For Sale 1971 Chrysler 300 (NOT MINE)

[ayilar]

CS23T1C275165 (the VIN is incorrect in the eBay listing) looks like a nice car. IMHO, the original buyers (and current owners) made some tasteful color choices with he GF9 dark green outside, white vinyl top, and beige/saddle interior. Good set of options on this car, too, even though power windows and a suregrip diff would have been useful additions.

Now I turn to my picky side.

I have a few engine bay questions that I'd like answered before plonking down this much money on a 300 coupe: for example, the paint on the radiator and on the valve covers looks extraordinarily shiny, compared to the rest of the engine bay; what's up with the heat control valve? Cosmetically, I wonder about the difference in color between the original GF9 and the current paint (as @saforwardlook pointed out, it looks like the car has been repainted; the new paint seems to be close -- once one plays with color saturation settings -- but not a perfect match. Inside, I see some imperfections in the S3L2 beige seat fabric: a perfectionist might probably want to clean the back bench (stain on the driver-side) and possibly re-upholster the front (driver-side tear).

Then again, maybe this car is best left to enjoy and not agonize over

 

[bigmoparjeff]

CS23T1C275165 (the VIN is incorrect in the eBay listing) looks like a nice car. IMHO, the original buyers (and current owners) made some tasteful color choices with he GF9 dark green outside, white vinyl top, and beige/saddle interior. Good set of options on this car, too, even though power windows would have been great.

Now I turn to my picky side.

I have a few engine bay questions that I'd like answered before plonking down this much money on a 300 coupe: for example, the paint on the radiator and on the valve covers looks extraordinarily shiny, compared to the rest of the engine bay; what's up with the heat control valve? Cosmetically, I wonder about the difference in color between the original GF9 and the current paint (as @saforwardlook pointed out, it looks like the car has been repainted; the new paint seems to be close -- once one plays with color saturation settings -- but not a perfect match. Inside, I see some imperfections in the S3L2 beige seat fabric: a perfectionist might probably want to clean the back bench (stain on the driver-side) and possibly re-upholster the front (driver-side tear).

Then again, maybe this car is best left to enjoy and not pick one

Radiator looks like a replacement. I don't see any numbers on it, though the angle isn't the best.

Someone recently did valve cover gaskets. Pretty normal for a big block. They forgot to connect the third hose to the breather.

Heater valve looks GM-ish. They used a lot of the 90 degree heater valves. Work was likely done at a repair shop and they just found a valve that would do the job.

Looks like a real nice car. It's a shame the camera or phone they used was having trouble adjusting to the light when they took the pics. I'm sure it's a good and honest car, but 20K is just too high for what it is.

Jeff

 

[Davea Lux]

Radiator looks like a replacement. I don't see any numbers on it, though the angle isn't the best.

Someone recently did valve cover gaskets. Pretty normal for a big block. They forgot to connect the third hose to the breather.

Heater valve looks GM-ish. They used a lot of the 90 degree heater valves. Work was likely done at a repair shop and they just found a valve that would do the job.

Looks like a real nice car. It's a shame the camera or phone they used was having trouble adjusting to the light when they took the pics. I'm sure it's a good and honest car, but 20K is just too high for what it is.

Jeff

The 3rd hose to the breather is the vapor vent from the gas tank. On '70 California emissions and '71 Federal they used the engine crankcase as a vapor collection device. Not a good idea to leave it unhooked.

Dave

 

[Beep Beep Dave]

Those wheelcovers are really sharp. I agree looks to have been well taken care of over its life.

Dave

 

[live4theking]

I'm going to guess that this is a more accurate depiction of the car

View attachment 314403

View attachment 314406

Yeah, some one messed with the saturation on those pictures for sure.

 

[ayilar]

OK, here is my take after a bit of playing to match background colors at more a realistic level. These pics look like old prints, but you get the drift. I suspect that the repaint is close to GF9 but not quite as dark.

 

[66MonacoWagon]

It's got the hubcaps I've been looking for! Mine is the avocado metallic - it looks much closer to the green under the hood inside the fenders.

 

[Ripinator]

OK, here is my take after a bit of playing to match background colors at more a realistic level. These pics look like old prints, but you get the drift. I suspect that the repaint is close to GF9 but not quite as dark.

View attachment 314644

View attachment 314645

View attachment 314646

Just now checked his e-bay ad. . . Zero bids and two-plus days to go.

 

[cm23uoc]

Some wear on the arm rest and Drivers seat, but the Overall interior condition is nice.

 

[saforwardlook]

Some wear on the arm rest and Drivers seat, but the Overall interior condition is nice.

View attachment 314901

And it has a New Yorker door pull instead of the original one.

 

[Rubatoguy]

The thing that looks odd to me is the black seatbelts. Our family had a '71 300 with a brown/tan interior and the belts matched the seat color. Looks like it has some rare combinations - cloth bench and those black road wheels. It looks like they played with the photos to make it appear more green. It's only 30 minutes from me I should go take a look.

 

[ceebuddy]

Those wheels are indeed regular steel wheels with the optional W13 Deep Dish Wheel Covers that added $ 40.65 to the window sticker.

And it has a New Yorker door pull instead of the original one.

This is the original one door pull strap. There was a mid-year change some time along the model year run. Early 1971 models still received the 1970-style door pull straps, later models had the slimmer rubber variant seen here. That was for all 1971 Chrysler models that came with a door pull strap (New Yorker, 300) and I believe also applies to 1971 Furys. Probably the rubber door pull straps were cheaper to procure. The serial number in the VIN of this car (CS23T1C275165) indicates that it is a rather late build, so that would fit.

 

[ceebuddy]

Concerning the color of the seat belts: The belt buckles look right to me, so I'd say the belts are at least period correct. And considering the fact that a car with a white interior would have received black seatbelts make me believe that with such a light beige colored upholstery as in this car, black seat belts would be Ma Mopars choice, too.

 

[68PK21 440.6bbl]

Concerning the color of the seat belts: The belt buckles look right to me, so I'd say the belts are at least period correct. And considering the fact that a car with a white interior would have received black seatbelts make me believe that with such a light beige colored upholstery as in this car, black seat belts would be Ma Mopars choice, too.

This is from a 1968 Option paper sales list, don't know if it applies for 1971.

I know I have the full page that I made that enlargement from but I can't find it now.
It's posted here somewhere in this forum.

 

[ceebuddy]

Seatbelts were stanard fare by 1969. And they would be color-matched to the rest of the interior, at least in 1971. So there were blue, green, brown and black seatbelts and maybe even more colors. Yet it does seem correct to me to find black seatbelts in a car with a light beige colored interior.

 

[saforwardlook]

Those wheels are indeed regular steel wheels with the optional W13 Deep Dish Wheel Covers that added $ 40.65 to the window sticker.

This is the original one door pull strap. There was a mid-year change some time along the model year run. Early 1971 models still received the 1970-style door pull straps, later models had the slimmer rubber variant seen here. That was for all 1971 Chrysler models that came with a door pull strap (New Yorker, 300) and I believe also applies to 1971 Furys. Probably the rubber door pull straps were cheaper to procure. The serial number in the VIN of this car (CS23T1C275165) indicates that it is a rather late build, so that would fit.

I try usually to never say never, but I have yet to see a 1971 300 with anything but the wider pull strap from the factory and a New Yorker with anything but the narrow one. I have had a variety of early, mid and late production cars over time too.

 

[ceebuddy]

Steve, you undoubtedly had more of these cars in your lifetime that I could ever dream of.

You are absolutely right in that there is no 1971 New Yorker having the older (soft) type door pull straps. I guess I was too quick in coming up with an (unproven) theory.

So who would I be to challenge your knowledge. It's just that I have seen the newer, smaller door pull straps on some 1971 Chrsler 300's (including my very own). But these might have originally been the wider, softer door pull straps and might have been replaced with the slimmer, rubber-type straps at some point in time due to the original ones failing. It never appeared to me that Chrysler did have two different type door pull straps in production at the very same time (the older type in the 300's and the newer type in the New Yorkers), but that may well have been the case.

Here are pics of two late-in-the-year 1971 Chrysler 300's and the straps look very original to me (no indentions of the wider chrome covers in the door panel vinyl, etc.). But then again...

CS23T1C216812:

CS43T1C253161:

 

[saforwardlook]

Steve, you undoubtedly had more of these cars in your lifetime that I could ever dream of.

You are absolutely right in that there is no 1971 New Yorker having the older (soft) type door pull straps. I guess I was too quick in coming up with an (unproven) theory.

So who would I be to challenge your knowledge. It's just that I have seen the newer, smaller door pull straps on some 1971 Chrsler 300's (including my very own). But these might have originally been the wider, softer door pull straps and might have been replaced with the slimmer, rubber-type straps at some point in time due to the original ones failing. It never appeared to me that Chrysler did have two different type door pull straps in production at the very same time (the older type in the 300's and the newer type in the New Yorkers), but that may well have been the case.

Here are pics of two late-in-the-year 1971 Chrysler 300's and the straps look very original to me (no indentions of the wider chrome covers in the door panel vinyl, etc.). But then again...

CS23T1C216812:
View attachment 315330

CS43T1C253161:
View attachment 315329

That does make a compelling case, as I have not seen a door panel so free of any evidence of the more square hardware for the thicker door pulls. You may be correct then that at the end of the year they switched to a more durable setup even if it didn't look quite as beefy as the thicker ones or maybe they just ran out of the thicker ones. Been known to happen before...................
Thank you.

 

[ayilar]

@ceebuddy and @saforwardlook: thank you for the very informative discussion. Nothing like having two real experts discuss the matter here for folks like me to learn more about these fine cars.

One question: I understand that finding replacement door pulls straps for a '70 or '71 is difficult. Are the '72 straps any easier to find?

Thanks in advance for any pointers!

 

[saforwardlook]

@ceebuddy and @saforwardlook: thank you for the very informative discussion. Nothing like having two real experts discuss the matter here for folks like me to learn more about these fine cars.

One question: I understand that finding replacement door pulls straps for a '70 or '71 is difficult. Are the '72 straps any easier to find?

Thanks in advance for any pointers!

It is hard to find any of the wider 1970-71 door pull straps used on the 300s in good used condition (i.e. not cracked) but it appears ABC Moparts is in the process of making new reproductions that should be available relatively soon (but in his reproduction process, you would have to supply him with your good used wide door pulls because he has to reuse the metal pieces to reproduce them). But it is relatively easy to find the more narrow, (but more durable) straps used on the 1971-73 New Yorkers in good condition used. There are no plans I am aware of to supply new reproduction thin door pulls. As discussed above, it appears the thin door pulls could have been used on some of the very last production 71 300s (probably because the assembly lines ran out of the wider ones at the very end of production).