CarBrandLogos archive · Chrysler · 1955

Chrysler300 letter series

A luxury coupe with a race-tuned Hemi that made NASCAR a one-team sport.

Photo: Greg Gjerdingen from Willmar, USA · CC BY 2.0

The story

A defining chapter in Chrysler history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Chrysler 300 letter series, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

The C-300 of 1955 was assembled from parts Chrysler already had: a New Yorker hardtop body, the front end of an Imperial, and the 331-cubic-inch Hemi V8 tuned with a high-lift camshaft and twin four-barrel carburettors to produce 300 horsepower — the highest output of any American production car at the time, and the source of the name. Heavy-duty suspension came as standard because the engine demanded it.

1960 Chrysler 300F · GTHO · CC BY-SA 3.0

Design and engineering

It was expensive, sparsely optioned and built in small numbers, and it was extremely fast. Carl Kiekhaefer, the Mercury outboard-motor magnate, entered a team of them in NASCAR and won the championship in both 1955 and 1956 with a level of preparation and discipline the sport had not seen, to the point where competitors' complaints about his dominance helped drive him out of racing altogether.

1959 Chrysler 300E · sv1ambo · CC BY 2.0

In production

Each subsequent year brought a new letter — 300B, 300C, and onwards, skipping I to avoid confusion — with the 300C of 1957 gaining Virgil Exner's Forward Look styling and torsion-bar front suspension, and the 300F of 1960 fitted with cross-ram induction, its long intake runners crossing over the engine to sharpen mid-range response. Power grew, and so did the equipment levels, which gradually diluted the original hard-edged idea.

1962 Chrysler 300H · Greg Gjerdingen from Willmar, USA · CC BY 2.0

Legacy

The series ended with the 300L in 1965, by which point the letter cars had become closer to ordinary luxury coupes than to the stripped C-300. A final 300 Hurst appeared in 1970. The non-letter 300s that ran alongside them from 1962 were a trim level, not a performance car, and the distinction still matters to collectors.

At a glance