The two carmakers are synonymous with America, born at the start of the 20th century and in decline at its end

Chrysler

After his first car was denied entry at the 1924 New York Auto Show, Walter Chrysler parked his prototype for the 1924 Chrysler Six in the lobby. It became the first affordable car with a six-cylinder engine, the most powerful of its time. He founded the Chrysler Corporation on 6 June 1925.

Inspired by fighter plane manoeuvres, the Airflow was created in 1934. The car was a financial failure, despite setting new speed records on Utah’s salt flats and publicity stunts including driving the Airflow to the brink of a Pennsylvania cliff.

However, innovations such as Fluid Drive, a forerunner of automatic transmission, helped the firm turn a profit in 1934 and maintain growth throughout the 30s.

Sometime after the company founder died in 1940, the luxury-oriented Town and Country was launched. But in 1942 automobile production was halted and factory resources diverted towards the war effort. Chrysler supplied the allied forces with goods ranging from tanks to aircraft engines and trailer-mounted anti-aircraft guns.

After the war, the “Woody” became a popular convertible.

In the 1950s, the carmaker ran an advertising campaign entitled “Beautiful Chrysler”. Innovations included air-cooled brakes, the Hemi-head V8 engine and Hydraglide, the industry’s first power-steering unit. The 1955 Chrysler C-300′s engine was so powerful that the car was banned from racing.

Chrysler then teamed up with CBS to offer “Highway Hi-Fi”, a compact record player mounted under the dashboard.

The company lured designer Elwood Engel from Ford to reshape Chrysler styling. He created the 1963 “Engelbird”, which had an experimental gas turbine engine. Chrysler also collaborated with Nasa on the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz space mission.

The US car industry slumped in the wake of the oil shock of 1973 and due to the greater fuel efficiency of Japanese imports. But Lee Iacocca, appointed president of Chrysler in 1978, rekindled sales and became the manufacturer’s face through a highly successful series of “New Chrysler” print and TV ads.

In the 1990s, the company merged with Daimler-Benz to form Daimler Chrysler.

General Motors

At the turn of the 20th century, there were fewer than 8,000 cars in the US, many of them powered by steam or electricity, while others had petrol engines.

General Motors was founded in 1908 by William “Billy” Durant, who had started out as a manufacturer of horse-drawn vehicles. GM initially only owned the Buick Motor Company but later acquired more than 20 other companies including Oldsmobile, Cadillac, Oakland – today known as Pontiac – Germany’s Opel, Chevrolet and Vauxhall.

GM’s design studio was headed by Harley Earl until his retirement in 1959. He created the 1927 Cadillac LaSalle.

During the second world war, GM supplied the allies with more than $12bn of materials including airplanes, lorries and tanks. By 1942, all of GM’s production was in support of the war effort. In 1940, former GM president William Knudsen was appointed by President Roosevelt as chairman of the new wartime Office of Production Management.

After the war, the company developed independent front-wheel suspension, unibody construction and the one-piece steel roof.

The 1949 Buick Roadmaster, the Chevrolet Corvette and BelAir and the 1959 Cadillac El Dorado helped set the tone for automotive styling through the Fabulous Fifties, the golden age of car design.

In 1971, GM pioneered the use of engines that could run on low-lead or unleaded petrol. Two years later it was the first to offer a car with an air bag and in 1974, it introduced the catalytic converter to reduce emissions.

The manufacturer helped develop the guidance and navigation system for the first Moon landing aboard Apollo 11, and designed and manufactured the Lunar Roving Vehicle for Apollo 15 – the first vehicle driven on the Moon.

In the 1980s, GM opened a new complex in Zaragoza, Spain, which began manufacturing the Opel Corsa. The firm also added Saab and Hummer to its stable.

In 1995, annual vehicle sales outside North America exceeded 3m units for the first time, while 5m vehicles were sold in the US and GM embarked on its first joint venture in China. Buick became China’s most popular automotive brand.

As environmental concerns increasingly came to the fore, GM started producing more fuel-efficient petrol engines as well as biofuels and hybrids.