At almost 19 feet in length, this 1970 Chrysler 300 is no pocket rocket, although a 0-60 time of around 7.5 seconds was nothing to sneeze at five decades ago for such a giant, heavy, luxurious, long car. The seller has this drop-dead-gorgeous 300 listed here on eBay in Elkhorn, Nebraska, just northwest of Omaha, and the current bid is $10,500. The reserve isn’t met and once you click on the eBay link and check out the photos, you’ll know why – this is one beautiful car.
I have an awkward, uncomfortable attraction to this car, just to get that out of the way. Wait, can I even say that in 2022?! I hope so, I just did. The non-letter Chrysler 300s were made for a decade, from 1962 until 1971 in three generations. They briefly came back in 1979 and they were based on the Cordoba. This is a “virtually rust-free” Montana car and it sure looks great in the photos.
The overhangs on this two-door hardtop 300 are amazing and huge. This design was part of the Chrysler fuselage family, and as Lee Iacocca once said, “If you can find a car with a bigger trunk, buy it.” Ok, he didn’t say that, but he should have. This one appears to have a K-Tel pocket nuclear reactor in it, or whatever the box is on the left.
Maybe that finned box in the trunk is related to the “period correct cell phone” that still powers up. I don’t think there were actual cell phones in 1970, but it appears to have some sort of under-dash box THAT ISN’T SHOWN IN THE PHOTOS (not bitter) for some odd reason. I’m guessing that it’s a Motorola mobile phone where you had to call a mobile operator, give your 12,500-character number, and after several minutes of hanging off of a cliff, hoping for some quick help, they would connect you to the wrong number. My dad had one in a company car and I still remember the phone number. Ol’ Scotty Rain Man G.
The interior is absolutely gorgeous in this car, which isn’t surprising at all. The seller says that they do have over 100 photos of this car – but I sure wish they would have included them in the listing as a lot of sellers do. In any case, it sure looks like a gem and I would absolutely love to have this one.
The engine looks as clean and nice as everything else does, and this Chrysler 440-cu.in. OHV V8 would have had 350 horsepower and a whopping 480 lb-ft of torque. Even at 4,300 pounds, this car will most definitely do a burnout that would make Jay Leno proud. I’m surprised at Hagerty’s bearish numbers on this car, as they’re only at $11,300 for a #3 good-condition car. This one is probably between #2 and #3 based on the photos, which would be somewhere around $13,000 and the seller certainly knows what number they want. That seems like a good price to me for such a nice-looking car. How much would you pay for this beautiful, smooth, fast, luxurious Chrysler 300 two-door hardtop?
Wow, Scotty, great find, and your appreciation for these cars shows. I love the color combination, though I can’t help picturing it in a four-door Imperial of the same vintage. The 300 grille is sweet. I’ll bet you could drive this car 300 miles and never need more than 1/3 throttle. Thanks for sharing this beauty.
Same here, that or (sans vinyl top) a woodless Town & Country. I get the distinct impression that unlike many compact and midsize models of this era, the fuselage C-body Mopars were designed as four-doors first and foremost and the 2-door models derived from them. They look their absolute best, imo, as station wagons though.
Thanks, Todd! I’d sure love to own this one, but I’d be back where I was with the ’66 Lincoln, it’s too big for the garage so I’d have to pay for a storage spot.
Wouldn’t need much throttle but I also think you would have to fill the tank at least once to get 300 miles on that car
shes absolutely S H A R P!!!!
I’m a old car person I’m 61. Ok I’m always here looking I’m always waiting for a 1969 forest green Chrysler New Yorker with a 440. I owned one when I was 17 loved it.
Looks like a car I saw on an old episode of Mannix and MISSION: Impossible. Chrysler was the sponsor and corporate tie-in in which cars were used by celebrities or as part of the background.
What a great find.. Beautiful 300 and plenty of options from Chrysler. The only thing I would do is put dual exhaust on it. And enjoy driving to shows and weekend cruise. I’ve been fortunate enough to have driven these and it’s great. I would take this over a Cadillac of the same year. Taking it on the highway and won’t break a sweat doing 80 mph. Good luck to the next owner. Happy New Year to everyone. 🎆🇺🇸🐻
I would own it no problem aside from the money to purchase it with being that problem. Awesome find.
That big box in the trunk could be a power amplifier for the stereo. Notice the cooling fins on it and the second positive cable coming off the battery terminal.
Tony… That gray box in the trunk is for the phone that is mounted on the right side lower dash. I went to the website and saw 100 photos and the phone. This must been own by a CEO of a major company back then. This is worth the price for this ride. 😄
Thank you, sir, you’re right! I should have provided a link for those other photos, which are nice to see. Thanks for mentioning that.
My girlfriend in college had one of these. With that 440 it would pass everything but the gas station. It was a sweet ride, and had a nice big back seat to boot. 😉
I had one with a 2 barrel carb, run like a cat with its butt on fire. Hit passing gear at 120mph n got 21 mpg if you drove decent
very clean car, I’d purchase this one.great condition
https://hotrodsandhandlebarsdepot-omaha.com/70-chrysler-300
Great find and a fun write-up Scotty. More and more I appreciate these for what they were: big, smooth, luxurious, quiet, roomy cruisers. Perfectly suited for interstate highway driving, the interstates by this time being fairly far along in their development. In fact, the car would still do well in this role today. Plus it is period-correct brown.
Had a friend who had 9ne in a 4 door version. He called it Edna. That car would smoke the rear tire for blocks. He unfortunately beat it to death.
This one has been discussed on Forcbodiesonly. It’s optioned great and and is stunning at first. However the whole left front corner is kinda whacked. I noticed the drivers fender sprung at the arch and doesn’t tumble under in front of the wheel. Then you notice the bent up valance, the bad gaps around the bumper. The dead on front view reveals the severity. Too bad. Want to love this car! Hope someone can straighten it out.
Jasper, I went back to look at all the pics again, but tried to focus on the front left & right pics specifically, and you are absolutely correct. My thoughts are the same as yours in wanting to appreciate it for what it has to offer. Hopefully the seller can provide some honest known history concerning just what happened, or how severe it was. The first thing I noticed was the hood bumper that pushes into the fender near the top of the inner wheel well is missing on the driver’s side. It’s the little things like that, that can lead a keen eye to other possible problems.
I had thought it the uneven, convex brick pavement the car sat upon when the head on shot made the front end look off kilter.
If you watch the video of the car, there is one small spot of roof bubbling, the windshield was replaced (note tar/adhesive on passenger side A pillar) and I sure hope that rear (presumptively cell) antenna is magnetic v. drilled hole in that fender. There is also one small dent in the bumper.
With bidding nearing 18K, the risk of a bent frame concerns/gives pause
It was the bowed brick road. Picture sent to me on concrete in the garage was not like it appeared on that cobbled, convex brick road. I am not a member, so cannot add that here.
My father in law had a 1970 Newport with a 383. I was the biggest and longest thing I have ever driven. The most reliable car he ever owned. The sound of that 383 was great, even at idle! I drove that car on so many 1000 mile trips I have lost count. Never missed a beat! All I ever replaced was brake linings, one exhaust pipe at 160,000 miles, and one fan belt at something over 100,000 miles. I loved that car. And you could get into the trunk with some friends and play football!
I couldn’t find mention of a current odometer reading
Mileage: 40749, in the eBay listing
Nice 300! I owned a 1969 300 Convertible in the SAME exact color as this car. Mine had a black top and black bucket seat interior. The color is called Tuscon Bronze , paint code T7. I bought mine in 1984, and it went through a 3 year restoration. This car reminds me a lot of my old car.
I was 14 when this beauty was new. I remember them driving around the streets of my hometown. And a very good friend, to this day, his dad always bought big Chryslers, but beat the living hell out of them. He took it deer hunting and dragged home a buck in that giant trunk. Ah memories. Today, all we see on the roads are useless and horribly styled SUVs. Very sad, like everything else today, made like crap.
Beautiful, only thing better would be if it was a convertible
That is an old mobile telephone, perhaps GTE or Motorola, and if one looks carefully at the ebay pics (#7), you can see that the antenna base, drilled through the top of left rear quarter, is still there. The seller did not make that clearly shown. Lots of pictures taken at a distance on a somewhat cloudy day with trees and brush as backdrop hides a lot.
Sharp car though.
The best 300 I have seen ….ever…:)
Take the engine and trans, bout all I’d want it’s just too big if my ex wifes dad were still alive he would love it totally nuts on mopar he had a nice new Yorker I think but it was a rare one had an aluminum strip just behind the door went over the roof said it was fairly rare nice big white boat lol!!
I started as an operator with Pacific Northwest Bell (downtown Seattle) thirty five years ago. Yes, the local “0” operator would route these mobile (not cellular) calls via their Nortel Tops-04 consoles and manually ticket & time them. These were uncommon calls for sure, as were the Marine channels and the Air to Ground calls from planes. Back in the day, TV detectives like Mannix and Cannon certainly made lots of calls from their cars using mobile phones! Beautiful 300 by the way….
Auction update: this one sold for $19,000!