The Three Musketeers of Studebaker fame were a team of three engineers, Frederick Morrell Zeder, Owen Ray Skelton, and Carl Breer.

The formation of this triumvirate initially came when Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company selected twenty-five university graduates of mechanical engineering to go through their two year apprenticeship course. Zeder and Breer were two such students picked in 1909 and became close friends during the course.^[1]

Skelton was a design engineer with Packard Motor Car Company as a transmission specialist. Zeder asked Skelton to join him at Studebaker in 1914.^[2] Zeder later asked Breer to join the two of them at Studebaker in 1916, which completed the trio of renown automobile engineers. ^[3] They became the Zeder, Skelton and Breer Engineering (ZSB) group.^[4]

In 1919 the engineers Zeder, Skelton and Breer (together known as The Three Musketeers) moved over to Willys-Overland on the invitation of Walter P. Chrysler (Vice President and general manager).^[5] Zeder, Breer, and Skelton were compared to as the fictional Three Musketeers, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. ^[6] Chrysler was referred to as the fictional character Charles de Batz-Castelmore d'Artagnan, The Three Musketeers captain and leader. ^{[2] [4]} The Three Musketeers (Fred Zeder, Owen Skelton, and Carl Breer) went to work on designing a new car with a new engine in 1920 and 1921 in Willys' engineering center in Elizabeth, New Jersey. ^{[7] [8]}

The Three Musketeers (engineers Zeder, Skelton and Breer) were later to become the core engineers that started the Chrysler Corporation. ^{[9] [10]} Chrysler surrounded himself with the finest engineers that could be commandeered when he started Chrysler Corporation and the "Three Musketeers", a group knickname for Zeder, Skelton and Breer, were such people. ^{[10] [11]}

Chrysler in 1919 was working for Willys-Overland in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He was making a million dollars a year, an astronomical amount in those days. He invited the three engineers, Zeder, Breer and Skelton, to come over to Willys. The

Zeder-Skelton-Breer (ZSB) engineering team moved to Willys and their assignment was to fix engineering problems on the existing Willys 6 cylinder engine car in production and to produce a brand new car design from inside out at the same time. The three engineers determined that the 6 cylinder car was a major redo and obsolete compared to the new Zeder-Skelton-Breer car just designed. The new Willys car to come out in 1920 was to be called a "Chrysler" and even a colossal sign of incandescent lights spelling this out was built on top of the Willys plant: ^{[8] [12]}

CHRYSLER - The Six Cylinder Motor Car^[13]

Then there suddenly was unexpected financial problems that came up. The funds set aside for the Chrysler Motors Division of the Willys Corporation Elizabeth plant were discovered to have been depleted by Willys' Toledo branch. Willys was going bankrupt and heading for receivership. Chrysler himself quit his position at Willys in February of 1922 in this turmoil of producing the new "Chrysler Six" automobile. Zeder, Breer and Skelton were embarrassed as they had coaxed a complete skilled team of 28 engineers to Willys with them from Studebaker. Studebaker at that time had a plant in Detroit that was doing financially well. All lost their enthusiam at Willys. The Zeder-Skelton-Breer (ZSB) engineering team with several Willys engineers set themselves up as a consulting firm in Newark, New Jersey.^[14]

The Elizabeth plant and the Chrysler Six prototype were sold to William C. Durant in a bankruptcy sale to collect cash to pay off the debtors. The plant then built Durant's low priced Star automobile. The Chrysler Six prototype, designed originally by the Zeder-Skelton-Breer (ZSB) engineering team, would be changed a little in design (made larger) becoming the 1923 Flint automobile, built in Flint, Michigan.^{[15][16] [17]}

Walter Chrysler went to Maxwell automobile where in 1924 he launched his own version of the six-cylinder Chrysler automobile that he had been working on from designs of the Zeder-Skelton-Breer (ZSB) engineering team, "The Three Musketeers". The Chrysler car was financially successful and in 1925 the Maxwell car company became the Chrysler Corporation.^[18] "The Three Musketeers" were the nucleus of the Chrysler Corporation.^[10][19]

The lightning flashes on the logo symbol of the Chrysler car was used on the first Chrysler automobile built in 1924 and is still being used today. It is a reference to Fred Zeder, one of "The Three Musketeers" engineers that designed the Chrysler automobile originally. ^[20]

The 1924 Chrysler Six, was said to be the first modern automobile. Automoble historian Mark Howell remarks that this car plays second fiddle only to Ford's Model T Ford for impact on the automobile industry. ^[21] He claims this car is the dividing line between the old style car and the "modern" automobile. ^[22] Mr. Chrysler's first luxury car was priced at an affordable $1,565. ^[23]

• Breer, Carl (1995), The Birth of Chrysler Corporation and Its Engineering Legacy (illustrated ed.), Warrendale, PA 15096-0001: Society of Automotive Engineers, ISBN 1560915242 ((citation)): Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: location (link)
• Chrysler Corporation, Public Relations (1955), Chrysler Corporation: the story of an American company (Original from the University of Michigan ed.), Dept. of Public Relations, Chrysler Corp ((citation)): Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Curcio, Vincent (2001), Chrysler: The Life and Times of an Automotive Genius (illustrated ed.), Oxford University Press, ISBN 0195147057 ((citation)): Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Weiss, H. Eugene (2003), Chrysler, Ford, Durant, and Sloan: Founding Giants of the American Automotive Industry (illustrated ed.), McFarland, ISBN 0786416114 ((citation)): Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Yanik, Anthony J. (2009), Maxwell Motor: And the Making of the Chrysler Corporation (illustrated ed.), Wayne State University Press, ISBN 0814334237 ((citation)): Invalid |ref=harv (help)

• Zeder, Skelton and Breer: The Three Musketeers slide show