About to buy a 300C Hemi, UK - tips?

[RichardTK]

Originally Posted by UK CHRYSLER 300C

What? you mean the grille? my old Camaro had the egg crate grille.....and yes they will go rusty,I have surface rust underneath my car,so when I get a chance I'll rub it back and spray it

The grille, the bonnet shape (if it had flutes, it'd be perfect), but mostly - a big engined car which is neither overly sporty (SRT 8 aside) or luxurious (it's nothing like a P5B inside, more like an SD1! But I personally don't see that as an issue - the interior feels far more honest and solid than the W211 Mercedes E500 I considered). The eggcrate helps, of course, but I don't see the VXR8 as much of a follow up, it's too daft.

I saw the most trivial of surface rust - a little on the bung for the spare wheel well - but will be rustproofing it assuming the drive back isn't too wet (otherwise, I'll just be rinsing it a lot then getting onto it in summer - I don't want to seal salt spray in it!).

(And if I'm being entirely fair, my comparison is aimed at the Touring model, as I had an FE Ventora and an FE VX2300 GLS estate; the Victor 3300SL estate was not sold in the UK for long if at all). Also for Hemis in the UK, another car killed off by taxation and fuel costs - part of my path to the 300C was via the discovery that I could only have a new Voyager in 2.8 CRD form here, when I like the way the petrol V6 behaves).

[UK CHRYSLER 300C]

Go buy a vauxhall cos it seems that's what you really like.... Whatever you're drinking I'll have some please.... lol

[RichardTK]

Eh? I don't 'really like' Vauxhalls or any GM cars (my other car currently is a Saab 900iS cabriolet, and I hate it) - but I liked FE Victors, the last UK designed Vauxhalls. Hardly a great slur on the 300C to say that it reminds me of a car I liked...

I'd totally buy a new FE 3300 Estate if I could. Same goes for MK II Golf GTi, or Mk 1 Golf Cabriolet, or a CX GTi Turbo 2, or Mercedes W124 - but they're all old cars. I need something new for reliability etc.and with the caveats of EuroNCAP nonsense and modern bloat and giant pillars, the 300C has appealed to me since launch - and now I'm finally getting one

I mean, who wouldn't want to buy the cars they loved from their youth, but brand new?

[RichardTK]

Oh, yeah, I signed on the line, so assuming it doesn't explode on the way back from the MOT... I've got a 15,000 mile Hemi Touring. Probably paid over the odds - but it has the keys, books and tools, all seems to check out with HPI etc. and it's still cheaper than four years of contract hiring something dull.

[badgx]

Congrats on your purchase

Please feel free to post up a few photos of your 300c to the following thread.

http://www.300cforums.com/forums/eur...os-please.html

[RichardTK]

Absolutely! They might not be very exciting though, at least until I've got a bit more mobility Got an idea with a new tower block and a shift lens, though...

[ivanford]

You will enjoy it, I'm still think mine is a fantastic car.

[RichardTK]

Well, I've got it now!

The history backs up the mileage - and it hasn't been neglected, though it's dirty in the door shuts and would look good for a proper detailing. The dipstick snapped off, which caused some fretting but was safely removed and I'm buying a new one (maybe a billet one) - nothing appears to have dropped into the engine, but it's got a bit of warranty and I reckon if it had, I wouldn't have made it home! (I have the old dipstick and all yellow plastic parts, rubber rings and metal part are present). Only problem it has is the sunroof being out of sync - it only opens half-way back, then stops, and when I close it it goes to seal, then retracts as if it had an obstruction, before finally going to manual and being closable easily. Vent mode works but doesn't close, only goes to fully open.

I've checked the plastic gutter at the back, it's all present and undamaged (not broken, or broken off and halfway back in the roof), I've tried the resync and so forth, so the next trick is to pull the fuse when closing the sunroof. Hope that fixes it.

Need tyres, and torn on buying a set of winter ones now, or P7s and waiting to get winter ones later. Right now it'd be more at home on a dry day in Monaco, I knew they were bad but now I look at them in daylight... man, I am not sure this should have got by the MOT!

The navigation disc is clearly ancient, but love the sound from the radio. Need to get a leather armrest cover, but not the door trims.

Gotta love it though. Ordering my original-style grille next

Anyone removed the rear window tint? The tailgate tint has a small tear and given how hard it is to see following vehicles, I am tempted to take the tint off that window.

[ivanford]

I have a grille if you are interested, pm me. You also need a front number plate plinth if you want to be totally original, I think I might have one of these as well.
I don't think the wondows were originally tinted with a film, probably been added later. I would remove it all and give the windows a good clean and see how it looks.
I think you just need a billet end for the dipstick, the plastic handle bit and the blade are connected with a tiny roll pin.

[RichardTK]

There's a grille on eBay - well, several - apparently in excellent condition for £14.99 each - at that price I'd be tempted to buy several!

I have no number plate plinth that I'm aware of... so I probably need that. Pictures will come soon enough, I need to give the car my own check over and take it somewhere interesting for pictures, but the garage did tidy it up for me, even polished the black trims and they don't look as bad now.

I'll order the billet dipstick, don't want to risk it snapping again. Useless design. The garage reckoned it must have been weak before as it was dark around the edges of the break.