Dodge History

Horace and John Dodge in Detroit, Michigan established the Dodge Brothers Company. In 1900, the Dodge Brothers Company founded the Dodge brand. Initially the Dodge brand was to supply parts and assemblies to the auto industry. Today, the Dodge brand includes cars, SUVs, full-size and mini-vans. In 1914, the first vehicles were produced, but the brand was sold to Chrysler Corporation in 1928.

The first vehicle was a 4-cylinder Dodge Model 30 and was marketed to compete with the Ford Model T. Certain characteristics of the Model 30 were pioneering options of the day, but became standard features, such as all-steel body construction, a 12-volt electrical system and a transmission style of sliding-gear. The Dodge Brothers Company enjoyed their reputation as makers of high quality vehicle parts.

In 1916, Henry Ford bought out his shareholders from the Ford Motor Company and the Dodge brothers made 25 million dollars. During the same year, Dodge vehicles were used in the U.S. Army's Pancho Villa Expedition, and won recognition by the U.S. government.

In 1920, John Dodge died of pneumonia in January and Horace died of cirrhosis in December. The brothers' widow elevated Frederick Haynes to president of the company and the Dodge Brothers Company began marketing trucks built by the Graham brothers of Indiana. By 1925 though, Dodge had dropped from second to fifth place in the automaker industry. Later that year, the widows sold the company to Dillon, Read & Company for 146 million dollars. This was the largest cash sale in history at the time. Unfortunately, the Dodge sales dropped to seventh place by 1927.

In 1928, Chrysler Corporation purchased the Dodge brand and production continued. The 1930 models of Dodge no longer carried the "Brothers" part of the name. Dodge was marketed just below the top of the line Chrysler with the eight-cylinder engine replacing the six-cylinders. Chrysler and Dodge manufactured war supplies from the years 1942 through 1945 during the World War II era, and built a very strong reputation that lasted. When they started to produce civilian automobiles again in late 1945, but like most other brands, only had time to make a few minor adjustments to the styles.

In 1961, the Lancer was developed as competition for the Plymouth Valiant. The Dodge Dart came along in 1963 to replace the Lancer and was a top seller for a long time. In 1965, the sporty Dodge Charger was born and became not only a best seller, but a NASCAR winner as well. Throughout the 60s and 70s, Dodge created models that were renowned muscle cars like the Coronet, Super Bee and Challenger.

When Chrysler Corporation was bought out by Daimler-Benz and became DaimlerChrysler, the Plymouth brand was removed. Dodge took Plymouth's spot in the division as a low-priced performance model. When the Dodge Brothers Company started offering trucks in 1914, they were based upon existing cars. Eventually the trucks received their own design. Dodge trucks are as well-respected as Dodge cars, and the Dodge Ram has actually become its own brand. Ram trucks are still Dodges even though they are marketed separately. TheOnceProject.net contains even more information about the Dodge brand of vehicles.