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Personal Luxury: 1960 Chrysler 300F

1960 Chrylser 300F

I’ve always been fascinated by the Chrysler 300s, they are marvels of technology and luxury! This ’60 300F was incredibly luxurious when it was new, it was also quite fast for it’s size and comfort level. It has been parked for quite a few years and it’s sadly starting to show. At some point in its life it was repainted green from it’s original white and there is some Bondo hiding underneath it. While I’m a bit nervous about what might be hiding under the paint, these cars are so rare and cool that this one deserves to be saved! If you’d like to give this Chrysler a good home, you can find it here on eBay in Eden, Utah.

1960 Chrylser 300F Engine

If you were shopping for an American built luxury coupe that was capable of high speed cruising in 1960, the 300F was the car to look at. The 413 Wedge V8 produced 375 horsepower with that amazing Cross Ram intake system. A small number, 15 or so, were built for racing and received a short ram system that brought power up to 400! Does anyone know where to find one of those setups?

1960 Chrylser 300

With just 969 coupes built in ’60, this is one rare Mopar. I’d love to have one of these parked in my garage, but I’m not sure I would even know where to start with restoring this one. Finding parts could be challenging, but thankfully it already runs and drives. The seller also claims all the electronics still work, which is a huge plus! If the restoration is limited to just body and paint work, it might not be so bad, but if you have to replace any trim or parts specific to the 300 it could get expensive. Let’s just hope everything is still here and can be cleaned up. So would you take on this project?

Comments

  1. Avatar JW454

    33 bids so far is a good sign it has some fans out there. I couldn’t do it but, I hope someone will buy, restore, and love this old car. Not many of these left I’m sure.

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  2. Avatar Michael Rogers Member

    the joy if it is that it’s made of STOUT bits! the 440 of couorse is available from old motorhomes and will happily respond to attentionMOPAR MADNESS threw a cam in one along with manifolding and carb ONLY and got aout 475 horsies, buy the FACTORY templates for porting and you’d get lots more!

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    • Avatar Dave Wright

      This is too rare and valuable to mess with, the 413 is a better engine than the 440 in the first place, it cooled better and has less head cracking problems……..but the cross ram 413 is particularly potent. If you want something to hot rod, there are plenty of lesser cars available for cheeper money and without the impressive history.

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    • Avatar MeepMeep

      I’m thinking that there was a lot more done than “ONLY” to get those numbers out of a stock 440. And I hope you meant exhaust as well as intake manifolding AND head valve grinding/porting. The stock commercial, emissions sacked truck version 440 had to be completely taken down and built back up to achieve those numbers. By 1972, the 440 in Chrysler’s line up was severely restrained. My money would be on the 413 with 375 bhp at the flywheel, out of the box before mods. Even my 392, torn down and built back up with Hilborn injection backed by a Lenco aluminum trans in a A/GS Altered only runs high 9’s to low 10’s in the 1/4.

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  3. Avatar PaulG

    Many many years ago I purchased a ’69 Roadrunner and in the trunk was a set of these cross-ram manifolds. Wished I’d have kept both!

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    • Avatar Jeffro

      Been there…done that. Guy I sold a car to found 2 sets of 375hp corvette heads in back of 1970 Monte Carlo. I didn’t have a key for trunk. Never bothered to look.

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  4. HoA Howard A Member

    Coolest American dashboard ever! ( although, the mirror was useless)

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    • Avatar RNR

      They moved the mirror to the right of the instrument cluster hood as an improvement over the center of dash on lower windshield molding location that my ’57 New Yorker has. Thing is – I don’t have a problem with the NY’er rear view mirror; it’s the manual side view mirrors that are placed an arm length and a half away on the fenders that are useless!

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  5. Avatar DrinkinGasoline

    1960 was a one- off year for most American vehicles and My favorite year across all of the Big 3. I was built in ’60. Although in honesty, I was, umm… subject to a few recalls now and then :)

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  6. Avatar Andrew

    Wow. That is one cool car.

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  7. Avatar Michael

    I had a beautiful 300 K that I got from Gpa that was in almost pristine condition. Unfortunately, I was young and I sold it when gas was at $3.50 and could not afford to feed it. It was fast and comfortable. It would do 100mph and feel like 65mph Good memories though.

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  8. Avatar Wayne Graefen

    You want to know where to get a pair of short rams? Let’s see, we know they built nine of the 400 HP Gran Turismo 4speed stick cars in ’60. Built ONE in ’61 with a manual 3 speed and a small handful of short ram cars in ’62. So GOOD LUCK. The ’63-64 short rams are a different casting. Oh, and there were about a DOZEN other parts changed when the factory hand built those 400 HP 300Fs. I owned one of them for 23 years My short ram F engine compartment in photo.

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  9. Avatar Ken Carney

    I remember seeing one of these 40 years ago when my BIL took me to see the small collection of cars owned by a long time friend
    of his. That friend was Bob MacAttee, a local
    Dodge dealer in Bloomington, Illinois. The car
    he owned was a Black hardtop that was raced
    by Craig Ziegler at the bonneville salt flats in
    1960. The car had the 400 HP V-8 backed by a Pont A Mossoun 4-speed tranny. Other options included dual echausts and an HD
    limited slip rear end. All this hardware was
    good for nearly 150+ MPH on the salt. Mr.
    MacAttee bought the car from Zeigler after
    he raced it, driving it sparingly and keeping
    it completely bone stock. Over a few beers,
    Mr MacAttee verified a story my BIL had told
    me that he (MacAttee) drove the car at well
    over 100 MPH from the Rockford Dragway
    to his home in Bloomington just to keep it
    from being rained on! Other features of this
    car included swivel bucket seats, and an early
    AM/FM two speaker radio. Other cars in the
    collection include 2 IDENTICAL 1966 Dodge
    Chargers which had the NASCAR 426 Hemi
    V-8’s mated to 4-speed trannies. The only
    difference here was the gearing of the rear
    axle on each car. And just so I don’t forget,
    a mint condition 1914 Dodge touring car as
    well. As for your feature car, I’d do it if I were
    younger and had a lot of cash.

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  10. Avatar Steve B.

    One of the most awesome vehicles ever in the history of awesome.

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  11. Avatar M B

    The benefit of the “tuned intake manifold” was mid-range torque. Not specifically top-end horsepower. The cam for the normal 300-F motor was not very wild, by even later 1960s standards. As I recall, to get the higher horsepower, the manifolds were cut apart and the dividers shortened to 1/2 their production length, hence “short ram”, from what I read “back then”. Ultimate manifold flow and horsepower was limited by the length of the runners themselves. A very BOLD engineering move for “The Bold One”, Chrysler 300.

    They did have a 2xr intake where the carbs were “in line” with each other. “Motor Trend” drag raced a ’62 Newport with that set-up. Results were in their issues, back then. 4.30 gears and slicks.

    I never did hear of “head cracking” on 413s, 440s, or otherwise. I do know of the Moper Performance/Direct Connection porting template kit, and have one (unused). A way for a motivate individual to port their own heads for increased flow and performance without having to find somebody “who knows” what needs to be done. Many GREAT things from te Direct Connection program, especially the Race Manuals!

    If the price is right, this car can be restored in a financially-viable manner. BUT it seems that I’ve seen this car before, a few years ago?

    In ANY event, this car can be too valuable to alter from stock specificatiions! To do so would ultimately DECREASE its value!

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  12. Avatar stillrunners

    They offered these across the mopar makes….

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  13. Avatar AMCFAN

    I owned a 1960 Saratoga Hardtop years ago. The Saratoga shared the same wheelbase as the 300. I loved the car. It had a 383 Golden Lion engine which was the RB. The block would accept 426 Hemi heads and is the only engine series other then the Hemi itself to do so. The 383 was not a slouch in any form. The car appearing to be a boat was anything but. Handled very well and had plenty of power. If you wanted a modified 300 series but didn’t want to kill the value on the actual car this is what you would want. I sold mine and it eventually went to Sweden. Big market there for vintage Chrysler built iron.

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  14. Avatar stillrunners

    And if you watch Elvis in – Blue Hawaii – the blue convertible has the “SonicRam” emblem on the fender……

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  15. Avatar john taggart Member

    LOVE the swivel seats what a great thing foe elderly sure wish someone would smarten up and use them today laughs I was built in 48 am elderly and would buy one

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  16. Avatar Keith

    Having had many letter series cars, the 300F and 300G are my favorites. I’ll be curious to see how this one does in the auction. 3 years ago I had a 300G in about the same condition as this 300F and sold it for $18k. It’s now in Australia undergoing a full restoration. Hopefully this F will get the same treatment. As with all Chryslers and Imperials, the main detriment is parts .Trim, soft pieces, etc. are almost non-existant, and the people who have the parts know what they are worth. Quick example:
    300G correct spark plug cables: $600
    Correct air filters: $150
    My 300G had a Windsor grille on it (original grille had been damaged at some point in the past). I found one in beautiful condition, but it set me back $1200.
    If you’ve got deep pockets these are your cars.

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  17. Avatar Eric Dashman

    I think that it’s great that this car has been so well-used. Whomever owned this one did the right thing…they drove it and drove it. Back in the late 60s an F came into the Chevy dealership (Long Chevrolet, and long gone I’m given to understand) in which I was working for the summer. I don’t recall if it was in for maintenance or a trade-in, but I got to drive it around Lake Forest, Illinois for a few miles. What a great car! Power, great sound, comfortable. I believe they had both the torqueflite transmission (best in breed of the day) and torsion bar front suspension (which gave them the excellent handling characteristics). In restored-to-original condition, these cars approach 6 figures.

    Like 0

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