Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure - Matthew Algeo [12]
Harry behind the wheel of his first car, a 1911 Stafford, at a picnic around 1915. “It was an excellent car,” he said. Seated next to him is Bess Wallace, the future Mrs. Truman. The other passengers are Bess’s relatives.
For the rest of his life, Truman bought nothing but Chryslers, Dodges, and Plymouths. In November 1940, he bought two: a gray 1941 Chrysler Royal Club coupe for himself and a gray Chrysler Windsor sedan for Bess. They were the last cars he had owned. After he became president, he gave the coupe to his sister and sold the sedan to a friend in Washington.
Shortly after he started shopping for a new car, Truman received a telephone call from K. T. Keller, the chairman of the Chrysler Corporation.
“Lincolns seemed to have had the inside track at the White House while you were there,” Keller told Truman, referring to the presidential limousine fleet. “But we want you to use a Chrysler.”
“What kind of a model do you suggest?” Truman asked.
“Our best model is the Imperial.”
“That sounds a little too swanky for me. What else do you recommend?”
“Our New Yorker is next,” Keller said. “However, Mr. President, I hope you realize that we want you to have this car with our compliments.”
Truman demurred. “I’m a private citizen now,” he said. “I don’t think I should get any privileges that wouldn’t come to any other private citizen…. I’m going to have a Chrysler all right. But I’m going to pay for it.”
Much was made of the fact that Truman paid for his own car. Exactly how much he paid, however, is unknown. The list price was around four thousand dollars, but Truman probably paid much, much less. “I suspect the agreed price might have been one dollar,” speculated a Chrysler official who was familiar with the transaction. Harry Truman was a man of scruples, to be sure, but some deals were simply too good to pass up.
Harry beams as he inspects his new 1953 Chrysler New Yorker at the Haines Motor Company in Independence, February 16, 1953. “It’s got so many gadgets on it I’ll have to go to engineering school to handle it,” he said.
Truman took delivery of the New Yorker at the Haines Motor Company in Independence on February 16, 1953. It was a black, four-door sedan with chrome wire wheels and whitewall tires. The interior was a beautiful tan velour. Powered by a 331-cubic-inch V-8 FirePower engine (later known as a Hemi), it boasted all the latest technological innovations, including a PowerFlite automatic transmission, power steering, and power brakes. “It’s got so many gadgets on it I’ll have to go to engineering school to handle it,” Truman cracked. Chrysler sent a young engineer named Frederick Stewart to Independence to help Harry get acquainted with the vehicle. With Stewart driving, Harry in the passenger seat, and Bess in back, they spent about two hours driving the back roads of Jackson County, with Stewart explaining the car’s many features.
Finally it was Harry’s turn to get behind the wheel. “It was soon apparent that Mr. Truman hadn’t done much driving recently,” Stewart remembered, “so we sort of made this drive a little refresher course on driving the very latest in automobiles.” Eventually Harry got the hang of things, and the three of them headed back into town. Driving past the Jackson County Courthouse, Truman told Stewart how there had been ten thousand dollars left over after the courthouse was built, so Truman arbitrarily decided to have a statue of his hero, Andrew Jackson, erected out front. It was, he told Stewart, the only thing he had ever done in his political career that he could have been put in jail for.
The next day, Truman sent K. T. Keller a thank you note. “That wonderful Chrysler arrived yesterday,” he wrote. “It certainly is a peach of a car and I can’t tell you how very much I appreciate the courtesies which you have extended to me. I’ll think of you whenever I take a ride