West Coast Classics are proud to present an exceptional and rust free and great daily driving survivor of this very rare and desirable 1960 Chrysler 300F Letter Series 2 door Hardtop Coupe with its original and highly desirable and legendary High Performance 413 CID 2x 4BBL 375 HP V8 'Long Ram' Wedge-Type engine with rebuilt dual Carter 4 bbl carburetors and legendary A-727 HD Torqueflite automatic push-button transmission; a car which was extremely powerful for its day and which had become the basis for a successful racing engine in Chrysler's future and cemented Chrysler's reputation for engineering great engines that would serve Chrysler well in various forms for the next 20 years.
This particular car was reportedly recently restored and is a rare and virtually completely stock surviving example of an obviously always garaged car with no signs of any accident damage and a straight and honest body with absolutely no rust. One of only 964 300F Letter Series coupes built in 1960 and marketed by Chrysler as quite simply 'America's most powerful car' and 'The High Performance Luxury Chrysler'.
A very striking looking car with its original wrap around front and rear picture window windshields and finished in this striking color combination with rare original leather factory spec power bucket seats in 'Tan Leather' (Trim code 353) color seats with original perforations to allow breathing and with its original and matching plain natural leather headliner with beautiful original chrome headliner bows and the car is fully loaded with factory options including; leather power swivel bucket front seats, full pile floor carpeting, original Push-button A727 'Torqueflite' transmission, Padded dash, Power Steering, Power brakes, Dual exhaust, original 'Golden Touch Tone' AM radio with Power Antenna, Heater & defroster, Power Front Seat Adjustments, Power Windows, Prismatic rear view mirror, Undercoating, Tinted glass, Electric clock, Exclusive exterior bright trim, full gauges and original Deluxe 300F hubcaps mounted on brand new whitewall tires.
Again, importantly this is a seemingly all original and stock surviving car which has its original 413/375HP Long Ram V8 engine with its correct special dual 4 BBL carburetors with cast iron intake manifolds and original legendary Heavy Duty cast iron case Torqueflite transmission. The 3 speed Torqueflite was Chrysler's mainstay transmission from its 1956 introduction on the Imperial and was also sold to other luxury automakers including such European marques such as Facel-Vega and Jensen. The first Torqueflite automatic transmission was the revolutionary A-488 which was lauded at the time as being the best automatic transmission in the world until the A-727 aluminum case which replaced the A-488 in 1962.
This particular car is a true survivor which was obviously always garaged and is a perfect candidate to drive and enjoy for any Mopar or classic car enthusiast. The car has recently come out of long term storage from where it was only driven sparingly since being restored as required with the paint having been color sanded and clear coated and the car has new tires, new gas tank, 4 wheel cylinders, new front brake hoses, cylinders and brake lines, new brake master cylinder, recored radiator, front alignment, dome instruments serviced, etc and consequently the car is running beautifully (see our video on our You Tube page).
The original 'Alaskan White' (Code W) factory color paint is in quite exceptional condition and the car has a beautiful all original Tan leather specs (Trim code 353) interior, which is remarkably complete and very presentable with the Chrysler exclusive three dimensional instrument cluster coined 'Electro Luminescent Astra Dome' instrumentation. This new ball-type cluster housed all gauges on three planes and all were backlit to give one of the most unusual instrument layouts pf any period. It is surprisingly easy to read, even at night.
The flagship model for the Chrysler lineup in the late fifties and early sixties was the Letter Series convertibles and coupes and were called the 'Beautiful Brutes' by the renown writer Karl Ludvigsen and produced two of the most memorable performance cars ever made. Unabashadely created for NASCAR which they dominated until 1957 when US manufacturers shied away from competition support. Originally powered by the most potent V8 Hemis yet, the 1955 C-300 (1,725 built) and the 1956 300-B (1,102 built) had a New Yorker Newport fine body styling with an Imperial eggcrate grille. Off the track the 300 proved to be about more than just performance with a luxurious leather interior and all modern factory options. In 1957 the 300-C and in 1958 the 300-D were even more potent extensions of Chrysler's hotrod and were the last of the Hemi powered Letter Series cars and sold in both coupe (618 built) and the new convertible form (191 built). The '57 Hemi produced around 375HP and the '58 optional 'Hi-Po' engine was a fuel injected 392 conservatively rated at 390HP. In 1959 the fifth edition of the Letter Series 300, the 300E was released and was a very low and limited production run with only 550 coupes (of which 16 were reportedly exported) and 140 convertibles built (of which 9 were reportedly exported). From the Chysler300country website statistics from 6/2009 only some 130 cars have survived with 104 of them coupes and 26 convertibles and 11 parts cars. Basically the same car as the 300-D but with a new horizontal bar grille instead of the previous eggcrate and a new 413 cid Wedgehead V8 instead of the fabled Hemi. Neverthless the new 413 was a true High Performance engine with 380 HP and a good second quicker than the D up to 60mph and 3 seconds faster to 90 mph. By 1962 the 300H's engine was the most powerful standard engine in any American car, yet a difficult sales year for the industry as a whole led to very low production figures of only 435 coupes and 123 convertibles.
The 1960 300F was the letter car of the new decade and performance again drove the newly designed fully unitized body with a new ram induction system which boasted 375HP, 495 lb ft of torque @ 2800, a 12 volt battery system, 2x4 barrel downdraft 'Carter AFB' carburetors mounted on a wild looking cross ram manifold with one air cleaner on each side of the engine with an automatic choke, special heavy duty torsion bars, sway bar, rear leaf springs and shock absorbers for the same type of front suspension as most Indianapolis race cars, large dual exhausts with special mufflers to reduce back pressure, the legendary 727 Torqueflite 3 speed automatic push button transmission, power steering, power brakes, genuine hand rubbed leather bucket seats with separate seat adjustments and with a full length sports console with built in tachometer, breathtaking acceleration, power windows, 34c.i. size trunk, Astradome style 'Stewart Warner & King Seeley' instrument panel clusters with most dials and gauges in one location, padded steering wheel and dash, tilt-type inside rearview mirror, electric clock, factory applied undercoating and hood insulation pad, bumper guards, chrome stainless steel wheel covers, dual headlamps and optional pushbutton 'Golden Touch Tuner' AM radio, rear shelf speaker, power antenna, pushbutton heater, rear window defroster and tinted glass.
The 413 with ram induction (the standard long rams 375 hp engine) had more torque, at lower rpm (495 lb ft @ 2800) than the later 426 Hemi (480 @ 3200). At low speeds the "long rams" 375HP engine was superb but over 4000 rpm performance would suffer and to solve this issue Chrysler engineers removed a section of the inner walls of the manifolds to create the optional "short rams" 400HP engine. This option was obviously quite redundant for the street and only really intended for Daytona bound cars that competed in the 'Flying Mile' there and only about 15 of these ultra rare 'short rams' were actually factory built. This $800 option also included a 4 speed manual gearbox made for the Facel Vega, a Chrysler powered French luxury car. One of the short ram 400HP cars driven by Greg Ziegler set a 'Flying Mile' record of over 144mph in 1960!
The American public expected to see fins on a Chrysler car and the 300F again delivered. The fins started at the center of the doors and swept back artfully to the new tailights. A faux spare tire clung to the center of the deck lid and a chrome side spear from just behind the edge of the door to the top of the rear bumper placed the 300F emblem at its leading edge. Designers eliminated the extra chrome they had used on the 300E. Chrysler had gone back to basics with the 300F and the designers cleaned up the styling and engineers introduced unibody construction to create a more rigid platform for the torsion bar suspension. Elegance and performance had produced a winning combination and buyers returned to the showroom and boosted sales dramatically as a result.
The 300F delivered more performance in a luxury car than any other American production car, no matter the price, and compared favorably with the most costly European Gran Turismo automobiles in its ability to maintain very high speeds over any type of road, rough or smooth, flat or hilly, or twisted with hairpin curves but whilst also remaining a luxuriously appointed and comfortable ride at the same time! Try covering 600-700 miles a day in one of its European supercars competitors and comparing the fatigue after such a trip at the end of the day; the 300F would win hands down every time and it was to prove it with an impressive history of record setting performances on some of the world's toughest courses.
Under the hood of this particular 1960 Chrysler 300F example is found the cars original 413 V8 engine boasting 375HP equipped with dual 4 barrel carburetors, desirable power steering, power windows and power brakes and with the body in very solid and original condition and with the chrome and bright trim all complete including the 300F emblems with all possessing a proper patina of age. Survivors from this era are rare making this car an asset to any dedicated Chrysler or MOPAR collection. The original and obviously low mileage ram inducted 'Golden Lion' wedge head 413 Long Ram V8 engine with the hot cam, heavy duty valve springs, low back pressure exhaust system, dual point distributor, low restriction air cleaner, special plugs and dual quad carbs runs strong and sounds absolutely magnificent and this particular car drives really well - must be driven to be fully appreciated - does not miss a beat and purrs like a kitten - drives straight as an arrow with no strange road wobbles, shakes or rattles - a truly remarkable daily driver that will give any modern day car a run for it's money!
Simply put, the 300F was one of the most exciting American cars ever produced, combining iconic styling, performance and luxury, or as some would say 'the total package', and with very few remaining Chrysler 300F's remaining on the road, this is an extremely unusual opportunity to own a correct and stock great daily driving example of this extraordinarily rare and very desirable original 1960 Chrysler 300F 2 door Hardtop in very fine daily driving condition ready and for any classic American car or Mopar enthusiast to enjoy or collect today!
