This 300F began life on or about 3/10/60 and was
delivered new to Fischer Record dealer in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. My
wife Carolyn and I first met the “Blue F” on a visit to
Dennis Wahling in April of 1979, while enroute to a wedding in Omaha,
Nebraska. We had stopped by to check out a K convert Dennis had for
sale. Dennis had quite a collection of 300s consisting of a parade
green C, white C, white D, the K convert (which we bought that
spring) and the Polar Blue F hardtop, the significance of the color
was not fully realized at the time. We just liked blue!
During the following months following
the purchase of the K we made several other trips to Mr. Wahling’s.
At the time, we were restoring a ’64 Newport convert and Dennis
had located parts for us. It was during one of these visits that I
expressed an interest in the F, as it was just sitting and it seemed
as though Dennis had his hands full with a ’32 PB coupe as well
as farming, etc.
Later that fall a letter came,
informing us that the F could be ours if we would like it. Needless
to say we were overjoyed even though we had no place to put it at the
time, much less funds for a restoration project of this magnitude.
The car came with a broken
windshield, no engine, one ram, no carbs or exhaust, and the
transmission in the trunk. Boxes of parts and junk in the trunk
yielded several goodies, such as the cast iron elbows for the
exhaust, several extra medallions, broken chrome trim, rods, pistons,
miscellaneous engine internals, and mouse droppings complete with
accompanying stench and petrified remains! Body rust was minimal; the
only major rot problem being in the trunk and driver’s floor
pan where water had been sitting. However, the right quarter panel
was another story. Investigation revealed that the car had been a
passenger on a fork lift in its recent past, with the quarter panel
bearing the brunt of the damage. Needless to say it presented the
biggest challenge to straighten, having been hit high by the window
post. This also caught the right door as well as fork damage to the
floor pan and frame extension. The interior was a complete disaster
with mulched seat cushion material hanging from holes in the
headliner having been placed there by the aforementioned mice in
search of a home. The seats were all dried and cracked, the chrome
trim pitted and cruddy. But the radio, we later found out, played and
the power windows went up and down, so we thought, what the heck,
let’s do it!
The following 5 years or so saw the
usual parts hunting, dismantling, cleaning, etc. that we all know so
well. Any of us who have gone through the restoration process can
attest to this. It was during this time that the significance of the
999 paint code came to my attention. The car carried a “Polar
Blue” paint color on it.
Along these lines, I invite any
owners of 300s with 999 codes to check this out with their cars. If
you should locate this form, make a copy and send it to the club or
to myself, as I would like a collection of as many as possible of
these. The form in our F was folded three times and sandwiched
between the floor mats and the floor pan under the left rear seat. It
was discolored somewhat from the undercoating, and rather fragile.
The form carries the numbers 16708 and the date 2-56, both of which
are located in the upper left corner of the form. This leads one to
believe this form may have been used since that date for any
deviation from standard car specs, such as paint and or interior
color in the case of the 300s. By the way, anyone wishing a copy of
the form found in our car, please send a business size SASE to me and
I’ll be glad to provide a copy.
To make an already too long story
short, 1986 saw the first breathe of life fire from the rams of the
“Blue F” in what I estimate to have been at least 14
years. We have license records covering the period from 1962 to 1972,
during which time the car had no less than 3 owners. We recently
spoke to a previous owner of this car who had the car from 1961-1966
and he was able to shed much light on the life and times of
8403141273, some of which I hope to share with you at a future date.
We look forward to many miles of enjoyment from our 300F. Many thanks to the club members who had a hand in the restoration of this rare car, be it from parts purchase, research, or just plain old motivation, it all was welcome more than I can express. By the way, the remainder of the Dennis Wahling collection is also in our possession at this time. We hope to begin work on the Parade Green C hardtop in the not too distant future.
Back |
Disassembly of the car did indeed
reveal that it had been this way from the start. The discovery, under
the floor mat of the rear seat area, of the “
