory days.

Wilwood Brakes for PT Cruiser, Ram, and Others

Wilwood does not currently stock a big brake kit for the early modern Ram trucks or vans, or the Viper, or the Prowler, but you can contact us through our Referral Page; we may be able to make one for you. If you have a PT Cruiser, or the Neon SRT-4, Wilwood offers the Forged Dynalite Front Big Brake Kit 140-6376 with red or black four-piston Dynalite calipers and 12.19-inch rotors, in plain or drilled and slotted.

The Daimler-Chrysler Years

In 1998 Daimler-Benz purchased the Chrysler Corporation in what was called "a merger of equals" but was pretty much a takeover by the German firm. However, Mercedes had some assets the folks at Chrysler were very happy to get access too - modern rear-wheel-drive platforms! Things had been so bad that when Dodge had developed the Viper, they were forced to borrow from the Dakota truck platform. With Mercedes modern RWD expertise, a new breed of Chrysler 300, and Dodge Magnum, Charger, and Challenger could be born.

A new Hemi V8 motor was developed thanks to Mercedes' cash infusion, and first appeared in Ram trucks in 2003. This 5.7-liter Hemi V8 was the first new V8 from Mopar since the LA had appeared in 1964. In 2005 Chrysler's new 300C debuted with a Hemi, a Mercedes sourced five-speed automatic, and four-wheel-independent suspension, which borrowed heavily from the Mercedes parts bin. Simultaneously, a low-slung station wagon from Dodge called the Magnum was released on the same platform. The next year the Dodge Charger was reborn as an exciting American RWD sports sedan. Then, in 2008, the Dodge Challenger appeared on a shortened version of the Chrysler LX platform, with a body looking like a time traveler from 1970.

Wilwood Brakes for Modern Mopars

Modern cars typically have much better brakes than the golden days of the muscle car era, but Wilwood still has upgrades. If you plan on driving your 2005-11 Challenger, Charger, Magnum, or 300 on the track, bolt on the Aero6 Big Brake Front Brake Kit 140-11764. This kit features advanced six-piston calipers and huge 14.25-inch rotors, in slotted or drilled and slotted styles. The matching rear kit 140-11765 features four-piston versions of the Aero caliper, and 14.25-inch rotors mounted to a hat that works with the OE parking brake.

Wilwood has big brakes for more recently produced 2011-16 Chargers, Challengers, and 300s as well. Kit 140-14067 puts the Aero6 calipers and 14.25-inch rotors on the updated front spindles, and kit 140-14068 is the matching set up for the rear.

Wilwood has the added stopping power you need when towing and hauling when it comes to late-model Ram trucks. For the 2013-18 Ram1500, the TX6R Truck Big Front Brake Kit 140-15807 pairs six-piston calipers with 16-inch rotors to fill 20-inch wheels and stop a heavy load. The matching four-piston kit 140-16026 for the rear features 15-inch rotors and an internal parking brake.

Stellantis and the Future of Chrysler

Daimler-Benz had killed the Plymouth brand in 2001 and restructured the remaining Chrysler brands into a much more viable business (which is how the Plymouth Truck Cruiser became the PT Cruiser and the Prowler became a Chrysler). Mercedes began to untangle itself from the Chrysler brands in 2007, and after a few years owned by a private equity firm, Chrysler merged with Fiat. In 2020, Fiat Chrysler merged again, now with Peugeot and Citroen's parent company, to form Stellantis. This unites Chrysler with the company that bought out their European operations back in the 1970s when Peugeot took over the Rootes Group and Simca. While we have no idea where things will lead from a business angle, they seem to be headed nowhere but up in the horsepower department, with supercharged Hellcat Hemi V8s making more than 700hp installed in everything from sedans, to Jeeps and pickup trucks.