The Story Of My Car
The 1979 Chrysler 300 was for the most part a big flop. The car was supposed to be debuted at the Rose Bowl on New Years day, but Chrysler didn't have their act together and the car was not introduced, until mid-February, with little fanfare. Due to the fact that it was not built to the same standards as most of the early 300's, most 300 collectors believe that the 1979 is not a desirable year. Performance standings put the 1979 300 at about mid-pack for the 300's. All 1979 300's were built at the Windsor, Canada plant. Total production was only about 4,290 units, with an additional 700 plus units built for the Canadian market.
In 1979, the 300 was built on the Cordoba "B" body platform and utilized the special option equipment and trim. The Cordoba was ordered with the A74 special option 300 package, which included heavy-duty suspension with larger sway bars and shocks. Power was provided by the special package E58 High Performance 360 ci. engine. The E58 360 ci. engine produced around 195 HP (net) @ 4000 rpm, and was fueled by a Carter Thermo-quad four-barrel carburetor. The car's exhaust was relieved through full dual exhaust with converters. Standard in the 300 was the bullet proof Chrysler 727, 3-speed Torqueflite transmission, with a 2300-rpm stall non-lockup torque converter. The drive train was connected to a tough 9 1/4" rear-end with 3.23:1 sure-grip gears. The 300's stopping power came from the combination of heavy-duty power assist front disc and heavy-duty 11 1/2" rear drums. The 300's power was finally put to the ground by the beefy GR60-15 Goodyear OWL tires which were mounted on stamped aluminum road wheels. The 300 package wheels were decorated with special trim rings and 300 logo center caps. The only U.S. available exterior color was Spinnaker White, coded EW1; all Canadian models were also Spinaker White with the exception of 7 which were painted Chianti Red. All '79 300's had red interiors, which included; leather bucket seats, center console with shifter, engine turned dash, full instrumentation, and luxury power options throughout. Options included: "T-bar roof" (T-Tops), tilt steering with a leather wrapped wheel, assorted radios, power windows, power door locks, rear window defogger, power trunk release, power antenna and power moon-roof.
In February 1980, I purchased my '79 300 from a factory owned dealership in Niles, Michigan. The car was a factory demo and the dealer was having a lot of trouble selling it. The car was used as my family's primary mode of transportation. During the 1980's, I started finding articles written about the '79 300 and its special heritage. After, 7 hard years of use and environmental abuse, the body and paint were beginning to show some heavy wear and minor rust. So in 1987, with about 62k miles on the odometer, I started my first naïve and half-hearted attempt at a partial restoration of a car. I began the project by completely stripping the car of its exterior finish and interior items. I then proceeded to fix the rusted panels, and send the body off for a fresh re-coloring. While the car was out getting a new coat of PPG Deltron Spinnaker White paint, I had the bumpers and grille re-chromed and started collecting the 300's hard to find trim parts. When the body returned from the paint shop, I began the grueling task of re-assembling the car. In the late summer of '87, I finally thought that I had finished restoring my 300. But, by the time I had finished partial restoration it was too late, I had been bitten by the complete restoration bug and decided to complete the job by re-doing the under-body and engine compartment. The initial tear down of the under-body suspension, drive train, and gas tank, didn't take long to complete. But before I could finish what I had just started the 300 project was put on hold. The 300 restoration was put on hold for 3 years while my son and I attempted the GREAT FATHER and SON bonding project. After we finally finished restoring a really rough 1972 Barracuda, the 300 project was once again put on hold. This time was due to my lack of ambition, interest, and money, so the car sat for another 6 years until I decided it was time to finish what I had originally set out to accomplish 9 long years ago.
During the dwell time in the 300's restoration I continued to accumulate, as I could find and afford them, the hard to find NOS parts. One of the biggest problems in finding good new or used parts was that some of the parts were unique only to the '79 300, and the rare spares weren't produced in large quantities. The shortage of spare parts, is partially due I think, to the fact that the Chrysler Corporation was in bad financial shape during the late 1970's.
So in 1996, I finally became serious about finishing the car. I completely sand blasted and repainted the underside and engine compartment. I freshened the E58 power plant and drive train. I found good NOS wheels and trim, and was able to tracked down 5 NOS tires (new spare tires out of trunks). The car was re-painted 9 years earlier so all I had to do was freshen up the old paint, apply the new red and blue accent stripes, and install the new and very expensive NOS grille.
To this day I still try to track down NOS parts at swap meets and other MOPAR events but most everything has long since disappeared. Used parts can still be found, as many of the cars are being parted out or junked, but most of these are worn out or badly corroded.
I receive a lot of comments on the car at shows from people who never knew that Chrysler made a '79 300. To be entirely honest, I do not show the car much because it is not a muscle car and usually does not draw much attention or appreciation. Despite the fact that according to one car magazine road test, the 1979 300 proved to be in the running with the fastest cars amongst the company of cars such as the 1979 Camaro, Corvette, and Firebird. During the last few years the car has won a few trophies, including two 1st Place 2000, 2001 Chrysler Classics, 2nd Place 2000 Mopar Nats @ Columbus, Ohio and featured in Mopar Muscle Magazine June 2001 issue. What I enjoy most though, is talking to people about the '79 300's. On occasion I will run into someone who has previously owned a '79 300, and many ex-owners say that they miss their cars and they really enjoyed driving them. I know the whereabouts of about 5 other 79 300's in the Cincinnati area.
The 1979 300 is distinctive in styling and was a great road car for its time. It is the last of the "B" body Chryslers. The 1979 300 is also the last rear wheel drive V-8 300. Since the introduction of the new 1999 Chrysler 300 we have seen a growing interest in the 1979. The prices have begun to move from $2,000 to $3,000, even up to $7,000 or higher for a nice car. I hope the trend continues, though at this point, I cannot foresee myself selling my 1979 Chrysler 300 anytime soon.
References: Dale Burkhardt, John Veatch from their 1979 Chrysler 300 Handbook.