Blue Blood - Larry's 1958 Chrysler 300D

Chrysler's 1958 300 D strikes all of the right late-1950s chords: quad headlamps, gaping egg-crate grille, thundering V-8 power and towering tailfins. Yet the 300 kept its sporting composure by eschewing broad swaths of side trim molding and tri-color paint schemes, which in turn has helped its styling endure, decade after decade.

Today these Hemi-powered cruisers are as unusual as they are striking: For '58, just 618 hardtops and 191 convertibles were built to roam America's freshly paved postwar highways. The 300 series Chryslers have always been special and valuable cars among their admirers (even those vintages that weren't all that special) and the success of the modern Chrysler 300 has probably made the series recognizable to a wider audience. But while you can point to certain areas of the hobby, European sports cars, for instance, and wonder if a bubble is about to burst, 1950s American car values have remained stable over the past decade.

The 300's story begins with the C-300, a gorgeous two-door hardtop wearing Virgil Exner's "Forward Look" design--solid lifters, two Carter WFB 550-cfm carburetors, 8.5:1 compression--and which guaranteed the 300 horses promised by the badges on the grille and trunk lid. Just 1,725 of these 4,005-pound coupes were produced, and they sold for more than $4,000 each--about double the price of a new '55 Plymouth Savoy.

For 1956, Chrysler rolled out the 300 B, looking very similar to the '55, but with more pronounced tailfins and a harder-hitting Hemi engine. For the new model year, the big V-8 had grown to 354-cu.in. and belted out 340 hp in base trim or 355 hp with an optional factory tune-up. The car had also gained 12-volt electricals.

An all new 300 C emerged for 1957, demonstrating that Exner's Forward Look had gained a lot of ground. The boldly styled car rode on an all-new chassis with torsion bar front suspension and was powered by a 392-cu.in. Hemi, with 375 hp in base tune. With 10:1 compression and a more aggressive camshaft, the Hemi could pump out 390 hp.

The 1958 300 D would be the last of the series to use the 392, but the base engine got a boost to 380 hp. An electronic fuel-injection system, the Bendix Electrojector, was introduced for the 390-hp Hemi, but was recalled by Chrysler and replaced with the conventional two-four intake and carburetors.