Robert Anderson with the computer of his day, standing over the old computer of his day.
(Born Nov. 2, 1920 in Columbus) Back in the days when people not only would buy a Chrysler but actually wanted one, Robert Anderson was one of the men responsible for mainstream spread of the take-no-shit, make-it-as-dangerously-fast-as-possible, include-questionable-suspension muscle car in the 1960s. Anderson was one of the creators of the 426 Hemi engine – the engine not only helped make Richard Petty a NASCAR legend, it also helped facilitate the rise of the gas station. You would burn through so much gas, each town needed to have a station just so people could make it all the way back home after a 30-mile road trip.
When all that wasn’t enough, he sent people to space.
Although today the newest version of Chrysler’s engine is more commonly referred to as a “Hemi,” in Rufus’s neck of the woods, the 426 Hemi was called simply by its number, as in “It’s got a 426.” And if your car had a “426,” odds are your mother was truly concerned whether you’d make it home or end up in some ditch: possibly dead, definitely needing a new 426.
Anderson worked at Chrysler for 22 years, becoming VP and General Manager of Chrysler-Plymouth. After that stint, Anderson became president and later CEO of Rockwell International from 1970-1988. During that time, Rockwell developed engines for NASA, including the engines that blasted the Apollo missions and the space shuttles and a bomber that could carry a nuclear bomb and drop it on Russia without being detected by radar.
Sending people to space or letting them kill themselves in a high-speed street race is definitely more popular than bombing the living shit out of people. Anderson knew that but also had the balls to not let that stop him (he was, after all, from Nebraska and no dummy). During the time he was overseeing the production of the “B-1B aircraft,” he was quoted as saying, “A bomber is a baby-killer. People don’t like bombers.” Meh, is the next one rolled off the line yet?
The space shuttle Challenger blew up under his watch, but accident happen, don’t they? And accidents are more likely to happen when you develop engines that do things that people aren’t prepared for them to do. That’s the power of the Hemi, Rufus supposes: one part advancement of technology, one part population control. And if Chrysler does go down for the count, Rufus will shed a tear that the work of Robert Anderson will be forgotten, or placed in some Fiat. And a Hemi in a Fiat is really the last thing any Italian needs.
The Daily Hick 