Re: [Chrysler300] '50s Hardtops

[John Lazenby <french_fryguy@xxxxxxxxx>]

Chuck and all,
 
Some of your post here I will disagree with.  Personally I can not speak for what B. Cunningham did or didn't do with his builds but I can offer the follow.  You state that Chrysler did not offer a Powerflite transmission in 1953 and that is incorrect.
 
The Powerflite transmission was introduced in June of 1953 and Imperials were the first to have them.  There were very few of these examples built with the P-F trans and the extended bell housing.  I own a pretty much original such example of a 1953 Chrysler Imperial Newport that I had at the Monterey, California 300 Intl. meet this past June.  If you go to the following link you can see this car on the track at Laguna Seca.  http://socalcarculturesblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/priceless.html
 
By 1954 the short bell housing with the "Mohawk" adapter plate was in use and continued through the end of the run with the 1958 392s.  How many of those early Imperial with the extended bell housings and Powerflites were built I don't know as I've also heard that the short bell housings were installed in some 1953 Imperials as well.
 
In my extended research of the '53 Imperials built I've located a total of 10 of the 823 built.  Some of these cars are in Europe and one is in South America.
 
John Lazenby


________________________________
From: Charles Schoendorf <cschoend@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Rich Barber <c300@xxxxxxx>; 'Don Warnaar' <300country@xxxxxxx>; 'Chrysler300 Group' <Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2011 7:03 PM
Subject: Re: [Chrysler300] '50s Hardtops


   
 
That's an interesting speculation that the C-300 designation derived from the Cunningham C-3.  I'd be curious to prove or disprove that one.  We will likely never know.  I own a C-3 and have done substantial research on them.  At the risk of boring the group, they were all powered originally by 331 extended bell housing FirePower Hemi motors.  Some Industrial and some not.  Mr. C built just 27 C-3's.  The website on that link is in error on the Powerflite tranny.  These cars were built in '52 and '53, before the Powerflite was available.  The only tranny options were a Cadillac 3 speed or a Chrysler FluidMatic.  The vast majority had the FluidMatic, aka tip-toe-matic, just like the Chrysler passenger cars of the day through '53 had. At the end of the production run Mr. C did keep one of the last C-3's for himself.  It is the only one fitted originally with a Powerflite tranny and also the only C-3 factory fitted with power windows.  That car is still
 owned by his daughter Lucie, and is original except for fresh paint, leather and chrome and it occassionally turns up at shows lately. 

All 27 C-3's have been accounted for and can be seen in all states of condition, from 'barn find' to concours and everything in between.  I know of five that are in restoration shops and either in progress or halted progress.  A few have been transformed into modern Hemi resto rods, while still retaining the original outward appearance.

I'd be happy to dialogue off line about these cars with anyone.

Chuck
certified Hemi nut

Since Briggs Cunningham had a hemi-engined C-3 car in 1953, there has been
speculation that the C-300 was named in tribute to Briggs and/or his car.
See: http://www.briggscunningham.com/home/sportscars/c3.html/ . I and
others see no links supporting this speculation. The website indicates a
3-speed manual transmission was standard and a TorqueFlite was optional..
This is most likely an error as the PowerFlite two-speed transmission was
the only automatic transmission available in 1953. The source of the stick
transmission is unclear.

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