If you were in the market for a Mopar muscle car in 1970, there were lots of options and it would have been a hard decision for sure. I wonder if anyone that was having trouble deciding between a Challenger, Charger or Barracuda ever made it over to the Chrysler dealer and considered one of these. Based on the Chrysler Imperial, this 1970 300 is a massive car with a wheelbase of 127 inches and a curb weight of around 5,000 pounds. Thanks to the 440 CI TNT under the hood, performance was still respectable. Find this rare piece of Mopar history here on Craigslist in Elko, NV for $9,500 or possible trade for another project.
This model is the result of a short-lived collaboration between Chrysler and the Hurst Company; who normally teamed up with GM for special editions like the Hurst Oldsmobile. After assembly, Chrysler delivered the cars to the Hurst shop in Pennsylvania for the special touch. Special features include the custom gold striping, fiberglass hood and trunk lid with integrated spoiler, heavy duty suspension, leather seats and the 440 TNT engine, there are probably a few I’m leaving out. The seller makes it clear that this is a project car in need of full restoration, on the exterior things don’t look bad, the body looks straight and the important Hurst parts all seem to be there. The engine runs, but the transmission is slipping and the brakes are not working.
All of the Hurst edition cars were equipped with Saddle leather seats. Automatic was the only transmission choice, this car is equipped with a center console and a floor shifter which was an option. Some cars were equipped with column shift, it’s interesting the Hurst Edition car didn’t have a Hurst shifter, weird. The interior is obviously in sad shape, the seats are completely trashed but replacement seats or material may not be hard to source since they are basically the same as in the Imperial.
Under the hood is the Chrysler TNT engine producing 375 HP, Chrysler used the TNT name for their high-performance version of the 440, Plymouth called it the Super Commando and Dodge called it the Magnum. Considering the size of this car it probably still performed well with almost 400HP and these cars handle and ride very well with the torsion bar suspension. The A/C system is still intact, this car would have been a comfortable cruiser for sure. I’m not sure what Chrysler’s target audience was for this muscle car/luxury car hybrid, maybe they didn’t put a lot of thought into it since only 500 were made. I like this car, I think this body style Imperial is a handsome car and it looks good with the Hurst touches. The seller claims 248 of these cars are known to remain in existence, hopefully, this car gets restored and returned to the road.
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