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Chrysler Museum Adds Former Presidential Vehicles to Collection

3 August 2000

    AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - The Walter P. Chrysler Museum continues to celebrate 
historical moments of the past with the arrival of two 1941 Chrysler Windsors 
once owned by President Harry S. Truman and his wife Bess.

    Truman's vehicle was the Royal Club Coupe.  Bess drove the Chrysler
Windsor Sedan.  Both vehicles are currently on loan from the Harry S. Truman
Library in Independence, Mo., and will be displayed at the Museum until next
spring.

    This is not the first time the Truman vehicles have been to the Chrysler
Museum.  In 1996, the Truman Library sent the two cars to the Walter P.
Chrysler Museum Restoration Team for them to oversee a complete frame-off
restoration including paint, rechroming, and underbody work.  The vehicles
were returned to the Truman Library in 1997, fully restored.

    "We're especially proud to display the vehicles of President Harry Truman,
because he was a life-long Chrysler customer," said Arthur "Bud" Liebler,
Senior Vice President -- Global Marketing and Chairman of the Museum Board of
Directors.  "Not only is the Museum preserving the rich history of the
Chrysler Corporation, but also of the United States."

    Truman purchased the two vehicles new in 1940 for $1,203 after trading in
a 1940 Chrysler and a 1938 Dodge.  He bought these vehicles while he was
serving in the United States Senate before he was chosen to be Franklin
Roosevelt's Vice President.  He assumed the Presidency upon the death of
Roosevelt in 1945.

    In addition to the 1941 Chryslers, Truman also drove an estimated 18
Chrysler products from 1921 until 1972 including a 1921 Dodge, 1934 Plymouth
Sedan, 1953 Chrysler New Yorker and a 1972 Chrysler Newport Royale.

    Along with the vehicles, the Museum also has original letters from Truman
corresponding with the former Chrysler Corporation about his fondness for
Chrysler vehicles.

    In one letter addressed to K.T. Keller, who was Chairman of the Board at
Chrysler Corporation in 1953, Truman expresses satisfaction in his new car's
wonderful ride.  In another letter, written in July 1953 to L.L. Colbert, a
former President of the Company, Truman wrote, "We haven't had a more
pleasurable trip as far as transportation is concerned."

    The Truman letters are also on display at the Museum.

    The Truman vehicles can be seen at the Museum along with over 70 other
classic vehicles that solidly stamp Chrysler's achievements in automobile
history.  The Museum documents the cars, the people, the processes and the
contributions made by Chrysler and its forebears to the development of the
automobile.  Not just a parking lot for antique vehicles with eclectic
designs, the Museum has a wide offering of interactive displays and an
educational video on-hand.

    The Walter P. Chrysler Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10
a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. (closed Mondays).  Admission is
$6 for adults, $3 for seniors and juniors.  Annual memberships are available
for $45.  For more information, please call toll-free at 888-456-1924.