Though usually regarded as a footnote in automotive history, maxwell motor was one of the leading automobile producers in the united states during the first quarter of the twentieth century, and its cars offered several innovations to buyers of the time. For instance, maxwells was the first popular car with its engine in front instead of under the body, the first to be designed with three-point suspension and shaft drive, and one of the earliest cars to feature thermo-syphon cooling. In maxwell motor and the making of the chrysler corporation, anthony j. Yanik examines the machines, the process, and the men behind maxwell, describing both the vehicle engineering and the backroom wheeling and dealing that characterized the emergence and disappearance of the early auto companies.