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Hi Guys,

Does anyone know who made the master cylinders for Chrysler when they were installed on the production line? ORD says it's Chrysler, but I'm thinking they outsourced them from a vendor.....just don't know who. Was Wagner or Bendix a subsidiary of Chrysler in the early 50's?

thanks,
bob

w30bob wrote:Hi Guys,

Does anyone know who made the master cylinders for Chrysler when they were installed on the production line? ORD says it's Chrysler, but I'm thinking they outsourced them from a vendor.....just don't know who. Was Wagner or Bendix a subsidiary of Chrysler in the early 50's?

thanks,
bob

Neither Bendix nor Wagner was ever a subsidiary of Chrysler. Bendix was at one time controlled by General Motors, and after the infamous Martin Marietta hostile takeover battle, was itself taken over by Allied, and is now part of Honeywell. Wagner Electric became part of the Studebaker conglomerate (ironically after Studebaker got out of the automobile manufacturing business, however), and the brand is now owned by Federal Mogul.

I remember the DCPD/Mopar brake stuff back in the 60's was all marked Wagner-Lockheed.

Dennis

Hmmmm..........this one is a bit puzzling. I dug around on the web and came to find that Chrysler was given permission to use Lockheed's brakes after Chrysler improved the leather seal Wagner was using by replacing it with rubber. That was in 1924 and it says Chrysler-Lockheed brakes were used on Chryslers from then until 1952. Then the trail goes cold. I can't seem to find any history of Lockheed-Wagner brake stuff, but I did find an Army TM from the 40's that explains how to overhaul Lockheed-Wagner master cylinders. I've seen M37 master cylinders marked Lockheed-Wagner, but none marked Chrysler-Lockheed........so I'm not sure what's up at this point.

thanks,
bob