Leaving the factory, most 1979 Chrysler 300s were Spinnaker White, but around 30 or so were said to have been painted Rallye Red. I don’t know if I’ve seen a red one, but, pool or pond, either color works for me. This rust-free example is posted here on craigslist in Chesapeake, Virginia and the seller is asking $6,950, Here is the original listing, and thanks to Mitchell G. for the tip!
Here’s a red Chrysler 300 so you can see how elegant it looks in red. The 300 grille is exclusive to this one-year-only model as are other features that may not stand out as much. The aluminum road wheels with 300 emblems, red and blue pinstripes, front fender louvers, unique white (or in the case of red cars, red) bumper guard pads, and tail lamp logos, or medallions. A vinyl roof wasn’t available on this model, I know a lot of you will be disappointed…
The seller says there is no rust on this car and it appears in almost perfect condition on the exterior. 1979 was the only year this version of the Chrysler 300 was available and we’ve seen a few here on Barn Finds over the years. They’re clearly based on the Cordoba and as with the Cordoba, they were never available with four doors. For just over $2,000, Chrysler buyers could get the optional 300 package on the Cordoba and fewer than 2,900 were built.
I’ve always wondered how long those big, puffy leather seats last and you can tell that these have seen better days. It won’t be inexpensive to have your favorite upholstery shop redo the two front seats as it appears the passenger seat is in somewhat similar condition, but not quite as bad. The back seat looks almost perfect from what we can see of it. I’m assuming the steering wheel cover is protecting a nice original wheel, but we don’t know for sure. I’m surprised to not see power windows at the very least here, as a top-tier luxury car for Chrysler.
There was one engine available for this model, a 360-cu.in. OHV V8 with a four-barrel, 195 horsepower, and 280 lb-ft of torque. It transfers power through a three-speed TorqueFlite to the rear wheels, and the seller says it runs and drives but needs an exhaust and a few other things. Given the unknowns and the knowns (the seating condition, exhaust), how much would you offer for this 300?
Beautiful and rare offering from Chrysler. No power windows is surprising, Maybe no power locks either. Odd, considering the 4bbl big motor was standard, and it was a flagship model.
I think you’re right Stan, I don’t think it has piwer door locks either, I dont see any buttons. I like the red one Scotty showed us for a comparison. These were nice cars from Chrysler.
No vinyl top. Deal-breaker!!!
Better without the vinyl top. They hide a lot of rust on a car this age. A lot of vinyl tops were done at the factories to hide assembly line mishaps.
I like it, and it’s not overpriced. And 195 horses in a 1979 barge isn’t so bad.
Nice car,first thing is get rid of that lean burn sytem
These were never offered in red. White was the only color. All of them also had the E58 360, which was the then-police spec motor with special heads, the 1968 340 4-bbl cam (252° duration), dual-snorkel air intake, heavy duty valve springs, and other goodies.
This engine was also optional on the ’79 Magnum GT. You should be able to make some good power with it just by uncorking the exhaust and maybe adding a high speed torque converter.
Unfortunately, these are interesting but not valuable. Hopefully, this one doesn’t find its way to the crusher.
These cars were offered in Canada in RED. Do your homework. My friend owns the red one pictured (replica). His name is Glenn from Wisconsin and he purchased a totaled ’79 Cordoba. He added all of the 300 trim plus the T-tops. Best of all he did this on a shoe string budget including the RED Fleet Farm Implement paint. He is very resourceful and deserves a story on the car. I contacted “Old Cars” three years ago and they never did anything. Perhaps Glenn will se the article and my post and comment further. Good job Glenn.
Yes, there were offered in red but only 30 for the Canadian market, you could also have a 318 2 Barrell single exhaust in Canada. There were no cat converters on either engine.
Excerpt from “CHRYSLER 300 DECOR PACKAGE” (Canada market):
“Seven hundred fifty-six A84 cars were assembled – 749 white ones and only 7 red ones.”
Ref: page 17 of “1979 CHRYSLER 300 HANDBOOK” by Dale Burkhardt and John Veatch. Copyright 1989 All rights reserved.
https://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/threads/1979-chrysler-300-production-numbers.158251/
Interesting, fun fact: These cars were not available with a power front seat. The E58 360 was a dual-exhaust only engine and, as such, the extra hump in the floor pan on the driver’s side made it impossible to mount a power seat mechanism on the driver’s side.
Another fact (though not so fun) is that, while the Chrysler 9 1/4″ HD rear axle was standard on these cars, along with a standard 3.21 gear ratio (which really limits the top end of these cars on the highway), a lot of these cars did NOT come with the optional Sure-Grip (limited-slip) differential. This is a must-have option, in my book so, it would take a close inspection if I was going to buy one of these with irrefutable proof (such as a window sticker) that it came with it from the factory.
Our ‘78 Cordoba, was a fine freeway cruiser. No problems other than a couple of ignition modules failing. Corinthian “ lather”, was very nice.
The “Corinthian” leather does not necessarily need replacing if the new owner wants to save money. I never did this, but I read ads for kits and products that can fill the cracks, soften and clean leather and dye to close to original color. That might be a fun project. Has anyone tried that?
As the owner of one of these (purchased new) I always feel compelled to throw my two-bits in. I’m no ‘expert’ on these, but I’ve gained a little knowledge on them over the years. Like Pete said, these >were< available in red, but only in Canada. Somewhere I have a photo of one I saw at a car show in Calgary in the early 80s. It does look like power door lock buttons, weird seeing one with wind-up windows, no roof option, and no tilt wheel. Leather is pretty toasty but maybe one of those ‘leather refinishing kits’ would bring it up to driver’s quality. The extra hump in the floor pan was to accommodate the dual exhaust. These cars were also treated to a ‘handling package’ consisting of heavy duty shocks, firm feel suspension, rear sway bar, and ‘firm feel power steering’, they handle very nicely! With a few mods the E58 police motor can be a decent performer. If this car is a good runner, it sounds like a pretty fair price, GLWTS!
Dreamy thought experiment. I still go Gaga over the round headlights era of these cars. I wonder if the grill/headlight clips are interchangeable. Would love this car so converted with the (hopefully) 300 grill inserted….
They are interchangeable , hood fenders and bumpers are all the same
Thanks for the information on the red cars being Canadian cars! I just read that around 30 were said to have been made in Rallye Red but that’s good to know, thanks!
As Peter stated I built my red 300 as a tribute car from a regular Cordoba with the 2 barrel 360. The 7 red as well as the white 300s built for Canada did not come with the E58 as standard but as my car is equiped with the 360 2 barrel and lock up converter. It was refered as a decore package in Canada and all the performance opptions were available for extra cost. I have only seen two red survivers so I built my own. The nurf strips were black on the 7 red cars but I think they look better in red!
As Peter stated I built my red 300 as a tribute car from a regular Cordoba with the 2 barrel 360. The 7 red as well as the white 300s built for Canada did not come with the E58 as standard but as my car is equiped with the 360 2 barrel and lock up converter. It was refered as a decor package in Canada and all the performance opptions were available for extra cost. I have only seen two red survivers so I built my own. The nurf strips were black on the 7 red cars but I think they look better in red!
The seller has removed the listing, did one of you buy this 300?