Chrysler's hits and misses

Over the past half century, Chrysler's hot cars have dug it out of the holes its bombs keep getting it into.

• Can Chrysler survive?

The Chrysler 300 rekindled America's interest in performance cars. It was accompanied in 1957 by the Forward Look cars that launched the tailfin craze.

But quality control problems coupled with national recession beginning in 1958 pushed the company into a financial tailspin.