1961 Chrysler 383

[StevenGuthmiller]

 Steve you said that some of the JoHan '62 - '65 300s could be built as letter cars. Do you or anyone else out there know exactly which ones?

As far as I can tell Scott, the Johan '62 was the only letter car Johan did.

I know the '64 is a non letter car, & I'm pretty sure the '63 is the same.

 

Steve

 

 

[MrObsessive]

What?

Bill, I thought you were gonna take a break from fins and chrome for awhile after finishing the Impala...

But, hey, what better way to jump back into the flames from the frying pan than contemplating a project like this!

I didn't see it mentioned in the thread so far, but the engine in the 300-G was a 413, not a 383. Not that it matters much since they were externally identical, I think. Perhaps a serious Mopar Motorhead can verify or clarify this for the record.

What is definitely worth noting if you're doing a high-effort build, is that the 300-G (and '60 300-F) were on the longer 126" wheelbase of the New Yorker versus the 122" Windsor/Newport wheelbase. The problem is Johan made their '60 and '61 New Yorkers to match the 122" wheelbase, probably to allow them to use the same basic pattern for the short-wheelbase '60 Desoto Adventurer and the Chrysler. I think one of the reasons the AAM resin kits command such big bucks is that this discrepancy was corrected for their model.

I'm pretty sure the added length is all in front of the cowl, so that the fenders and hood need to be four scale inches longer.

It's also worth noting that the '62 300-H and non-letter 300 were on the 122" wheelbase, so that Johan kit is correct in that respect.

 

John, indeed I am taking a bit of a break from the '50's! What with my current BMW build, and the Green Hornet to follow, when I get back to the '50's high up on the totem pole will be that '58 Plymouth!

I like to plan out builds several models in advance, and this Chrysler is definitely in my sights! Funny you mentioned about the wheelbase issue.............I was groking the body just before I needed to take a nap to rest my eyes, and I thought is seemed a bit "short" to me.

Soooooo........after I got up I decided to take a closer look, and get some measurements of what we have.

Here's the future "victim" of what will be some plastic surgery by me.........

When it comes time to start this one, first order of business will be to cut the front clip away at the leading edge of the doors, and lengthen the fenders and hood. 

It appears to me that the extra length was indeed in this area.

I could leave it as is, but one thing that made the 300's nice is that they had a "presence" and I'm quite sure that had a lot to do with how they sat on the road due to the longer wheelbase.

Something that many modern cars today could benefit from with their too short and too close to the front door wheelbases.

I dug out my old school architect's dividers and did some checking of the wheelbase from approximately centerline to centerline of the wheels.

The '60-'61 Desoto's wheelbase in the 1:1 world was 122" as you mentioned. Using some quick and dirty math (.04 x 122") this works out to 4 and 57/64's of an inch. This would equal out to 122" which as I thought, this model's wheelbase is working out to.

Yup........I'd need to "stretch" the wheelbase about another 4 scale inches (about 1/8") to get to 5" on my scale, or 126" in the real world to make the body accurate.

I don't know at this point if this one will have opening doors and all that stuff. Since I'll have to cut the body at the leading edge of the doors to stretch everything out, I may attempt that. I first would need to get a firewall in place to give the body some strength and rigidity through all of the cutting.

Hmmm.............I'll have my work cut out for me when the time comes! But heck, since I did a COMPLETE roof swap on that '59 Chevy among other things, this should be a walk in the park! 

[ChrisBcritter]

Looking forward to seeing more of this one, Bill! That's some thick plastic you'll be cutting through. Maybe you could save some trouble by taking a '62 300 and cutting the front clip off at the door jambs, then cutting the '61 clip off 1/8" ahead of the door jambs, and combining the two? That way you get the correct length, the correct grille, plus the opening hood.

(I solved the wheelbase problem on my '60 the easy way by downgrading it to a Windsor.)

[MrObsessive]

Looking forward to seeing more of this one, Bill! That's some thick plastic you'll be cutting through. Maybe you could save some trouble by taking a '62 300 and cutting the front clip off at the door jambs, then cutting the '61 clip off 1/8" ahead of the door jambs, and combining the two? That way you get the correct length, the correct grille, plus the opening hood.

(I solved the wheelbase problem on my '60 the easy way by downgrading it to a Windsor.)

That's a thought Chris! I'd hate to cut up a pristine kit though. The '62's are out there in a lot more numerous numbers than the '61's as that '62 was reissued under the USA Oldies series from Johan. I'll just keep my eyes open for a junker kit/body, and go from there. As far as a frame.......it looks like I'll have to cobble together several sources. Either stretch and rework the frame out of AMT's '68-'69 Mopars, or rework the chassis out of the '57 Chrysler 300C.

I'm leaning more towards the latter even though the '57 car has a separate body on frame construction. I can rework and massage the frame more into a unibody one-------it'll be some work involved, but at least I'll have the correct wheelbase as that one does scale out to 126". Also, what I would make out of a front subframe with the '57 car would be more accurate than what I could do with the late '60's frame/chassis.

Lots of work either which way, but I won't ever count on there being a mainstream kit of this car.

 

[CometMan]

Oh Ok! I've got a number of those kits lying around!

BTW, here's what got me very interested in tackling this car someday. I tune into Jay Leno's Garage from time to time, and got a message on my phone recently that this particular car was being featured. I watched it and saved the video for reference that car was soooooo sharp!

Also from what my Dad had told me years ago, this was a car he wanted BADLY when it was new as he was a solid Mopar man through and through. The car was too expensive for him at the time as my Mom was pregnant with me, and he was the only one working------the car cost as much as he made in a whole year back then.

Bill, there was an identical car to that in the Hemmings Motor News last month! Could be yours if you happen to have an extra $89k burning a hole in your pocket!!

[Junkman]

The crossover ram induction was strangely enough included as a custom option in the Jo-Han '68 Chrysler.
I need to check to confirm, but I should have a few spare ones.

I should also have quite a few leftover Jo-Han RBs with the A488. Which exhaust manifilds did the 300C have?
I should have those too.

Mind you, Jo-Han engines have a huge hole for the front axle, because Jo-Han. But fixing that shouldn't be a problem.

Edited January 2, 2017 by Junkman

[keyser]

Bill, AAM did a 60 300 HT that I have. I missed Don's 61 300 If using the casting would help, I'm happy to loan it. I'd truly love a 61, especially a convertible, if any caster would do it. The interior in Art's 300 is nice, so LMK. If nothing else, I'll try to dig it out and post pics for you and Steve to look at. Exner's peak other than the Imperials. Virgil had really great recreational chemicals back then

Edited January 4, 2017 by keyser

[gtx6970]

Bill, AAM did a 60 300 HT that I have. I missed Don's 61 300 If using the casting would help, I'm happy to loan it. I'd truly love a 61, especially a convertible, if any caster would do it. The interior in Art's 300 is nice, so LMK. If nothing else, I'll try to dig it out and post pics for you and Steve to look at. Exner's peak other than the Imperials. Virgil had really great recreational chemicals back then

I'd  sure like to see it.

I have a Johan 61 New Yorker that the roof was cut off before I got it. My plans are to turn it into a 61 300 convertible combining it with a Johan 62 300 hardtop that I got simply to use as parts. I also picked up an original issue 62 300 interior tub and seats .  The 1961 Chrysler 300 is my holy grail of 1/1 cars

I actually was playing around today with making foil impressions off the 62 kits 300 circular side emblems