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Chrysler C-300

C-300
Vehicle Model

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Wikipedia: Chrysler 300 letter series Page Sections History Photographs Merchandise

A car produced by Chrysler. Produced for model year 1955 only, it was the first of the 300-letter series which moved to the second model, the 300B, for 1956.

The Chrysler C-300 was the car of 1955 NASCAR Grand National (the series that would eventually become Sprint Cup) driver's champion Tim Flock.

History

The following section is an excerpt from Wikipedia's Chrysler 300 letter series page on 28 July 2016, text available via the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

This first of the letter series cars did not bear a letter, but can retroactively be considered the '300A'. The 'C-' designation was applied to all Chrysler models; however for marketing purposes the numerical series skipped more than 225 numbers forward in sequence in order to further reinforce the 300's bhp rating. The 300 originally stood for the 300 hp (220 kW) engine. The C-300 was really a racecar aimed at the NASCAR circuits that was sold for the road for homologation purposes, with Chrysler's most powerful engine, the 331 cu in (5.4 L) FirePower "Hemi" V8, due to the hemisperic shape of the combustion chambers, fitted with twin 4-barrel carburetors, a race-profiled camshaft setup, solid valve lifters, stiffer suspension, and a performance exhaust system. By 1956 this would be the first American production car to top 355 hp (265 kW), and the letter series was for many years the most powerful car produced in the United States.

The car's "Forward Look" styling can be attributed as much to the Chrysler parts bin as designer Virgil Exner. The front clip, including the grille, was taken from the Imperial of the same year, but the rest of the car did not look like an Imperial. The midsection was from a New Yorker hardtop, with a Windsor rear quarter. Exner also included base-model Chrysler bumpers and removed many exterior elements such as back-up lights, hood ornament, side trim, and exterior mirrors. An electric clock and two-speed windshield wipers were standard. There were few options available including selection of three exterior colors (red, white and black) and only one color of tan leather interior. Power windows and power seat were available but air conditioning was not available in 1955.

Measured at 127.58 mph (205.32 km/h) in the Flying Mile, and doing well in NASCAR, the C-300 aroused interest that was not reflected in its modest sales figure of 1,725.

When the C300 competed in NASCAR, it was painted to advertise that it was the "world's fastest stock car".

Photographs

	Moebius kit, box stock, Model Master Wimbledon White Photo ©2012 Bill Crittenden 2012 Summer NNL hosted by View photo of 1955 Chrysler C-300 Model - 3.9MB
	Moebius kit, box stock, Model Master Wimbledon White Photo ©2012 Bill Crittenden 2012 Summer NNL hosted by View photo of 1955 Chrysler C-300 Model - 4.0MB

Merchandise

Type & Item #	Name	Details
Model Kit Moebius/Model King 1203	Tim Flock's Chrysler 300 1955 Championship Winning Stock Car