While the Chrysler 300 “letter series” of cars are revered today, few may recall that Chrysler offered a non-letter group of 300 cars beginning in 1962. They looked almost the same, but these 300 Sports started with less muscle under the hood. The seller’s car is one of those 300 Sports but is said to be rare because of the optional drivetrain it was built with. But that engine/transmission combo is no longer in place now, but the seller has a Plan B for the buyer. Located in Woodinville, Washington, this ‘60s classic is available here on eBay for the Buy It Now price of $18,500, although you can also hit the Make Offer button.
When you walked into a Chrysler dealership in 1962, you could have your choice of a 300-H or the new 300 Sport, which replaced the Windsor. Fortunately for both, the tailfins from the year before were gone so the rear-end had a sloping conclusion rather than a pointed one. It was hard to tell them apart except for the 300H badge on the driver’s side of the trunk lid on one of 570 versions of that car built for 1962. Instead, 11,776 of the 300 Sport 2-door hardtops were built, along with drop-tops and 4-doors. The 383 was the standard engine on the Sport, but you could still order the 413 that the “letter” car was famous for.
Based on the seller’s data, this car left the factory with the 413 V8 option, but the short-ram version with dual 4-barrel carburetors, which meant it was one mighty machine when new. This car is said to have been the 48th 300 Sport built with this engine set up in August 1961 (possible a special order) in advance of the 1962 selling season. We’re told it was sent to the dealer in Portland, Oregon to be used as a demonstrator and as a “show-off” car for Chrysler dealers in the Pacific Northwest.
This was a red 300 with a black leather interior. The seller found the car in Alaska where it had been in a barn since 1982. The paint is largely original and not in bad shape after nearly 60 years. We’re told there is some minor rust in the front floor pans as well as the trunk pan, while the frame rails and rocker and quarter panels are good. Parts of the interior look good except for the dislodged driver’s bucket seat. The factory 150 mph speedometer has held up and looks way cool.
If you look under the hood, you won’t see anything, but all is not lost. The seller has the correct TorqueFlite automatic transmission, radiator, and most of the engine including a correct S 41 HP 62 date-coded short block, heads, short ram intakes and exhaust manifolds, air cleaners, linkage, and more. To sweeten the pot, the seller will throw in another ‘62 300 rolling parts car that also has a black leather interior. Between the two cars, most everything you might need to rebuild this machine may be there.
If correct as advertised, I believe this would be a 405 hp version of the 413. Water heated intake manifolds versus exhaust heated. Very rare indeed.
Hello! I recently inherited a 1962 300 sport with the 413 w/ factory dual 4 barrels from my dad. It’s not all original as far as wheels, upholstery and I think the color is different than original, but from my recollection, it’s a numbers matching car. I’m excited to learn more about it. It’s surrounded by stuff in the garage, so I can’t get any good pictures of it, but I will post as soon as I get it out of the garage. It was on the road a year ago for new tires and alignment and other than needing the cobs blown out of it, she purred like a kitten.
And, looking closer, it does have the extra inner fender cutouts to get to the spark plugs.
would be beneficial to include photos of engine hardware and parts car, just saying for the asking price.
I can relate as I own a ’62 300 Sport Convertible.413 option,sure-grip, leather interior with cloth inserts. Oh almost forgot it has a factory three-speed on the floor. The car has no P.S., P.B. nor outside rearview mirrors. The car is red, red interior and a white top all confirmed by Chrysler Historical services.
It’s pretty astounding when you consider the things we take for granted on cars, like your missing rearviews. I recently sold an original ’61 Plymouth Suburban 9-passenger with a Slant Six and bolt-action 3-speed. It sold new without outside rearviews, backup lamps, a radio, or even the ability to lock the front doors from inside–why would one need to lock the car when they were in it?! Simpler times… my how the world has changed.
Maybe you can confirm, but it was my belief that short-ram cars were not factory produced. The short rams were just internally-modified long rams and sold over the counter, but not on the order form… or was that just early on?
Valentine, my 5 siblings and I grew up in a ’61 Plymouth Suburban 9 pass. with 318/push button auto. Sure wish I could find another!
Short ram cars were factory produced. Slight misnomer on the name “short” rams. These were same overall length as all the 60-64 ram engines. Just the inner tube split was halfway. Same as 63-64 Letter cars.
And I thought any of the CPDD products up to 65-ish all you needed to do to lock the from doors from the inside was push the door lever forward. All my pre 65’s (57 300, 63 300 J, 62 300 Sports) were that way.
Valentine,
A friend has a 1959 Plymouth Sport Suburban, it has only 4 options: Powerflite, Radio, heater, and all 5 power windows! Not even a clock, and it has rubber floor mats.
We figure someone made a mistake when ordering it, and checked off the wrong box.
There were 2 Ram Intakes 28 or 32 inch tubes both were factory There were cross rams inline dual 4s also
Today, in some areas, locking the car doors & closing the windows once u r inside is mandatory – i heard of even pizza delivery guys getting carjacked!
What’s with the kiddie pool on the roof?
Had a neighbor name Gene that owned one of these back in 68. I found out later he took pleasure with my wife while I was at work. But then his wife was butt ugly so I couldn’t blame him, I put all the blame on my wife. That car sure was pretty though.
God bless America
Johnmloghry,
Having enjoyed many girlfriends over the years, and enjoyed even more old cars, I’m pretty sure your cars never cheated on you, unless you lent someone the keys!
True Bill. But I did let a friend have the keys to my 69 Firebird 400 at a bar one night. Didn’t see that car or him for two weeks.
God bless America
What qualifies you to rate someone’s spouse?
Doesn’t it seem awfully two-faced of you to give Gene a pass but blame your wife for the affair?
Down with religion, the curse of humankind.
Thank you very much Rick. I never was the brightest start in the sky.
God bless America
“Fortunately for both, the tailfins from the year before were gone … ”
You gotta be joking. There is a reason that out of the long and storied history at Chrysler, the finned Mopars are second only in popularity to the 66-71 B and E body cars. That’s right, … it was the awesome Exner styling. The fins.
Exner himself referred to the 62 bog body cars like this as “plucked chickens”. They look like some lame 70’s customizer took a sawzall to a finned 61, just to make it different. Go back to the fin-hating 70’s, where you belong !
I’ve always considered myself a connoisseur of Mopar styling, but then again, I love the Sweptline Dodge Pickups (long box please, as the curve isn’t as severe as with the short box) and I’m especially attracted to the 1962 Bubble-top 300 Sport as it made the transition from the tail fins of 1959-1961. The fact they’re unloved by others just makes them less expensive for me….
Other things being equal I find the ’57 – ’59’s to be the best looking, and the ’63 and ’64’s to be next, then the ’55 – ’56’s if I were to have any Chrysler from the ’39 forward to the ’64’s. Since I was a kid I thought how cool it would be to have a collection of the Chrysler coupes on the longest wheelbase you could get, from the ’38’s forward, one in each body style, up into the ’70’s. They all looked weird to me then, with the incredibly long trunk section, and still do, and this one almost would make it into the collection.
The door handles that you pushed up to lock were on my father’s never missed ’38 and ’50 Studebakers, and mid 60’s Internationals, and maybe more. The issue with them was you could not tell by looking if the door was locked. And, remember, that on may cars up until the 50’s there was one exterior door lock and that was on the passenger side.
Man, I have wanted that instrument cluster from the day I first one years ago has to be the coolest cluster ever made imho,
I have two “62’s. Gran pap’s Newport and a “300” sport hardtop with 383 and 3 spd trans. Needs a lot of work, but fairly solid. May sell for right price.
There is so much to love about the styling of these cars. I love the taillights, the grille, and the dash. That clear bubble is amazing. I looked at many Chryslers of this model back in the late ’70’s, but where I lived they were all rust buckets already and I didn’t have the ability to deal with that. Beautiful car, and I don’t care what anyone says.
This is a very intriguing project, and beyond cool in all of the ways already mentioned.
Plus this has been a great and very informative comment thread. Kudos to all.
“Very Rare” (valuable) because it was equipped with the 413 that used to be there. Now all you have to do is find the numbers matching correct rare engine and transmission to make it valuable. Hmmm…