The owner of this 1961 Chrysler 300G project car on Craigslist near Palm Springs, California, is pretty modest about it. It’s a spectacular-looking car, a vision of the future from 1961 and a heralded performance car of its day.
There’s lots of originality here, but the car had a small engine fire and needs body work and a transmission rebuild. Hence the $22,000 price. This appears to be a very low-mileage car, with 14,350 miles indicated in the ad and on the odometer. But maybe, given seat wear, it’s already been around once.
Only 1,617 300Gs were built in 1961. The whole letter series started with the first 300 in 1955. It didn’t actually have a name, but let’s call it the 300A. The main event was the 5.4-liter FirePower “Hemi” V-8, Chrysler’s big gun, producing 355 horsepower. From there, it was the 300B (1956), the 300C (1957), the 300D (1958), the 300E (1959), the 300F (1960, with power up to 375 horsepower), and this 300G, featuring the huge fins of the era.
The 300G was available as a coupe or convertible, with both getting the 413-cubic-inch, 6.8-liter “Golden Lion” V-8 with dual four-barrel carbs and 400 horsepower. Buyers could choose either a three-speed manual or the three-speed Torqueflite automatic. They were expensive cars, $5,441 for the coupe and $5,841 for the convertible. But the attraction was there: a 300G attained 143 mph in the Daytona Flying Mile.
This car features the tan leather that was standard in the year and the auto option. The original owner went wild with the order book. The car has Air Supply electronic ride control, power steering and brakes, power-adjustable swivel front seats, a push-button gear selector, an 8-track player (not an option in 1961, I don’t think), the famous “AstraDome” instrument cluster, and a cross-ram intake manifold. Note the personalized license plates; somebody loved this car!
The engine on this car (not shown in the photos) reportedly ran fine before the transmission went out and somehow started the engine compartment blaze. Bodywork is needed on the passenger fender, rear quarter, and hood. The front of the car looks a bit rough, but a new bumper is seen in plastic, and presumably, the missing trim is nearby. Lower control arms and radius arms are bent and need replacing.
And much of the rest of the car looks promising. The interior is serviceable, except for worn and somewhat weathered leather on the seats (especially the drivers’). Call it patina? All the other trim is where it should be and appears decent. How rare are those 300 door panels? Luckily, these are good.
The AstraDome was only offered from 1960 to 1962 and featured an electro-luminescent illumination system with red needles and a green glow. It must be incredible at night. Classic.com indicates one of these cars in tip-top shape is worth $52,855, so there’s some space to fix this one and not be underwater. However, American cars of this vintage are losing value, so the market trend is downward.
This would be a $100K restoration, but worth every dime. The `61 models aren’t as plentiful as say, the `65 300L’s, but they are worth $140-$150K when done. The ‘ride control’ option mentioned; I’m not familiar with that–was it an air suspension like GM used in `59?
As far as I can find this was probably an auto leveling system using the rear shocks only.
I have a 1960 Windsor for sale engine and trans are fine no body damage needs interior with top and seats I think yours is overpriced up here in Idaho they are a lot cheaper the last auction I went to the Chrysler in premo condition went for 44000
Send it in and we will auction it for you!
What planet are you on ….you can buy the best 300G coupe for $75-85K …convertibles bring $100- 150K
Yes but we all know that you rarely, if ever, make you money back on a restoration like this.
Around 2000, I drove downinto the pine forests south of Talahassee. Fla. to see one of these. White w/gold anodized trim, and the big crossram manifold w/2 4 bbls. It needed to be freshened, but had no major damage or rust. It drove fine, and was definitelty torquey. He wanted about $15K for it, but for some reason I passed it up.
Wanna hear my Maserati, ’39 Zephyr coupe and 2 Ferrari stories?
Virgil Exner created some beautiful cars under his direction. That beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. I happen to like these, canted lights and all. The Sport Fury, not so much.
I’m in your court, Nelson. They were beautiful for sure. My father had a 4 door hardtop Newport, white with a red top, it was gorgeous. Someone else thought so too, it was stolen and never found. Months later he drove home in another 61, this time a beige Newport convertible. This one was rough around the edges.
Nice car.
It will take unknown money to get it restored after an engine fire.
However with no pictures of the engine $22,000 is a big ask.
In my opinion it’s worth $10,000 – 12,000 the way it sits.
These are RARE cars !! They could fully restore this ’61 Chrysler as most of the needed work is the front end and engine , whatever it needs to get it running . I have seen cars that were ready for the crusher , restored to ” showroom ” condition !! Yes , it’s an expensive process but worth it in the end . Happy Motoring !
BF quote: “The 300G was available as a coupe or convertible, with both getting the 413-cubic-inch, 6.8-liter “Golden Lion” V-8 with dual four-barrel carbs and 400 horsepower.”
Most of these had a 375 (gross) horsepower 413. The 400 hp engine was optional (and rare).
BF: “The original owner went wild with the order book. The car has Air Supply electronic ride control, power steering and brakes, power-adjustable swivel front seats, a push-button gear selector, an 8-track player (not an option in 1961, I don’t think), the famous “AstraDome” instrument cluster, and a cross-ram intake manifold.”
Most of those features were standard, not optional, including power steering/brakes, TorqueFlite automatic, pushbutton gear selector, the AstraDome and the cross-ram intake. Chrysler didn’t offer air suspension in ’61 so the electronic ride control would be aftermarket, presumably of a more recent vintage. The A/C and the power seats were optional.
For some reason, some of the writers here assume that if there’s a rare or unusually equipped car it was a special order , when there’s probably a 90% chance it was an off the lot purchase . without a build sheet specifying its a special order, you should assume its not
The first 300 was called a C 300. It was 331 ci and 300 horses. The 1 horse power per cubic inch engine came in 56 with the 354 ci hemi with either 340 hp or 355hp. This was the 300 B.
Jim Motavalli, may I suggest you do simple research on what you write before you write to avoid giving your readers the impression you have no idea whatsoever about what you are writing about. The Chrysler Letter car franchise well supported by its club and website. Much is written about the car. It would not have been difficult for you to glean the most salient facts for your narrative. Instead is flower, fluff and inaccurate statements about an important artifact of automotive history.
To readers here, if you are interested in the Chrysler Letter Cars head to the
club website: https://www.chrysler300club.com/
Great looking car and would be a blast to drive. However, no engine bay photo
(how bad is it?), and considering the damage to the front end that the seller mentions you know there’s probably deeper problems. I hope somebody can repair this car and get it back on the road.
“Transmission needs rebuild. Engine running great when trans went out and started a small fire in engine compartment” I’m not sure how that fire started, maybe it sprayed trans fluid on the exhaust. It looks like two different cars in the pictures from show to NO. The intake is sitting on the ground in the photos, I wonder what condition the carbs are in? I don’t see any burnt paint on the hood. It’s a cool vehicle but way to much money. The owner might spend some money and get it running to get a decent price for it.
From the look of the cross-ram intake manifold it appears that the right side carb was where the fire was. I’d like to hear the details about how it got started. I’d also like to hear how the suspension got damaged. The 61 models are rare so this one would be worth restoring. I hope it finds a rich buyer who appreciates beautiful American classics and restores it.
If the trans line broke and sprayed the pipes to get smoke coming from the hood – I would think action was needed to get it to the side of the road quick – maybe a curb was in the way….speaking from experiance only….
In 1956 we lived in Macon, GA. I was about five years old and my grandfather has just purchased a Chrysler 300, two tone, no air conditioning, but very fast and capable. That summer my grandfather and grandmother loaded me up in the very early morning, still dark, to take a trip to St. Augustine, FL. Waking up on the back seat I saw my first sunrise. I am still in awe of how a vehicle can transport one’s awareness and appreciation of the world we live in. My grandfather kept that car for the rest of his life and when he passed away eight or so years later he left the Chrysler to his yardman, perhaps one of his best friends. Boy, were my uncles disappointed.
No one has mentioned the mileage , 14 K ? Judging by the minimal pictures of the interior & seeing what little can be seen of the drivers seat I think that maybe its been rolled over and should read 114 K miles . Mother nature is not kind to car interiors as judged by the rear seat seat back on the top. But that’s not sun damage on the drivers seat bottom. Quite possible the owner/seller does not know actual mileage and is just stating what the odometer shows ? This could be a very nice letter car , probably at minimal cost if you’re handy .
My seats looked about the same on my 300G when I bought it with 47k miles on it. There’s something odd about the way the seats of these 300G’s wear out, I’ve seen other low-mileage (documented) 300G’s with original seat material that looked like this, too. Oddly, I cannot think of a 300G I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen quite a few, I was in the 300 club for many years) with over 100k miles on it.
As some have mentioned, deliberately leaving out pictures of under the hood is kinda shady. I’m guessing you’re going to need a sizeable bank roll to get this one back on the road. When I was about 17 my brothers girlfriends stepdad had a Windsor that looked exactly like this car all the way down to under the hood only his was red inside and on the road and perfect. Great ride and very nice looking. Also quite fast. Especially for a giant boat of a car. Wouldn’t mind having it but don’t have any where near enough money to fix this one. Hope it goes to a good owner.
Too much money for a car that has had a “small” engine fire, and seller wont even show us any pictures of how bad that probably was? No thanks. She was a beauty for sure but just too much work and to me not worth the trouble. Maybe a Mopar junkie will get her for less and bring her back.
Wow two cars that I have had in my lifetime in the same day… first the 1984 Hurst Olds and now a 300G.
The thing about these cars is that parts are basically unobtainium at this point. Case in point the air filters were 300 bucks for the pair back in 2013 not sure what they cost these days.
I ended up selling my 300g to a guy in Australia who did a full restoration on it. He used to send me pictures of it with kangaroos in the background.