Chrysler Powering Across the Gobi Desert Artwork
Michael Jekot depicts the restored competition roadster in the Gobi Desert during 2007’s Peking-to-Paris Rally.
Right from the company’s beginnings in 1924, Chrysler built powerful and advanced automobiles. The B70 was a 70-mph car with an in-line six-cylinder engine, four-wheel hydraulic brakes and front and rear shock absorbers. In 1925, a Model 70 ran the 24-hour race at Le Mans, finishing 7th overall. In 1928, the Chrysler Le Mans Team included four Model 72 Roadsters, entered and driven by European racers who recognized the potential to unseat the formidable Bentley and Alfa Romeo teams. Two of the Chryslers were forced to retire, while the remaining pair finished 3rd and 4th overall, behind a Stutz and the winning Bentley. In 1929 two more Chryslers took on the Bentley team, this time with Model 75 and Model 77 roadsters that placed 6th and 7th: the first four places were held by Bentleys and in 5th place was a Stutz. In 1931 a CD8 and an Imperial, both with straight-eight engines, were entered in the 24-hour classic, but neither finished the race.
