(EXPANDED FROM 4/10/2020)
If Dodge: 100 Years represents the future of automotive history, then we’re in real trouble. What we have here is a lavish display of mindless car porn and marketing babble.
That’s an admittedly harsh judgment given how highly polished this book is in terms of format, photography and the technical aspects of editing. The basic problem is that for all of the flashing lights and loud syncopation, there’s no journalistic there there. Insightful analysis is simply not on the menu. And how about them fact errors?
Also see ‘David Burrell’s take on downsized 1962 Dodge and Plymouth gets partway there’
100 Years was authored by Matt DeLorenzo. He has a great deal of experience as an automotive writer and editor. For example, DeLorenzo has been an editor of Autoweek and the editor-in-chief of Road & Track.
So what happened? Was 100 Years heavily edited by the mighty marketeers of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, who owned Dodge when the book was published in 2014? I get that it takes money to live, but why did DeLorenzo undercut his journalistic reputation by associating with such a bad book?
DeLorenzo covered a century with lots of happy talk
100 Years is an oversized, hard-cover book stretching more than 190 pages. Yet through it all, seldom is heard a discouraging word about a marque that has had its share of ups and downs. Actually, more than its share.
For example, 100 Years tells us that the “late 1950s was a tumultuous time in the industry. The economy, wracked by recession in 1958, saw industry sales plunge across the board. Dodge production in 1958-59 was less than half of what it produced in 1956-57, but there were also some significant, high-visibility failures, including the launch and fairly quick demise of the Edsel” (p. 75).
Notice how 100 Years shifts the focus away from Dodge to the economy — and another automaker’s more visible disaster. No mention was made of Dodge’s quality-control issues and increasingly bizarre styling.
By the same token, the much-maligned 1962 Dodge was described thusly: “Though still based on the full-sized Dodge chassis, the Dart continued to be downsized and took on a much smoother body with flowing character lines” (p.92).
That’s fascinating spin — the, ahem, downsized 1962 models were a stylistic improvement over the 1961s! No wonder Chrysler’s design chief Virgil Exner got a promotion. (Not.) With that, it’s on to discussing muscle cars such as the Dodge Charger.
Behold, a postmodern historical narrative!
You can’t use 100 Years as a reference book partly because too much history is left out. To make matters worse, the narrative zig-zags around in confusing ways. This is not one of those old-fashioned books where the storyline is laid out in a sequential fashion. Instead, what we have here is a postmodern romp through the past.
Also see ‘1971-74 Dodge Charger: Making the most of a questionable idea’
As a case in point, the first chapter is — logically enough — “The Dodge Story Begins.” However, the second chapter, “Technology in Motion,” embarks on a whirlwind tour from the 1920s to 2014. A dozen pages of bite-sized info nuggets are concluded with this comforting assurance: “Technology has changed, but the continuing desire to improve the product has remained a constant at Dodge” (p. 29).
So much glossiness, so little fact checking
You also can’t trust all of the book’s factual details. Here are three examples of basic errors that a knowledgeable fact checker could have easily caught:
- A 1963 Dodge is described as retaining a 116-inch wheelbase (p. 93). Not true — the wheelbase was stretched this year to 119 inches as part of a rapid-fire restyling. This was in response to the weak sales of the downsized and odd-looking 1962 models.
- A 1968 Charger is described as having a “fuselage-style body” (p. 97). Nope. The fuselage look — which the Charger didn’t offer until a major redesign in 1971 — mimicked an aircraft, with dramatically rounded side sheetmetal that arched into the roofline, resulting in relatively flush windows and a roofline that was more integrated into the rear fenders.
- A 1973 Polara is described as “intermediate” in size (p. 108). Actually, the Coronet was Dodge’s mid-sized car; the Polara was the brand’s entry-level big car.
Yes, but DeLorenzo stayed relentlessly ‘on message’
The producers of 100 Years seemed to be most focused on making the book visually appealing — and staying “on message.” I think they easily achieved both goals. As a case in point, one of the book’s last pages includes a well-composed photograph of a 2014 Dodge Dart GT (remember those?). The adjoining text concludes by stating that a 1972 ad campaign still sums up the marque: “Dodge. Depend on it” (p. 187).
Good job on such a highly polished . . . product! I do, however, have one lingering question: Why should readers pay good money for a book-length ad with fact errors about an automaker’s own cars?
Dodge: 100 Years
- DeLorenzo, Matt; 2014
- Motorbooks, Minneapolis, MN
“While Chrysler has long had a reputation for being an engineering-driving company, some of that reputation can be traced back to Dodge Brothers. When Walter P. Chrysler acquired the firm in 1928, one of the first ad campaigns was titled, ‘What Chrysler engineers have found out about Dodge Brothers.’ The campaign extolled the technical expertise of its newest division, and as a result, Chrysler technical firsts would also be Dodge technical firsts.” (p. 21)
“While the 1950s are known for their flash, a more lasting legacy of this era was the introduction of the Red Ram V-8 engine. The HEMI engine would come to define the very essence of Dodge performance throughout the 1960s, and the cars powered by this engine helped burnish the division’s reputation for building fast cars that were poised to become cultural icons in their own right. The Dodge Rebellion was about to begin.” (p. 76)
“The introduction of the Dart is the dawn of a new era at Dodge and provides a fitting cornerstone for a future that will continue to break ground with cutting edge technology without losing sight of the traditional values that have stood the division in good stead for a century.” (p. 181)
OTHER REVIEWS:
ADVERTISING & BROCHURES
- oldcaradvertising.com: Dodge (1931, 1963)
- oldcarbrochures.org: Dodge Polara (1973)
This review was originally posted on Jan. 2, 2015, expanded on April 10, 2020 and Nov. 11, 2022.
Too many of the American books on the auto industry contain serious errors and poor writing, in addition to “fanboyism” in place of actual analysis backed by facts.
I’ve purchased British books on various aspects of Ford’s English operations, as well as British books on specific English Ford models. They are of much higher quality from both an accuracy and editorial standpoint than recent American automotive books.
The new American books are also inferior to American automotive books written in the 1970s, 1980s and even 1990s.
Geeber, I agree. I am disappointed, as I am a life-long fan (at least since 1954) of the Dodge brand. I remember when my father took me to the Greenwood, Indiana Dodge and Plymouth dealer in the fall of 1960 (Suburban Motors had sold Dodges and Plymouths since 1928, and Kenny Carr had not yet built his Lynn Townsend-inspired Chrysler-Plymouth dealership out on U.S. 31. I was stunned by how bizarre that both the Dodge and Plymouth were for the 1961 model year. The G.M. and FoMoCo cars were much smoother. When we revisited Suburban Motors a year later, the down-size Dodge and Plymouth were cleaner, but my father was not impressed, kept the 1960 Chevy Nomad and bought a blue 1962 Chevy Nova 400 instead of a Dodge Lancer to commute back and forth to work. It took 1964 and Elwood Engle to get Dodge back to the mainstream, although the full-size 1967s and 1968s were in my opinion ugly. Then Chrysler’s quality began to unravel. I owned two Dodge Omnis in the 1980s, one 024 and one Omni Custom Sedan, both with the great 1.7-litre Volkswagen four-banger. Those cars were comfortable and dependable, although the 1979 024’s interior materials were cheap. The 1982 Omni was great and very quiet. Dodge should have kept its dual identity: Dependability and useable performance. I do however, welcome back the 1962-1976 Fratzog logo for Dodge. Too bad the DeLorenzo book was inaccurate and less informative than what is available from books on Chrysler-Dodge-Plymouth-De Soto by the editors of “Consumer Guide”. Oh, and “Don’t Touch My Dart !”
Compare an issue of Hemmings Classic Car with any issue of its predecessor, Special Interest Autos, from the 1970s, 1980s or 1990s, if you want a real eye-opener.