Chrysler jumped on the performance bandwagon in 1955 with its 300-horsepower C-300, boosting Hemi displacement and power the following year, resulting in ’55 – ‘56 CHRYSLER 300 LUXURY SUPERCARS.
Lots of people will spend time arguing what the first Musclecar was. The fact is that manufacturers – from the beginning of the automobile – have always wanted to tout performance as a selling point. Certainly, in each decade, manufacturers built performance cars, sometimes as thinly veiled racecars sold to the public, other times highly expensive cars that had to have outstanding performance as part of their attraction.
But what most of us are talking about when we talk Musclecar is an American production car that was affordable and built and marketed specifically as a performance model. The popular Musclecar formula was simple: A midsize car with a large displacement, high horsepower engine. Some, however, were larger, fullsize cars.
Surprisingly, Pontiac’s GTO is always touted as the first”, but frankly the GTO just took advantage of an expanding market of young people. Pontiac’s image as a performance car maker goes back to 1956 with their “extra horsepower” V-8. Manufacturers like Pontiac were always offering special higher output engines that you could buy for your regular car.
When we talk Musclecar, we should talk about the manufacturer who didn’t just offer a special high horsepower engine attached to their regular offerings, but a manufacturer who sold the whole package and marketed it as such – like the popular Pontiac GTO. And the maker that broke the ice was Chrysler with the ’55 – ‘56 CHRYSLER 300 LUXURY SUPERCARS.
In 1955, Chrysler stunned the marketplace with the C-300, with “300” standing for the car’s 300 HP Hemi, when brands were touting 250 HP as a big deal! But it wasn’t just an engine in a regular Chrysler, it was the whole package – as special body, heavy duty suspension, performance brakes, even removing the outside rear view mirrors to reduce drag!
Chrysler’s letter-series entry in the 1955 horsepower wars, weighing in at more than 4,500 pounds, could accelerate to 60 mph in the 9s and top out at 130 mph. In NASCAR competition, Kiekhaefer’s legendary Chrysler C-300s were the cars to beat. Chrysler’s Hemi, one of the most successful engines in American racing history, was unstoppable on super speedways and drag strips in the 1960s-1970s, and later.
While ’55 – ‘56 CHRYSLER 300 LUXURY SUPERCARS were heavy cars, they offered true Supercar/Musclecar performance. A 331-cubic-inch Hemi with two four-barrel carburetors, solid lifter camshaft and valve train, beefed suspension and dual low-restriction exhaust system powered the ‘55 C-300. A stock C-300 could go to 60 mph from a standing start in under-ten-seconds flat and cover the quarter-mile in the mid-17s at over 80 mph. A prepared C-300 clocked almost 128 mph in Flying Mile competition in 1955 and won the prestigious Tom McCahill trophy in the NASCAR Unlimited Class!
In 1956 Chrysler upped its game and the 300B was available with 340 or 355 horsepower, 354-cubic-inch Hemis. Fitted with the optional 355 horsepower engine, a 300B ran almost 140 mph in the Flying Mile. It was the first American car to deliver one-horsepower-per-cubic-inch (low-volume 355 horsepower option), a year before Chevrolet’s iconic fuel-injected 283-cubic-inch, 283 horsepower engine.
Check out the ’55 – ‘56 CHRYSLER 300 LUXURY SUPERCARS, details and sales brochures @ Over-Drive magazine, https://over-drive-magazine.com/category/fact-sheets/fs-chrysler/
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