Resurrection

Sometimes in this hobby you see things that are distressing, even sad. The sight of a once magnificent Chrysler 300 rusting away peacefully in a field or barn can cause a very strong emotional reaction. I've seen this myself, and in years past the destiny of the car was never in dispute. We knew what its fate would be.....like a loving family pet that has to be put down out of mercy because of illness, 300s galore were crushed into metal pancakes and hauled off to the steel mills of Indiana to be recycled.

Today, however, with collector car values being what they are, these scarce finds are no longer viewed as hopeless wrecks with no potential other than salvage weight. The rotting 300E found behind a farmer's barn or beneath a pile of scrap metal in a salvage yard is now looked at critically by people capable of effecting transformations you could not believe even if you saw them happen. Technology, the internet, and skyrocketing values have caused a major change in the way we scrap old cars. Junkers that have nothing left but a solid rust free floor pan are now highly sought after prizes, because floor pans are no longer available. Plain Jane coupes are now viewed as body donors for their more sophisticated, more valuable brethren. Show me a rust free 1959 New Yorker coupe, and I'll show you a rust bucket 300E owner dying to write a check for whatever amount it takes to acquire the Arizona body donor. In this hobby, one plus one equals seven.

There is a certain beauty to a badly rusted, incomplete 300. Somehow, the old beast still holds its head high, even in the throes of near death. There is a regal quality to these cars that cannot be denied.......that which once was begs to be again. Through all the rust, torn leather, and broken parts shines a potential show car. Modern restoration techniques can accomplish anything. There is no longer any such thing as a car that cannot be restored. Now, with this technology at hand, the fleet footed 300s can indeed be resurrected.

The gallery for this section contains photos of 300s which have found themselves desperately in need of salvation. Some are older photos, some are contemporary. Some of the cars look easily restorable and are indeed under way, while some look a little tougher to fix. Some look hopeless to the untrained eye, but after a good clean up, usually it isn't quite as bad as it looks. The burned 300G is interesting.....it still ran. That shows how tough these cars really are.

I do not know who owned or owns the majority of these pictured cars, or how many of them have been saved. Let's hope all of them have. They are worth the effort.