Chrysler Engineering Island Prime attraction is the vast engine, a structure with a huge revolving fan in front and an air filter on top. 55 feet up. Visitors walking through its innards see a writhing dragon with snapping jaws, which drives pistons weighing nearly a ton apiece. A turbine engine developed by Chrysler is on display, and a montage shows the sources of energy that may drive engines of the future. Production Island Seated in 12 car bodies, visitors travel along an assembly line which winds through and around an open-sided structure. Mechanical workmen line the ride, and both visitors and car bodies receive an "O.K." in a quality-control center. A metallic menagerie, in which creatures made of car parts squeak and squeal with the sounds of metal on metal, is also on the island. A 12-foot mantis flashes light from its car-reflector antennae; a 12-foot crawler is made of roof panels and hoods. The zookeeper stands two stories tall. Design Island A giant car, 80 feet long from bumper to bumper, with wheels more than 20 feet high, dominates the island. Underneath the car, which sits seven feet above the ground, is an exhibit area in which visual displays stress the company's automotive styling. Operations Island Eight-foot-high animated characters show the worldwide operations of Chrysler other than automotive manufacturing. Puppet Show A 24-minute musical comedy, with puppets designed by Bil Baird, is presented continuously on the fifth island in a theater which is constructed in the shape of the company's Pentastar symbol. |