Rare And Ready To Go: 1963 Chyrsler 300J
This time, I just had to start with a picture of the engine. Look at that 390 horsepower 413-cu.in. V8 with those Cross Ram intake manifolds. They might not be very efficient, but they sure look like a cool way to mount those 4 barrel carbs. Chrysler claimed this 413 would propel this big sled to over 140 mph, do the quarter mile in under 16 seconds and drag this car to 60 mph in about 8 seconds. That kind of performance was really impressive for the times. This Chrysler is listed on eBay in nearby Auburn, California. Bidding is over $8,000 at this time, but the reserve has not been met. The auction ends on Monday. The seller has done the necessary mechanical restoration, including replacing the brake booster that is located under the left fender somewhere.
Chrysler built their “letter series” high-performance cars from 1955 until 1965, starting with “B” in 1956 and ending with “L” in 1965. The paint is said to be original on this one. One might wonder why someone would order a car this exciting in such a boring color. I’ve never heard the phrase “go fast Beige”, have you? The car is mostly complete with only one missing emblem. With only 400 sold these 300Js are rare. It is believed there are only about 120 left. Once again, just because something is rare it doesn’t mean it is valuable. Even a Concours example is only valued at $34,800.
In 1963 Chrysler went to a more conventional dash, and the design looks great except for the steering wheel and the tachometer location. The tachometer in the center console isn’t very useful and the square steering wheels are a little strange to drive. The pushbuttons for the transmission are on the far left side of the dash. The interior looks to be in great overall condition.
The paint would look better with some touchup and a polish and wax but I think the beige just doesn’t do it for this car. A 300J in good condition is only worth about $18,000 so there won’t be much room between the purchase price and the value. Of course, if there’s a buyer who really wants a 300J, there are very few of these for sale so they might be willing to spend a bit more. There is a really nice 300J listed on Classic Cars in Las Vegas, Nevada. They are asking $40,000, which is $6,000 over the Hagerty estimate for a Concours car. This Chrysler is ready to drive and enjoy but as I recall these are nice cruisers but they are not much fun as a daily driver. It’s a bit of work to keep the carbs synced, they can be hard to start and they drink a lot of fuel. Hopefully, there’s someone out there with the resources to restore this Chrysler to its former beige glory. Perhaps there’s a letter car collector looking for a “J” for their collection?
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Comments
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder here. If you are a Mopar guy, this would really be a nice prize – forget the value angle. Give Chrysler credit here – unique lines and innovations. That’s makes it a collector to me all day long.
Love those letter cars. Had 62 300H. 413 2 x4. Sick ever since i sold her. What a beauty..
I didn’t care for Chrysler body and interior styling from this era but was always fascinated by their performance power train designs.
Whoever ordered this beige colour probably loved to drive fast. You would have to do something pretty stupid in this car to attract the eye of the law.
Looks like someone got knobs/buttons happy. Maybe one of them is for an ejections set button!!!
What are the buttons, lights and gauge on passenger side dash? Doesn’t look stock?
Good catch, that’s not stock, somebody cobbled a gauge and switches in there, kind of ruined that magnificent dash.
http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.com/mmo42012.html
Thanks, looks like a few things were added to the console too
One of them is a button for the “Knock Out Gas”
You can always tell when the author likes the car they are writing about by the description. Just an incredible beast. I know, I say THIS every time too, but I just can’t help but think, the poor Europeans were plodding along in 20hp. Fiats, and we had this. Niagara Falls when the throttle was punched. My brother had a ’63 Newport, certainly not a 300, but was a great road car. Chrysler was on top of their game in the 60’s, and this setup, if for no other reason, showed everyone, who was boss when the hood was opened. ( even though, it was a heavy car, and there were faster cars in ’63) While the outside styling is a bit odd for some, the mechanical’s and interior more than make up for it. Fantastic car here.
This was a cool sleeper that
raced from gas station to gas station when pump gas was
cheap!
It was a tank in size but lifting the hood made the owner smile I am sure!
It would of cool to of had mini
ram airs in the hood bumped up
to feed this beast by the factory!
It would been cooler if light
weight fenders and hood was applied as well as the trunk to shave 90-159 pounds off too
but it was a highway cruiser first!
Isn’t that the engine they called the wedge?
YEAAAAAHH! This engine in lighter bodied MoPars put a ‘wedge’ between Frod and Chebby competitors.
The only time that I saw a Max Wedge lose to a 427 Frod at our strip was when a pit crew left shop rags on top of the carbs. At least the screens kept the rags from going doen the tubes.
I had a 64 newyorker with a 413 and bucket seats although it was a 4 door hartop.It had a floor shifter and the guage on the console was a vacuum guage,no tach at all .Mine was a single four barrel as well,360 h.p. if I remember correctly. Great car!!!!
So cool, the Cross-Ram intake system. And the car was great as delivered. But a buyer at anywhere over the current bid had better look first.
It looks to me as though some prior owner spent a long time accessorizing from a J.C. Whitney catalog, and evidence remains in the form of holes here, there, everywhere around the car. The mark and hole on the right C-pillar says “landeau” trim was there, so count it also being on the left. Four holes in the lower grille-opening surround. Plugged holes on both sides of the gas door. The dash has already been mentioned, and I think the console wears extras as well. Extra electrical items means potential wiring concerns.
If you have to own a big, fast tank, just be careful about items in evidence like with this one. Fuel economy? Who cares?
I like the wedge styling of the ’63 Chrysler, sort of a bridge between the wild late Exner era and the elegant, more linear Engel cars of 1965. I think the red-bronze interior brightens up the tan exterior and I like the combo. I agree that the amateur mods including the weird switches, gauges and holes do not help this car, however I think the c-pillar holes likely are (or were) 300 emblems. Another negative is the add-on a/c, although I guess that can be removed. The 300J was an expensive car, around the same price as a Cadillac DeVille, so I am surprised this example did not have factory a/c. The negatives on using this as a driver have been stated (carb synch and horrifying gas mileage), so this really needs to be restored to a show car and occasional driver. Looks like a good start but big bills ahead. The new owner needs to do it out of love for a real rarity. Despite the rarity, the asking price is probably double what it should bring in this condition.
“the sting ray is light, the slicks are startin to spin
But the 413’s really diggin’ in……..”
The original bankers express. They were great performers for the time. But As the one time owner of a 58 Fury with only a 350 big block with twin 4bls but no rams, Count on 6 to 8 mpg.
I really love that square steering wheel its so odd you have to love it..
I still remember the day back around 1970 when a friend of mine bought one of these and popped the hood. My jaw almost hit the ground when I saw those carbs. What a beautiful sight. It was a great car when gas was still $.29 per gallon, but it was a bear to start in the cold CT winters. The gas vapors had to travel uphill to get to the engine, which created starting issues. Once started it was one sweet ride.
I have a ’65 Hardtop Letter Series and I’m working on a 300 Convertible, not a Letter but a monster anyway (a 413 in it) . These were killer cars, large, fast, very linear, hit the gas and go, and if equipped with disc brakes would stop pretty well. I’m an enthusiast of that year so I’ve had several. Ergonomics may be an issue (nobody did ergonomics better than GM) so I installed a tilt steering column which was helpful, as well as a Senden Compressor for the Air Conditioning and
electronic ignition. There are other modifications that i won’t bore you with and the cars are terrific. Somebody buy it. You’ll have a hell of a good time.
I agree. For the money, you can’t get into a cool Chrysler. The Cuda’s, Road Runners, GTX’s, etc will cost you much more than that for a car that needs a total restoration. Then, it’s so valuable that you will be afraid to drive it.
Just my $.02, and worth every penny… :-)!
Ugly duckling compared to other 64 model cars. Even the Plymouth sport fury looked better, but that 413 wedge was a bad momma jamma. My brother bought a Chrysler Imperial 2 dr hdtp new in 1960 even in that heavy car that 413 wedge made that thing get and move. It had push button a/t and all the goodies available at the time.
These were nice cars.
A buddy of mine’s stepfather had a fully-loaded ’64 New Yorker with the same mill. It was black with a white leather interior.
Surprisingly quick for a heavyweight, it was a great cruiser, ideal for double-dating, back in the late-1960s, when the old guy let us take the car. Certainly, it was much nicer than taking young women out in my ’62 Rambler American station wagon (Ah, the memories of an old man, LOL).
I still have an original, 1964 Chrysler sales brochure in my archives.
I t could be just because I don’t like this particular design that I think this is a $6000.00 dollar car. They ride nice and go good, but I much prefer the look of the 1956 to 1971 finned look. I think it was the 1957 Chrysler 300 that broke 133 mph @ Bonneville Salt Flats. One of those restored will but you into 6 figures.
I knew a bloke in the 1980s who had an old, red utility that he used as a daily driver. It was looking a bit sad, so he repainted it beige. I asked him about the color, and his response has stayed with me to this day: “It’s Candy Apple Beige….and I even used a new paintbrush!”
There must be something about cool cars in ugly colors today on Barn Finds. First, it is that “buckskin” Corvette, and now this cool, old Chrysler in beige. Of the two, I’d love this 300J. It’s a real sleeper.
I like this generation much better than the plucked chickens of 1962. Personally, I would prefer a 383 4 barrel, being a low maintenance kind of guy.
The “Maintenance and Adjustments” service book for the dual quads on my 300G was 100 pages long. I remember one of the sentences in the first pages was something along the lines of “If you incorrectly adjust anything in this manual, your Chrysler will not perform correctly.” Yikes.
This ram setup was known as the long-ram. for increased torque. The short ram was used on higher performance models. That info. came from an older Mopar performance mag. Not a huge difference in H.P. and Torque between the 2.
Can’t say I’m a fan of the car in it’s entirety but pulling that engine, or perhaps just the intakes, and dropping it into something else more “Speed appropriate” would be a cool project.
I always like the style of these cars. BUT always thought the it should about the size and weight of a 1968 Dart! Now with that engine, today’s aftermarket throttle body injection (yes 2, no waiting!) and aluminum heads. That Dart sized car would fly!
Beige is so bad of a color when you’re looking for a sleeper. And that’s exactly what “Uncle Dan” had. He dropped many a teenagers jaw with his “sleeper” at a traffic light. Purposely did not smoke the tires, just to tease them. When they finally caught up to him and asked the proverbial question, “Whatcha got under ther, Gramps?”, he would only say, “Oh, just a little V8.”
car was quicker than reported times.
1.they had skinny tires ad zero traction -195 -75 -series 14 inch or 15 inch wheels albeit bias ply !!!!!
2.they tested different than today,no track prep if on a track,they tested cars on the beach too..zero traction !!
usually 2 people on board to record times,full tank of gas and 300 pounds of test equipment !!!
all cars of the era the performance was quicker by seconds than actually recorded..these were high 12 second cars with slicks albeit same traction as a modern radial…