The Chrysler 300 officially made its debut in 1955, pushing 300hp, making it one of the quickest luxury cars of the time with a 0-60 time of 9.8 seconds. Now, speed is great and everyone loves that acceleration, but the 300 also boasted one of the best handling suspensions of the time. Fast forward to 1962, otherwise known as the 300H cars, and they saw some significant changes from their predecessor. Chrysler had new leadership, which decided to do away with the fins that were so well known to the marque. The wheelbase was shorter, and the engine picked up 5hp, giving the vehicle one of the best power-to-weight ratios on the market. Although the Chrysler 300 was an amazing vehicle, the sheer cost made it difficult to sell, and not many units were sold, with reported production numbers of 1280 coupes made and 337 convertibles, making the 1962 Chrysler 300H New Yorker a very rare bird.
Great American history, a great vehicle that was (in my opinion) ahead of its time, with exceptionally low production numbers, and you have a custom builder's dream, especially in the California Custom Car Culture. This 300 was transported to us due to some minor damage that needed immediate repairs. It seems we even do touch-up work that no one else seems to be able to handle. We called the builder who was located in California to see what the color code was. His response was nothing short of spectacular......." whatever the painter made up that day."
Well, after about 30-40 hours of making colors, we formulated a 3-stage color that had a base color and topped it off with a gold pearl to achieve the desired color. The client was amazed that we were able to match it as he was afraid the whole car would need to be resprayed. Cool car but a stressful project as we were under to time crunch, however, we managed to complete 2 days ahead of schedule. Happy client is always the best client.
