Through the 1970s, when I was a kid, my grandparents on my mom’s side were extremely loyal to Chrysler motor products: Dodges, Plymouths, and so on. Dad even had a couple of Chryslers during the decade, as company cars.
The one thing that sticks out in my mind is that when they started with a loud whine, as if there was something quite wrong with the starter motor. GM and Ford products from the era seemed to start without much drama, but Mopar … SCREEWEEWEEWEEWEEWEEWEEWEEVAROOM!!!
My question to SDMB gearheads: why were Chrysler starter motors of the era so damn loud? Was there any inherent advantages to the design that they used?
I think they used these up till about 1985, and they were on everything from a 170 cid slant six to the big block 440’s. Lots of good information and drawings can be seen at the linked page.
Having owned several 60’s MoPars, I can say for myself that I liked the sound. Maybe because it was so purely Chrysler. A lot of things on MoPars were odd. The keys go in ‘upside down’. The glove box doors on my 69 charger and 69 roadrunner opened upwards. I’ve had a couple of 64’s with push-button shifters.
Another interesting note on the starters is that if the car didn’t start, the starter spun down for another 4-5 seconds and you had to wait for it to stop before you tried again.
Upside down? You mean with the teeth facing up? GM keys were the only ones that went in with the teeth facing down. Even Fords had the teeth facing up prior to the double-sided keys.
Unless you’re referring to something pre-1966, every Chrysler product I’ve ever driven (and there have been several dozen) all had the teeth facing up.
ETA: I am excluding AMC products which really aren’t Chrysler, but they’re considered part of the MoPar family nowadays since Chrysler bought out AMC in the early 70s. AMC used a GM steering column so the teeth faced down on the ignition switch.
