The Last Finned Letter Car

The 300G, series RC4-P, carried over the cross-ram 413 in two forms: 375 hp at 5,000 rpm with the standard 30-inch long-ram manifold, and 400 hp at 5,200 rpm with the optional 15-inch short-ram manifold. The French Pont-a-Mousson four-speed manual was dropped in favor of a heavy-duty Chrysler three-speed unit. Styling changes for the year included an inverted grille, quad headlamps angled inward at the bottom, and taillamps relocated from the fins to below them, while tan leather power swivel bucket seats and a full-length console became standard equipment.^1,2,3

Production totaled 1,617 cars, 1,280 hardtops and 337 convertibles, a figure the Chrysler 300 Club and Over-Drive's fact sheet both agree on for the body-style split, and the club's own registry table separately confirms the 1,617 combined total rather than leaving it as an unverified sum of the two body rows. Four exterior colors were offered: Formal Black, Mardi Gras Red, Alaskan White, and a metallic Cinnamon, with production by color not stated in either source consulted for the year.^2,1,4

The 400-hp Power Pack made the three-speed manual mandatory rather than optional, with automatic transmission listed as not available for that engine on the factory AMA sheet; the 375-hp engine, by contrast, offered the same manual only as an extra-cost option alongside its standard TorqueFlite. Four optional axle ratios, 2.93, 3.15, 3.58, and 3.73, were available against a 3.23:1 standard, and a four-pinion Sure-Grip differential was fitted to at least one contemporary test car alongside a power antenna, six-way power seats, power windows, and a rear window defroster.^5,6,7

Motor Life's 375-hp manual test car ran 0-60 mph in 8.2 seconds and the standing quarter-mile in 16.2 seconds at 86 mph, stopping from 60 mph in 131 ft, while Motor Trend's own 375-hp manual car ran 0-60 mph in 8.3 seconds with an estimated, unmeasured top speed near 130 mph. A later Car Life comparison table, published in May 1963 alongside that magazine's own 300J test, reprints an earlier 300G result of a 16.2-second quarter-mile at 87.4 mph and an 8.4-second 0-60 time; since the original August 1961 Car Life test itself was not read in this pass, this record carries only the reprinted comparison figures rather than the full original test.^7,6,8

Overall width is disputed between Over-Drive's 79.7 in and a 79.4-in figure shared by the Chrysler 300 Club and the factory AMA specification sheet issued September 28, 1960; this record shows both rather than assuming the compiled fact sheet over the factory document. The Chrysler 300 Club credits a GT-class 300G with winning the Daytona flying mile and a stock 300G with winning the one-mile acceleration run that year, competition results this record keeps distinct from the road-test performance figures above. Curb weight for the 400-hp hardtop is recorded at 4,295 lb from a handwritten entry on the AMA weight page, and 15 x 6K pressed-steel wheels with ventilated brake-cooling covers were fitted across the model, riding on 8.00 x 15 Blue Streak tires and 12-inch total-contact drum brakes carried over from the standard New Yorker's own braking hardware.^1,3,5,2,7