Gil independently verified this car went to New York, and another car went to California. Also, Motor Trend/Motor Life car has a power antenna, which as you know is coded on build record. This car does not. I think this car may not have been coded for an outside mirror, but it's been a while so would have to verify. MT/ML car has one. You can see the California plate in ML. There was a press launch at Roosevelt Raceway in Westbury NY November 17, 1960 with at least four Gs. There's some heavy promotion of the "Chrysler-built" manual. It may have been one of those. Cars. They had NY plates. (Source: Chrysler Times Dec. 9, 1960)
Lots of references that this is a Chrysler-built (A-745) trans. Can't find any T-85 application corporate-wide in 1961. Just found an article on the evil Hemming's on T-85s. It says T-85 was used on 1960 Dart, Matador, and Polara. Then 1962-1964 Plymouth with 413 and 426 engines. Don't know if that's complete and accurate, but it's the only Mopars listed.
The T-85 also has a non-synchro fist gear. Interestingly, this article says that allows shifting into second at a higher rpm. Haven't heard that before and don't know if it's true.
Andy M. 7* and blowing snow in Chicago
Andy et al, Yes, the 39-48 number of stick shift 300Gs built is what I recall hearing/reading also. I think they grabbed the 300F stick shift numbers and assigned same to this G stick being auctioned. Wouldn't be the first time I've read inaccurate information posted in auction ads for Letter Cars. Caveat Emptor, do your research before you bid to know what the facts are. The Borg-Warner comment just ads to this lack of research by the writer. There was a local club member, Randy Hastie, that owned a black G coupe with factory stick back in the '80s. He described the car as very hard to drive, especially with the non-synchro 1st gear. I've always wondered why Chrysler built it that way. Just curious Andy, how do you know this is not the car from the 6/1961 Motor Trend article? Bob J
Yes, the AMA specs for 300G confirm the 3-speed manual was standard with the 400-hp engine and optional with the 375-hp engine.
I don't know where the figure of 14 came from, but I've seen it before and it's not verified. Gil told me in 2006 he estimated 39 to 48 stick Gs. Don't know if that has changed. We can infer from the results that four 400-hp Gs ran Flying Mile at Daytona, plus a couple 375-hp Gs - perhaps Torqueflite cars (per Burt Bouwkamp.) And yes one G ran faster than the F in 1960 and would have broken the record but was disqualified for losing a chrome strip. So the rest of the 3-speed Gs were predominantly standard 375-hp engine cars. You can see in the photo that the G at auction is a 375-hp. This is corroborated in its build record. It is a known car. So, it's not a NASCAR spec, etc. The "281 code" does not indicate anything more than the transmission. There is indeed evidence that it was some sort of press car, but not the (also red 3-speed) car pictured in Motor Trend and Motor Life as was once claimed years ago. To that point, I don't know why they are saying it is a Borg Warner transmission. The parts book shows 300Gs had the Chrysler-made New Process A-745 which was an all-new for 1961 heavy-duty 3-speed manual transmission that was used perhaps up to 1971. As a press car, I'm sure Chrysler wanted the press to drive the all-new transmission, not some obscure one-off B-W fitment. According to the Motor Trend 6/1961 review of the stick shift G, "The stick shift is mandatory with this powerhouse (300G 400 HP option) replacing an imported four-speed box used in the 400 HP 300F" The standard 375 HP 300G, could be had with either torqueflite or 3 speed manual (at extra cost). Bob J I thought the stick G's were short ram/high performance 400 HP, Like the F four speed? and both used alternator charging systems.
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