Listen my children and you shall
hear, of the midnight ride of Paul . . . . Zeigler. Well it wasn’t
really midnight and I wasn’t on my way to warn anybody of an
impending attack; but a battle of sorts did occur.
I was driving home on the freeway
last week in my 300E, minding my own business, when a Pontiac
Trans-Am, whose driver was old enough to know better, passed me at an
inordinate rate of speed. Now under most driving circumstances, I’m
a mild-mannered reporter in horn-rimmed glasses, slouched behind the
wheel of a six banger Dodge station wagon, cruise control dialed in
at 55, legal eagle. But sometimes I do duck into a nearby garage and
emerge wearing a 300E or some other glorious relic from Chrysler
Corporation’s high-performance history. In brief, I closed
distance between the Screaming Chicken and myself and when I saw him
accelerate, I let the E have it. I needn’t bore you with the
gory details. You know, I came away again marveling not only at the
size of the literal gap between the two automobiles that occurred
after about ten seconds, but also, at the gap between the performance
capabilities of these old beasts that we love, preserve and drive and
anything else on the road today. What was true in 1956 or 1959 or
1965 is the same now: In its element a 300 Letter car is unmatched.
For a long time, I wanted a Chrysler
300 and for a long time my favorites were the ram-inducted wedges;
the great 300FS, Gs, Js and Ks. For maximum high speeds the
hemi-powered cars are without peer among the 300s, but to an old
drag racer like me, the mystique of the ram 300s was irresistible.
So, when I could, I bought my first 300, an F, nearly ten years ago.
It was followed by a J and a G. From my experience with those cars,
I learned a good many things about automotive restoration and owning
automobiles in general. One thing I learned in particular about ram
Chryslers is that exoticism (in manifolding as in a lot of other
things) carries a price that one might not be willing to pay.
I sold the F to buy a J which looked
like a good bet. The car was bewitched! What ever could have been
wrong or could go wrong, was and did. With springs and transmission
cases and driveshafts littering the road behind me, I bailed out of
the J as any rational person would have done. I found a G and not
just any old G. Engineless, it was my favorite flavor, black, with
just (no misprint) 32,000 original miles. I bought it and committed
my life, fortune and sacred honor into turning it into a killer. The
plan was this: I had retained the Js original engine and after a
lengthy consultation with Vic Mills, my friend, mechanic and junkyard
compatriot, we decided to go the distance with it. Which is to say, 500
horsepower after an overbore to bring it to 426 cubic inches, a
290-degree intake duration, solid lifter cam with .550 thousands
lift, radius seat valve job and attendant head work. TRW forged
pistons, double roller timing chain, hemi oil pump and seven quart
sump, windage tray, battleship springs, and so on and so on.
Naturally we retained the J’s short rams. If your going to
crack 150 and run with a well tuned C or D, a wedge needs all the
help it can get.
But a funny thing happened on the
way to the ol’ speed shop - - up popped the E.
Chrysler’s 300E has always
intrigued me. Unlike some, I am not put off by its modified trim and
styling. Personally, I always considered the changes to be
interesting, rather then offensive variations on a beautiful theme.
Its scarcity, luxury, performance and special character as the first
of the wedges and the last representative of the stunning 1957 Exner
styling make the fifth Letter Car unique. I never really intended to
have an E, but it became available and my catalyst was Vic.
We had found it a couple of years
before and I had seen it in storage several times. It had been
repainted Parade Green in 1957. Its state of preservation was as
good as the G’s; and it had but 67,00 miles under its belt.
Now, as Vic, informed me, due to non-payment for storage by the
owner, it would be auctioned off along with six other desirable 300s
* by the County Sheriff. If our previous talks about the
G’s engine had been lengthy and serious, our conversation about
the E was profound. Of course, I wanted it. As with any true 300 nut
my insanity propels me to want them all. But my fondness for the E
and the potential of this particular car convinced me that Vic had
indeed shown me the way to my salvation. The vision actually
appeared to me as we were out in his 300C. After hearing me agonize
over the G, Vic simply said, “Listen, you want the E, and you
have the engine for it. Sell the G body and I will drop the engine
with the in-line quads rather then the ram setup, into the E. What
you will end up with is the world’s fastest 300E.”
Simple. Possible. Irresistible. We pulled into the nearest
Burger King and a couple of Whoppers later, had our strategy. The
E’s original engine was fine. I’d keep it for future
reference. Jim Wright of Baker-Wright Automotive in Elyria, Ohio, a
Chrysler freak from the last ice age, who had done the machining on
the engine, supplied me with a ’62 Dodge truck aluminum
Torqueflite. Vic’s father, Bill, a Michelangelo with a Binks
spray gun, restored the original Turquoise-grey finish. Late in the
autumn of 1983, I was back on the streets again.
I know what
some of you are thinking; it isn’t dead stock, so it isn’t
right. True enough in part. Stock it is not, but it is right enough
for me. My 300 philosophy (such as it is) and that of Vic Mills and
a good many others is that these marvelous old Chryslers are meant
to be driven. More than that, they’re meant to be driven as
their creators intended; swiftly and well. In their day they could
clean house on any erstwhile competition and that day is not
completely past. Plenty of Porches, Mercedes, turbocharged,
fuel-injected, electronically-monitored econoboxes and a few diehard
Stingrays and Mach 1 Mustangs are about to learn that essential
lesson. SOON!
Other cars that were
auctioned with the E -- a black C300, a black C coupe, a red D
convertible, a Terra-cotta F coupe, a black F convertible and a red
G convertible.