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Location: The Mile High City | A recent post got me to thinking: Has anyone ever seen or owned the first vehicle off the line? For 1958, that would be a 1001 VIN number - I don't know about other years. It sort of struck me that you never even hear about it for Forwardlook cars. The Corvette folks are a different story! |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 363
| The owner of the very first production C300 is lurking on here somewhere. I have seen it and it is quite something to see that 001 tag.
Yes the Corvette folks are far more organized and passionate about documenting these kind of facts, in the FWDLK community in general nobody could care less really. It's a shame when you see some incredibly significant cars get over looked while the spot light goes on a red and white fin with record player....
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Veteran
Posts: 141
Location: Chattanooga | If I remember correctly, C300 001 had a black top |
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Expert 5K+
Posts: 5006
| i would have expected the first and last cars to go to employees or the corporation to test with.
People didnt think about collectibility yet... these were things you used for two years and threw away...
except the ultra rare expensive cars, cadillacs, imperials, 300C.. |
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Regular
Posts: 93
| I've seen PH27H74100001 1967 Sport Fury 383-4 4-speed convertible pilot car, all part numbers were zeros. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 466
Location: Southwest VA | I looked that first '55 300 over pretty closely back around 1989 when it was owned by Steve McCloud in Dandridge, TN. He told me he found it for sale sitting next to an old garage down in South Carolina. It had factory installed Imperial rims (according to Steve). |
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Veteran
Posts: 141
Location: Chattanooga | Steve owned it when I saw it too |
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| Geez, that “lurker” guy sounds creepy! ;0)
Here is my take. I currently own the very first Chrysler 300. VIN# 1001. It’s historically significant because it’s not only the first of the year, but the first of the entire breed. What makes it even more significant is that it was also specifically built to be a NASCAR race car for the 1955 Daytona Beach SpeedWeek. So it’s a “Twofor”. I don’t know which makes it more special, but the fact Vicki Wood and Lee Petty have driven it sealed the deal for me.
Because most 1001 cars were built as pilot cars, they were used to test fixtures and develop production methods. Many times they were used for show cars, test cars or photo shoot cars. Many times they were sent to special destinations or owners when done. Not because they were 1001, but because the cars were hard to get their hands on due to supply and priorities were set. Most disappeared.
My car survived because of 300 club members who told legends about the car in the 1960s of its destruction. And in 1970 a club member (Steve) found it and it’s 1st registered owner. Steve neglected the car, but ultimately saved it from being destroyed. It was always known to be 1001 and the owners always appreciated that.
Owen is correct. Many in the FWLK hobby don’t “get” the significance, but IF they did I would never have been able to own it. I'm a fortunate guy. It's arguably the most significant Chrysler 300 made. Being the very first AND a factory built Daytona race car. There is no doubt that if it was a Corvette with the same provenance it would be a million dollar car if restored. But that’s what's awesome about these cars. The rich guys haven't ruined the supply yet. Any fool like me can own a historic car.
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On a side note. I came very close to buying a 1957 Cadillac Biarritz that was a 001 car about 15 years ago. Legit car and used for Cadillac brochure photography. It was a mess, but way cool with preproduction hand machined emblems. It was priced at around 50-60K. I didn't need a project at the time. It showed up restored about 4 years ago and sold for about 500K I believe. Neat car. Not exceptionally historic, but cool none the less.
The Chrysler 300 Vin#1001 has a few odd ball features since "production" parts were not ready until a month later. I don't want to further highjack your thread. But it's not too uncommon to have a couple of these on pilot cars. |
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Location: The Mile High City | wow! it is something else to think of the very first one of any model year rolling off the line and surviving, let alone the very first C300! That's pretty cool! :cool: Not to take away the coolness of the very first 1955 Plymouth to roll out (if it still exists). I wondered if there were vehicles like that still out there. Nice to know there are! |
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Location: Parts Unknown | The restoration shop owner where I worked 35 years ago and his
friend had a slew of GM cars of significance like this. They were hound
dogs, scouring the continent for them. They had a thing for 50's-60's
big body GM stuff, mostly Chevy and Pontiac. Between the two, they
owned a couple dozen really weird cars that a person would never see
the likes of again. Not Mopar, but cool nonetheless. 
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Expert
Posts: 1886
| Vin #1 300C was at Mecum earlier this year. I saw the car, was pretty cool with some of the oddball features. Old restoration was showing and was going to need updating in the near future, reason I passed. |
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| I'm a '55 Plymouth guy, so I'd love to see the first '55 Plymouth too... although I bet it was a four door sedan so value may be limited. I had an old American Motors race car that was #00072. Made on the very first day of production with "left over" bodies from the model year before. My '53 Porsche race car is only the 12th body of the year. A cool note on the first Chrysler 300 (1001) is that it was built with engine block #005. Vin# 1002 was built with engine block #004. 300 engines were sat unto a pallet by the side of the production line and pulled from randomly. Vin#1003 is thought to have been destoryed up in the Northwest, but Vin#1004 is still around, but is considered unrestorable. Last I saw it was beyond rusty. It was the first Red 300, which isn't much of a claim to fame unless you collect nothing but Red 300s. Only Vin#1001 and #1002 were built around Febuary 10th for Daytona and recieved a number of pre-production parts. Vin#1003 was the start of regular production in March of 1955 and I've confirmed had all regular production parts. I did see the 1001 convertible 300C at auction. Neat car and I'm sure a lot of documentation on that car is still undiscovered. It's all cool stuff. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 990
| What about the cars with the highest VIN?
My '55 Dodge's VIN is 834 from the end of the line at Detroit's Dodge Main. The data plate date is 8/12, which is the last date of '55 production at Dodge Main. I've never seen a Dodge Main '55 Dodge with a higher VIN. |
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Lowest Vehicle Identification Number (VIN)