My Dream Car - 300F !

by Dan Reitz

S/N 8403159095
My first venture into the world of Chrysler 300's was in 1987 when I purchased a 1966 300 Conv. That was to be my dream car until sometime in 1994 when I followed Linda and John Characky home from a local 300 Club outing. They were driving Linda's 300F. For about 40 miles on the freeways of Los Angeles, I was behind, side to side and wherever I could go to get a different view of the F and its gorgeous canted fins. I made up my mind then and there that I had to have a finned 300.

After placing ads in the 300 Club, Inc. newsletter and other media, I located several G's but none were to my satisfaction. Finally, in September of 1995, Dan Motley, editor of the newsletter, called me and told me of an original owner F in my backyard, Temple City, CA, adjacent to Pasadena. A mere 35 miles from my home.

I contacted the owner in northern California, actually the son of the owner, and he arranged for his sister to show me the car. I found a very dirty car on blocks where it had been for the last 28 years in a private residence garage. It had 108,000 miles on the odometer. We reached an agreement on the price and on October 5, 1995, I had John Characky trailer it to his garage and for the next 3 months he went through the mechanical portion from radiator to gas tank.

I purchased the car, through the son, Mike, from the original owner, Mr. Sidney Rubin. According to his son, they had test driven an F around the Rose Bowl in Pasadena and were so enthralled that Mr. Rubin immediately placed an order and it was to be picked up in Detroit by him and his son. The dealer was Harger-Haldeman, of Los Angeles, which is no longer in business. According to the information I have been able to find, they picked the car up sometime between June 27 and August 2, 1960 and, “Had a very exciting experience driving it to Los Angeles !

Mr. Rubin, a dentist, drove it daily to and from his office in Bellflower, regularly to Las Vegas and to the Beach. Mike told me his father continually had him and his sister in the car cleaning the leather seats and conditioning them. It paid off as I retained the original leather covers and headliner. This is an 888 car with charcoal gray leather interior which is still in very good condition.

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The car was dirty, rusting chrome, etc., but upon inspection, I found it to be sound and everything was there. We loaded it up on the trailer and headed for Characky's garage. While John was going through the mechanical and detailing the engine compartment, I cleaned and polished the interior and exterior. John delivered the car to me on January 13, 1996. On the way back to his home, he said, “Dan, you are going to enjoy this car.” I did not realize what he meant until we drove up in front of his home. There on the street were 2 parallel black streaks at least 100 feet long, a clear space of perhaps 25 feet, and another 2 black streaks about 100 feet long. John told me he tested acceleration of the car here on the way to pick me up. Now I realized what he meant.

In 1997, I attended a meet in Denver and stopped by one of my favorite places, Arches National Park. The car was fantastic. I had never had this feeling of power and comfort on the open road. The trip over the Rockies was effortless.

I now enjoy driving the car to and from shows locally and to distant places such as Phoenix, Denver, Sacramento, etc. On the way home from Denver in 1997, I went through 2 generators. The next day I designed a bracket and installed an alternator. Subsequently, I installed disc brakes.

People always ask me if the car is for sale, and I tell them 'Yes”, but delivery is in the year 2048 when I am 110 years old. That's how much I love this car. If you are driving the highways and see someone driving a white 300F with the license plate “IMA 300F”, that's me!