Carl Breer

Carl Breer
Carl Breer (1900, age 17) with homemade two cylinder steam engine for his 1901 car
Born	8 November 1883 Los Angeles, California
Died	21 December 1970 (1970-12-22) (aged 87) Detroit, Michigan
Occupation	Engineer, automobile designer
Political party	Democrat

Carl Breer (8 November 1883 – 21 December 1970) was an American automotive industry engineer. Along with Fred M. Zeder and Owen Skelton, he was one of the core engineering people that formed the present day Chrysler Corporation. He made material contributions to Tourist Automobile Company, Allis-Chalmers, Studebaker, and was the moving engineer behind the Chrysler AirFlow. He was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame.

Breer was born in Los Angeles, California, on 8 November 1883. He was from German ancestry. His father came from a village of the Hartz Mountains in Germany, while his mother came from a village of the Black Forest. Breer was the youngest of 9 children in the family. He had 2 sisters and 6 brothers. His father’s name was Louis (b. 1828). His mother’s name was Julia (b. 1840).

Breer’s father was born in 1828 and his mother was born in 1840. Breer’s father was a skilled blacksmith refining his skills by traveling from village to village in Germany. At the age of 20, to avoid being selected for a three-year term in the German army, Breer’s father moved to the United States just as he was turning 21. He moved about quite a bit for the first few years while in the United States, but ultimately settled in the Los Angeles area, where he lived for the rest of his life.

Breer’s mother was born in Ober-Owerisheim, Baden, Germany, located in the Black Forest. His mother and her younger sister moved to the United States to join an uncle who had a shipping business on the west coast of the United States. They settled also in the Los Angeles area. Breer’s father and mother married in 1863.

When Breer was a child growing up his family had a redwood cottage they stayed in for the summer months in Santa Monica, some 16 miles away that took about a three and a half hours one way by horse and buggy from their Los Angeles home.

Breer participated in the operations at his father’s blacksmith shop when he was a teenager and learned the basics of iron works. Here he acquired journeyman blacksmith skills.