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John Photakis' 1966 Chrysler 300


I found my 66 300 in Hemmings about 3 years ago at Neil Fremans in Whitehall Montana. I was told that he had it for 15 years. I bought it from a handfull of Polaroids. It had AC,ps, pb, pw, pseat and discs.The 383 had a bunch of monkeys with ballpeen hammers banging away inside so Neil swapped another motor before he sent it on its way.

My first site of the car was on the transporter. It was a filthy, muddy mess, inside and out! The vinyl top was shedded and what was left was the backing material glued to the top and the rest flapping in the breeze. Bird feathers and empty Lone Stars were everywhere. Not a great first impression.


After a good 3 hour hosing down, I could see what I really bought. A 99% straight body with a few surface rust pin points. Chrome wasn't pitted and the tailight surrounds were actually pretty nice. The interior cleaned up to be serviceable to start. When I started to tinker with the mechanicals, I came to realize something I had never experienced living in the New England area. Every nut and bolt I touched, when the initial torque on the nut was released, I could actually take them off with my fingers. NO RUSTED BROKEN BOLTS! I'll never buy a car from up here again!


It has been a joy to bring back mechanically and when my body man started, he said it was an easy one to do. Scuff to metal then Daffodil Yellow was squirted and a black vinyl top installed. A good 10 footer paint job, just what I wanted.

I had the suspention rebushed ,shocked, and ball jointed. I swapped the Budd 4 pistons calipers for 71-72 NYer single piston to avoid the lower ball joint cashectony. Swap worked out great. Also had a Firm Feel steering box swapped with the second level firmness. Nice. Rear has been bushed and shackled and shocked with a sway bar. The transmission was rebuilt with a shift kit and a dual exhaust was fabricated and hung. Legendary supplied one if their first interior kits for this car, and the only problem came with the headliner. They list it as a 4 bow headliner when it really is a 5 bow.

For the 60's look, I mounted 225/60/15's on American Torquethrust 5 spokes, just like the Mopar muscle cars had and they look great! It's not a true letter car, but future plans call for either a Hemi crate motor with EFI, or a Viper V10! I measured the Viper at a local yard and as you all know these brutes will swallow anything! A true millenium "M"...

John Photakis