The Last Hemi Letter Car

The 300D, series LC3-S, was the last letter car to carry the FirePower Hemi, its 392-cu-in dual-four-barrel engine rated 380 hp at 5,200 rpm and 435 lb-ft at 3,600 rpm on 10.0:1 compression. An optional Bendix Electrojector fuel-injection version of the same 392 was rated 390 hp, with the Chrysler 300 Club recording that about 21 were built and most were later recalled and converted back to twin four-barrel carburetors. The club also credits a modified 300D with a Class E record of 156.387 mph at Bonneville, a competition result kept separate from this record's road-car performance figures.^1,2,3

Production is disputed at the single-digit level: the Chrysler 300 Club counts 619 hardtops against Over-Drive's 618, a one-car gap neither source explains. The combined total carries its own smaller puzzle: two independent statements, the club's own separate production-and-survivor registry table and Over-Drive's later 1959 fact sheet referring back to 1958 sales, agree on 809 cars, while the club's own "Letter Car Production Dates" table gives an aggregate of 810 for the same model, a 1-unit gap this record leaves unresolved rather than silently picking one club table over the other.^3,1,4,5

The fuel-injected engine's own rating carries a rpm discrepancy: the factory AMA specification sheet and Chrysler's own December 1957 press release agree on 390 hp at 5,200 rpm and 435 lb-ft at 3,600 rpm, while Over-Drive's compiled fact sheet instead prints 390 hp at 5,400 rpm and 435 lb-ft at 4,200 rpm; this record keeps the Over-Drive figures in the primary engine row but treats the factory AMA sheet and press release, which agree with each other, as the stronger source. The fuel-injection option's price is likewise disputed: Motor Trend and Road & Track, both writing in 1958, put it at about $500, while a 1970 Cars magazine retrospective on a converted example instead states $400; this record uses the contemporary $500 figure and notes the later recollection separately.^6,7,1,8,9,10

Motor Trend tested a 300D convertible, the 250th car built, carbureted at 380 hp with TorqueFlite and Sure-Grip, running the quarter-mile in 17.9 seconds at 85.3 mph in Drive with automatic upshifts, and averaging 13.6 mpg over a 2,577-mile cross-country run. Road & Track's own test car, also carbureted, ran 0-60 mph in 8.4 seconds and 0-100 mph in 24.4 seconds at a 5,190-lb test weight, with the standing quarter-mile at 16.0 seconds and no trap speed printed. A 1970 Cars magazine retrospective tested a restored 300D hardtop originally ordered with fuel injection but converted to carburetors by its first owner, twelve years after production, running the quarter-mile in 16.1 seconds at 87 mph on then-current tires, a result this record treats as a later-life retest rather than a contemporary new-car figure.^8,9,10

The manual transmission, a $100 option restricted to the 300D, deleted power brakes and power steering when ordered, per both the factory AMA sheet and the road tests' own equipment notes; the club records only two known manual-transmission survivors against that broader factory availability. Four axle ratios, 2.93, 3.18, 3.54, and 3.73, were offered at no extra cost against the 3.31:1 standard. Curb weight ran 4,485 lb for the hardtop and 4,680 lb for the convertible per the AMA weight sheet, with 12 x 2.5-inch total-contact power-assisted drum brakes cooled by scoops under the headlamps, and dual exhaust that ran 2.25 in on the hardtop but only 1.75 in on the convertible owing to frame interference.^6,3,8,9,7