B - J 2019

[david hill]

I'm still not seeing a difference between the 2018 Mecum car and the vinyl top car other than the vinyl and the moldings.

The rear window is concave in shape ( bowing towards the inside of the car). The pictured car in my first post has the correct rear glass. It has a convex window which bows outward slightly. The Dutchman panel on this vinyl top car is larger as well. Whereas the car in the Mecum 2018 I uploaded has a much smaller Dutchman panel. Vinyl tops weren't offered on Hurst 300 cars. I have seen many Hurst 300 cars in person before, so this is not speculation. I suspect this is a clone car, not a original Hurst 300.

 

[CS23T1]

These were people who are supposed to know - they all do "car shows" on TV... ah well.

My favorite moment was watching Chris Jacobs kneeling down next to a Boss 429 Mustang, with the fender callout in plain view. He spouted off some basic details on the car, then said they came with a 427.

 

[300rag]

The rear window is concave in shape ( bowing towards the inside of the car). The pictured car in my first post has the correct rear glass. It has a convex window which bows outward slightly. The Dutchman panel on this vinyl top car is larger as well. Whereas the car in the Mecum 2018 I uploaded has a much smaller Dutchman panel. Vinyl tops weren't offered on Hurst 300 cars. I have seen many Hurst 300 cars in person before, so this is not speculation. I suspect this is a clone car, not a original Hurst 300.

In this picture with the trim cropped out you can clearly see the convex window.

 

[azblackhemi]

The rear window is concave in shape ( bowing towards the inside of the car). The pictured car in my first post has the correct rear glass. It has a convex window which bows outward slightly. The Dutchman panel on this vinyl top car is larger as well. Whereas the car in the Mecum 2018 I uploaded has a much smaller Dutchman panel. Vinyl tops weren't offered on Hurst 300 cars. I have seen many Hurst 300 cars in person before, so this is not speculation. I suspect this is a clone car, not a original Hurst 300.

I have to disagree with you David. The concave window you say this car has is a totally different shape. Here's a members car with that window. The vinyl top car does not have this window.

 

[saforwardlook]

Chris is correct.

The convex roof on the 2019 Mecum car in terms of the sheet metal and glass is correct for a 300 Hurst. A vinyl top was not available on a Hurst package for obvious reasons. The vinyl roof on the Mecum car is also a padded version of the factory non-padded only vinyl roof used on other regular 300 models as below.

Only Imperial models had a filler section (plug) to make the rear window smaller for a privacy look associated with luxury cars and that area of the vinyl roof on an Imperial was also padded to cover up the lines between the metal roof and the fiberglass insert.

Concave roofs were only used on Plymouth C bodies, while Dodge and Chrysler wisely didn't use them. The concave roofs screwed up the whole look of a fuselage car in my opinion. I can't even imagine why they wasted money to make one available on the Furys. And at least Plymouth was wise enough to not make a concave roof option available on a Sport Fury GT. Someone in the Plymouth studio must have been worrying about the 70 Chevrolet Impala roofline being desirable.

And Chevrolet also used a sportier version as well:

But GM styling on the 1970 Chevrolets and other GM models just looked clunky to me no matter what roof they used. Elwood Engle in the Chrysler studios knew what real styling was all about by comparison.

 

[ceebuddy]

Also note that the shape of the Chrysler two-door hardtop vinyl roof (and trim) below the rear window is slightly different than the one on the Imperial. While Chrysler 2dr HT's hat points of the vinyl material running towards the rear of the car on top of the fender/quarter panel top line, the shape of the Imperial 2dr HT's vinyl top in that area was slightly less elaborate. Still, the sheetmetal is the same, it's just that the Imperial had the (fiberglass?) plug to make the rear window smaller.

 

[Trace 300 Hurst]

I’m not keen on the top either, but I agree. Very nice. Considering what nice and even not so nice b bodies are going for, a reasonable price. One of these was on Hemmings posted by streetside classics (I think) and they were asking 89k. That’s just stupid.

That "89K" car was the one that did not sell Friday morning [Lot F77] at Kissimmee 2019. Bidding reached 52K and the owner (who I was standing next to) didn't pull the reserve. It's a nice car with a very strong interior, as I spent quite some time with it taking many, many database photographs (same with the other 3 Hursts there). It comes with a MASSIVE amount of documentation from the first owner who had it from Day One until 2001, including lots of letters to Chrysler complaining about his badly warping hood and decklid, and flaking Hurst-applied paint. Quite a battle he had with them and his dealer, too. This was long before he could fuss on the Interweb!

M.Did anyone catch that the roof line is wrong. Metal plug used for the rear glass is missing. This is a pic from Mecum Indy 2018.A true Hurst 300.

View attachment 248965

That Mecum Indy 2018 car is now mine. It's absolutely rock solid, as it spent its first 28 years in Clovis, New Mexico with it's first owner, then enjoyed by second owner in Amarillo when he bought it in 1998, and then went to Mecum Indy (via a broker/consignee in AZ) Mecum Indy, where I bought it. Talk about dry climates for its whole life.....jeeeeze! Second owner was heavily involved in local car shows and parades...he kept a simple diary of where he took it during his 19 years of ownership. And now me, where I'm doing lots of mechanical/electrical refresh and repairs that simply got away from the elderly second owner, and taking the car back to OEM appearance where some previous repairs and "upgrades" over the many years weren't correct or pleasing to the eye (such as the very goofy, incorrect exhaust tips that are now GONE). Those repairs are what you've seen me talking about in various threads here.

Second owner was a member of 300 International, etc., so the car's history is well documented, and it came with lots of paperwork dating back to the first owner. Original title, but no window or Monroney stuff unfortunately. If anyone has any questions about it or wants to see a pic of the build sheet or fender tag, lemme know.

December 2018 pics:

 

[Trace 300 Hurst]

Oh, and about that MASSIVE amount of paperwork with the "89k" car. In a letter to the 300 Club---DATED 1973---the owner asked if they thought the car would ever be a collectible. I speculate that the earlier Letter cars must have become known collectibles by that time and he was looking really far ahead....like 45 years ahead!

 

[CS23T1]

Oh, and about that MASSIVE amount of paperwork with the "89k" car. In a letter to the 300 Club---DATED 1973---the owner asked if they thought the car would ever be a collectible. I speculate that the earlier Letter cars must have become known collectibles by that time and he was looking really far ahead....like 45 years ahead!

I think it was reasonable to speculate even that early, as it was one year only and a Hurst modified car. Took awhile though...

 

[78Brougham]

I'm not sure why he would want to put that black vinyl on this car. Just doesn't make sense especially when you compare how great Trace's looks. It looks odd, to me the more I think about it.
I'm not very handy with these photo shop things, but if he really wanted a vinyl roof I just wonder how a gold vinyl one would looked. Like the gold they had on the "Gold Duster" package. It was a deeper gold almost like the paint on these.
Not that I would do it, so don't

me ok.
I'm just curious as how it would look.

 

[Trace 300 Hurst]

Took awhile though...

Now that right there is dang funny!

 

[BIGBARNEYCARS]

Trace. The treasurer of this 300 Club Int. Inc. haz held that position since 1973 shortly after the club waz first formed. She and her Hubby owned a 300 Hurst that they appropriately called THIRSTY up until 'bout two yearz ago that went back to the mid '70s. She and her Guy are the keeper of ALL the recorded information on ALL the 300 Letter Carz and who owns then az best they can. She and Her Guy I think possess more Knowledge on the letter carz between the two of them then any other two people on the planet. If you've joined the Club you Have her Name, If you haven't you should. Just My .02, Jer .. She and her Guy have been my good friendz for over 30 yearz now, FWTW

 

[MoPar Maniac]

Concave roofs were used only on C bodies and none on any Chryslers or Plymouths?
Looked at any A body Dodges?

 

[azblackhemi]

Here's another Barrett Jackson item of interest to the members here. A 57 Desoto couch. Very nice piece but not sure it's $22,000 nice.

 

[1978 NYB]

Here's another Barrett Jackson item of interest to the members here. A 57 Desoto couch. Very nice piece but not sure it's $22,000 nice.
View attachment 249504

You could get 10 Formals for that much money. Lol

 

[saforwardlook]

Concave roofs were used only on C bodies and none on any Chryslers or Plymouths?
Looked at any A body Dodges?

If you are referencing my post above somehow, the context was C bodies only, and fuselage ones at that as was made clear in the text, not other bodies where most of us well know concave roofs were indeed used on other models. Only Plymouth used the concave roof at least in the 1969-1971 C body models.

 

[CS23T1]

Here's another Barrett Jackson item of interest to the members here. A 57 Desoto couch. Very nice piece but not sure it's $22,000 nice.
View attachment 249504

But creating that and selling at auction is probably the best ROI if you have a rough '57 DeSoto 4 door sitting in the weeds.

 

[MoPar Maniac]

If you are referencing my post above somehow, the context was C bodies only, and fuselage ones at that as was made clear in the text, not other bodies where most of us well know concave roofs were indeed used on other models. Only Plymouth used the concave roof at least in the 1969-1971 C body models.

Here is what was said:
Concave roofs were only used on Plymouth C bodies,

Not true. If you had said Plymouths were the only C bodies with concave rear windows...