Navajo!

[normanpitkin]

hi,

Has anyone actually ever seen a 1941 Chrysler with the Navajo trim option? Any pictures? I am toying with the idea of a recreation.

[Don Coatney]

Post a photo?

[Reg Evans]

According to legend, Navajo women learned to weave from a spiritual medicine woman who learned the craft from a celestial spider. Anthropologists have placed the more earthly origins of the craft in the hands of early Pueblo people, who themselves were influenced by the early Spanish colonists/explorers. Whatever the origin of this distinct Native America art form, Navajo wool blankets and rugs have always been symbols of the rugged Southwest.

From 1940 until 1942, arguably the height of popularity for Southwest Indian crafts, Chrysler adopted the Navajo weaving style for an unusual and exclusive interior Highlander trim package. According to the folks at Howstuffworks.com, this now rare and highly desirable model sold for a showroom price of $1,255-1,548.

THANKS GOOGLE !

Edited September 13, 2016 by Reg Evans
CAUSE I COULD

[Plymouthy Adams]

send me the celestial spider...got work for that varmint

[Jeff Balazs]

8 minutes ago, Reg Evans said:

According to legend, Navajo women learned to weave from a spiritual medicine woman who learned the craft from a celestial spider. Anthropologists have placed the more earthly origins of the craft in the hands of early Pueblo people, who themselves were influenced by the early Spanish colonists/explorers. Whatever the origin of this distinct Native America art form, Navajo wool blankets and rugs have always been symbols of the rugged Southwest.

From 1940 until 1942, arguably the height of popularity for Southwest Indian crafts, Chrysler adopted the Navajo weaving style for an unusual and exclusive interior Highlander trim package. According to the folks at Howstuffworks.com, this now rare and highly desirable model sold for a showroom price of $1,255-1,548.

THANKS GOOGLE !

Oh Man is that cool.

Jeff

[Dodgeb4ya]

I've never seen one but know about that option.

[normanpitkin]

Hi,

yes I have seen that photo and info before ,there is ,as far as I know ,no existing actual car anywhere in the world! I wonder what the door panels were like ,carpets ,etc etc.Just wondered if there is one ,or what's left of one,somewhere in a small museum or private collection.That wool certainly looks quite attractive to moths

 

[Frank Elder]

Would look better in a Tbird

[Jeff Balazs]

I made a seat cover for my truck out of some cheap "Indian style" horse blankets. I have to say that for day to day use it is way more comfortable than the vinyl cover underneath it.

Jeff

[pflaming]

I'm thinking the Navaho bird is a Phoenix about to take flight.  

[Jeff Balazs]

38 minutes ago, pflaming said:

I'm thinking the Navaho bird is a Phoenix about to take flight.  

Roadrunner.......

[Tom Skinner]

I would like to see this picture in color. I'll bet it would look terrific using the period correct colors!

Edited September 16, 2016 by Tom Skinner

[Plymouthy Adams]

I think most reference say the Navajo bird of depiction is the thunderbird...

[Bingster]

The Santa Fe "Super Chief" of the same era used an Art Deco/Najavjo motif.

[normanpitkin]

I fear I must conclude that no examples exist anymore,a shame ,even a few more photos would have helped.

 

[Bingster]

Seeing the price of that option and knowing that a "Navajo" interior motif was pretty trendy back then, more than likely a well-to-do person would have bought one.  Our world of old cars is totally out of the radar of most people, and who knows where one might be sitting in a family garage passed down from generation to generation. 

Where was it where I saw an old Duesenberg (?) that had been sitting in a parking garage for decades because the family didn't want to pay for years of parking fees.  A drip of water had been falling on the car year after year and had messed up some part or another, but it was intact.  I think this might have been a Jay Leno thing.  Yeah it was, 'cause I remember that he made a thing out of that drip being like Chinese water torture.

 

[Plymouthy Adams]

some folks grew up with a silver spoon in their mouth..others just had lead based painted window sill to gnaw on looking out and watching the world pass them by

[Jeff Balazs]

1 hour ago, Plymouthy Adams said:

some folks grew up with a silver spoon in their mouth..others just had lead based painted window sill to gnaw on looking out and watching the world pass them by

Well that explains a lot.......

[Plymouthy Adams]

maybe......maybe not......lol

a person of wealth as he grows older is considered eccentric.....while a person without money is looked upon as certifiably crazy  

[Bingster]

Then call me crazy!

 

[rb1949]

CHRYSLER MOTORS CORPORATION 73 CHRYSLER NEWPORT! Our lowest-priced Chrysler. Your easy step-up to a big car! Big Chrysler size, room and power for the lowest Chrysler price, Chrysler Special Edition with shag carpet, special Navajo, cloth interior, a special new metallic paint, and a boar-grain vinyl roof.

 

[rb1949]

Hemmingway's 1955 Chrysler Convertible in Cuba

The original two-tone Navajo Orange with Desert Sand color scheme was no longer visible beneath a shoddy white on top of blood-red paint-job. The original interior trim of Navajo Orange leather with beige leather inserts was lost forever, eaten away to virtually nothing by mildew and the stresses of time. So, too, the Ivory vinyl convertible top.

[rb1949]

1941 Chrysler Interior Ad Color

1941
Chrysler - Full color 9 3/4" x 13 1/2" ad that is designed to show the reader all about the interiors available in this model year. There are photos of eight different color and material interiors with the headline "You can have your Chrysler in your choice of colors...fabrics...plastics...tailored to taste!". This ad is larger than my scanner bed so the outer edges of the ad will not be visible in the scanned view.
March 24, 1941
Life magazine

edit: whoops, that ad does not show the Navajo interior.

Edited September 18, 2016 by rb1949
addition