The glorious years for high performance cars were the years after WW2.
In Europe those cars were made by Ferrari, Porsche, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, Maserati and Aston-Martin. In the USA the Muscle Cars were born.
Chrysler 300B © flickr/Rex Gray
While GM built the Corvette and Ford the Thunderbird, Chrysler went a different way. The Chrysler letter series. Based on a 2-door saloon it was the fastest and most powerful American car for several years.
The first car of the letter series, the C-300 launched in 1955, didn’t bear a letter but can retroactively be considered the 300A. The 300 originally stood for the 300 hp (220 kW) engine.
The design was pretty similar to other Chrysler models as parts from other cars were used. The front clip and grille were taken from the Imperial, the mid section from the New Yorker hardtop and the rear quarter from the Windsor.
The C-300 was equipped with Chrysler’s most powerful engine, the 331 cu in (5.4 L) FirePower “Hemi” V8, fitted with twin 4-barrel carburettors, a race-profiled camshaft setup, solid valve lifters, stiffer suspension and a performance exhaust system.
It was the most powerful American car for many years and the first American production car to top 360 hp (270 kW). The cars were successfully raced in NASCAR and numerous international rallies. The interest it aroused was not reflected in the sales figures of 1,725 built though.
The Chrysler 300B launched in 1956 looked pretty similar with larger tailfins and smaller modifications. The engines were larger with two models of 354 cu in (5.8 L) Hemi V8 with either 340 or 355 hp (254 or 265 kW) and performance was a little better, being measured at almost 140 mph (225 km/h). Only 1,102 cars were sold.
The 1957 300C had a completely new styling with a wide front grille and fins. For the first time a convertible model was available too. The Hemi engine was upgraded to 392 cu in (6.4L) with 375 hp (280 kW). A limited edition of 18 cars had 390 hp (290 kW). 1,767 coupés and 484 convertibles were built.
The 1958 300D was the last model with the old FirePower Hemi. It was a 392 cu in (6.4 L) engine tuned to 380 hp (280 kW) as standard. 35 cars had fuel injection and delivered 390 hp (290 kW). The fuel injection system caused problems though and most cars were replaced with the standard twin-quad carburettor setup. Thanks to recessionary times only 618 hardtops and 191 convertibles were built.
Tags: Cars, Chrysler, Chrysler letter series, Muscle Cars
