Reverse Psychology

Chrysler’s Idea Was Not A Backward Step

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

This shot, accentuating the hood of a vintage DeSoto taxi, was taken at Movie World on the Gold Coast, Queensland. In 1933, five years after Walter P. Chrysler introduced DeSoto, the company hired race car driver Harry Hartz to drive one of their cars backwards (yes, backwards!) across the country. It was not just a stunt, because Chrysler engineers proved that the car’s fuel consumption was better in this radical experiment. As a result, automobile design was revolutionised and aerodynamics became a big factor in saving fuel while increasing performance.

And here's some personal trivia. This shot was taken with a Canon EOS 3000 film camera and when the photo lab printed it, I was devasted. The shot was composed to include the entire chrome hood ornament - but the print had cropped away part of the right-hand side. Fortunately I still have the negative!