In 1957, the Chrysler Corporation separated itself from the Motor City herd by offering torsion-bar suspension in all its car divisions across the board. Here’s a closer look.
Chrysler wasn’t the first automaker to use torsion-bar suspension, not by a long shot. In one form or another, torsion bars date back to the early years of the automobile. Notable applications, to name but a few, include the 1934 Citroen Traction Avant, often credited as the first use in volume production, the 1948 Morris Minor, and the sophisticated 1955-56 Packard system (see our feature here).
In fact, when Chrysler unveiled its Torsion-Aire system in October of 1956 for all five car divisions in the 1957 model year, there were already more than one million Volkswagen Beetles on the road, each one boasting torsion-bar suspension on all four wheels. Still, Torsion-Aire was a novel feature by conservative Motor City standards, allowing Chrysler to distinguish itself from the herd and burnish its reputation as an engineering company. And Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto, Chrysler, and Imperial salesmen had one more thing to talk about.
The Chrysler setup used torsion bars at the front only, laid out longitudinally and fixed to the inner pivots of the lower control arms. (There was a conventional Hotchkiss leaf-spring arrangement at the rear.) There were multiple advantages over coil springs, according to Chrysler engineers. First, the reaction loads were fed into a central frame crossmember, eliminating the need for a tall, reinforced spring pocket in the front of the frame and producing a stiffer, quieter chassis.
Next, Chrysler asserted that pound for pound, a torsion bar can be significantly lighter than a conventional coil spring, which is essentially a torsion bar wound into a helix. While the packaging is convenient, it creates extra stresses in the interior of the coil under dynamic load, requiring more material to manage fatigue. In SAE paper 580031, Chrysler engineer Bernard Sterne reported that the Chrysler torsion bar weighed a third less than its coil springs of equal rate.
While they were at it, the Chrysler engineering team redesigned the entire front suspension, replacing the kingpins with upper and lower ball joints and reducing the number of lubrication points. The lower control arms were triangulated with front-facing strut rods mounted on heavy rubber bushings, while the upper control arms were angled 17 degrees to provide anti-dive geometry for better handling under braking. The suspension was specifically tuned for low-pressure 14-inch tires, which were also new at Chrysler for 1957.
There were some failures early on—torsion bars were known to snap without warning in the first few years—but the manufacturing issues were soon straightened out and the same basic front suspension layout was used through 1981. An air-assisted Torsion-Aire system was briefly tried on the 1959 Imperial, and in 1971 a rubber-isolated version called Torsion-Quiet was introduced. From 1976 through 1989, Chrysler’s mid-sized rear-drive cars featured a transverse-bar front suspension—totally different from the original 1957 setup, but still using torsion bars. For more than three decades, torsion-bar front suspension was a signature feature at Chrysler.
1957 Dodge Custom Royal Lancer Hardtop Coupe 
As a die-hard Packard fan, it’s my opinion the best way to discover the difference torsion bars make is to FIRST arrange to drive a 1951-54 Packard, then drive a 1955-56 Packard with Torsion-Level suspension. The 2 versions have the same basic frame and body, but the difference in ride is incredible, especially over rough roads.
I’ve owned hundreds of vintage cars over a 50+ year span, from VW to Rolls-Royce. The only car I feel gives a superior ride to the Packard Torsion Level is the Citroen with the Hydro-pneumatic suspension, however if it’s not in top-notch condition, it can be a nightmare making it right.
Bill, I’ve heard that before about Packard’s torsion bar system. It’s been featured previously here at MMCG, and the things that most impressed me about it are how the single torsion bars on each side transmitted bumps on the front wheels to the rear wheels (improving ride quality), and the electric motor that was used to maintain ride height. While not perfect, it was a clever, far less complicated system than the air springs offered by GM.
It’s always baffled me how torsion bar suspensions weren’t used more widely, especially during times when vehicles were downsized. Other than GM’s E-bodies, they only seemed to have widespread application by US manufacturers in 4WD trucks.
There was another element to the Torsion-Aire’s superior handling. While the rear leaf springs and axle were conventional, the axel was mounter forward, with a short, thick leaf ahead of it and a long and leaner leaf to the rear. Can’t remember exactly what it did but it something to do with stability, maybe under acceleration. Or something.