1956 Chyrsler 300 B 3 Speed Manual

[Cdn17Sport6MT]

I'm generally not an old car kind of guy, but I think the following is a cool car... albeit likely VERY heavy on fuel.

1956 Chrysler 300B 3-Speed

Bid for the chance to own a 1956 Chrysler 300B 3-Speed at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #78,129.

bringatrailer.com

It's got a Hemi (and batwing aircleaner to two 4V carbs). What's very rare is the three speed manual. It's not on the floor, rather, on the tree... which still in the fifties was considered cool. This was in the era when 4 on the floor was not very evident. Not sure even a C1 Corvette had same.

 

[ecotourist]

Nice car.

Cars with V8s, manual transmissions and the so called 3 on the tree shifter were not rare in Canada. I can think of a number of cars owned by friends and family that had V8s with 3 speed manual transmissions into at least the mid 1960s. My '65 Comet had a 289 V8 and a 3 speed full synchromesh manual with the shifter on the tree. The big change occurred in the mid '60s when Mustangs, other pony cars, and muscle cars which still often had 3 or 4 speed manual transmissions, now generally had floor mounted shifters.

By the late '50s/early '60s most luxury cars would have had automatic transmissions.

 

[TheLastWord]

Even more rare is the factory A/C and 3 speed combo. Collectors love cars like this. Big $$$$$$.

Read the comments by some very knowledgeable bidders and others on the link after the pics.

 

[wpod]

What a great looking car. My 79 F150 had a 3 on the tree.

 

[joekingcorvette]

A friend of mine who passed away had one of those he would take on hot rod cruises. Those were very sharp cars and difficult to find without spending lots of cash.

 

[Kira]

The 300 Alphabet Series.....That became the official name, no?
Three cheers for the generator, the plastic windshield washer bag and the V-configured AC compressor.

It'll pass everything on the road except a gas station.

 

[PimTac]

Three on the tree was fairly common but perhaps not for this particular car.

Is this Batwing air cleaner a modification from the oil bath ?

 

[Chris142]

My 69 chevelle was a 3 on the tree. I really liked that setup and wish it was more common.

 

[Cdn17Sport6MT]

My 69 chevelle was a 3 on the tree. I really liked that setup and wish it was more common.

1978 Chevy Nova, L6 engine. Pretty bare-bones...

 

[PF52]

1978 Chevy Nova, L6 engine. Pretty bare-bones...

We had a '79 that was an exact match to that picture.... Same red vinyl and carpeting, same blanked-out gauges.

We also had a '71 before that and for some reason, they switched the locations of the headlight switch and windshield-wiper switch. No idea why.

 

[Cdn17Sport6MT]

We had a '79 that was an exact match to that picture.... Same red vinyl and carpeting, same blanked-out gauges.

We also had a '71 before that and for some reason, they switched the locations of the headlight switch and windshield-wiper switch. No idea why.

I had a '78 with a 305 2V (carb), 4 speed (iron-cased) Saginaw 4 speed (on the floor). 4 dr. Same interior, including frt bench seat, and same colour, but had gauge package. Had F41(?) susp option. Silver exterior. The wrinkles on top of the dashboard and in the headrests and on the seat surfaces (vinyl) were pretty bad; lousy mtls, obviously sewn-up haphazardly, wantonly. No pride of work. Long story re that car... but I should have ordered it differently from the factory, with bucket seats, cloth. 135 (?) HP 305 was lacklustre.

I should have rectified matters over time, and improved it, incl with a 4V carb...

 

[Scuder]

The 300 Alphabet Series.....That became the official name, no?

I've most often heard them referred to as "letter cars."

 

[TheLastWord]

Sold for $62K. Bidders are revealed.