1 of 135: 1962 Chrysler 300H Convertible
This Chrysler 300H Convertible is an older restoration that has held up well over the years. Located in Los Angeles, California, it is listed for sale here on Craigslist. It comes with a clean title and is listed with a price of $25,000. A big thanks must go to Barn Finder Miguel for bringing this beauty to our attention.
The 1962 300 Series was marginally smaller than its predecessors, being built on a 122 inch wheelbase compared to the previous 126 inch. They were also the slowest selling 300 up until that point, and only 135 of the 300H Convertibles were sold during that model year. While that was a negative for Chrysler at the time, it has been a bonus today as it has increased the exclusivity of the cars in the present market. The external condition of this car is really nice. The paintwork shows nice gloss, and the panel fit also looks to be excellent. The external trim and chrome also present really nicely, and after the excesses of the 1950s it is quite restrained. During the restoration of this Chrysler quite a number of NOS parts were utilised to preserve as much of the originality as possible. These included tail light assemblies, 300 emblems, door handles, turn signal assemblies and mirrors. The convertible top is also brand new.
The vast majority of the interior is absolutely immaculate. There is one negative aspect, but I’ll get to that shortly. That dash is just a work of art, and it is close to perfect. Likewise the steering wheel is amazing, and would not look out of place in a museum of modern art. It’s when you look at interiors like this that you realise just how bland and boring the interiors of modern cars have become. The original 7-button Golden Touch radio is present, and the car also features a host of comfort items. These include such niceties as power windows, power top, power door locks and power antenna. The leather upholstery on the seats appears to be soft and supple, imparting a touch of class and comfort to the interior.
This is the one negative that I mentioned with the interior. Unfortunately the leather covers were lost during the restoration, and have never been replaced. I don’t quite understand this myself. If I owned a car like this I simply wouldn’t be able to handle the rear seat looking like that, and I would have addressed it. Still, I guess that the current owner had their reasons for leaving it.
Now that’s what I call an engine. This is the 413ci dual-quad engine which generates 385hp. It is backed by a 3-speed automatic transmission with power then going to a 3.23 sure grip rear end. Due to the 300H being smaller than its predecessors, it was also some 300 lbs lighter. This gave the 300H noticeably better performance that the 300G. The Chrysler is also fitted with heavy duty suspension, power steering and 12″ power brakes, meaning that it goes, stops and handles well for a car of this vintage.
This is a nice car and the only thing that spoils it for me is the issue with the rear seat. Still, that’s nothing that can’t be fixed. Due to the limited build numbers it is really hard to locate a 1962 300H for sale at present. I have found a 300 Convertible Sport and a regular 300 Convertible for sale and both are significantly more expensive than this car. Someone will buy this and have that rear seat reupholstered. When they do they will have one really sweet ride.
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Comments
I absolutely love this car. It may be my favorite Chrysler of all time. Just so clean and classy. What a buy…hard to believe the price. If it was on the east coast and I hadn’t just renovated a house….otoh, if my old house sells quickly…..
Gogrgeous car.
Looks fantastic underhood & inside.
Love to have it.
Price seems like a steal for this condition.
Plucked chicken muscle car, giddy up.
AwwwwRiiiighty then.. another plastic fuel filter! I’ll use ’em on non-pressurized fuel systems on dirt bikes and my Boomer. But not where it can spray fuel all over an exhaust manifold/header.
Neat car.
Pretty sure it can handle the 8 psi a mechanical fuel pump puts out.
Sure it can…. until the plastic cracks from heat and age. Ask me how… forget it. You had to have been there as the 23 T-Bucket melted down in front of us.
I’ve had plenty of cars with plastic fuel filters. Maybe the big secret is that I changed mine once a year whether they looked like they needed it or not. Never had one issue with a translucent fuel filter. We all have our pet peeves though.
The dash lights are special with a special transformer. I had to replace one on a ’61 G , but it is one of the top dashes ever made IMHO.
It is lighter and more “sporty” than the G, but the cross ram is so much more everything motor, and out torqued this one.
The correct whitewalls really work on this one.
The rear seats could be a $3k expense to match the job done on the rest of the car, but the money is easily low enough to cover the expense.
I agree with your comment regarding the instrument panel. It’s lighting resembles a Timex “Indiglo” Watch. Astounding. My next favorite instrument panel would be from the ’64 – 66′ Thunderbird. The gauges resembled chrome tennis balls, cut in half. The LARGE horizontal speedometer was fantastic to look at. All illuminated with soft aqua lighting. Very pleasing to the night time eye.
W9BAG, it would be more correct to say the Timex resembles the lighting on the Chrysler dash as it did come first.
Looks like it came from my kind of barn. What an automobile. I’d be dangerous with a bigger garage and deeper pockets
Only spoiler for me is no AC.
And you need AC in a convertible why, exactly…?
Try riding in 100 plus degree heat with the top down. Us old geezers don’t do well in extream heat.
Just gotta move up here to Canada Don. No AC = no problem. No heat = frostbite and only 3 fingers left. :)
Be very careful with any transaction you may be considering on this vehicle. This is quite likely a scam listing. The pics seem to be swiped from an ebay ad last month which sold for more than double this Craigslist asking price.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1962-Chrysler-300-Series/202405425959?hash=item2f204db327:g:OFQAAOSwvWtbdgqz&vxp=mtr
300 Admirer is correct, was on eBay in VA and bid over 50K, reserve not met. Craigslist ad looks legit, but no way is it for real…
Has it in WA on eBay.
Woodinville, Washington, United States
The deal did seem too good to be true.
That also explains the covering of the license plate in the Cragislist pictures when they weren’t in the Ebay ad.
I’m surprised that this got past me as I’m selling my ’62 Imperial and monitor the ‘competition’ fairly closely. https://losangeles.craigslist.org/lgb/cto/d/1962-chrysler-imperial-crown/6691007787.html
This is obviously a scam, of which there in never a shortage. Thanks to 300 Admirer for performing the due diligence that shouyld be performed before anyone ‘falls’ for one of these bottom dwellers. I don’t anticipate a response to the message I left, but I do enjoy adding to my collection of phony cashiers cheques and other slime ball ephemera collected over the years from a variety of wanna be master criminal I’ve ‘cheated ‘ out of Fex Ex and UPS postage as they try to ‘pull one’. You really can’t cheat and honest man but you can cheat a dull witted or greedy one.
Bruce B,
I’ve done the same a few times in the past having them send me supposed “cashiers checks” via FedEx for $17 or so. I assume they go the FedEx / UPS route to avoid the postal inspectors and federal charges.
Bruce (the other Bruce B
I used to sell cars and one day I sold a Mustang GT to an 80 year old lady. She drove this thing like she had won Daytona and wound it up to near 100 mph. She didn’t argue price, no trade, and told me it was the last gift to herself before she passed. She said she had been brought up in England and loved to drive a stick. Following here home she opened the garage door and there sat a 1963 Chrysler 300 Pace car. She said that I was a nice young man and that she would rather have me enjoy it instead of her rotten grandchildren. It needed a new top and some TLC. 4 K, I need 3k more and nobody would help me. I still think about that car.
435 300H hardtop coupes & 123 300H convertibles according to the 300 Club.
So maybe a typo, and it’s a hair rarer….
http://www.chrysler300clubinc.com/1962-300H.html
Looking at the pictures,I was thinking that
the background didn’t look like the LA area.
We all need to go to the craigslist link,
& flag it!
My friend owns the car and that is a scam ad – come on barn finds – you need to vet ads better. This is obviously WAY under market and not real.
Gorgeous.
I feel myself a worthy guardian of this fine vehicle.
Great Catch! You Barn Find viewers are a great asset to the Automotive Market.
This same car was on eBay and got bid up to around $50K with Reserve not met. This is some sort of a scam. No way it could be for sale 17 days if it wasn’t.
OK, we all agree it is a scam ad, but can someone please explain to me what the scam actually does for the scammer?
I notice these all the time here in sunny Florida (scam ads) though I notice them on John Deere items, usually only one pic, often from up nawth, off the wall description usually, and mostly reply to a Gmail account, sometimes with local (Fla) area code phone #s, but just what do they get?
Are they collecting phone numbers? Just doing it to jerk people around? I don’t get it.
I’m sure that they are looking for at least deposits from a few folks and then disappearing. We can sometimes not think rationally when looking at the cars of our dreams. Plus as a group, we trust fellow car folks (which these scammers are trying to portray).
I was once looking at a motorhome on Craigslist. The price was about 2/3 of what it should go for. The guy stated that he was in the military stationed in Oklahoma and was being transferred to a base in Alaska. I replied that I wasn’t interested because I though it was located locally here in CT. He said that with a $5,000 deposit he would have it flown to CT. I could then try it for a few weeks, and if I didn’t like it he would refund my deposit and have the motorhome shipped back to Oklahoma at his expense. Yea Right. If that wouldn’t make your Scam Alert siren go off, nothing would. I don’t think you could get anyone to ship it by air, and if you could it would certainly be more than the $22,000 asking price. It really is a sad state of affairs for sure.
Just try and sell something on Craigslist and see the scammers come out in full force.
1962 300H is nice but only way to get a stick shift was a 300 Special with 3 speed on the floor. Here is mine and no official production numbers. Mine has Sure Grip, 413 option, leather and NO P.S. or P.B. or side rear view mirrors.
So haven’t been on here very long and not sure if you will do this but can you please delete this post barnfinds? You are basically helping scammers bring traffic to this fraud ad. Or at least can readers here hit the “prohibited” button on the CL ad so it gets deleted?
Keeping the post active with its attendant discovery likely helps the scamees to be on the alert. Thanks to those who noticed.
Keep the post active! I would love to have this car! So, keep the post active and more; educate us about scams, about how scammers work.
Having had a 300G five years ago, and selling it for $18,000 in unrestored condition (granted it had only 44k miles on it, and A.C., but needed a full restoration), when I first saw this ad I thought the same as everyone else: what a steal. After 10 seconds of thinking I realized there’s no way this is only $25k. We should all remember: if it sounds too good to be true, it is.
And yes, the Cross Rams rule!
theGasHole,
I agree 100% with everything you said. Especially the Cross Rams. I remember when I first saw them in a junkyard back in the late 1960’s. I opened the hood and it just took my breath away. I don’t even remember what vehicle it was in, but the vision is permanently burned into my brain. Thanks for the pic!
Thanks Bruce there’s really nothing like the cross rams. I spent hours staring at mine (yeah, back before I had kids and had free time). I have seen, one time only, the Cross Ram setup on a ’60 or ’61 Dodge, believe it was a D500 but not sure, but it was exceedingly rare. There were also two different types of Cross Rams: Short and Long. The Shorts were rarer, and I believe added about 5hp, and the only way you could tell the difference visually were the Short version did not have a valley on the ram tubes…as you can see in the photo of my 61 300G I had the Long tube version with the valley on the tubes.
Posting on CL flagged for removal! As to BF vetting ads or postings, I think that’s a bit unfair. The very fact that there are so many incredibly knowledgeable folks on BF is protection for all of us from scams. I don’t see the LA or WA CLs. I only see them from my area. How would anyone individually know that the car was either in VA or WA or anywhere previously advertised and sold? I don’t go on eBay that much anyway.
Thanks to 300_Admirer, Paul G, and David M for catching this fraud!
I am now the Proud Owner of this 300H. Yes this ad is bogus. I was the high bidder on EBAY where the actual ad was but I didn’t break the Reserve which was over $75,000. The owner and I finally made a deal and I hired a professional Chrysler vehicle appraiser in Washington to check out the car since I live in Ohio. The appraiser was extremely impressed with the condition of the car in, out and under. I had it shipped in an enclosed truck to keep it safe and clean. There are only 47 ’62 300H Convertibles left and before the 2008 Recession they were selling for $150,000. I was so surprised that only 1 guy realized this $25,000 ad was a SCAM. Apparently not many Mopar guys on this site. Bill