Ready to recite your ABCs?
The Pick of the Day is a 1958 Chrysler 300D listed for sale on ClassicCars.com by a private seller in Prescott, Arizona. (Click the link to view the listing)
“Always garaged, rust-free, and run weekly,” the listing states. “Two-door hardtop with a gorgeous white and pearlescent highlight repaint.”
This 300 comes from what Chrysler called its “Letter Series” and was sold as a personal luxury car beginning in model year 1955 with a car that people retroactively consider the 300A. Following that car were the 300B, 300C, and 300D, and so on. Eventually Chrysler made its way all the way to the letter L in 1965. The naming convention was brought back much later in 1999 on the 300M model but didn’t stick around.
The seller has owned this car since 2014 and had performed some upgrades to the interior such as adding a new dash and headliner. The wheel covers have also been refinished, and the wide whitewall tires are recent. This was a high-option car when new and came with an original dealer-installed Cool Air A/C system and an Electro-Touch AM radio, although neither is currently functioning per the listing.
There were a total of 809 300D units produced in 1958, 618 of which were hardtops such as this one, and 191 were convertibles. Design language came from Chrysler Chief Engineer Virgil Exner who started his career with General Motors. He oversaw Pontiac styling before the age of 30, and he was eventually hired by Chrysler in the Advanced Styling Group beginning in 1949.
Power under the hood comes from a FirePower 392cid V8 that is equipped with dual four-barrel carburetors and is mated to a push-button TorqueFlite A488 three-speed automatic transmission. The seller states, “Motor tuned and runs strong.” The odometer reads 22,055 but the seller doesn’t indicate whether that is believed original. Regardless, the car looks incredibly well-preserved.
Maybe Stellantis should consider reviving the Letter Series one more time and making its way all the way to the letter Z at some point. Considering they left off with M, there are 13 letters remaining (exactly half the alphabet). If they started in 2025, they could finish in model year 2037!
The seller is asking $45,000 for this pearl white hardtop.
To view this listing on ClassicCars.com, see Pick of the Day.
Thanks for reading! Allow me to clarify one piece of this – the “Letter Series” as it were did not begin with the letter “A.” The 1955 Chrysler C-300 did not go by that name. The alphabetic sequence, officially, started the following year with B. And incidentally (as I’ve now learned), it skipped the letter “I.” Naming conventions are always fun! This car is a great ride for the asking price, don’t you agree?
In 1963 my dad bought a used 1958 300D convertible in dark blue for the new family car. One Sunday he asked me to take a ride with him. We were living in southern R.I. and US 1 was nearby and the area was very rural then. Dad took up on US 1 and told me he wanted to see how fast the car was. He had me lean over so I could call out our speed. It wasn’t long before we 100 mph. He immediately backed and turned us toward home. He looked a little shaken up. Buy the end of the week the Chrysler was gone and in its place was a very white new 1963 Fairlane 500 2 door sedan with a 6 cylinder. Nothing was ever said about the change. Too much car?
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