While the GM products of the late 1950s seem to dominate the thoughts of many people when they consider cool cars from that era, Chrysler was really building the hot stuff. The “Letter cars” of the late 1950s were brutal performers for their time and stylistically they were as bombastic as anything anyone else was making. Don’t believe us? This 1959 Chrysler 300E is a prime example of both the performance and panache that these cars offered. They were expensive and pretty exclusive for their time so production numbers were low. That means the remaining cars are worth a mint, especially when they are absolutely flawless like this one.
1959 was a bit of a transitional year for the letter cars. It was the first year that the 392 hemi was not sitting between the fenders, in its place was a 413 Golden Lion wedge engine. The horsepower rating remained the same as the previous hemi engine and the performance was nearly identical to the previous model as well. Looks wise, the front end got a little more aggressive and the grill grew to near Kenworth proportions, letting anyone and everyone on the road know that this thing meant business. Outside of some specialty cars of the era, there wasn’t anything on the road that was touching a letter car, especially when the straights got long and flat.
The pushbutton shifted Torqueflite handled power transfer duties and while there was a manual transmission option for these cars very, very few people took it. These were luxury hot rods and luxury hot rods shift themselves.
The interior of this car is beautiful as well. The engine turned dash is pretty stunning and the gauge layout has a very European feel to it as well. Interior colors are classy and how about those stainless steel bows that run across the top of the roof to hold the headliner up.
About 500 of these cars were made and according to the seller, there are less than 120 known to exist anymore.
This is one awesome car and it has one awesome price tag. Got about $130,000 we can borrow?
Link: This 1959 Chrysler 300E was the baddest thing on the road six decades ago
I’m in lust..
Seems like the perfect marriage of art and engineering. Wow, what a time that must have been at Chrysler!
Now if you don’t like that.There is something really wrong with you
Love those things! Any 56-62 works for me.
Fit a full Pro Touring suspension and brake system and keep everything else bone stock. Then terrify all the canyon racers with it…
Gorgeous car. One of my favorite Chrysler’s. Same with the Desoto’s of that vintage.
I can see why there were only 500 made. People were buying Mopars because they were the price leader of the big three, not for the looks. This was a pretty pricey piece in the day & was a real looker. Nice restoration and I like it.
Get up to about 70 on the highway and watch the cars in front of you part like the red sea when they see all that chrome coming at tjem
RK Motors; I\’ve been gawking at their website for months. Some really expensive cars but they look top notch. That\’s a place to shop when my lotto max ticket wins
Here\’s my current favourite:
https://www.rkmotors.com/vehicles/2181/1957-chevrolet-210