The classic proportions are possible because the 300C uses a classic drivetrain configuration: a Hemi V-8 up front powering the rear wheels (any similarity to the original '55 Chrysler 300 is purely intentional). In this case, it's the new 5.7L Hemi introduced in the Dodge Ram pickup, but with an aluminum block to go along with its aluminum heads. Chrysler isn't talking about output for the car version of the Hemi, but we're hearing that 380 hp is in the ballpark. Behind the Hemi is an electronically controlled five-speed automatic from the Mercedes parts warehouse feeding a limited-slip differential. The suspension uses short and long arms up front and a five-bar multi-link system in the back, but to the great disappointment of hard-core Mopar enthusiasts, no torsion bars.
From every angle, the 300C looks the way a big, confident American sedan should look. That grille kinda/sorta looks like the '57 300C's, the windshield isn't raked back like a rocket ship, and the greenhouse is squat over the car's big shoulders and 20-inch wheels. If the production version comes out this bold, it will be the best-looking Chrysler sedan since ... well, ever. The interior carries over the themes of the outside with a restrained use of wood trim and chrome rings around the vintage-looking instrumentation.
Chrysler's new rear-drive platform should produce a host of new vehicles including, if we're very lucky, a new Dodge Charger. Maybe the musclecar isn't dead after all.
T-Bird Es Muerto@bc:
Ford has announced that it will conclude production of the revived two-passenger Thunderbird after the 2005 or 2006 model year. The retro-styled, $35,000-plus T-Bird was supposed to sell in quantities of about 25,000 a year, but sales have been disappointing. During 2002, just 19,085 were sold, and through the first three months of 2003, just 4,065 had been put under buyers' butts.
The current T-Bird isn't a bad car. But as with the very first T-Birds back in 1955, Ford has discovered that there just isn't much of a market for a two-passenger luxury convertible. Now that it has relearned its lesson, will Ford, as it did in 1958 with great success, bring out a four-passenger T-Bird to succeed this two-seater?
Small Cars in a Big Museum
You know you're old when the toys of your youth wind up in museums. And now Mattel's Hot Wheels toy cars are on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California. If you're old enough to remember when Hot Wheels first came out in 1968, you should feel very, very old right now. If you're so young that you've never lived in a world without Hot Wheels-screw you!
The Petersen Automotive Museum is commemorating Hot Wheels' 35th with what it calls the Hot Wheels Hall of Fame exhibit that runs through September 2003. Thousands of the small cars are on display, along with such full-size Hot Wheels icons as Don Prudhomme's legendary Funny Car and the amazing Dodge Deora pickup that was built by Detroit's Alexander Brothers in the '60s (Former CC Art Director Thomas Voehringer has a great Web site about the Deora up at members.aol.com/thomasv12/private/deora/deora.html if you can survive typing in all those slashes).
Also on display is what's believed to be the most expensive Hot Wheels car of all time, the "Beach Bomb" VW minibus seen here. This prototype - with the surfboards coming out of the back window-differs from the more common production Bomb that had the boards in pockets along the sides of the vehicle. A very few of these prototypes snuck out of Mattel in 1969, and this one was purchased for an astounding $70,000. That's about $69,999 more than it would have cost new.
Information on Hot Wheels is available at www.hotwheels.com and the Petersen site is at www.petersen.org.