[Chrysler300] somewhere out there is a 55 300 that was blown

["christopher beilby" <thelastbestgenius@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

As part of my so far not too succesful attempts to locate early series 300s 
with Mopar seat belts, I finally have recently been sent shots of a 
'possible first other 300' that may have cable end seat belts - the Mopar 
belts in one of my 300Cs being sort of similar type belts, ones that end 
with twin woven fine wire cables that come off a sewn in fitting on end of 
woven fabric belt parts.

The other 'maybe Mopar seat belt car' is a '55 300, and this was a 
model/year earlier that Wayne Graefen mentioned he was aware Chrysler listed 
(Factory/Dealer?) belts for. Apart from this (maybe?) '55 300, it seems 
apart from two sets of likely later 1957 belts seen/sold on ebay (one part 
set observed by me about a year ago, and another seen by Owen in NZ a few 
years before that), that the 57 type Mopar belts are maybe not so common.

And thinking in hindsight, no Dealer would I guess want to volunteer to 
install them, as firstly the twin holes for each end have to be drilled 
through floors with a 'front to rear alignment/accuracy' of about 1/16 of an 
inch to pick up the exact right narrtow spots on the underfloor bracket, 
plus the only (easiest likely) way to do this would be from under the car, 
which would also then involve removing the mufflers, never mind when the 
drill bit reached the carpet above, if it grabbed the carpet, it then 
instantly pulls whole rows of sewing/carpet, which would then mean 
removing/replacing the new carpet?
So my guess, not too many Dealers would volunteer for this, for so small a 
return/profit?!

Now if the 3 page handwritten history of my 300C I got with the car that has 
these Mopar '57 type belts fitted is true/correct, right at the beginning of 
this 3 pages it states the two Turskey brothers that ordered the 300C 'raced 
cars and hillclimbed motorcycles, plus they had searched nearby States for a 
Dealer who wanted to get involved in running the car at 1957 Daytona', in 
the category of "Man off the Street Flying Mile". (This was a non factory 
category, where apparently virtually anyone could join a queue after paying 
a few dollars, and see if they could run as fast as their car would. And 
seemingly that is how many National Motor Mags, amongst others, ran their 
modified stockies, etc..)

Anyhow back to the Fond Du Lac Turskey brothers -  if anyone was going to 
want seat belts in a new 300C, it likely may have been these guys if they 
already raced cars?  Now as to who installed them, is if one believes the 
'blurb' all they say is "we had trouble getting Chrysler to build it with no 
power steering and installing the supercharger. All the final work was 
completed at Bachus Chrysler (minnesota) shop."

Now I would not know where in Jan 1957, Chrysler would/may have done any 
post production line work on a new 300C before it went on to any Dealer, but 
if this were true, Chrysler may have installed the seat belts, rather than 
the Dealer?

And as I mention at beginning of this post, where it is has now come to my 
notice just yesterday that a 1955 300 is another car that may have Mopar 
type belts in it, is it has reminded me in the 3 page Turskey blurb/history, 
there is mention right at the beginning of why they chose a '57 300C after 
attending the 1956 Daytona Time Trials - "We had a 55 Chrysler 300 with a 
Hemi and it was really fun".

So finally I get to the point/question of this post - where is that 1955 300 
now?! Seemingly if they owned it in 1956, they may have purchased it new - 
anyone own a 1955 300 that they know was owned by them back in 1956?
Is it perhaps the current car that has seatbelts still in it?! - if they 
ordered/had a 57 300C with belts, likely they had them in their '55 ?! The 
55 I was sent pictures of that shows the belts in it, looks like it has been 
used in wet winters - they/Turskeys used their 55 300 in wet winters because 
amongst the pile of orginal papers is a May 21 1956 claim for supercharger 
warranty on the 55 that mentions 'the 300 (1955 one) currently has "recap 
snow tires on", and currently "only a few times being driven over 70 mph".

Anyone out there know/care how to track a 1955 300 owned back in 1956?
Part of '55 300 blower set up was I believe moved onto the 57 300 I 
currently have, because an electric boost switch is (still now in 2006) 6V, 
a resistance used to make it work on the 300Cs' 12 volts. I think I am 
correct in that 1955 300s were 6V - so if this came off their '55 300, 
likely they either traded the 55's blower back on new set up for 300C, or 
part used taken off bits on 300C when Dealer and them finished the 
installation, or later after Daytona when they finally cured bugs not solved 
before Daytona - meaning 55 300 may have been sold 'non supercharged' ?! It 
may have even been a trade  on the 57 - if so, it traded s/hand in Minnesota 
late 56, early 57?!

Would be amazing today if both the two Turskey supercharged 300s still 
survive - these guys were pretty early on to grasp what supercharging a twin 
carb 300 hemi would do to improve on already real good hp figures and what 
that meant over the quarter mile? And amazing they came from same town as 
the man (Mr K) who won nearly every 56 Nascar Race (ok only 18 out of 24 I 
think) racing 56 300Bs?!

sorry for so long a post - I hope this helps somone - maybe that '55 300 is 
out there still, even if early 300 seatbelts 'mysteries' are more difficult 
to resolve so easily?

Christopher in Australia

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