Using “influencers” to bring attention to your product (and make the cash register ring) isn’t a new marketing ploy. And star athletes have been doing it practically forever. You can’t turn on your TV or go online today without seeing a slew of ads featuring Peyton Manning, Patrick Mahomes, or Rob Gronkowski hawking all kinds of national brands – from insurance and financial services to Buicks, Tide detergent, Oreo cookies, Bush Beans, and more. Well, here’s something different that occurred 70 years ago: gifting a new, cool car to an entire team so that popular players could drive it around and attract publicity. And that’s what Chrysler did when they introduced the first true muscle car, their Hemi equipped, 300-horsepower 1955 Chrysler C-300. They gifted one of their 1,725 first-year letter cars to the most popular, visible (and dominating) teams in sports at the time – the New York Yankees. Chrysler dubbed it the “MVP Car,” and after eight years of ownership, it was sold to a Mopar collector in 1963. This 300 is in remarkable condition, comes with all kinds of memorabilia, and is scheduled to be auctioned on January 15th at Mecum Auctions in Kissimmee, Florida. Thanks to Mitchell G. for hitting a home run with this rare Mopar “Beautiful Brute” and sending it our way!
Chrysler’s gifting stipulations must not have been too specific. Instead of manager Casey Stengel or high-profile stars such as Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, or ace pitcher Whitey Ford tooling around the Big Apple in the Platinum White 300 during the 1955 season, the car was given to the Yankees’ Enos “Country” Slaughter. It was used to entice the aging Hall of Fame (who was about to turn 40) to play for the newly-formed Kansas City Athletics for one season before returning to the Yankees for the 1956 season. Slaughter owned the Chrysler for eight years before selling it to Mopar collector Leonard Shultis in 1963. Based on the photos, the stately 300 looks like a museum piece. I’m not spotting any issues or flaws on the outside, and the paint, chrome, glass, and trim all look great.
Exterior colors were limited on the ’55 C-300’s to Black, Tango Red, and Platinum White. Interiors only came in tan leather with the carpet and parts of the instrument panel and dash trimmed in a sharp-looking contrasting black. The interior looks original and the 70-year-old tan leather seats are showing their age, but it’s a cool look if you ask me. There are some Enos Slaughter badging on the instrument panel and a bunch of Slaughter’s personal and baseball memorabilia are also included in the sale.
There’s a very clean engine bay under that Platinum White hood that houses Chrysler’s legendary FirePower 331-cubic-inch Hemi V8 engine. With two four-barrel carburetors, solid valve lifters, race-profiled camshaft, and a distinctive gold batwing air cleaner, this legendary engine generated 300 horsepower, making it America’s most powerful production car at the time. It’s been upgraded with a PerTronix ignition and an electric fuel pump and is paired with a dash-shifting PowerFlite automatic transmission. The ’55 Chrysler 300 is a one great car and this one, in particular, has a great story attached to it. I’m glad it survived all these years and it will probably fetch big bucks when it goes to auction later this month. There’s no other one like it out there.
I always thought that these are magnificent cars. This is really special with its history. I don’t know if it would get more money because it was owned by Enos Slaughter. When I saw that name it took me back to Bud Abbot and Lou Costello doing “Who’s on First?” When they mention him by name in their skit. Very beautiful 300 here, I like that the original leather is still intact too.
Looks like you and Michelle are competing for classy old HEMI powered classics today, Ron-thank you!!! What a beauty and considering the competition of the time it was a rolling chrome glitz ad, more of a quiet “I made you look” elegance.
I would be interested in this magnificent car, but as a Red Sox fan I’m constitutionally prohibited from such a temptation… 😉
PowerFlite: Ha!
Beautiful example-Briggs Cunningham liked Chrysler Hemis, and might have even had something to do with their development! Also a convertible version of this Chrysler (not sure if it was a 300) appeared in the 1956 Martin and Lewis film “Hollywood Or Bust!”. Worth watching for the car alone.
I’m pretty sure that the car in the Lewis & Martin movie you mentioned was a 1956 Chrysler New Yorker convertible.
I remember that it was a great looking car!
I don’t know anything about these cars or their values. But after reading Ron’s good write-up and realizing the history of the car, its good condition, and that it is going through Mecum, I wondered about the price. So I clicked on the Mecum link. I was expecting an “estimated” bid price which had way too many zeros. Actually the price, while high, is less than I would have guessed.
What about the air cleaner that appears to show 3carburators? I thought that it was supposed to have 2four barrels?
My uncle was a pitcher for the Yankees during that time period. He was the WS MVP in 1962. He always drove a Desoto or Chrysler product of some kind.
I wonder if he ever drove this car. As a roommate of Whitey Ford I’m sure he was at least in it.
He gave my grandad a 1956 Desoto Fireflight as I recall. Pa drove that car around Chelsea Oklahoma for years. He took my cousin and I to the Tastee Freeze every Saturday for a root beer float in that Desoto.
Ralph Terry? Cool!
Six volt battery.
That 331 needs a 69 Cuda transplant.
The engraved plates on the dash were made on a computerized engraver, which were introduced in the 1980s. Something fishy here! They could have been scratched up and replaced later, but they definitely weren’t there when the car was new.
I was in the engraving business from 1970 to 2017.