1957 Chrysler 300 C in North Bay defines being flawless
The Chrysler 300 was very first introduced in 1955, a wonderful model calendar year for the Big 3: Chrysler, Ford and Typical Motors. All three suppliers brought out entirely new versions for their whole line, and all were perfectly styled and popular. U.S. automobile product sales greater from 5.8 million in 1954 to 8.3 million in 1955.
The Chrysler 300 was a head-turner. The “300” designation was derived from the 300-horsepower, 331-cubic-inch Hemi Firepower V8 engine. It was America’s most powerful vehicle, packing noticeably a lot more horsepower than that year’s Corvette with 195. The 300 was a very little dear, with the base charge of $4,100 (about $43,243 in 2022 pounds) and was at times referred to as “the banker’s hot rod”. It turned out to be the initial of the Chrysler “letter” cars while it was never marketed as a Chrysler 300 A.
The next yr, however, it was the 1956 Chrysler 300 B, then the Chrysler 300 C in 1957. The corporation utilized letters for each individual design yr with substantial adjustments right until 2004, when the Chrysler 300 M was designed.
Several considered that 1957 was Chrysler’s golden 12 months. It was the get started of what Chrysler termed “The Ahead Seem.” The 1957 Chrysler 300 C was only accessible as a convertible or a two-doorway hardtop. Quad-headlights that boasted of improved night time driving appeared for the to start with time, but they have been also a new styling element. Even so, in some states they ended up basically illegal, so the typical two headlights had to be used in cars and trucks sold in people states.
Automotive experts normally agree that Chrysler took above automotive styling leadership from Basic Motors in 1957, credited mostly to their chief designer, Virgil Exner. The tail-fin patterns were being aspect of the aerodynamic styling that to begin with looked great and extra stability. It was much more than styling, even though, that produced the 1957 Chrysler 300 C well known. At that time, conventional Detroit imagining was that radical styling and engineering shouldn’t equally be launched in the exact design yr, but Chrysler productively deviated from that caveat.
The new a few-speed, force-button TorqueFlite automatic transmission teamed with far more strong engines were notable new capabilities, as was the new torsion-bar front suspension which improved the handling of the automobile with no downside to driving ease and comfort. The Hemi motor was by then 392 cubic inches and rated at 375 horsepower, but if that was not plenty of, an alternative would increase the horsepower to 390.
This issue’s highlighted motor vehicle is an unbelievably great 1957 Chrysler 300 C. For proprietor George Pehanick, of Fairfield and Tahoe, possessing vintage vehicles is a pastime and a business. Whilst he’s a major collector of typical cars and trucks, he’s also a certified dealer and usually purchases and sells his classics. He owns 40 to 50 of them, with some getting revealed in unique auto museums all around the place. He doesn’t seem to be to have a manufacturer loyalty but favors American cars. Although this automobile, like lots of of his many others, is clearly a exhibit auto, he also likes to travel it.
Pehanick’s auto has all the conventional features of the time, which includes a Hemi engine, power steering, electricity brakes and a signal-seeking AM radio, but it also has a record player mounted on the underside of the sprint. In accordance to Google, Chrysler was the first with the “Highway Hi-Fi” element, supplying six data from Columbia that ended up 7 inches in diameter and performed at 16⅔ revolutions per moment. The record player choice only lasted two a long time and at about $190 was high priced, about $2,000 in 2022.
Pehanick’s motor vehicle is a attractive coral with a white canvas top rated. The inside is a smooth, at ease tan leather covering two bench seats. Sitting driving the wheel, the sprint and steering wheel whisper opulence. There are three spherical housings on the sprint, 1 for the speedometer and odometer, just one to evaluate the gasoline, oil, motor temperature and battery, and in the middle is an electrical clock which is however accurately working.
The most attention-grabbing element of the dash, however, is the force-button travel system. The driver really pushes 1 of five buttons a quarter-inch or so to run the car or truck: “R” for reverse “N” for neutral and start out “D” for travel “1” for low equipment and “2” for very first and next gear. There is no “park” gear, only what is hopefully an excellent parking brake.
Pehanick supplied to get me for a trip, and I figured out firsthand why this was regarded as one particular of the first muscle autos. Details about the automobile stated the ’57 Chrysler could go from zero to 60 mph in 8 seconds, incredibly speedy for the time, with a major speed of 145 mph. I didn’t time it, but my back was pushed deep into the back again of the entrance seat as we went from zero to 80 mph pretty darn swift. The operator has no plan to market the vehicle shortly, but someday he will. Right after all, he is a supplier.
Have an interesting car or truck? Call David Krumboltz at [email protected]. To view additional photographs of this and other issues’ vehicles or to go through much more of Dave’s columns, take a look at mercurynews.com/author/david-krumboltz.
