1045 [Note: there is barely a word about computers in this essay]

In the late '60s, Car & Driver magazine ran a feature article declaiming that the full size American sedans of that era were the best cars ever made. Having cut my automotive aficionado teeth on big American iron, I agreed then and still think so. Those big GMs Fords, Chryslers, and even the larger American Motors offerings were amazingly superb machines, offering comfort, ruggedness, decent road manners, and massive V-8 power.

I remember exotic car-snobs of the time being appalled that Formula 1 World Champion Jim Clark chose a big American Ford Galaxie as personal transportation from his Scottish estate, but Jim was right. It was hard to beat those mid-'60s Fords (or Chevies or Dodges) for all-round goodness.

I owned an assortment of full-size American iron, and my son has picked up where I left off, with a '68 Imperial Crown convertible, and a '68 Chrysler Newport in his current fleet.

Those humongous old MoPars are astonishingly nimble handlers on the road, and there is nothing I like the feel of better (and I've driven BMWs and Alfa Romeos). With 440 and 383 CID V8 power, they don't take a backseat to much else on the road today power-wise either.

But for the past several years, there's been nothing really like the classic big American sedans of the '50s and '60s available. The Ford Crown Vic and Mercury Marquis come closest, being real wheel drive and big by today's standards, but they're not quite the same thing.

But a renaissance is upon us. This week, the Mac Night Owl, Gene Steinberg, posted a column entitled: "Can American Cars Compete?"

Gene writes:

"It was an awfully long time ago, but when I was young (no chuckles please!), cars made in the U.S. were among the best in the world. The large, tail-finned Cadillac was the gold standard, and something to aspire to if you ever became rich."

Gene laments the fall-off in quality and engineering than beset the US auto industry around the early '70s, but observes:

"This situation appears to be changing. Take, for example, the Chrysler brand. The marriage between Chrysler and Daimler-Benz was definitely not made in heaven, but it finally seems to be starting to pay off after several rocky years. Mercedes-Benz technology is finally filtering down to Chrysler vehicles, such as the hot-selling 2005 300 series.

"In fact, the new Chrysler 300, despite the fact that about a third of its parts are right out of the MB 300E parts bin, is big, bold, and uniquely American..."

Gene and his son Grayson took a Chrysler 300C, complete with the Hemi engine for a test drive, and came away favorably impressed.

So did my son, Tristan, who had the opportunity to wring a hemi-powered Chrysler 300C out on a closed course at a Chrysler promotional event in Halifax, Nova Scotia last month. Tristan is a consummate Chrysler fan, but didn't much care for the 1999 front-wheel-drive Intrepid he owned for a while, finding it paled by comparison with his hulking V8 rear wheel drive '60s beasts.

Not so the 300C, which he pronounced a worthy contemporary iteration of the big V8 rear-wheel-drive genre. Perhaps better than ever, with about one-third of the 300C's components coming from the corporate parent's Mercedes-Benz parts bin.

Gene and Tristan aren't the only 300C enthusiasts. Yesterday the Globe and Mail's Greg Keenan reported:

"It has been a few years since the Chrysler group had a hot car 'let alone a hot sedan' but its 300C model is roaring out of dealers' lots and has turned the Brampton, Ont., assembly plant into a seven-day-a-week operation.

"Sales are surging so much that the auto maker 'part of DaimlerChrysler AG' has asked members of the Canadian Auto Workers union to cut the standard two-week summer shutdown next month to a one-week holiday.....

"The vehicles so far are the Chrysler 300 and the 300C, the top-of-the-line version of the sedan that comes with a 5.7-litre engine bearing the Hemi trademark. They will be followed next month by a station wagon version called the Dodge Magnum.

A Dodge sedan will arrive next spring and revive the name of the storied Charger muscle car of the the 1960s and 1970s."

Cool!

You can read Car & Driver's May, 2004 road test of the Chrysler 300C here:
http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?section_id=3&article_id=8009

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