History 62 Chrysler 300 Factory Roll Bar? ...Can't Be

The "H" on the trunk looks like it's been there a long time. The VIN says it is a non H though. Here are a couple more shots.

 

Looks to me like a creative tweak by one of the first owners. Second and third owners wouldn't likely upholster the bar to match. Definitely aftermarket belts and anchors. Adding the H was just a way to show off. Oldest trick....

 

also the fact you have a bench seat is for non-H cars, all the H cars were 4 seaters, bucket (more like single seat) seats front and back, center console running from dashboard to rear seats...
basically you could order a "H" specs car for a fraction of an "H" car...killed the letter cars...

 

The "H" emblem on this car has been mounted in the wrong location. On a true letter car, it would be mounted with the bottom of the H being even with the bottom of the 300 digits.

 

Pont A Mousson trans was only mounted on the 60 300 F and on the Facel Vega cars. It was very expensive and many mods were required to be installed in the car. Less than 10 F were so equipped. No 4 speed was avaible in 62.

 

The New Jersey State Police ran Chrysler 300's on the NJ Turnpike but I can't remember what years that was done - late '50s early '60s

 

Slick find no matter how it shakes out...
Corncobcoupe, Wow, what a ride!

 

please tell me it still has the dual quad 413. money shot would be even better

 

A neighbor had a 300H, 413, dual fours, Torqueflite, one of under 700 built, apparently.
A local town cop had a '62 Dart 2-door with a 413 and 3 speed floor shifter. Not many guys could get away from him!

 

Adding more semi-useless info, my dad bought a new '64 Newport 4dr sedan, bench seat, 361 with floor shifted 3 spd. At the time, my brother thought he was the next Jim Clark and did many double-clutch downshifts into the non-synchro first. As a result, the dealer did two tranny rebuilds on warranty. Dad didn't keep it, got a '68 Newport, 383 torqueflite.

 

Any chance this car could have been a pace car at a local track? Might explain the safety equipment if indeed the bar and belts are aftermarket. I wasn't even born in '62 so I don't know if they even had pace cars back then , so it's just a thought. I do agree with the "how many people back then had the ability to bend 2x4 tube" comment, that is definitely unique (in my opinion).


Who can afford to modify a top line car like that immediately after purchase? I'm thinking pace car or factory show car (assuming the story that the mods were done in the first year are correct).

 

I don't know a damn thing about these cars, but......

 

Has anyone seen 3 speed manual behind a 413 twin carb.

Anyone in Yuma remember hearing about a suicide by this Varner Motors rep?

I ordered the car card from Chrysler historical, any help decoding the card and fender tag would be much appreciated as well.

Thanks[/QUOTE]

No photos, but back in the day there was a white 1962 Dodge 2-door post with a factory 413, twin 4 bbls, and three-speed column shift in my home town . It went thru a few owners, all leaving the car as is. Word "on the street" was it was fast enough but no match for a 409. For all I know it's still around the Syracuse, NY area. Maybe in a garage under decades aof junk and dust.

 

Your green 300 is my all-time favorite '62 Chrysler. I'm not sure the factory was 100% consistent on how they were badged though, I've seen them both ways. I also did a quick internet search and came up with a few examples of each.

 

62.s never had a colum manual shift no room all on the floor

 

Im not 100% but im sure not many H cars were made. Is there not a chance the hole drilled to mount the H could have been done by hand.

If so Im sure the guys putting the H on put it in different locations.

I know of some options that are placed in diff. locations and vary a little.

Im not saying that car is or ever was a pace car. But maybe it was some kind of promotion car and it was fitted with a rollbar at the factory.

I do no know much about mopar stuff. But i have seen enuff 50's and 60's cars to know that the factory and dealers installed odd stuff and not all of it was exactly the same.

All in all. Thats a sweet ass car. I would love to own it. Good find.

If you get any FACTS on it let us know. We could all use more knowledge.

 

As was stated, back when the factories were still semi involved in racing, lots of things happened from the factory that went undocumented in production numbers. The right people could get anything they wanted. Black Widows, Thunderbolts, Marlins, special interior treatments, Police packages, all kinds of stuff. Not all the special cars were done by people like Yenko or Shelby. Quite a bit snuck out from the performance or design departments when management was looking the other way. Some stuff was in the trunk and installed after the car was delivered to dealers to get around the rules. My last 68 Camaro came from the factory with a 396, four speed, cheap interior with no console, radio delete, no firewall insulation or mats under the rug, etc. No way you could option a camaro that way, but they did it for the right person. Look what Chrysler did for Jimmy Addison when he was running the Silver Bullet. Hell, my 93 Nissan pickup had a blue interior in a year when the only available color was grey because a Dealer in Denver wanted it that way and he sold enough cars so they gave him what he wanted. My first car was a 2 door 58 Pontiac Super Chief. Everyone tells me they only made 4 door Super Chiefs, but that's how this one was badged and starred. And it had the 370 with dual exhaust, gusseted plates right behind the seat for a roll bar and a bunch of other stuff. When I tried to get a rebuild kit for the wierd carb and sent in the numbers, Carter wanted to buy the carb from me. It was 6 years old when I got it and the guy I bought it from said it was built prototype for a Canadian/American racing series that never took off. Kinda like the Can/Am series that came along later in the 60's. Who knows.

 

Good one, the-roadster!
It's good to keep in mind this is a Mopar. The "H" is placed wherever the assembly tech damned well felt like putting it.
Where the experts say it belongs is worth just that, another opinion.
I''ve seen so many things that "didn't come from the factory that way" that came from the factory that way on Mopars it's not funny, and I am a Mopar guy.
One guy finally lost it when his one owner '68 Road Runner, that came from the factory with '69 taillights, got so effing sick of all the experts telling him it had the wrong tailights, that he took a hammer to them right at a meet.

 

The three speed being mentioned in this thread,was it the same three speed found in the first(1963?) 426 Dodge super stock factory available cars?Was this tranny a Warner T-85?

 

I don't think Chrysler had a factory inline 2x4 setup in '62? The 2x4 would have been the cross ram in the letter car, correct? Sonoramic Commando cross ram.

 

Back around '75 a coworker bought one of these loss-leader Newports used from a newspaper classified ad. It was a '68 if I remember correctly, 4 dr. sedan, gold metallic, 383 2bbl. 3 speed column shift. Even gold painted wheels with dog dish hub caps and blackwalls. At the time I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. On the instument panel, just above the column, there was a small brushed aluminum applique glued over the auto trans shift indicator lens.

The owner said he remembered seeing ads for this model when they were new, stating that you could own a "New Chrysler For $2995!" He bought this used one, clean, low mileage, for a song because nobody wanted it with the manual transmission.

 

There was an inline 2x4 set-up available in 1958 and 1959 on the '58-only 350 B-engine and the 361 B-engine. These had WCFB 4-barrels on them. I had a factory cast iron dual-quad intake for years that sat on a shelf, that I sold to a friend in the late '90s. Wish I'd hung onto that!

Later dual-quad set-ups were either the crossram intake, or the long ram set-up.

 

I dont know if they all were but my 62 h/t wagon has a t85 in it and that linkage just works tits I don,t like sticks but my 62 just gets me goin

 

Check the forum at www.forwardlook.net
There's a couple of guys who are wizards at decoding the IBM cards on there.

Todd