The Chrysler 300 is one of the most famous and beloved series of cars from any manufacturer and after several years of being absent from the lineup, they were reintroduced in the form of this 1979 Chrysler 300. Love ’em or hate ’em, this looks like one nice car and it can be found here on eBay in Southbridge, Massachusetts. There is an unmet opening bid of $8,500! Let’s check it out.
The Cordoba similarity is unmistakable in the 1979 Chrysler 300 which ended up being the only year for this version. The 300 was a $2,040 option package for the Cordoba that year. In 1980, the car was also based on the Cordoba but it was renamed the LS. Josh showed us a similar car in November of 2017 but I haven’t seen too many of the 300 Corcobas.
This car looks amazing, it was bought new by the seller’s late stepfather and it’s obvious that it has been taken care of. I love those white letter tires, I need a set of those for a little truck that I have, they’re somewhat hard to find in smaller sizes.
Other than some nice, puffy leather seats that are in dire need of a good meal (leather “food”/conditioner), the interior looks great. I love the paddle power window switches that ChryCo used in vehicles of this era. The back seat looks just as puffy-comfy as the front seats do.
This was a pretty hot engine for the time, a 360 cubic-inch V8 and 4-barrel carb and a few other tweaked parts such as a hotter cam and massaged heads. It helped to put out almost 200 hp which for 1979 was a lot. Unfortunately, it looks like this one has been also tweaked in appearance from what it would have looked like. Have any of you owned a 1979 “Cordoba” 300?
Any real TV auction show-fed “car guy” is supposed to hate these. I don’t. Other than the horrid red interior (standard on most Chrysler cars between about 1973 and 1982, it seems), this is a cool car. Is it down on power from the heyday of muscle cars? Sure. But these weren’t built for street racing anyway.
One of these needs a 383 from the late 60’s. 325-335 hp would be perfect for an all around cruiser. I didn’t like these when new, but I certainly like them now.
Yeah. Make it like a late-70’s version of the 300-H.
$8,500 and 0 bids with only 2 days to go.
I feel bad for the persons who traded in or sold a late 60s or early 70s Mopar muscle car for one of these, thinking they were making a good brand-loyal upgrade. And you know some did!
What a great looking car to cruise around in!
The FCL could use a good cleaning.
I’m sure that you have heard of this place Scotty, they should be able to hook you up with tires.
https://www.tirerack.com/content/tirerack/desktop/en/tires.html
My local tire shop ordered me some BFG Radial T/A’s from the warehouse in another province, had them in about a week.
Thanks much, Jack! I’ll give it a shot, mine are also BF Goodrich.
I can’t count how many times I’ve seen that particular 300 listed over the years.
But it has to be at least a dozen.
That front seat and air cleaner are unmistakable.
Price checker..
Front seat needs to be redone. Pass. door panel looks odd; lower portion faded badly from the sun? If you’re patient, there ARE better ones out there. (Maybe the one with 4K original miles on it I saw will resurface? It was flawless and had the sunroof option.)
Was this ‘Corenthian’ leather? The brand X leather in my older Cadillac lasted longer.
I bought one just like it in1990 for $300 was it was green with a tan interior.
When these were made I was still a jaded, know-it-all punk just shy of 30 and I didn’t like them. Now that I’m a jaded, know-it-all old fart just shy of 70 I can appreciate the elegant presence of this design. You’ll never see an Elantra that looks this good. Ever.
I’m not a Luddite but I do think today’s designers could take some hints about proportion and distinctive styling cues from the cars of my distant youth. It seems they’re falling all over each other to see who can draw the most bizarre taillights and trunk creases (I’m talking to you Honda & Toyota). It’s a shame that they make such good cars and wrap them in such confused sheet metal.
I said I was an old fart. I’m allowed to say stuff like this.
Ha, you nailed it, ccrvtt! I could not agree more. My dad used to wonder why, since it’s just sheet metal, Ferrari and other exotic companies could somehow bend it into such nice shapes and we got such boring designs for the most part.
I bought a regular Cordoba brand new in 1979. I’ve regretted trading it in ever since. It was the first and only car that I ever ordered rather than buying off the lot. I ordered it with all the options that I wanted back when you could check off the boxes of the exact options you wanted. This included an AM/FM stereo with built in CB in the dash. This was at the height of the CB craze. This car is tempting but back in the day I didn’t check off the 300 box because of the way the 300 looked compared to the regular Córdoba. You couldn’t get the 1/2 vinyl top, they changed the grill (I loved the ‘79 Cordoba grill) and I wanted the velour 60/40 split bench seats. I hated leather seats then and still do today (hot in the summer and cold in the winter). All that said, I still think it’s one of the greatest personal luxury cars of the time and the 300 had a little extra HP to make it a bit more sporty. Great time for the personal luxury segment.
Looks like Chrysler took style from a ford LTD
I agree. Once again, Chrysler showed up to the party with the styling cues of not only the roof/’C’ pillar of the Ford Thunderbird, tail lights from the Pontiac Grand Prix and fender/quarter panels of the Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
P.S. While leather could be found in Corinth, there is no such thing as Corinthian leather. A well-played marketing card.
From experience I am going to tell anybody that buys this car to changes the U-Joints before anything else before the drive shaft drops out of the car.
Looks like someone got rid of the lean burn system and put a regular carburetor on it. Those Chrysler lean burns were hit or miss.
Had a feeling the engine had been tweaked in this one the minute I saw it. That’s all good with me.
Nice looking sporty ride from one of the worst eras in American car history. Cruise and enjoy in style!
ALL 1979 300’s were Spinnaker White with red leather interior. All 3811 of them.
If your car was green, it was a Cordoba and not a 300.
I saw a new, red ’79 300 on a dealership lot in Niagara Falls, Ontario. I’ve always wondered if it was a special order or if colors other than Spinnaker White were available in Canada.
I like the B-body Chrysler products of the seventies…and the Magnums, Cordobas and this 300 represent the last of them (they were replaced by the J-body platform in 1980).
I own this restored 300 with the rare power sunroof option. Every 79 300 was equipped with the E-58 360 (cop motor) that was also standard in the Dodge Lil Red Express pickup.
i owned a 79 t-top big block cordova with a sure grip 270 gear. car would do 70 mph in low gear, had an 85mph speedo. i traded a chevett for it. every one told him it had a 360 in it. even the parts store said it was a 360. no big block listing. well they were putting long reach plugs in it, you know what would happen crank it over pistons would come up an smack the plug gaps shut and wouldn’t run. we traded and i put a set of plugs in it and drove it off, boy that guy was hot when he saw what was wrong with it.
If Chrysler had stuck to the criteria the vehicle had to meet to actually be labeled a 300, one of two things had to happen.
Either not name it 300 or find a way during the smog years for it to make at least 300 horsepower.