1979 Chrysler 300 Interior "Options

[mskc3]

I was hoping to get some input about an interior on a 1979 Chrysler 300 that is for sale, and I'm contemplating. The car appears to be a Spinaker white 79 300 that looks in excellent "original" condition with all the regular badging and options, but the seats are NOT upholstered in the traditional Red Corinthean Leather/Cordoba style. They're a matching red vinyl, but with a different pattern than the Cordoba seats.....My first thought was something happened to the seats many years ago, and maybe the upholstery shop installed seat covers from a Magnum but doing a pic search of both resulted in no matches. I then asked the owner about when the seats were reupholstered. The seller told me that the vinyl/leather were options on the 79 300.....If so, it appears to be the only one on the internet as I can't locate another, and the documentation that I find all states that the red leather upholstery was part of the 300 package...at this point, I'm assuming that the seller is completely mistaken......The ONLY reason I continue to question it is just how good the seats look as far as color and style......So, what do ya think??

 

[gooser]

not the way my seats looked in my 79 300 back then

 

[azblackhemi]

Here's mine to show how they're supposed to look. Not sure what you have there.

 

[Detective D]

The one in your pictures looks off somehow. The pattern looks like they took seat cores from a Magnum and put the material from a 1984 K car and put it on sideways over the seat core.
I noticed the steering wheel is a red version of the one in my 78 Monaco Police car. Not sure if that was an option?
I admit the 300's are not really seen around here in WI, but from what I can tell with late 70's B body cars Chrysler just sort of let things fly and who knows, maybe someone did order seats like that. There is an INSANE priced Magnum in Chicago area with the seats right above me(300) and a steering wheel like what you have OP(like my police car) so who knows.
Father in law ordered a Magnum in 78, got it with the high end package for rally gauges but then told them he did not want the vinyl roof that was part of the package. So he got the upscale seats, better dash cluster, and has a painted roof. Might be the only one like that. Who knows, Chrysler was pretty desperate to sell cars at that point.

 

[gooser]

the steering wheel was red in my 300

 

[79300]

Here's a couple pics of my 29K mile, 79 300. Corinthian Leather is very soft and it pretty much flawless. No splits or fading. These are the only pics I have at the moment.

 

[WileE]

In all the years, I've never seen seats like yours in any 300, including one I had years ago and my current Cordoba. Could it be factory ? If so ordered, sure ! . Steering wheels were different on tilt vs. non-tilt columns.

 

[DeltaV]

Comments:
1) Interior looks nice, but I have never seen vinyl seats like those in a SS22L9R "1979 Chrysler 300".
2) The floor mats pictured in post #1 do not match the factory floor mats that were delivered in my 1979 Chrysler 300. I'm the original owner.
3) Do you have a picture of the fender tag?

Other comments:
- The car is missing the 300 grille medallion. You might find an NOS one in nice condition for $200. They are not currently reproduced.

- The trunk deck lid is missing the script "Chrysler" emblem. They can be found on eBay, etc.

- The wheels aren't stock, but a lot of people went with wider aftermarket wheels since the factory wheels were only 15" x 6".

- The car looks nice and clean... the low mileage on the odometer is believable.

The seller is asking a premium price, no matter how nice, for a model that takes a long time to sell.

My SS22L9R has always been dependable and reliable. A nice cruising car and the stock E58 360-4V provides a lot of fun for a heavy car. The suspension and brakes are great.

 

[mskc3]

Thanks for all the replys.....Just as I was thinking, "something" happened to the original interior upholstery and steering wheel, and they were both replaced at some point. I had a Doba back in the day with a navy-blue interior...So, I'm familiar with the factory upholstery. I did a picture search and a found a Magnum with the same wheel....So, the present tilt wheel probably came from a Dodge....

I like the interior, but it makes one wonder.....The owner is completely clueless......She seems to be attempting to sell cars from her driveway.....She has more than a couple cars lined up in her driveway with car covers, and she's also trying to sell an early 90's Cadillac. I will say that the Cadillac is also a nice looking car. She's not selling junk, but is asking top dollar for both. The reason I say that she's "clueless" is because I asked her if the Lean Burn System in the 300 was still operable or if it has been deleted. She told me that she had no idea what I was talking about. I also asked her to do a picture search of the interior to show her that the upholstery was NOT in any other 300 on the internet, and there are many pics to look at. She messaged me back that this one was vinyl, and the leather was an option. Of course, we know that the leather was standard with the 300 package.

Anyways, the seller wont go lower than $14,800.....add on to that renting a car trailer and gas for a 7 hour round trip.....just call it $15K......

The seller is asking a premium price, no matter how nice, for a model that takes a long time to sell.

 

[DeltaV]

Thanks for all the replys.....Just as I was thinking, "something" happened to the original interior upholstery and steering wheel, and they were both replaced at some point. I had a Doba back in the day with a navy-blue interior...So, I'm familiar with the factory upholstery. I did a picture search and a found a Magnum with the same wheel....So, the present tilt wheel probably came from a Dodge....

I like the interior, but it makes one wonder.....The owner is completely clueless......She seems to be attempting to sell cars from her driveway.....She has more than a couple cars lined up in her driveway with car covers, and she's also trying to sell an early 90's Cadillac. I will say that the Cadillac is also a nice looking car. She's not selling junk, but is asking top dollar for both. The reason I say that she's "clueless" is because I asked her if the Lean Burn System in the 300 was still operable or if it has been deleted. She told me that she had no idea what I was talking about. I also asked her to do a picture search of the interior to show her that the upholstery was NOT in any other 300 on the internet, and there are many pics to look at. She messaged me back that this one was vinyl, and the leather was an option. Of course, we know that the leather was standard with the 300 package.

Anyways, the seller wont go lower than $14,800.....add on to that renting a car trailer and gas for a 7 hour round trip.....just call it $15K......

Maybe she'll send you a picture of the fender tag?

 

[mskc3]

I'm not doubting that it's a 300 as it appears to be very complete/accurate throughout with the exceptions of the upholstery and steering wheel. I wasn't planning to contact the seller unless I was interested in pursuing this further and wanted to look at the car in person. Her unwillingness to go Lower than $14,800. has left me seriously contemplating if wish to invest the 7 hours round trip to look at the car.

 

[Detective D]

I don't want to derail the thread, but on the subject of cost there is a (more ratty, needs transmission) 300 in detroit FB market for like $2500.

I think this one is a bit overpriced.
Then again, look up the magnum in chicagoland lol
Are people trying to force the market or something?

 

[WileE]

Comments:
1) Interior looks nice, but I have never seen vinyl seats like those in a SS22L9R "1979 Chrysler 300".
2) The floor mats pictured in post #1 do not match the factory floor mats that were delivered in my 1979 Chrysler 300. I'm the original owner.
3) Do you have a picture of the fender tag?

Other comments:
- The car is missing the 300 grille medallion. You might find an NOS one in nice condition for $200. They are not currently reproduced.

- The trunk deck lid is missing the script "Chrysler" emblem. They can be found on eBay, etc.

- The wheels aren't stock, but a lot of people went with wider aftermarket wheels since the factory wheels were only 15" x 6".

- The car looks nice and clean... the low mileage on the odometer is believable.

The seller is asking a premium price, no matter how nice, for a model that takes a long time to sell.

My SS22L9R has always been dependable and reliable. A nice cruising car and the stock E58 360-4V provides a lot of fun for a heavy car. The suspension and brakes are great.

Where are these pics ?

 

[mskc3]

The pics are from a for sale posting on Facebook. I have included the write up below and the other pics that were referenced in the above post.

"This 1979 Chrysler is number 1666 of less than 3000 made for large dealerships across the country. Very rare car. Like a time capsule. They were all white with red interior but with different options. This one was purchased in Wethersfield CT. In 1981, it was rustproofed by Ziebart and original documents on hand for that application. Car has a 360 dual exhaust four barrel carburetor. Interior in mint condition. All chrome in excellent condition. Paint is all original. Please do not ask if available as no response to that inquiry will be given. If car is on FB, it is still available."

 

[Micah Pohlman]

The two years from new to when it was "purchased in Wethersfield CT. In 1981" is plenty of time to have an owner wreck a seat or two and have a dealership change them out. Or maybe another Magnum on the lot was supposed to come with leather but got made wrong and quick swap was the easiest way to fix that? Did 300's come without tilt?

 

[mskc3]

I'm assuming something happened to the interior along the way that this present owner isn't aware of as she appears to know very little about 300's because of comments she has made to me. I'm just getting some other ideas about the interior as I have pretty much concluded that it didn't come from Chrysler in this configuration in the 300 or in the Dodge Magnum. I have done internet picture searches for factory seats as well as the steering wheel for both the 300 and the Magnum. I haven't found another 300 or Magnum with these seats, so I have concluded that the seat upholstery is not from Chrysler or Dodge. I have found the red steering wheel pics, and it's supposed to be from a Magnum.

Unfortunately, the owner is stuck at $14,800, and considering the owner hasn't done much with it in the past 5 years, and who knows about the previous owners, one has to assume it's going to have a long list of maintenance items (IE fluids, hoses, gaskets, tires etc. etc) .

 

[79300]

My 300 has the 2 spoke, tilt wheel. I read somewhere that if you had a non-tilt wheel they came with the
3 spoke wheel.

 

[DeltaV]

"This 1979 Chrysler is number 1666 of less than 3000 made for large dealerships across the country. Very rare car.

1) How did the seller establish 1666?
2) Less than 3000 made is INCORRECT.

"Beginning in November 1978 and continuing through June of 1979, Chrysler Canada's Windsor Assembly Plant built 4,292 units, including 477 for the Canadian market."
1979 Chrysler 300 Handbook by Dale Burkhardt and John Veatch. Copyright 1989, All rights reserved.

Just as I was thinking, "something" happened to the original interior upholstery and steering wheel, and they were both replaced at some point.

3) The upholstery looks very similar to Ford Thunderbirds of that era.

4) The 3-spoke steering wheel is what came with the non-tilt steering column. The pictures of the steering column looks like a non-tilt unit. The tilt steering column wheel was an option and only came with a two spoke steering wheel.

From the aforementioned Handbook:
"The striking style variation between the tilt and non-tilt is due to the tilt-wheel assembly being a GM Saginaw adaptation."

Her unwillingness to go Lower than $14,800. has left me seriously contemplating if wish to invest the 7 hours round trip to look at the car.

5) I wouldn't use the word "invest" in any discussions related to these cars.

6) Not worth $14,800 with the vinyl seating.

 

[DeltaV]

This low mileage example sold for $9,500 last year:

Post in thread '1979 Chrysler 300 Registry' 1979 Chrysler 300 Registry

 

[Micah Pohlman]

100% match to the seats in my 78 Charger. I knew I saw them in something, it just took a while to remember witch one in the fleet it was.