<![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300 - Jalopnik Comments]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300 - Jalopnik Comments]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> Groovy, I have a 1962 Newport 4 door that my dad bought new in 1962, and I had almost gotten rid of it several times but thankfully my intelligent side won! Ok it was dumb luck, anyway I still have the beast and it is a good driver, with a original 3 speed stick on the floor. Yes thats correct when ordered with a manual transmission it was on the floorl.

UnaSalinator

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> Got to do a "we're with the band" exit from the local dive/music venue in one of these (4 door New Yorker, but hey, a '62 Chrysler nonetheless)... roadied some gear out to the huge trunk, and piled into the back seat. The 413/727 combo sounded great, as did Stan Getz/Joao Gilberto doing "Girl From Ipanema" on the AM radio as the great white whale rumbled into the darkness... this was 2001, and my friends still have the band going, but nowadays are obsessed with late 40s Ford stuff. I liked the big Chryslers much better...

Type44

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> Astra Dash.

IronEagle

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> The astro dash was ahead of its time.
[www.chrysler300club.com]

[www.1960chrysler.8m.com]

Awesome, what a gorgeous car.

IronEagle

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> i like the 71 myself. :)

suzq044

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> @leemikemphstn: The 62 "letter car" continued the ultralux tradition of the previous 300s.

@slantsick: Ex was in charge for the 62s. Elwood Engel came in late 61, after the revolution against the "plucked chicken" Plymouth and Dodge. The 62 Chrysler was well liked and sold well, partially because it was the only "big" Mopar car--many loyal Mopar customers bought the Chrysler because they found the Plymouth and Dodge unacceptable. Engel did mostly trim on work already in progress for 63, facelifts for 64, and the new C/B/A bodies in 65/66/67.

thatguy01

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> Chrysler really went out on a limb with their styling in the late 50's to the early 60's(Imperials,Valients). I think GM is the only car company lately to come up with something this different(the Aztec).

creigs9

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> Beautiful face, I'm in love...

aesthari

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> retro-ize

Cannibalise, maybe.

hootjigga

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> Some of you may not like the canted headlights (Lincoln had them too in 1958), but if you ever saw one of the 1960 or 1961s with the fake spare tire bulge on the trunk, you'll never forget it. Actually on one particular car - the 1960 300 convertible - it wasn't that offensive. There was a beautiful overhead photo of one used for advertising back then that showed off no only the trunk 'spare tire', but the beautiful light tan colored four bucket seats with the stainless steel floor grids in the black carpeting. At the time it was truly an expensive-looking exclusive automobile, it's only competition being the Grand Prix, Thunderbird, and - in 1961 - the Olds Starfire.

leemikemphstn

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> Too bad so many of these Pentastar beasts died in the Demolition ring. Too tough for their own good.

AmishJohn

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> Gorgeous old boat. All the nicer because in '63 and '64 these c-bodies were seriously ugly. Ma Mopar came back to her sensed in '65, it was really a beautifully clean treatment, without the 63/64's toadlike squat and godawful c-pillar and grille designs.

Thorby

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> I'm sat here with my jaw on the floor. That is possibly the most beautiful work of art on four wheels I have ever seen.

I am an old petrolhead hippie in deep love.

horai

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> Getting your first piece of ass in the back seat of a car like this would be golden.

MOPAR-MAN

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> @leemikemphstn: I saw the Dual Ghia! At the museum at Imperial Palace many years ago.

DonSchenck

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> I used to go way out of my way to get downtown just to swing by an old beat up light blue Chrysler like this one and gawk at its headlights. I still take that route, just in memory of that car.

voodoojoo

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> Glorious. Some friends and I saw one of these, in oil-slick black, tooling around a grocery store parking lot one afternoon. Among Escapes and beige Camrys and RX330's, it looked like a visitor from Mars. The driver was having a hell of a time wrangling it around the tighter corners without disrupting traffic, but I envied him anyway.

P.S. of course you've never seen it parked in the same spot as the '71 Blazer. Two objects cannot occupy the same location in space-time. Duh.

stoke

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> Sweetest DOTS in a while. I've loved these cars since childhood. Thanks.

bruxell

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> @leemikemphstn: True- but the belts were an option, not standard equipment. Not a particularly popular option either I understand, it was thought the inclusion of seatbelts, padded dash, dished steering wheel etc. implied the cars were "unsafe".

Slantsick- on layaway at SPATULA CITY

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> (slantsick) . . . I thought Ford offered the first 'safety package' on 1956 models, including padded dashboards. And I think it included seat belts because I've seen period photos of a Sunliner convertible with seat belts.

leemikemphstn

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> (slantsick) . . . correct. The "i" was dropped because of potential confusion with the number "1" (I checked). And the 1965 was the last letter-series 300, an equally beautiful car by the way. I'll see if I can find it here in town, but some guy has a nice 1960 Dodge (Dart?) four-door. In fact, there are several well kept older cars here in northern Mississippi. Of course, too, a man in his late 60s drives a new Z06 very conservatively. It's makes you wonder if he really knows how much power is under the hood of his bright red beauty(!).

leemikemphstn

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> @bermania: No, not until 1968, I believe. Rambler was first to offer them standard, if I remember correctly, in '65.

Slantsick- on layaway at SPATULA CITY

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> I am truly astonished at this find in this condition. I will have to get to Alameda.
Though I love Mopars, I was never a fan of this early 60s cock-eyed/strange face look but they were certainly making a design statement. And the condition of this car is astounding.

NovaloadMissesPolar

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> @leemikemphstn: They skipped the letter I (to avoid confusion with the number 1, so I've heard)- the '63 was a J. The last letter 300 was the '65 L.

Slantsick- on layaway at SPATULA CITY

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> Were seat belts required in 1962?

bermania

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> Fierce! This car has the best profile I've seen on Jalopnik in a while. Murilee, your shots really help bring out the menacing look of this car. I especially like the sideview and the 3/4 view of the taillight at the intro to the piece. Those dog dish hubcaps really speak to the all business look it has.

zweirad

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> Yep (oldcanuk) you're right. It's not a letter-series 300. That model (the "H") is even more rare. My favorite is the - or what would have been the - "I" model, but I'm not sure if the letters weren't dropped by 1963. Anyway, I think the '63 was the best looking of the lot. Nowadays, I'm a dedicated Honda driver. But I was in my mid-teens when these Chryslers came out and, like many boys in those days, loved them.

leemikemphstn

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> Wow. Just wow. Nice job Murilee, I can't imagine there are many of that particular era 300's that still exist, much less one as fine as this. Thanks for sharing. And kudos to the owner for keeping a such a fine and quirky beast alive for us to see.

evoCS is possibly NSFW

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> @brandegee: I'd take the PT Cruiser in a hearbeat over the HHR. We just rented a PT for a weekend and I found the seats very comfortable and the noise levels were amazingly low. The engine seemed reasonably capable, and the sightlines were decent. The ONLY real negative (to me) was the 25mpg we averaged. Really? 25mpg? From a 4 cylinder car? My V6 Cutlass Cierra used to get me 25mpg. I was expecting at least 30, even with the automagic.

mechimike

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> Not to pee on the parade of all you panting pentastar types, but this 300 is not a letter series car. If it were, it would be an "H" and there'd be an "H" in the side badge below the 300 numerals and next to the decklid numbers.

oldcanuk

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> Needs a number on the side... or some moonshine in the trunk!

VeeArrrSix

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> If you look closely at the interior shot, notice the front bench seat with fold-down center section. The 1960 and 1961 300s had true buckets front AND rear, making them four-seaters with a center console running from dashboard all the way to the rear bulkhead. By 1962, the 300 was nothing more than a Saratoga coupe (or convertible) with upgraded drive train and suspension. The truly unique 300s of the previous two years were no more(!).

leemikemphstn

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> @Zarba: Actually, the '62 Chrysler marks the first step away from the Exner era, when he was replaced by (ex-Ford) Elwood Engel -what's with brilliant car designers and goofy names, anyway? Exner himself called this the "plucked chicken" look.

Nevertheless, I like the '62 Chrysler's looks myself, even if I prefer the batfinned '60-'61s.

Slantsick- on layaway at SPATULA CITY

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> Hey DonSchenck, actually Sinatra owned - and drove - and even more rare car back then. His was a gorgeous Dual-Ghia, a special-bodied Italian 'exotic' (for the time) built on a Chrysler frame.

leemikemphstn

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> If you can imagine Sinatra pulling up to The Sands in it, you can certainly imagine this car oozing Judith Exner, too.

There was a '62 Imperial Lebaron 4dr hardtop that was in the shop that did much of the mechanicals on my now-totalled Jeep GW...to schedule the appointment, 92 year old owner called up and started "Now I *don't* need a new car, just need my car in running condition." It pulled in, popped right out of a time capsule...

Very nice DOTS driver, Murilee...

(hope this doesn't double my apparently lost post...)

SeanKHotay

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> Just ooozing Virgil Exner style.

Awesome. The dog-dishes are utterly cool.

Zarba

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> This is one of my favourite DOTS cars yet. The wheels are perfect. Amazing car.

68stang

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> The level of detail (taillights, etc.) is astounding, and something you would never see on today's beancounterized cars. Absolutely wonderful find.

stuntpuppy

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> I can see Sinatra pulling up the The Sands in this, in a gray flannel suit with cigarette in hand.

"Careful how you park this baby, capiche?"

"Yessir mister Sinatra ... yessir."

Nowadays it's a eco-mom in a Prius.

Hell. Handbasket.

DonSchenck

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> Love the side view mirror placement. It's probably as far from the driver as a Toyota Century's, but that only takes it 1/4 of the way down the fender.

anaxomander

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> @nsjames:
For me it's called Scotch.

poxpopulus

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> The blackwall wheel-tire combo, the cut of the wheel wells. The goofy grille (which I like) belies how fucking badass everything behind it is.

cyclopticgaze

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> @mechimike: Funny, the PT Cruiser rental I just suffered with for a week sounded exactly a like a vacuum cleaner. When it reluctantly kicked down to third gear it was like it was choking on a carpet thread.

I'll take reduction gear screech everyday over that abomination.

brandegee

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> I just looked at the 71 Blazer DOTS pics again. If the same guy owns this 300 and the Blazer, his taste in cars is impeccable.

Uncle Bo, averting foreclosure

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> @cargogh: The HHR is even worse. I drove one and had to peer under the dash at every light, unless I stopped about a car length back from the white line.

That, and the 4 banger sounded remarkably like an Electrolux.

mechimike

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> Please park this next to a brand new Ford Focus coupe (or similar). This is a man car.

IamZardoz

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> I wish Chrysler and the rest of the world could make windshields like those of the late fifties and early sixties. It had to be great to be able to remain upright AND see a freaking traffic light change to green. When the PT cruisers came out, I drove one and said screw it.
I expect the header in my face in a 356, not in an econobox.

cargogh

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]>

Gorgeous, Murilee, simply gorgeous! This 300 would look awesome next to that Dart GT I told you about.

Brian B

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> Starting Fluid= Just like that 2 to 4 cups of Coffee I need to get me started in the morning. No biggie.
Everybody needs a little help some times.

SLR_BlowerMania

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> @cazin678: Show me some simultaneous tailfin love!

mechimike

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> This car has the second best instrument cluster ever designed. The first place instrument cluster design has to go to the Mercedes Benz fin-tails from the early 1960's.

Love the slanted stacked headlights too.

Gottleib

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> I love these cars. I love the headlights, and the sinister grin of the front bumper. I love the 61's even more, because of their finny goodness. Electroluminescent gauges are the shit- that dash cost more to manufacture, in current dollars, than any other mass-produced American car dash ever.

Kill me and bury me in one of these.

@Uncle Bo: Vic Morrow would SO drive this car!

mechimike

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> D-Day's ride- sweet!

Tailfins on the '61's were way cooler, tho.

cazin678

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> @Uncle_Bo is El Commentamino: I was thinking 77 Sunset Strip myself

SCROGGZILLA RAIDS AGAIN!!

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> I cant begin to explain how much I love this car.

Buckster

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> Beautiful car. Rare too. A keeper to be sure.

deckard97

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]>

This car looks great compared to some of the other Chrysler products out around then. For instance the 1961 Imperial with the separate headlights.

[www.madle.org]

j6r

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> Murilee, sometimes you just plain nail it.

beercheck

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> Somehow over the years I've become so focused on the ugly face that I forgot how gorgeous the rest of the cars lines are. Actually, I no longer think the face is oogly either. It's so un-cookie-cutter that being different and interesting is what makes it appealing now. (still doesn't work for the Edsel though)

YankBoffin

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> I can easily picture Vic Morrow or Dennis Farina portraying a tough city cop driving this car. If Harry Callahan came along 10 year earlier, this car would have been perfect for him.

Uncle Bo, averting foreclosure

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> I have a weakness for excessively large cars with lots of power. My current PCH is a race prepped 371ci SBM powered '76 Charger SE.

With NO2 added to push you even deeper into that Fiiine Corinthian Leather!

danio3834

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> Sinister!

Bee1

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> Interestingly the cop car wheels with poverty caps actually work on this car, which seems unusual considering this car was pretty much top of the line (except for the Imperial).

LTDScott changed his name!

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> I love this body style in that it doesn't have the "focus grouped" look of modern cars.

LUV_TRUK

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> My great-aunt had a '62 Imperial LeBaron Southampton 4-door hardtop. Hardest starting sumbitch that ever occasionally went down the road under its own power. What she wouldn't have given for that infernal barge to light off just with a quick shot of ether!

I'll never forget the sound of that goddamned reduction gear starter screaming until the battery was about flat and then the welcome relief of hearing a few cylinders light off followed by a the rest in succession, and knowing we weren't going to be towed back to the garage again, but were going to drive home this time.

What a wretched, awful experience.

My grandmother's '64 Continental convertible, on the other hand... now that was something to enjoy.

OrangeBoss9

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> I love this body style.

I wonder if the electroluminescent "space pod" instrument panel still is functional...

JohnnyWagon

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> This is Furai before Furai was cool.

Sloop_John_B

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> @snarktastic:

Even for cars, ugly squared doesn't equal beautiful, any more than the square root of beautiful equals ugly.

This is not beautiful, like a Citroen DS or a Saoutchik bodied Mercedes, for example.

But it's damn fine lookin'.

Stoatmaster

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> -h

sos10

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> What where the drinking when they designed that frontside?

This car is extremely ugly and ungraceful, but it has character.. unlike most modern day cars.

sos10

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> So ugly it's beautiful. Something I've seen with cars, but sadly not women.

snarktastic

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> Very cool ride, wounldn't touch a thing

htrodblder

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> American cars from this period are so gloriously awkward that they're pretty, in a strange way. This one looks to be in pretty good shape, starter fluid notwithstanding.

Hart88

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> Love the blackwalls and the stagger-stacked headlights and the cool grille. And whatever's in that spray bottle in the front seat is probably pretty interesting, too.

The Name's Ash78, Housewares

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> Perhaps the car starts fine, but the owner likes to huff ether. You've got to think positively.

smalleyxb122

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> i dig it

reefer

]]> <![CDATA[1962 Chrysler 300]]> You might need a can of starter fluid in the morning too if you'd been driven for 46 years.

nsjames

]]>