History Bonneville Record Car / NEED HELP!

What an amazing treasure to find! Just goes to show; they really are still out there!

 

You must have been a good boy last Christmas!

 

A luxury car with no luxury options, My kind of car. Buy the Isetta too!!

 

Josh, contact Chrysler Historical for any documentation they may have on this car. Ol' Norm ran Mopars for quite a few years, and they were always new cars and always had the latest performance parts. I suspect he had some inside connections. I'm betting this car has had an interesting history since before it was even built.

This place will give you all the factory information they have, which will include the original engine number, date shipped, options, etc. It costs 45 bucks and you have to show proof of ownership. http://wpchryslermuseum.org/newsroom.do?id=390&mid=135

Also, I suspect there is a chance the engine in the car is not the original. But that's okay, it's a race car! I say that because the article I have on his '59 Dodge (Hot Rod Magazine, Oct 1959) has these pieces of information:

Here's a pic of the 370" Chrysler. I just thought it was badass.

 

I looked all through my stuff and came up empty on the 300-D. Sorry!

Here are a couple of other images of the '59 Dodge. I know they're not much help to you for now, but I hope it helps you to find more information on Norm Thatcher. The article I quoted above has quite a bit of information on him. Also, the Dec 1961 Speed and Custom magazine has a two-page article on his '60 Dodge, which used three engines, from a 450ci blown and two-port injected wedge to a 513 wedge. If you can't find a copy of either of these, let me know, and I'll send them to you. I've tried to get a thread started on Norm a couple of times, haven't really gotten much response. He's my hero!

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a274/46Tbird/norm59-2.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a274/46Tbird/norm59-3.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a274/46Tbird/norm59-4.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a274/46Tbird/norm59-5.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a274/46Tbird/norm59-6.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a274/46Tbird/norm59-7.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a274/46Tbird/norm60-1.jpg

 

Josh;add me to the "I'm so effin' jealous!" list. From one Mopar guy to another;congrats on the find and thanks for the appreciation for what it is.

 

Great car, drive it !!

 

@Hyfire -

I've been browsing through my archives all night ... including all of the 1958-1959 automotive periodicals and Chrysler 300 books in my library ... but so far have only found the same 3 Ads you posted in the OP... and these 2 Ads from the November '58 issue of HRM:

​

... I'll keep looking.

Hopefully the HAMB's "resident Chrysler 300 experts" (@johnl & @StillOutThere) will chime-in soon.

 

EELCO ad shows 14 MPG on the street. Goodyear made a 6 ply whitewall high performance tire during that period.

 

The large assembly that is found on nearly all FL cars on the firewall is the ventilation ducting for the heater and A/C. For cars that have neither, there are a pair of firewall block-off plates.

My car was built with no heater. It still has the larger of the two block-off plates, but the smaller one (for the heater core) is missing on mine since someone installed an aftermarket heater on the car. Here is a photo for reference. These are somewhat hard to find, and much more common on Plymouths and Dodges.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a274/46Tbird/wagon/wiresbackon006.jpg

 

I didn't find yours, but did find this Plymouth. They could get those cars to move!
This is from the 1958 Hot Rod Annual.

 

So Does it fire up? have you started it?

 

I'm not doubting what you have but-
How does a car that made at least 37 runs in bonneville over a period of time and have a spotless under the body and never any rot. Many of us have seen first hand what bonneville salt will do even when you think you got all the salt off.[/QUOTE]
My Vega, of all things, has made who knows how many passes on the salt since 1980. You will have to look very close to find rust. Just needs keeping after. The thing had rust in '79 when I bought it. I think Vegas came prerusted from the factory. But It's pretty clean now.

 

Nice...
I see the non-power brakes, which lends credibility to your story.
What's REALLY golden on that car is the cover plate over the [factory] push-button tranny gear selector. All the other parts, such as pedals, linkage, steering column can be sourced from other mopars of the era, but that cover plate is the rarest part on the whole car. I hope it's still there!

The engine should have the 400+ hp cam that was custom made by Isky. It's a real thumper and it's capable of destroying a cast iron torqueflite in short order

Bob Dupin [google him] managed to get the daytona version of that car back in the 70's. Unfortunately, it was way too far gone to be saved, but the engine survives to this day. It's currently installed in a '58 300D that came with factory fuel injection. Unfortunately, I'm sworn to secrecy on any of the details, but I might be able to hook you up with someone who has a great deal of knowledge about your car. If your interested, shoot me a PM.

 

The PMS (French) trans was only used in the 1960 300F "Specials". Prior to that they were three speeds probably based from a Dodge truck.

 

Oh Yea!
If that thing still has the 12 to1 slugs and cammed the same as when they ran it,its gonna sound nasty!!

Hopefully you will be able to post some vids with SOUND when you get it running.

Thanks alot for sharing this with us.

Greg

 

Boy!! Would my dad like to see this one. He WAS (died 5 years ago) a Chrysler man through and through. He liked nothing better than to let the 392 in his '57 New Yorker bury the speedometer on one of those Texas long straight highways.

Frank

 

WOW as a Mopar from the 50s this is real high on the list. please post more pics

 

Great find Josh , congratulations, she's in great hands.

 

Very, very cool.

What's with the "For Sale" sign?

How did you come across this thing?

It's a neat story, I am sure.

Sam

 

Awesome stuff!!!

 

Here's a couple of pics of the car at the Chrysler 300 Meet in Carmel (June 5-9, 2011) ... before @Hyfire purchased it:

images by Ron Waters​

 

Doug Odom had this car listed for sale, for a friend, 3 weeks ago. Did he list it for you, or did you buy it from his friend?

 

what a cool car. thanks for sharing.
chris.

 

The motor in it could be the 444". You could have it pumped to find out.

 

Very nice find! What Dan Warner said. Jim Miller is an SCTA historian and contributing editor on the Society of land Speed racers web news paper, oooh, and may I add a real nice guy to boot.

 

I've checked in on this thread quite a few times to see if anything new has developed. Congrats on your purchase and what a great history and story behind this car -- very cool!! Looking forward to more info and updates...




Malcolm

 

Here's the current S.C.T.A. Engine classes:

​

... and I'm about 90% positive they were the same back in 1958.

Norm Thatcher ran his (now yours ) '58 Chrysler 300D Coupe in the "Production Coupe and Sedan" class (abbreviated as "/PRO") of SCTA's "E. PRODUCTION CATEGORY" ... hence the "252 E" on the rear quarters of the car.

So with the 392cid HEMI, the car ran in the B/PRO class ... and with the 444cid HEMI, it would have run in the A/PRO class.

 

To echo everybody else, what a find! Beautiful car. I love that body style and yours with its history is even better. Congratulations.

 

Josh -

That would be the Dust eXperiment! class

Actually, I have know idea what "DX" would mean in the context of El Mirage ... but I'm always up for a challenge! ... so give me awhile to research it.