Another Road Trip, Another C- Body ('71 Chrysler 300)

[MTMoparfan65]

Hit the road again today for another 500 miles of windshield time and picked up a '71 Chrysler 300. The car is loaded, but very rough. I personally have not seen another one with a console, so it's probably unique, but the rust is probably too extensive to save this one. Had the vinyl top been torn off and properly replaced when it first started wearing out, the damage would have been avoided.


Attached are pics and fender tag decode.

 

[commando1]

Shame but my hat is off to you for saving it.

 

[67-Fury]

You are a Great asset to the C-body Community. And you Find some great cars.

 

[MTMoparfan65]

You are a Great asset to the C-body Community. And you Find some great cars.

Thank you Sir! I'm getting two more between now and Sunday. Will post when retrieved.

Also came across a Mopar hoard about 3 miles from my house and may make a deal on a couple of his cars to save them from Demo Derbies! This weekend I was able to buy a complete grille, hood, marker lights, and set of road wheels from a '70 Sport Fury that were laying in his field!!! That and a set of really nice big block HP manifolds, and clutch pedal assembly/Z-bar for a '68 - '70 B body.

 

[67-Fury]

Thank you Sir! I'm getting two more between now and Sunday. Will post when retrieved.

Also came across a Mopar hoard about 3 miles from my house and may make a deal on a couple of his cars to save them from Demo Derbies! This weekend I was able to buy a complete grille, hood, marker lights, and set of road wheels from a '70 Sport Fury that were laying in his field!!! That and a set of really nice big block HP manifolds, and clutch pedal assembly/Z-bar for a '68 - '70 B body.

O man...you are getting Higher and Higher on the "You Suck list" lol.

 

[CanCritter]

belive T is base 440

 

[saforwardlook]

The seat code is indeed for white bucket seats that the car has, not black. The color code for the exterior is FE5 which is Rallye Red. T is the standard 440 engine. The cruise control is not coded because it has been added onto the car after production, and it looks like they used a 1974 and later control handle.

Help me understand, do you believe the car is too far gone because the roof is too rusty and it would need a roof skin, or is the rust more extensive than that? It seems I am seeing some rust-out ahead of the rear wheel on the driver side at least and maybe some rust behind the rear wheel as well in the lower rear quarter. Is the whole underside of the car rusty? Maybe around the rear window too? Those cars are increasingly desirable, so I would consider carefully just how bad it really is before parting it out. Any more photos of it that we could see, particularly the rust areas? Do you know if the engine turns? How many miles does it show? Glad you are letting it see the light of day before its fate is decided. Thanks!

 

[MTMoparfan65]

The seat code is indeed for white bucket seats that the car has, not black. The color code for the exterior is FE5 which is Rallye Red. T is the standard 440 engine. The cruise control is not coded because it has been added onto the car after production, and it looks like they used a 1974 and later control handle.

Help me understand, do you believe the car is too far gone because the roof is too rusty and it would need a roof skin, or is the rust more extensive than that? It seems I am seeing some rust-out ahead of the rear wheel on the driver side at least and maybe some rust behind the rear wheel as well in the lower rear quarter. Is the whole underside of the car rusty? Maybe around the rear window too? Those cars are increasingly desirable, so I would consider carefully just how bad it really is before parting it out. Any more photos of it that we could see, particularly the rust areas? Do you know if the engine turns? How many miles does it show? Glad you are letting it see the light of day before its fate is decided. Thanks!

Today I took a closer look at the '71 300 and the rust is pretty extensive. The roof has some holes, the C-pillars are both pretty rotten, which in turn has led to large rust holes in the trunk. On the driver's side the quarter panel in front of the rear tire is quite rusty. For some reason there's Styrofoam insulation (like cut from 1 in. sheets) stuffed in the quarter panels and down into the trunk extensions. It seems to have diverted the water to the front of the quarter panels. On the passenger side there's surface rust all along the trim. The front edges of both fenders are folded under.

The interior is rough as well. The headliner is shredded and the seats are cracked. Carpet is toast! Surprisingly the dash is decent!

The odometer reads 07700, so it's rolled over once. I haven't connected a battery, but I'll try turning over the motor with a breaker bar on the harmonic balancer/crank bolt.

I was looking at paperwork left in the glovebox and apparently in '91 the car was in the Carlsbad, CA area. I was told it came from Florida (I'm in Montana).

That's the latest...

 

[commando1]

The paperwork and the trail it left is always a great story.

 

[saforwardlook]

Today I took a closer look at the '71 300 and the rust is pretty extensive. The roof has some holes, the C-pillars are both pretty rotten, which in turn has led to large rust holes in the trunk. On the driver's side the quarter panel in front of the rear tire is quite rusty. For some reason there's Styrofoam insulation (like cut from 1 in. sheets) stuffed in the quarter panels and down into the trunk extensions. It seems to have diverted the water to the front of the quarter panels. On the passenger side there's surface rust all along the trim. The front edges of both fenders are folded under.

The interior is rough as well. The headliner is shredded and the seats are cracked. Carpet is toast! Surprisingly the dash is decent!

The odometer reads 07700, so it's rolled over once. I haven't connected a battery, but I'll try turning over the motor with a breaker bar on the harmonic balancer/crank bolt.

I was looking at paperwork left in the glovebox and apparently in '91 the car was in the Carlsbad, CA area. I was told it came from Florida (I'm in Montana).

That's the latest...

Thanks for the follow up - it seems to be pretty much toast then. I still get many requests for the 70-71 300 2 doors all the time, but can't fulfill them anymore! I let a bunch of them go over the years to very good homes. Those and the Dodge Polaras/Monacos in those general years (plus some Sport Furys) are my favorites.

 

[fc7_plumcrazy]

these are my favorites, too.

It has a great colour combo and some nice options.
Before parting it I would offer it as a complete car. maybe someone jumps up and wants to do it

Carsten

 

[MTMoparfan65]

Winter

Unfortunately there's only so much room in the garage :sad8:

 

[Donny]

Cool, hope you can get this car back into shape! My 300 also has the Console/Bucket seats, a definite rare option.

 

[MTMoparfan65]

Gonna put this car on the market come spring. If anyone is interested, hit me up. Moving some inventory...

 

[70Tom]

This weekend I was able to buy a complete grille, hood, marker lights, and set of road wheels from a '70 Sport Fury that were laying in his field!!!

Do you still have the grille? Specifically, the section that surrounds the headlight doors. Both sides are cracked on the teal SF. If so, might be interested.

 

[CanCritter]

Do you still have the grille? Specifically, the section that surrounds the headlight doors. Both sides are cracked on the teal SF. If so, might be interested.

cracked like this and same area?

 

[70Tom]

cracked like this and same area?
View attachment 109834 View attachment 109835

Yep! Same crack. I was seeing if there was something decent out there before I took them off and repaired them as you did. What did you use?

 

[MTMoparfan65]

I've had a number of people contact me about selling the '71 Chrysler 300, so I'll post pics here for the tire kickers who just want to collect pictures. As described, the car is quite rough, but is loaded with options. Asking price is $1750. It's located in Helena, Montana.

 

[saforwardlook]

Did you ever try to find out if the engine turns? That would be a pretty likely question for an interested party such as myself possibly. Do you know if the floors are solid (you already said the trunk floor was gone). Also, if you could look underneath and let us know if the stub frame looks solid as well as the rear frame rails, that would really help as well.

Thank you

 

[MTMoparfan65]

Did you ever try to find out if the engine turns? That would be a pretty likely question for an interested party such as myself possibly. Do you know if the floors are solid (you already said the trunk floor was gone). Also, if you could look underneath and let us know if the stub frame looks solid as well as the rear frame rails, that would really help as well.

Thank you

I did attempt to turn the engine over with a breaker bar and socket on the crank bolt, but couldn't reach it from the top. I'll need to jack the car up and try it from underneath. I won't be able to do that or check the frame/floors as requested, until late March. I'm working out of town for the next month.