FIND OF THE DAY: 1961 CHRYSLER 300G

Chrysler turned out 1,280 examples of its 300G coupe in 1961, which isn’t a big number to begin with. But for those who preferred to shift for themselves, only a handful were built with a three-speed manual transmission in place of the TorqueFlite. This 1961 Chrysler 300G, for sale on Hemmings Marketplace as a Make Offer listing, is one of those.

According to the seller, just 50 Chrysler 300Fs were built with option code 281, the heavy-duty, floor-shifted three-speed. It backed up the standard engine, the 413-cu.in. Long Ram V-8, which shared its bore, stroke, and 10.1:1 compression ratio with the New Yorker V-8 but added 30-inch-long intake runners, dual four-barrel Carter AFB carburetors and dual exhausts to make 375hp at 5,000 rpm. For 1961, the standard axle ratio was changed from 3.31:1 to 3.23:1, giving the 300G a higher top speed than the preceding 300F.

1961 was the last year that Chryslers wore their fully finned Virgil Exner designs. This year, the taillamps were moved down from the fins to just above the rear bumper; in front, a modest restyling featured an inverted trapezoid grille and canted headlamps. Gone was the faux-spare-wheel-encrusted trunklid of the 300F; in its place was a simple embossed deck lid. The simple lines were embellished with what was, for the time, a restrained use of chrome, particularly on the flanks. The 300G shared the 126-inch wheelbase of the New Yorker, rather than the 122-inch wheelbase of the Newport and Windsor, and cast a generous 219.8-inch shadow.

The 300G, like the other Letter Cars that had come before it, offered a blend of luxury, performance, and high style. The inside showed Space Age influences, with chrome, aluminum, and steel complementing the Old-World perforated leather. There was a separate bucket seat for each lucky occupant, front and back, and the front seats swiveled out for easier entry and exit.

Carried over from 1960 was Chrysler’s remarkable AstraDome instrument panel. The panel’s dominant feature was the clear plastic bubble that put a three-dimensional array of instruments directly in the driver’s line of vision. Everything was here but the tachometer, which resided in the console. In the background was the semicircular sweep of the speedometer; in the foreground were individual gauges for amperes, fuel level, oil pressure and coolant temperature. At night, the instruments were bathed in electroluminescent (or, as Chrysler called it, Panelescent) blue lighting. Sadly, the AstraDome was phased out after the 1962 model year.

When new, the 300G hardtop coupe listed for $5,411, more than $1,000 more than an equivalent New Yorker, and $11 more than the corporation’s Crown Imperial coupe. “This is the ‘G’ … brand-new 1961 version of Chrysler’s championship breed of rare motorcars,” the company’s promotional material proclaimed. “A limited-edition automobile, precision-built for the connoisseur of careful craftsmanship and superb engineering…. Like its sports-bred predecessors, the ‘G’ is a complete, confident machine. Spacious. Nimble. Agile. Exceptionally high-powered.”

For any Letter Car fan, this car offers an interesting specification: Exner’s unrestrained fins, the clean deck lid, the new trapezoidal headlamps, and the three-year-only AstraDome instrument panel can all be considered pluses. Add in the driving appeal of the manual transmission, and this example represents a rare find.

According to the seller, this 300G spent roughly the last nine years in Kuwait, and is now back home in the U.S. with a clean Maryland title.

The post Find of the Day: 1961 Chrysler 300G appeared first on The Online Automotive Marketplace.

2024-09-19T13:19:38Z dg43tfdfdgfd