RE: [Chrysler300] Official Muscle Car Recognition of C-300?

[<john_nowosacki@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

For many 'experts', the muscle car era gets defined as when the biggest engines, previously only available in the biggest cars, were transplanted into mid size offerings, hence the GTO references when the big Bonneville engines went into a Tempest to create a better horsepower to weight ratio.

I always counter this argument with the 413 Max wedge cars of 1962 from Plymouth and Dodge, since it could be argued that the big 413 from the letter series was stuffed into the mid size Plymouth and Dodge of the day.

I suppose if the 300 horsepower 331 Hemi of 1955 were to have been made an option for the 55 Dodge Royal Lancer D300 (I just made that up, it didn't exist), then that would have been the first 'muscle car' by that definition.

Sounds like another opportunity for an interesting thread.



-----Original Message-----
From: Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of rob kern
Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2006 9:44 PM
To: Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Chrysler300] Official Muscle Car Recognition of C-300?

Hello 300'ly to all!
    The July 2006 issue of Hemmings MUSCLE MACHINES magazine pays great tribute to the C-300 and the B. Very  interesting comment regarding the C-300 under George Matter's column on page 10 entitled "Mopar mania: Will it ever end?". He and colleague Tom Comerro labored over last months Mopar price guide in the June issue. To quote George: "We spent hours making sure we had all the models we considered muscle cars and tore our hair out what year to begin and when to cut it off. We decided on 1955, when the C-300 debuted. This was a very LARGE car, but at the same time packed a big punch under the hood with 300hp coming from a 331-cu.in. Hemi. Certainly a performance car in our collective opinion."  They went on to cut it off at the end of the 1972 model run. I was overjoyed to see this recognition from a bona fide muscle car authority in essence stating that the original muscle car was the C-300.  This is nothing new to this club, but there has been much debate in past threads about defining muscle cars, etc. and I was glad to see this line certainly being drawn starting with the '55 letter car. On page 74 under the Vintage Racers column there is a fine tribute to Carl Kiekhaefer entitled CARL'S 1956 300-B, Carl Kiekhaefer's Chrysler survived circle tracks of the 1950s. This dovetails nicely with Don Miller's talk of restoring Carl's  racing 300-B in the NASCAR Museum in N.C. I must agree with John Lazenby that the C-300 and the B will be recognized soon for their NASCAR significance and will skyrocket in value.  Just received my new copy of IRON FIST from Amazon.com and will start the read after I finish the Dodge Brothers book.  ROB KERN

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