“America’s Most Powerful Production Car” – Vintage Motor Life Review: 1955 Chrysler C-300

– Posted on March 23, 2025

In 1955, around the Corvette got its first V-8 and Ford’s two-seat Thunderbird first took flight, Chrysler introduced the first of its mighty “Letter Cars”: the formidable Chrysler C-300, boasting the most powerful production engine in the United States — and one of the most powerful then offered in the entire world. Ken Fermoyle got a look at an early prototype of the C-300 in early 1955 and offered his impressions in the May 1955 Motor Life.

Cover of 1955 Chrysler C-300 brochure with an illustration of a white car against the large text "The Chrysler 300" on a red background

Cover of the first Chrysler 300 brochure, published in February 1955 / Old Car Manuals Brochure Project

Seen today, the 1955 Chrysler C-300 is unquestionably a handsome car — perhaps the handsomest of stylist Virgil Exner’s new “Forward Look” line — but it may be hard for a modern observer to grasp how this big hardtop could have a contemporary impact rivaling that of the more obviously sporting Ford Thunderbird and Chevrolet Corvette. The answer was suggested by the model designation, which referred to the engine’s gross output: Three hundred horsepower, a threshold no American production car had exceeded since the rare Duesenberg Model SJ of the 1930s. In 1955, a V-8 Corvette had a mere 195 gross horsepower, an automatic Ford Thunderbird 198 hp, and a Cadillac Eldorado 270. The power output of the C-300 was in the same lofty realm as a Ferrari 375 America — SAE gross, it should be said, and thus a little generous compared to modern SAE or DIN net ratings (where it would probably rate something like 250 hp), but still a number to conjure with in the mid-1950s — in a large, luxuriously appointed sedan.

Front 3q view of a Tango Red 1955 Chrysler C-300

1955 Chrysler C-300 with Kelsey-Hayes wire wheels / Pawel Litwinki — RM Sotheby’s

Inevitably, some people will try to insist that the C-300 was “the first muscle car,” which always makes me roll my eyes a little. A muscular car, yes, but this was no big-engined midsize: The C-300 was a full-size luxury car with a shipping weight of over 4,000 lb, stretching about a foot and a half longer than a late ’60s Plymouth GTX.

Motor Life editor Ken Fermoyle began his review with a quick summation

A good looking car with sports car characteristics — and a back seat — that’s the Chrysler 300, an automobile that won’t have to take the back seat for anything on the road!

In a more prosaic sense, the C-300 was a two-door Chrysler New Yorker hardtop distinguished with a careful mixing and matching of different decorative elements from the Chrysler and Imperial lines, pepped up with a heavy-duty suspension and a hopped-up version of the 331 cu. in. (5,425 cc) Chrysler FirePower V-8.

Notwithstanding Chrysler general sales manager E.M. Braden’s remarks about “motor sports enthusiasts who have been asking Chrysler to build an automobile with many sports car characteristics,” the C-300 was primarily the brainchild of Chrysler Division chief engineer Bob Rodger, who first proposed the idea in August 1954. Since Chrysler had introduced the potent FirePower Hemi V-8 in 1951, the engine had seen some racing use — Briggs Cunningham had used Chrysler V-8s in his Le Mans cars, Chrysler had competed in the Carrera Panamericana, and there had been an unsuccessful but educational Indy 500 effort — but the company didn’t offer any performance models per se, and Chrysler’s 1949 to 1954 styling hadn’t exactly been what you’d call sporty or glamorous. The division’s image desperately needed a shot in the arm, and the C-300 was an inexpensive way to give it one.

Left side view of a Platinum White 1955 Chrysler C-300

The 1955 C-300 was 218.6 inches long on a 126-inch wheelbase / Motorcar Studios – RM Sotheby’s

Because it wasn’t even conceived until the 1955 models were already in pilot production, the C-300 could not be an elaborate package: Even a proposed horizontal grille was vetoed because there was just no money for new tooling. Stylist Cliff Voss, head of the Chrysler-Imperial studio, suggested instead using the split grille from the 1955 Imperial. (The hand-built prototype, which was also white, used the Imperial front bumper as well, but the lighter Chrysler bumper was substituted in production.) At Virgil Exner’s insistence, exterior trim was kept to a minimum, and outside mirrors and backup lights were not offered even as options, lest they clutter up the car’s tastefully de-chromed flanks.

Front view of a Platinum White 1955 Chrysler C-300

1955 Chrysler C-300 borrowed the Imperial’s grille / Motorcar Studios – RM Sotheby’s

The C-300 was a Chrysler of a different era than the corporation’s more familiar ’60s products: It’s body-on-frame, with no unit construction, pushbutton transmission controls (there was a selector lever in the right side of the dash), or Torsion-Aire suspension. Fermoyle’s comment about the suspension being “harder than normal for a Chrysler” was a polite understatement: The C-300 used the heavy-duty “export” springs specified for the Carrera Panamericana competition cars, which raised the spring rates for the front coils from 480 to 800 lb/inch and the rear leaf springs from 90 to 160 lb/inch, accompanied suitably firm shocks and Goodyear Super Cushion high-speed tires. Even Chrysler said it rode like a truck.

Instrument panel of a 1955 Chrysler C-300 photographed through the steering wheel hub

Except for the speedometer, the C-300 dashboard was from the Imperial — the small chrome lever to the right of the auxiliary gauges controls the PowerFlite transmission / Motorcar Studios – RM Sotheby’s

150 mph speedometer in a 1955 Chrysler C-300

The 150 mph speedometer was unique to the C-300, which could have a top speed of up to 140 mph with the right axle ratio / Pawel Litwinki — RM Sotheby’s

Fermoyle, who drove the C-300 prototype in January 1955, didn’t have the opportunity to run a full road test, but he remarked:

On acceleration, the power surge was so smooth it was hard to realize the car was getting from 0 to 60 in the neighborhood of 10 seconds! Since this wasn’t a full-scale road test, we weren’t using the elaborate testing equipment normally attached to check performance. Burt Bouwkamp, resident engineer at the Jefferson plant, was with us and reported that 0–60 times of about 10.5 seconds had been turned in at the Chelsea Proving Grounds in accurate fifth-wheel checks. This doesn’t seem out of line since the car’s power-to-weight ratio is about 11 to one! Acceleration up to 30 mph is roughly comparable to that of standard Chryslers; from there on it really moves! Performance in the middle and upper speed ranges is particularly impressive.

Motor Trend eventually tested a C-300 and found it capable of 0 to 60 mph in 10.0 seconds, the standing quarter mile in 17.6 seconds at 82 mph, and a top speed of 128.6 mph; by comparison, their 250 hp Chrysler New Yorker Deluxe test car needed 10.8 seconds to reach 60 mph and 18.0 seconds to run the quarter mile, with a top speed of 116 mph. Both cars had the two-speed PowerFlite automatic, which was the only transmission available on the C-300.

Incidentally, Chrysler fans may recognize the name of Burt Bouwkamp, who was resident engineer at the Chrysler Jefferson plant until 1960. In the ’60s, Bouwkamp became a product planning manager and then Dodge chief engineer from 1964 to 1968, developing the first two generations of the Dodge Charger.

In a car like the C-300, top speed (and to some extent acceleration) was largely a function of gearing. The 1955 car came standard with the same 3.36 axle ratio used on the New Yorker, with options up to 4.10. By 1956, there would be 12 axle ratio options, most of them for the benefit of racers. The optional 3.07 axle would allow a top speed of well over 130 mph, at some cost in initial acceleration.

High rear 3q view of a Tango Red 1955 Chrysler C-300 on the move

1955 Chrysler C-300 / Pawel Litwinki — RM Sotheby’s

Fermoyle found that the extra-firm suspension paid off in cornering:

The car was rock-steady all the time and there was no wander or feeling of instability at any speed. It gobbled up sweeping curves with no strain and the full-time power steering aimed the car right where it was pointed. … [During these tests] I found the only flaw in the 300. The car is leather-upholstered and has bench seats, making it rough to stay anchored in tight turns. On hard left turns the driver tends to slide to the right and it’s difficult to retain control of the car. Several times I wound up sitting almost in Bouwkamp’s lap over on the passenger’s side! Safety belts would be a must for hard driving. Bucket front seats would be a big improvement. Maybe they will be offered as optional items.

Aside from that, the car lived up to its billing extremely well. There was a minimum of heel-over and no wheel-hop or skip. The parking lot was surfaced with asphalt and fine gravel which caused the rear end to slide more than it would on concrete; even so, the car never gave you that panicky out-of-control feeling. Front end dive during hard braking was practically nil and there was no apparent fade, hut the car did have a tendency to pull to the left slightly in fast stops.

While they didn’t offer any lateral support, the C-300 bench seats, upholstered in buff leather, were attractive and luxurious, suiting the car’s rather hefty price tag.

Front seat and dashboard of a 1955 Chrysler C-300 with tan leather seats

Buff leather seats were standard on the C-300 / Motorcar Studios – RM Sotheby’s

Although the C-300 was quite expensive for 1955, listing for $4,055.25 at launch, it was not what we would consider a well-equipped car. You paid extra for a heater ($92), power steering ($113), radio ($128), power windows ($102), and a power seat ($70). (Air conditioning was not available with the hot engine, although it would be optional on the 300-B in 1956.)

Back seat of a 1955 Chrysler C-300 with tan leather upholstery

There was plenty of space in back, but without seat belts, aggressive driving might make passengers think they were trapped in a cocktail shaker / Motorcar Studios – RM Sotheby’s

By far the most expensive factory option was Kelsey-Hayes wire wheels with simulated knock-off hubs. Chrysler had bought a stock of these for the Imperial, where they hadn’t sold as well as expected, and they’d found their way onto the Carrera Panamericana cars because they improved brake cooling. They listed for a painful $617.60 on the C-300 (for a set of five), and Chrysler sales literature warned that supplies were limited, but it’s rare to see a C-300 without them today. Standard fit was a set of modified Imperial wheel covers.

Kelsey-Hayes wire wheel and wide whitewall tire on the left front of a Tango Red 1955 Chrysler C-300

1955 Chrysler C-300 with optional Kelsey-Hayes wire wheels / Pawel Litwinki — RM Sotheby’s

Fermoyle’s comments about the engine’s “full-race cam” were not an exaggeration: Cunningham’s 1954 Le Mans racers had used the same or almost the same camshaft. With valve durations of 280 degrees intake and 270 degrees exhaust, the C-300 engine wasn’t as racy as the hotter muscle car V-8s of a decade or so later. However, with mechanical lifters and 60 degrees of overlap, the camshaft and valve gear gave the FirePower engine a clattery, somewhat lumpy idle, immediately signaling to the unwary that this was no mere New Yorker. The dual Carter WCFB carburetors probably contributed about as much as the camshaft to the engine’s peakiness — this was a lot of carburetion for a 5.4-liter engine. Surprisingly, compression ratio was a modest 8.5 to 1 (although premium fuel was still required), and the engine still used 6-volt electrics.

Chrysler FirePower engine under the hood of a Tango Red 1955 Chrysler C-300

1955 Chrysler FirePower engine with dual four-barrels / Pawel Litwinki — RM Sotheby’s

Aside from its 4,200+ lb curb weight, the main reason the C-300 wasn’t even faster was probably the PowerFlite transmission. Fermoyle noted that this had been beefed up, with a higher-stall torque converter, but the C-300 would probably have been significantly quicker with the later three-speed TorqueFlite, which wasn’t available until well into the 1956 model year. As it was, a C-300 driver might be outrun by less-powerful rivals like the Buick Century up to about 60 mph, after which it would leave most challengers for dead (although it was still not as quick as the less powerful but much lighter V-8 Corvette).

Still, Fermoyle found the C-300 a very impressive all-around performer:

All in all, it looks like Chrysler has done a remarkable job with the 300. The car combines sports car-like performance with excellent roadability, clean attractive lines, comfort and near-family sedan roominess, quite an engineering achievement. It adds up to an attractive automotive package.

Clean rear section with no backup lights; note the unusual exhaust splitters below the bumper / Pawel Litwinki — RM Sotheby’s

Fermoyle correctly surmised that the new model also had considerable competition potential:

As a high speed touring car, the 300 will be hard to beat. It looks like a natural for stock car racing and the Mexican Road Race, where its stability and power should be tremendous assets. The car was slated to run during NASCAR’s Speed Week at Daytona in February, which means it will get a real baptism under fire. What it does there will give further indication of what we can expect from this newest—and most powerfull [sic]—product of Detroit ingenuity.

By the time this article was published, the C-300 had made an impressive showing at the Daytona Speed Week, where the big Chrysler was fastest in both the standing-start mile and flying mile; Warren Koechling won the latter with a two-way average speed of 127.58 mph. The Carrera Panamericana was canceled for 1955 due to safety concerns, but C-300s of Carl Kiekhaefer’s Mercury Outboard team dominated NASCAR and AAA stock car events throughout the year — and this in an era when stock car racers were still really stock (albeit with lots of factory support to address early teething pains like valve bounce and too-fragile universal joints). Kiekhaefer’s team remained a force to be reckoned with in 1956, with the subtly restyled, even more powerful Chrysler 300B, which boasted up to 355 gross horsepower from 354 cu. in. (5,787 cc). The C-300 and 300B may have been gentleman’s hot rods, but they were still definitely hot rods.

Front 3q view of a black 1955 Chrysler C-300

Although red and white were more common, the 1955 C-300 was also available in black / Midwest Car Exchange via ClassicCars.com

In the ’60s, cars like this were thoroughly overshadowed by smaller muscle cars with big engines, and the horsepower race made the output of the original C-300 seem ho-hum. By 1965, you could order a 300 hp Chevrolet Turbo-Fire 327 — only 4 cu. in. (71 cc) smaller than the old Chrysler FirePower engine — on any run-of-the-mill Chevelle or full-size Chevy for a modest $137.75, and it wasn’t even considered a particularly racy engine. Buyers of big luxury cars generally weren’t interested in a stiff ride or a loping idle, and Supercar fans had no interest in big luxury sedans.

Right rear fender of a 1955 Chrysler C-300 with "300" badge on the fuel filler

1955 Chrysler C-300 production eventually totaled 1,725 cars, up from the 1,000 units originally projected / Motorcar Studios – RM Sotheby’s

Today, however, high-performance sedans like this are quite common in the higher tax brackets. The C-300 may not have been a muscle car in the ’60s sense, but it foreshadowed later generations of high-end luxury sports sedans, like the BMW M760Li, Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG, or Bentley Continental GT: big, fast, and expensive, with stretch-out room and serious performance — iron fists in velvet gloves.