Tony Arme and the team at American Legends took a bold approach to a rare platform, transforming Randy Kohltfarber’s 1959 Chrysler 300E into something that blends vintage lines with modern muscle. Only 522 of these cars were ever built, but that didn’t stop them from tearing it down to the bones and building it back up with a completely new purpose.

The skinny front tire should be a green flag that this 300E isn’t your grandpa’s Chrysler.

The Gen-1 Hemi-powered ’55 300 is considered by some to be the first muscle car, and each model year saw it updated with more power and wilder styling. This project picks where Chrysler left off. It started with a full teardown before the body was sent to the Roadster Shop for 3D scanning. From that, a one-off chassis was built. A custom floor pan, firewall, and rear tub section were then engineered to match the new foundation and graft cleanly into the original body.

Modern Muscle With Classic Lines

Every panel of the Chrysler saw modification. The bumpers were pushed back six inches front and rear. The roof was chopped. The glass was flush-mounted. Even the fenders were rotated to a new orientation. Despite the changes, the team stayed focused on keeping the car recognizable as a ’59 Chrysler. They weren’t looking to erase its identity — just elevate it.

The owner’s favorite part? The rear of the car. The way the long trunk flows into the tailfins and extended taillights and wide rear glass captures everything he set out to do. It’s a bold design that stretches nearly to the pavement-and it looks right at home there.

Visually, the car leans more towards the aggressive side. Cerakoted trim, front splitters, and rear diffusers give it a modern edge. Under the hood is a 1,000-horsepower Hellcat V8 paired with a six-speed manual transmission. The horsepower has earned this build the name “Chrysler 1000x.” This is the kind of drivetrain you’d expect in a track car, not a big-body cruiser, and that was the point. The goal was to create something unexpected but clean — something that could pass for OEM if Chrysler had decided to build a supercar in 1959.

A Shared Vision And A Tight Deadline

The owner was inspired by the Chrysler 300 heritage, having previously owned a 2019 model. After digging into the design history and reading up on Virgil Exner’s styling influence at Chrysler, he became drawn to the long, low look of the late-’50s models. After getting no traction from other builders, he was referred to Tony by Tommy from SRT Autoworks. When he walked into Tony’s Phoenix shop and pitched the idea, Tony didn’t flinch; he got straight to work.

Like most custom builds, it snowballed. What started with a clear plan gradually escalated. As the work progressed, new ideas were pitched, and the project kept leveling up. Once the car began taking shape, the idea of debuting it at Detroit Autorama came up. That meant a hard deadline, and the team pushed to meet it.

The car was purchased sight unseen off eBay and shipped from Maryland to Phoenix. It ran and drove, but needed plenty of work. Final assembly came down to the wire; just two days before Autorama, the hood was still being adjusted. The car had to leave by 5 p.m. to make the 30-hour haul in time for setup. They made it.

Long, Low, Loud

In a sea of Camaros, Mustangs, and Challengers, this Chrysler 1000X stands out for its rarity and styling alone. The team took what was once a stately cruiser and gave it a new role on the street. It’s long, it’s low, and it’s got the horsepower to back up its presence.