For 1957, the Chrysler division featured dramatic Forward Look styling in four models, but the one most remembered today is the fearsome 300C. 

Introduced in 1955 across the Chrysler Corporation’s product line, Virgil Exner’s Forward Look styling theme reached full maturity in 1957. With their low, sleek rooflines and boldly stated tailfins, the ’57 Chrysler products really were the sensation of the industry, shaking up styling studios across the Motor City. The Chryslers seemed to leap several years ahead into the future, somehow. At the Plymouth division for ’57, the slogan was “Suddenly, it’s 1960,” while at the premium Chrysler brand, the top line in the sales brochure was “a step ahead of tomorrow.”

Under its forward-leaning exterior, the ’57 Chrysler was a mix of old and new. The low- sillhouette body was somehow crouched over a traditional ladder frame, but with a new twist for 1957, Torsion-Aire suspension, with a pair of longitudnal torsion bars in the independent front suspension. (See our feature here.) Also new for ’57 were 14-inch tires, an industry-wide development driven mainly by the styling departments. One year earlier, the industry-leading Torqueflite three-speed automatic transmission had been introduced.

Four trim levels flew the Chrysler flag in ’57, all on the same 126-in wheelbase chassis: base Windsor, midrange Saratoga, the premium New Yorker, and the corporation’s performance flagship, the 300C. The cheapest car in the lineup at $3,088, the WIndsor four-door post sedan, was also the best seller with more than 17,000 produced. Total volume that year was around 122,000 cars, a 5 percent dip from 1956. There were troubles brewing in the corporation, apart from the fabulous new styling.

Of course, the headliner of the Chrysler brand for ’57 was the 300C, third in the procession of Chrysler 300 letter cars (below). The 300 got its own unique grille that year, though the real attraction was the rip-roaring 392 cubic-inch Firepower hemi V8 with dual four-barrel carburetors and 375 hp. But since enough is never enough, optional was a 390 hp version with more compression and a sportier cam, along with stiffer suspension, a limited-slip differential, and a three-speed manual transmission. Motor Trend magazine coaxed a 0-60 mph time of 8.0 seconds from a 390 hp car—fairly sensational for the time.

Tom McCahill, the simile-slinging dean of the magazine road testers in those days, sampled the 300C in the May 1957 issue of Mechanix Illustrated, where he was essentially the franchise player. With typical restraint, your Uncle Tom declared the 300C “motorized dynamite” and  “the most hairy-chested, fire-eating land bomb ever conceived in Detroit.” Very well then. While the Chrysler brand’s total volume slipped in ’57, sales of the letter car more than doubled, albeit to just 2,402 cars (including 484 convertibles). Its relative rarity is just one of the reasons the 300C is among the most collectible of ’50s Chrysler products.