1955 Chrysler C-300 🇺🇸

One of only 1,725, this Chrysler C-300 was sold new by Wickland Motors of Greeley, Colorado, in April 1955 to Mr. Herman Wolff. He traded the car back to the dealer, probably he was not happy to drive a performance car, and in December of same year it was purchased by Ben M. Kejr. He drove the car until 1969, when it was put into storage. In 1999, Mr. Kejr, now 92 years old, finally sold the car to Johnnie Slayton, who performed a full restoration.

In 2012 the Chrysler was purchased by the Nicola Bulgari Car Collection at a Sotheby auction. This C-300 is equipped like most of these cars were, with power windows and seat, brakes and steering. The two speed Powerflite transmission was the only one available. Air conditioning, back up lamps and side mirror could not be ordered from the factory, as they would detract from the clean lines of the car.

Company
Chrysler Corporation

Wheelbase
126in

Interior trim
Beige leather

Brakes
front and rear drums

Make
Chrysler

Length
218,8in

Engine
V8 - 331.1cid

Tires
8.00x15

Model
C300- Model C68

Width
79in

Carburetor
2 Carter WCFB

Original Price
$4,109

Body style
2-door hardtop coupe

Weight
4005lbs

Horsepower
300hp @ 5200rpm

Production
1,725

Model year
1955

Exterior paint
White

Transmission
Powerflite 2-speed automatic

Back in 1935 Chrysler Corporation was growing fast, and was battling with Ford for second place in the sales war. In this year, K.T. Keller took over from Walter P. Chrysler as Company President, and under his leadership, sales continued to grow. But the changes in design occurred in the late forties found K.T. Keller and Chrysler Corporation completely off target, with cars that were very old fashioned and outdated. By 1954, sales were only 13% of US total, and the Company had dropped to third position. Mr. Keller was convinced that even tall people should be able to drive a car wearing a hat, so they had to be tall and boxy. Quite the opposite was true for General Motors, Ford and all the other manufacturers, which had beautiful, low profiles. Tex Colbert was appointed President in 1950, and one of his first moves was to call a young designer from Studebaker, Virgil Exner. When in 1953 he was appointed to head the Styling Department, he had to completely change the old fashioned image of all Chrysler Company products. He started the 1955 models with a blank sheet of paper in front of him, and the results were spectacular. Lines were well integrated, with ample window dimensions, low roofs and a wide stance. Mechanically, Chrysler had always had a stellar reputation for good, reliable and powerful engines, and the Hemi was the best American engine. It had been introduced in 1951 as a 331 cubic inch V8 rated at 190 hp, and immediately became the engine to beat in all sort of competitions. It was designed with a lot of space for growth, and by 1955 it had reached the 250 hp level on the New Yorker and Imperial models. The Powerflite transmission was new in 1955, and was a welcome change, as the semiautomatic M5 was very old and clumsy to use. The advertising department came up with a new slogan for the year, “The Forward Look” and the new Chrysler, Imperial and DeSoto, all using the same body shell, were greeted by a very good sales success. To gain still more visibility, and to shake off the “old man image” Colbert, Exner and chief engineer Bob Rodger decided on a high performance coupe that would be built in limited numbers, but would surely get a lot of publicity for the new look of Chrysler Corporation. The new car would be based on the New Yorker coupe shell, adorned with the grille of the Imperial and the simple side moldings of the Windsor. The interior was very classy, with beige leather all around. The dash was taken from the Imperial, but with a 150 mph speedometer. Only four colors were offered; white, black red and platinum. The real surprise was under the hood, where the Hemi 331 cubic inches had been modified to be a real racing engine. Solid lifters with a high lift performance camshaft, raised compression ratio, dual quad intake manifold with two Carter four-barrel carburetors and high pressure oil pump, combined with lowered and stiffened suspension and modified Powerflite transmission gave birth to a real street racer. It was the new C300, so named for the horsepower that was generated by the mighty Hemi. Many traditional Chrysler customers were really upset at the way the car behaved in traffic, noisy, harsh, stiff and traded the 300 back to the dealer. But racers and enthusiasts immediately started using the car for racing, with 37 wins in NASCAR and AAA races. The C300 became the car to beat in all kinds of racing and gave birth to a succession of cars that in years to come would be the real American “Gran Turismo”.