(Photos: copart.com) There were only 501 Chrysler 300 Hurst cars made. You are familiar with the two-door convertible that Hurst used as a promotional vehicle (often with Linda Vaughn riding on) and supposedly there is one dealer-built 426 Hemi-powered convertible built. The rest are pretty much identical: two door coupes based upon the Three Hundred body, with Imperial interiors in tan, and bodies in white and gold. The scooped hood and trunk with integrated rear spoiler were made from fiberglass. They were stylish, and for a car that could cast a shadow on a battleship, fairly quick, with the 440 4-barrel and 727 combo hustling the huge brick along.
Unfortunately, there’s only one surefire way for people who are into collecting these rare Chryslers to guarantee that the value of their cars goes up, and that’s when they become rarer. One less 300 Hurst means that the values go up, and unfortunately for this particular car, it’s time was up. We don’t have any idea what did the damage to the C-body, but the impact must’ve been one for the record books. They aren’t indestructible, but the fuselage Chrysler full-sizes can take and dole out tons of abuse – ask any demolition derby guy that’s ran one. It appears that either the nose got clipped at high speed from the passenger side, or this was a multi-car accident that somehow involved a brick wall directly to the nose of the car. Whatever happened, the 300 Hurst is far beyond saving, for sure. Which is sad, considering that this was a 9,515-mile collector car prior to the accident.
(Courtesy: The Brougham Society)
Mark at Graveyard carz could actually fix that but would the cost be worth it?
I wonder what happened..
Copart is the horniest website for car guys and girls, bar none. After the floods on the East Coast I trolled that site and damn near cried seeing every kind of collector car/Rodney/muscle car soaked and filled with sand. And that’s just a part of it. And I too would love to know the stories behind some of these wrecks, and this big Mopar is still a treasure of parts, peel away the right front suspension and I’ll bet that there’s not even a scratch on the valve cover.
The only factory built 300H convertible came up for sale a couple of weeks ago. Price was $150,000.
A 300H goes from about $10,000 for a rough one up to about $29,000 for a fully restored one. They are rare but they are not valuable.
Bryan, where did you hear about a dealer built 426 Hemi convertible? AFAIK, that is nothing more than an Urban Legend. Just like the supposed 300H that a dealer did a Hemi swap for the factory 440.
It’s Mopar lore, like about every other legend you hear from that corner of the show field. Problem is, every once in a blue moon the real deal shows up, like the 440-6 Fury GT that I’m aware of.
hey i’ll add to the folklore here…last nite at our local carshow some guy showed up with a 1965 fullsize mopar wagon that had a 1966 dealer installed hemi in it…what a barn find!!!!
The 440-6 engine was a factory option on the 1970 Sport Fury GT. There are a handful of them. That’s a fact, not myth or lore.
http://www.lov2xlr8.no/brochures/mopar/70fury/70fury.html
Looking at those photos, there isn’t many useable parts on that car left. The trunk lid looks OK, some of the glass, couple of wheels, most of the interior. Car is probably worth about a $1000 as it sits.
Sad, but a least it died with it’s boots on instead of rotting away in someone’s back yard.
One thing good that might come out of this wreck is that someone who is trying to restore theirs can get a ton of one off parts in fantastic shape. Look at that intereior, one good quarter and the model only trunk and spoiler.
Interior looks good..trunk lid,and rear bumper..and all the million pieces you need to restore one of these giants.I would guess a Newport could need alot of these parts :).
1970 300H Trivia: The 1970 300H came standard with the largest tires of any Muscle Car . . .Goodyear Polyglas H70x15 Raised White Letter. It is also the only car made that doesn’t use a key to open the trunk due to the special fiberglass trunk lid. To open the trunk, there’s a remote release inside the glove box.
One other thing I noticed was how well the interior does look after such a big hit. No tweaked steering wheel so they were obviously were wearing their seat belt. I wouldn’t be surprised if they walked away. The car really took all the punishment.
Has that battery been discharged? Every car show I’ve been to since the early 80’s makes them have a disconnect switch or be disconnected. Otherwise it’ll catch on fire!
If you want to put it together, here are some parts
http://newjersey.craigslist.org/cto/5092763403.html