Back in the 1950s and 1960s, Chrysler was at the top of its game. It was an era of abundance, an epoch when Chrysler could keep its head up high because it made genuinely great cars. Compared to the 300 letter series of that thriving era, the present-day Chrysler 300 is a poor excuse for a full-size luxury sedan.
As simply put as possible, the Chrysler 300 letter series cars are the ancestors of the muscle car genre. These things were the best America had to offer at that time, something it has never been able to recreate since then. One of the most, if not the most memorable 300 letter series model of them all is the 300G, a 19-feet long luxobarge motivated by a 413 cu. in. (6.8-liter) V8.
Even though the motivator didn’t come with hemispherical combustion chambers, this bad boy pushed 375 horsepower and 495 lb-ft (671 Nm) when it was new. Despite its size, the 1961 Chrysler 300G was not that heavy if you compare it to, say, a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat. This is just one of the points Jay Leno makes in the newest episode of Jay Leno’s Garage.
Other than out-and-out performance, the Chrysler 300G was incredibly luxurious. Some of the highlights include swing-out seats at the front, individual bucket seats at the rear, air con, an Astrodome instrument cluster, an advanced automatic transmission (for its time, at least), and stiff torsion bars to aid the driver in the twisties. These things, however, can’t hold a candle to the best thing about the Chrysler 300G - the styling.
Virgil Exner is the designer behind the Forward Look styling language of Chrysler products from 1955 to 1961. Exner, a promoter of the tailfin era in American cars, also happens to be the creator of the so-called “New 100-Million Dollar Look.” In plain English, that'll be a long hood and short deck.
Leno knows that too well. The former host of The Tonight Show owns the car in the video below because, well, 1961 was the last year for the Forward Look design and the 300G is the ultimate expression of it. I mean, that’s why these things were called The Banker’s Hot Rod. Starting with the 1962 Chrysler 300H, the automaker switched to what Exner referred to as “plucked chickens,” chiefly because the fins of yesteryear were gone.
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. Full profile
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