Lighter, Faster, Overshadowed

The 300H, series SC3-M, moved to the shorter 122-inch-wheelbase Newport-based platform and dropped the fins, a roughly 300-pound weight saving that, combined with a 5 hp increase, the Chrysler 300 Club credits with giving the H the best power-to-weight ratio of the letter series. The standard 413 returned to in-line dual four-barrels rated 380 hp at 5,200 rpm, with an optional short-ram cross-ram version on 11.0:1 compression rated 405 hp at 5,400 rpm; TorqueFlite was standard and a three-speed manual optional. Base prices ran $5,090 for the hardtop and $5,461 for the convertible, and tan leather bucket seats front and rear with a full-length console were standard, the dashboard now color-matched to the leather and carpet.^1,2,3

Convertible production is disputed between the Chrysler 300 Club's 123 and Over-Drive's own fact sheet figure of 135, though Over-Drive's separate compiled production table agrees with the club at 123, so this record leads with 123 while showing the fact sheet's 135 as disputed. The combined total of 558 (435 hardtops plus 123 convertibles) is confirmed by two independent lineages, but the club's own separate production-dates table carries its own caveat that 1962 records for the H "may not be accurate," a limitation this record passes on rather than resolving.^2,1,4,5

A factory high-performance AMA supplement, applying to both the letter-series 300H and the non-letter 300, lists engines well beyond the two catalogued in the standard engine table: a 413 four-barrel large-bore rated 365 hp, a 426 four-barrel large-bore rated 373 hp at 11.0:1 or 385 hp at 12.0:1, and a 426 dual-four-barrel ram version rated 413 hp at 11.0:1 or 421 hp at 12.0:1. None of these were advertised, and Hot Rod's own test reports that Chrysler would first try to talk a buyer out of ordering the high-performance option rather than promote it; no source consulted states how many letter cars, if any, left the factory with either 426.^6,7

A Car Life comparison table published in May 1963 alongside that magazine's 300J test reprints an earlier 300H result: a 16.0-second quarter-mile at 88.5 mph and a 7.7-second 0-60 time, on a 380-hp car at 4,220 lb; the original March 1962 Car Life test was not read in this pass, so this record carries only the reprinted comparison figures. Hot Rod's own February 1962 piece, read directly, printed no instrumented 300H figures at all; its one drag-strip time, 14.28 seconds at 100.11 mph, belonged to a non-letter 300 hardtop with the 405-hp engine and is accordingly not attached to this 300H record.^8,7

The three-speed manual's own gear ratios are disputed: Over-Drive's fact sheet gives 2.17/1.43/1.00, while Hot Rod's test instead reports a 2.55 low and 1.49 second gear on a Power Pak car with an 11-inch clutch; this record keeps the Over-Drive figures in the primary transmission row while showing both. The 300H's suspension ran a 1.010-inch front torsion bar against the plain 300's 0.990 in, an extra-leaf rear spring rated 160 lb per inch against 135 for the 300, and a link-type stabilizer bar standard on the H alone; it also rode on 15-inch wheels with nylon Goodyear Blue Streak tires against the plain 300's 14-inch rayon-cord tires, with 12-inch, 251-sq-in power-assisted drum brakes standard.^1,7