OK, I just called the old man, he found the ***le, It says it is a 56 Imperial 2 S on the ***le, heres the VIN just in case someone can tell me more about the car: C567133. It only has 63,572 miles on it.
The engine # as stamped on top of the valley rail behind the water pump is the key. A standard 354 will begin with "NE56" while a 300 variant would read "3NE56". These cars also have a stainless tag riveted into the drivers door pillar that will bear the same style #. I've examples of all the 300 specific engine parts on hand should you need to confirm anything.
Well Stephen Fields, you just lucked across the HOLY F'ING GRAIL of '50s Mopars. Don't tell me it's Regimental Red too. Even if it's sitting in a field and half rusted away, it's worth good money. A lot of people consider the '56 Chryslers to be the best of the best of the best. Not as outlandish as the '57-59 cars yet much more interesting stylistically than the early '50s boxy cars. Plus they are the first to have 12V electricals and of course the first to have real FINS. Richard Carpenter's car - SHA-WING. Yes, singer Richard Carpenter of The Carpenters from the '70s. Don't miss your opportunity to own one of the finest cars that Chrysler ever screwed together. And don't be a **** and yank the Hemi. You could probably trade a rustbucket car for a few running 392s.
Starts out as a '56 Chrysler but there should be eight total characters. Get the full VIN and trim tag and these guys will tell you what you have. http://www.backyardautomotive.com/vin_decoding.html Shows here what you should be looking for: http://www.backyardautomotive.com/vin_examples.html
This may be the tip-off. All '56 300s had dual-quads, even the base 340hp jobs. I think you're looking at an Imperial. Does it look like the car above, or does it look like this? They are pretty close. Except one has "Imperial" badges and the other has "Chrysler 300" badges. And this car is significantly bigger. Also, if it's a factory paint job other than red, white, or black, it's not a 300.
Gas - My '56 had seven characters; if the car was built in the first month of production, it would have seven. Mine was #1132 (or something like that) off the line, so the VIN was shorter.
The C56 doesn't sound right, tho - the prefixes were all 70 series in 56, right? A C56 corresponds to a '53 New Yorker, I think...
If it's cheap, buy it before the old guy starts bragging to his friends that he just sold the old POS in the barn for $**X.** and one of them says , "Heck, I'd give you $**X.50 for it" And he does.
My '56 service manual only listed one variant - the 355 HP version, with one cam spec, one compression spec, etc. I could be wrong, but there was but one set of tolerance and tune specs for the 300. I can't confirm this, cuz the book went with the car back in '92. 300's, when originally introduced in '55, didn't have a letter. Letters came later - in 1956 - to differentiate between the lower HP '55 and the hotted-up '56. Letter series cars continued as follows: 1956 300B - 355 HP 354 hemi 1957 300C - 375/390 HP 392 hemi 1958 300D - 380/390 HP 392 hemi 1959 300E - 380 HP 413 wedge 1960 300F - 375/400 413 1961 300G - 375/400 413 1962 300H - 380/405 413 1963 300J - 390 413 1964 300K - 360/390 413 1965 300L - 360 413 To confuse matters, Chrysler introduced the 300 (non-letter car) in '62 - a badge and not much more.
Did a check on the 300 site, it looks like '56 300Bs had a "3N56" VIN. 3N56**** with the X's being the sequential build sequence. http://www.chrysler300clubinc.com/1956300b.htm Chuck, I didn't realize some VINs were short, I didn't know they did that.
From the Hot Hemi Website info WE55 - 10011955New Yorker3312250 NE55 - 10011955New Yorker3314250 CE55 - 10011955Imperial33142503 NE55 - 10011955C3003312-4300*** NE56 - 10011956New Yorker3544280 CE56 - 10011956Imperial35442803 NE56 - 10011956300B3542-4340*** NE57 - 10011957New Yorker3924325 NE57 - 10011957New Yorker3922-4375***[/COLOR * Very rare! All 4 BBL engines were approximately 10% of production. ** 1951 through mid-1954 have bell housings cast onto block. *** 300 High Performance Option[/B] Betting its a 56 Imperial . Neat car. Dont hesitate.
You lucky *******. Ive been looking for awhile now for a 55-56 chrysler or desoto and you just stumble on it. Are you buying it for the car or just the motor?
These ´56 Chryslers and Imperials are really great cars. Chrysler letter cars have always been a**** my favourites. My friend has a 1956 Imperial and it never ceases to amaze me how smooth that 354 HEMI runs. But when you stomp on it it get´s a whole different tone I remember they made two versions of the 354 for the ´56 300B, the 355hp version was a option, either way both ran 2x4.
No I'm not going to buy it just for the hemi, That body style is in my top 10 favorites although never knew a whole lot about them. Id like to get the car running, Ive gotten alot of rusty iron too run that has sat for 20+ years, NEVER a hemi though. So, Any tips or warnings on getting a hemi running that has sat for 10 (or more) years?
I lit off my '56 with minimal issues after a 20 year sit. Get a carb rebuild kit from either Vintage Speed in Florida or Andy Bernbaum, pull the valve covers, pull the intake, and pull the cam cover. Reason for going this deep is sludge builds up in the cam valley, and you'll want to dig that out so that all the oil doesn't hang up topside when you lite it off. After that, a good motor flush, along with a fresh load of cheap oil laced with lifter medic to help loosen stubborn lifters. I had one clack for 45 minutes B4 it loosened up; after you have an hour or so of run time on the cheap oil - swap it out for fresh stuff. If you need an oil filter - I have spares. While you're at it - swap out the coolant B4 lighting off. you don't want to burn up the seal in the water pump if you can avoid it - '56 water pumps are very, very expensive! you'll also have probs with the P/S pump and lines - prolly better off removing the pump to start - otherwise, old lines burst and fill the garage with smoke - it's happened on both cars! PM me - I'll give you the list of stuff to do...
Man thats awesome. Are you going to have the car in Vandalia? I'm in Dayton and would love to come by and check it out. I have always loved those things and don't think I have ever seen one in person.
Yes, Ill have it here hopefully in a week or two, Ill post pics of it when i get it back, so when you see that post PM me and ill give you directions to the house
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