Walter Chrysler launches his brand and guides his son

I returned from Detroit Saturday morning and found your fine letter (...). I know that you are digging right in and going to make good at Hotchkiss one hundred percent. Work hard and play whenever you get an opportunity. Reid is going to pick up your golf sticks today and will probably send them off tomorrow. I hope you received everything we sent you. If you want to, play tennis, golf, etc.; get plenty of exercise.

These words, typed and signed “Dad,” appear on a cream-colored letterhead from Walter Chrysler, sent on October 6, 1924, to his teenage son Walter Jr. at the prestigious Hotchkiss School. What struck me immediately, beyond the affection in the tone, was the precise timing. This letter was written just as Chrysler was launching the Chrysler Six, the car that would lay the foundation for his company’s future and challenge the dominance of Ford and General Motors. And yet, amidst this corporate upheaval, he paused to encourage his son’s studies and well-being.

Walter Jr., just 14, had already begun to mirror his father’s passions. Within a year, he would famously acquire (and tragically lose) a Renoir nude confiscated at school. That early spark would grow into one of the greatest private art collections in America. But in 1924, Chrysler’s focus was on more immediate foundations, both mechanical and familial. This letter, preserved with its original envelope, captures a pivotal moment: the birth of a brand, and a father's steady hand guiding the next generation.