Just
as we are crunching numbers for the first 300, Chrysler says the 300
model in 2023 will be the last. The beginning and the end of a fine
motorcar.
The file for 1955 has 1724 records. Published sources say 1725
so we are already off by one. With four cars in the file missing
data, the count is 1720. That is good enough for our purposes.
68%
of the 55 production (1,173 cars) have paint code 30 Platinum. 16%
(289 cars) were paint code 01 black and 14% (248 cars) were paint
code 25 Tango Red. There were eight special paint cars; one car in
code 11, Porcelain Green (this car survives), one in code 99 (this
car survives), 2 cars in code 13, Jade Green (one survives), one in
code 17, Embassy Grey (not known to survive), one car in code 20,
Canyon Tan (not known to survive), and two have code 21 (unknown
paint and not known to survive). Two cars have special trim code 99.
There
were 81 cars with transmission code “3”; Powerflite
without power steering. Most of the 55s (1,638) were transmission
code “8”; Powerflite with power steering.
There
was one car with transmission code “1”, manual
transmission. It was a late production car (June 7, 1955) and was
built for Carl Kiekhaefer.
The
55 was available with a few rear axle ratios. 36 cars came with gear
“1”, 1,588 cars with gear “2”, 28 cars with
gear “4”, 18 cars with gear “5”, 1 car with
gear “6”, 2 cars with gear “7” (both
Kiekhaefer), 44 cars with gear “8”. 3 cars have no code.
467
cars got the optional electric clock.
965
cars had radio code 518; Music Master radio and antenna with rear
speaker.
236
cars had radios code 511; Electro Touch Tuner radio and antenna with
foot control and rear speaker.
206
cars got radio code 519; Electro Touch Tuner radio and antenna with
no foot control and rear speaker.
161
cars had radio code 514; Music Master radio and antenna.
20
cars had radio code 515; Electro Touch Tuner radio w/o rear speaker,
w/o foot control.
17
cars had radio code 516; Electro Touch Tuner radio and antenna w/o
rear speaker, with foot control.
119
cars were radio delete.
940
cars got power windows.
960
cars got 4 way power seats and one car got the 2 way power seat.
112
cars got wire wheels code 8.
1,683
cars got heater (code 4).
11
cars were built with AC (code 5).
36
cars were heater delete.
1,489
cars got Solex glass.
31
cars were exported.
One
is coded 2 but not given a destination.
One
to Antwerp.
One
to Caribbean as personal baggage.
Four
to Casablanca.
One
to Havana.
One
to Hawaii.
Three
to La Guaria.
One
to Montevideo, Uruguay.
Two
were “export to New York City.”
Eleven
to Paris.
One
to Switzerland.
One
to “unreadable.”
One
called “factory delivery.”
There
was one chassis exported to Ghia.
1955
production was concentrated into March, April, and May. These three
months produced 90% of the total. The first car (recently restored by
Mike McCandless) was built February 10, 1955 and the last car was
shipped June 24th.
44
cars were built with every option. 18 cars were built that had only a
heater. 10 cars were built without any options at all. Of the 1725
production, we estimate that 278 remain.