Re: [Chrysler300] 2015 Diamond Jubilee- 60 At The 60th

Hello 300’ly to all!

Last summer I had the good fortune to take Marnie and Bob Merritt for lunch at Lake Skeneattles, New York. Afterward Bob took me on a tour of his Golden Lion Garages in nearby Auburn. Marnie shopped. Of note Bob pointed out his manual transmission B with all the assembly differences that occurred by deleting the automatic transmission from the factory. The steering wheel was different and if I am not mistaken he said it came from the 53-54 steering wheels for the Chrysler and had the different Chrysler insignia. Bob should be able to be more accurate on his commentary regarding this query. Rob Kern

From: John Lazenby

Sent: Tuesday, February 18, 2014 11:01 AM

To: Don Warnaar ; Rich Barber ; ccc300ClubListserver

Subject: Re: [Chrysler300] 2015 Diamond Jubilee- 60 At The 60th

Don,

I don't doubt what you say. I'm thinking that it was a change for the '54 production but there was inventory of the '53 buttons still existing. I'll bet it was the "bean counters" that said use up the existing inventory.

I've never checked my parts books as I don't know if it would show a specific change date. Most of the '54 Chryslers and Imperials I've seen have the updated button. Our '53 Imperial Newport which would be considered a somewhat late production car (June 25th) has the '53 style button. With that said this car also has what appears to be factory dual exhaust that didn't happen until 1954. I've often wondered if this car has the '54 cylinder heads which were improved and made more HP. The bottom line in my mind is that many things like the horn button and our exhaust occurred without any documentation even though it doesn't agree with production time frames.

Gil is correct in that they used the "old steering wheels" but New Yorker and Imperials had a beautifully mottled wheel that is almost impossible to duplicate today. These were in various colors to accommodate the car's interior. To my knowledge all 300B stick cars used a "solid black" wheel. I've never looked at enough Windsors to see if this is what they offered but I doubt it. These wheels were used from 1951 through 1954 I believe.

My parents owned a black '53 New Yorker sedan (the car I learned to drive on) and it had a navy broadcloth interior but had the mottled wheel in a blue gray.

John L.

On Tuesday, February 18, 2014 8:18 AM, Don Warnaar <300country@xxxxxxx> wrote:

John,

I know you have a vast knowledge of mid-50s Chryslers, certainly more than almost anyone else, but I have seen the old logo on the center hub of the steering wheel on a 300B manual trans. car. I wouldn't think somebody would have changed it. If fact, I wondered why it was there when Chrysler had dropped it several years earlier. I asked Gil Cunningham at the time and he told me they used the old steering wheel on the manual car but none of the others. Maybe Gil can chime in on this one.

I also wouldn't doubt the '54 was different from the '53. The '53 was the last to have the emblem on the outside also. So they obviously fazed out the logo at the end of the '53 model year. And that of course meant the 300s beginning with the first did not have it.

Don

----- Original Message -----

From: John Lazenby

To: Don Warnaar ; Rich Barber ; ccc300ClubListserver

Sent: Tuesday, February 18, 2014 11:02 AM

Subject: Re: [Chrysler300] 2015 Diamond Jubilee- 60 At The 60th

The horn button between 1953 and 1954 differed in appearance. 1953 was the last of what Don is describing.

On the '55 and '56 Chryslers there is a chrome piece attached to the dash that covers over the top of the steering column. If you remove that piece you will see the opening to accommodate the shift rod for a manual trans car.

The stick shift cars for both 1955 and 1956 used the 1955 left dash panel. There are three pieces that make up the dash on both years.

John Lazenby