Tag Archives: chrysler

300B by Boano

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1956 Chrysler 300B Coupe Speciale by Boano

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Monterey, California | August 18-19, 2023

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Chrysler had quite the Italian coachbuilding hookup in the 1950s. But this car really wasn’t their creation. It was built at the behest of Gianni Agnelli, of the family that owned Fiat. Why he chose a Chrysler 300B is beyond anyone, but he did. And this is the result.

It’s different but pretty similar to the other Chrysler Ghia specials of the era (Felice Boano had worked at Ghia before starting out on his own). Just 1,102 Chrysler 300Bs were built in 1955, and they were powered by a 5.8-liter FirePower V8 that made 355 horsepower.

This is one of two Boano-bodied cars on an American chassis with an American engine (this is the other). Agnelli did not take delivery of the car, as Fiat/Chrysler was still decades and decades away. It came to the U.S. in 1989 and was restored after its current owner bought it in 2018. Awards at Pebble and Villa d’Este followed. Now it’s for sale, and you can read more here.

Update: Sold $1,105,000.

Chrysler Viper

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1995 Chrysler Viper RT/10

Offered by Oldtimer Galerie | Toffen, Switzerland | March 26, 2022

Photo – Oldtimer Galerie

The original Dodge Viper was launched for the 1992 model year and it was a pretty wild revelation. The original RT/10 was produced through 1995 and included a lack of exterior door handles, traction control, and ABS. There were no airbags or A/C either, and the windows zipped in. It was not a luxury automobile. But it was fast. And loud.

The engine is an 8.0-liter V10 rated at 400 horsepower, which propelled the car to 60 mph in 4.6 seconds on the way to a 165-mph top end. These early Vipers had leg-scalding side pipes, three-spoke wheels, and an overwhelming sense of 90s-ness. They remain excellent.

But what make this one especially interesting is that it is not a “Dodge.” It’s a Chrysler Viper, which is the brand the cars were sold under for the European market. Brag about that at your next Viper Club meeting or show. Read more about this one here.

The First Bohman & Schwartz

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1932 Chrysler CH Imperial Cabriolet by Bohman & Schwartz

Offered by Worldwide Auctioneers | Scottsdale, Arizona | January 26, 2022

Photo – Worldwide Auctioneers

The Imperial name first appeared on a Chrysler in 1926, and the eight-cylinder Imperial debuted in 1931. The following year, the model was upgraded from CG to CH/CL spec, the latter being the Imperial Custom.

The CH is powered by a 6.3-liter inline-eight rated at 125 horsepower. Factory body styles included a roadster, sedan, and convertible sedan. In all, 1,402 CH Imperials were built. Only nine were delivered as a bare chassis for coachbuilders to work with.

This car carries a cabriolet body by Bohman & Schwartz. It was the first car bodied under the Bohman & Schwartz name, and it won its class at Pebble Beach after its restoration in 1995. You can read more about it here and see more from this sale here.

Update: Sold $940,000.

Chrysler Turbine Car

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1963 Chrysler Turbine Car

For Sale by Hyman Ltd. | St. Louis, Missouri

Photo – Hyman Ltd.

The Jet Age was about more than just planes. Jet-inspired styling was all over cars of the era. Different companies even teased jet-powered cars. But none of those companies moved the needle more than Chrysler did with their Turbine Car.

The body was designed by Ghia, and the car was meant to be a public-road test program to study, I guess, the real-world viability of this whacky concept. Kind of like how autonomous Volvos are running over people in Arizona in today’s world.

Power is from a Chrysler-designed turbine engine that weighed 410 pounds and made 130 horsepower at 36,000 rpm (!) and 425 lb-ft of torque. The car could do 120 mph – and it could run on just about any fuel aside from leaded gasoline, including diesel and cooking oil.

They built 55 of these between 1963 and 1964. 50 of those were lent to the general public on three-month leases that wrapped up in 1966. Much like GM did with their EV1, Chrysler had 45 of the cars destroyed at the end of the program. Nine cars ended up being saved, all of which still exist. Only two are in private hands, with this being one of them.

These are cars that don’t change hands often. This one went from Chrysler to the Harrah collection, stopped at Tom Monaghan’s collection, and then to the current collection in the 1980s. It is operational but hasn’t been used much. This is a rare chance to get a car that is impossible. Impossible that it was built. Impossible that it works. And impossible to find. Click here for more info.

Superdart

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1957 Ghia 400 Superdart Concept

For Sale by Dragone Classic Motorcars | Orange, Connecticut

Photo – Dragone Classic Motorcars

This is a car with quite a few names. I’ll start at the beginning, and you can draw your own conclusions as to what it should be called (I just went with what the dealership selling the car calls it). The Ghia and Chrysler connection of the 1950s is well documented. Chrysler spent a lot of money designing fanciful show cars in the ’50s, with styling done by Ghia (well, styling by Exner, execution by Ghia).

Ghia showed a prototype dubbed “Gilda” in 1955. Then there was Dart concept was styled by Exner in 1956, and a second version called the Diablo also appeared in ’56. Then, in 1957, Ghia showed another evolution, called the Superdart. It was reportedly created for Chrysler, but there doesn’t appear to be any Chrysler badging on this car.

Power is from a 400 horsepower Hemi V8, and the car rides on a Chrysler 300C chassis. It debuted at the 1957 Turin Motor Show and later ended up in the U.S., where it was purchased by Dual Motors, who showed the car as a Dual-Ghia prototype. Most of the internet seems to just call this car a 1958 Dual-Ghia Prototype. Which is what it was last shown as. But it’s not what it was called originally.

A private owner purchased it shortly after Dual-Ghia’s 1958 New York show appearance and actually put nearly 40,000 miles on it over nearly two decades. It’s said to be original and unrestored. Be it a Chrysler, a Ghia, or a Dual-Ghia, it remains as a fantastic piece of ’50s styling excellence. It’s for sale in Connecticut with no price listed. Click here for more info.

Update: Sold, Bonhams Scottsdale 2023, $819,000.

Chrysler Prowler

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2001 Chrysler Prowler Mulholland Edition

Offered by Mecum | Kissimmee, Florida | January 8, 2020

Photo – Mecum

Listen. The Prowler is cool. All of you old folks who hate that it “doesn’t have a V8” are missing the point. Go drive your hot rods that are quickly depreciating. The Prowler, with its 3.5-liter V6, was poster-worthy when it debuted for the 1997 model year.

Interestingly, the Plymouth brand was axed after the 2000 model year. So Chrysler picked up the torch, and “Chrysler Prowlers” were sold in 2001 and 2002. In all, 11,702 Prowlers were built, 3,170 of which were Chrysler-branded. The Mulholland Edition brought special Midnight Blue paint with a dark blue soft top. Only 1,278 cars were finished in this color.

That 3.5-liter V6 was good for 253 horsepower. Yes, it has an automatic transmission, but the car comes in at about 2,800 pounds. If you’re still not convinced of this car being cool, just look at it. This will never happen again. Chrysler had balls in the 90s and 2000s. They built some wild stuff. It just can’t happen anymore. Get ’em while you can, as my prediction for the last few years has been that these are going to take off big time in the next 15-20 years. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $27,500.

October 2019 Auction Highlights

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We start in October with Worldwide Auctioneers’ liquidation of the Corpus Christi Old Car Museum. The overall top sale was the Apollo 3500 GT Spider we featured for $506,000. We will award Most Interesting to this heavy-duty 1972 Chevrolet C50 Pickup that brought $23,100. Full results can be found here.

Photo – Worldwide Auctioneers

Next up, Bonhams’ sale at the Simeone Foundation in Philadelphia, where this 1941 Chrysler Town & Country Nine-Passenger Barrelback Station Wagon sold for $277,760 – more than any other car at the sale.

Photo – Bonhams

Other sales included the Fiat-Daniela for $106,400, the Gwynne Eight for $8,680, and a previously-featured Pope-Toledo for $100,800. The A.B.F. prototype failed to sell, and complete results can be found here.

We featured quite a few cars from RM’s Hershey sale, mostly because they were selling off an amazing collection of weird old cars. Here’s a list of results:

The top sale was the 1930 Cadillac V-16 Sport Phaeton by Fleetwood pictured below. It sold for $1,221,000. More results can be found here.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

Bonhams’ Zoute sale always has a decent collection of European classics, which were led by this 1965 Ferrari 275 GTB Alloy for $3,203,900. The F40 we featured sold for $1,025,248. Final results are available here.

Photo – Bonhams

And we’ll go back to RM Sotheby’s for their London sale. A pair of our feature cars didn’t sell, including the Ferrari 412 T1 and the Noble M600. This 1969 Lamborghini Miura P400 S was the overall top sale at $1,600,969.

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Arrows A21 we featured (there were two in this sale) brought $92,194, which was just slightly less than the other one. And the Wiesmann brought $103,257. More results are available here.

1963 Town & Country

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1963 Chrysler New Yorker Town & Country

Offered by Mecum | Louisville, Kentucky | September 20, 2019

Photo – Mecum

The Chrysler New Yorker nameplate dates back to 1940, and the Town & Country model was introduced in 1941. For a while, Town & Country models could be had in all manner of body styles, including a very attractive convertible. But by the time the 50s rolled around, they became the station wagon versions of other Chrysler cars.

And that’s what we have here. The sixth-generation New Yorker went on sale in 1960, and by 1962 those wild rear fins had disappeared. This nine-passenger Town & Country is one of just 1,244 built in 1963. It is powered by a 6.8-liter V8 capable of 340 horsepower.

So why is it notable? Well, there was the limited production, but how many of these actually survived? And in this condition at that? This car retailed for $4,815 when new. It should certainly bring more than that later this month. We’ll have to wait and see just how much more. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Withdrawn from sale.

1939 Imperial

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1939 Chrysler Imperial Sedan

Offered by H&H Classics | Duxford, U.K. | March 20, 2019

Photo – H&H Classics

The Imperial is one of Chrysler‘s classic nameplates. Last used on a kind-of-sad Y-body sedan in 1993, the name dates to 1926. Between 1931 and 1933, Imperials were the best product Chrysler had and rivaled the best from Cadillacand Lincoln. And for a little while, Imperial was a brand in its own right.

The 1937-1939 Imperial was produced in fairly limited numbers and in two distinct series. This five-passenger sedan model has an unknown production total, as sedan production between the Imperial, Saratoga, and New Yorker combined to total 10,536 units. It’s a C-23 series Imperial (the Custom Imperial C-24 cars were even more expensive and much rarer).

The 5.3-liter inline-six was good for 130 horsepower and a 95 mph top speed. This particular car was assembled as a knock-down kit in England and is said to be one of 16 right-hand drive examples built – and the only one remaining. It’s a big European version of a pre-war American sedan. It is being sold at no reserve. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $14,861.

Chrysler New Yorker T&C

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1953 Chrysler New Yorker Town & Country

Offered by Mecum | Las Vegas, Nevada | November 16-18, 2017

Photo – Mecum

The first two generations of the Chrysler Town & Country were woodies. The last year for those was 1950 and for the 1951 model year, the name was applied to Chrysler’s station wagons (and would continue on their wagons through 1988 before becoming a minivan in 1990).

Chrysler’s 1953 model offerings included the six-cylinder Windsor and the eight-cylinder New Yorker. This car is powered by the New Yorker’s 5.4-liter V-8 making 180 horsepower. Only 1,399 of these were built in 1953 and they cost $4,077 when new. Read more about this one here.

Update: Sold $48,000