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Chrysler 300F Convertible Combines Luxury and Performance

Picture this: it's 1960, the muscle car as we know it is nowhere in sight and you're in the market for a car that blends big V8 oomph with a tad of comfort and exquisite styling. That recipe sounds a lot like what the Chrysler 300F offered back when Detroit was alive with the spirit of Motown music.
Chrysler 300F Convertible 11 photos
Photo: RM Auctions
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Out of the 1,217 Chrysler 300F vehicles produced, only 969 were coupes and just 248 convertibles rolled off the assembly line. Today we're talking about a prime example of the latter category, a car that established Chrysler as one of the forerunners of American high-performance grand tourers. The legendary "letter cars" were advertised as "Beautiful Brutes" and marketing people were right.

This banker's hot rod is fitted with a 413 c.i. (6.8-liter) Wedge V8 that delivers no less than 375 horsepower. As opposed to other V8 engines of the era, the Chrysler 300F didn't have a central intake manifold with the carburetor on top. To boost lower and mid rpm power delivery, a special cross-ram intake manifold was developed, which consisted of two pairs of long tuned pipes criss-crossed so that each fed the opposite cylinder bank of the engine. As for the carburetors, these were fitted to the sides of the engine over the fender wells.

A 400 horsepower "short ram" version was also produced for competition, but let's not get ahead of ourselves and go back to this particular 300F Convertible. The Alaskan White and beige leather interior drop-top you can admire in the photo gallery below is equipped with a three-speed TorqueFlite automatic and four-wheel power-assisted drum brakes. The underside, engine bay and jet aircraft-inspired body lines of the 300F have been fully restored some years ago, with only the driver's seat exhibiting some wrinkles from enjoyment.

Set to come under the hammer at RM Auctions' Motor City event on July 26th, 2014, this one of 248 convertibles ever built is offered without reserve. So how much money do you need to competitively bid for this old school motor? Well, estimates hint that it will probably go from $150,000 to $200,000, so don't expect this kind of feel good drop-top motoring to come as cheap as a second-hand Chrysler PT Cruiser.
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About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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