Chrysler 300C Touring Custom Build: F-15 Fighter Jet Inspired Estate

Chrysler 300C Touring Built Like a Fighter Jet

My name is Steve Holloway, and I'm the founder and owner of Gunslinger Speed Shop, based in Hailsham, East Sussex. I'm a custom painter, fabricator and hot rod enthusiast, and I've always had a thing for building vehicles that stand out from the crowd. This is the story of my Chrysler 300C Touring, a 2009 UK-spec estate that's being turned into a fighter jet for the road, and one I'm developing as an entry for the Hot Wheels Legends Tour 2027.

Quick honesty check before we start. This build is a work in progress. The paint, the bodywork and the wheels are where the car is right now, while the engine upgrades, the suspension and the interior are all still to come. I'll make it clear which is which as we go, because documenting the finished work and the stages yet to come is a big part of what makes the whole thing interesting.

Who Is Gunslinger Speed Shop?

My work revolves around custom automotive paint, candy colours over heavy metal flake, airbrushing, pinstriping, restorations, fabrication and performance builds. I've built the business around doing things differently. I'm not interested in making cars look like everything else on the road. I want every project to have its own identity, personality and story.

A big part of that is sharing the reality of what we do. Across TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube at @gunslingerspeedshop, my audience has grown to more than 226,000 followers and subscribers, with millions of monthly views. The content is built around being authentic and showing the work rather than just talking about it, from the technical side of paint and fabrication to the challenges, the mistakes, the problem-solving and the finished results.

I'm particularly passionate about the custom car and hot rod scene, where individuality, craftsmanship and imagination are at the heart of everything. I want to help keep that culture alive while introducing it to a new generation through social media and ambitious builds.

Why a Chrysler 300C Touring?

The car is a 2009 UK-spec Chrysler 300C Touring, chosen because it's an unusual platform that you rarely see transformed into a full-blown custom build. I've always liked cars with presence, and the 300C has that imposing shape, long body and distinctive proportions that make it a great canvas for something completely different.

Rather than starting with an obvious sports car or a traditional hot rod, I wanted to take a big, relatively understated estate car and turn it into something that looks like it belongs on a fighter jet flight line. If you're into big American steel, there's plenty more to explore in our  muscle cars section, but you won't see many estates like this one in there.

The F-15 Eagle Inspiration

The inspiration for the build is the F-15 Eagle, the  Boeing fighter jet famous for its aggressive shape, military engineering and twin-fin silhouette. I wanted to capture those elements and translate them into automotive styling rather than simply sticking a few decals on a car.

The idea is to make the whole vehicle feel like a fighter jet reimagined as a road car, with the paintwork, body modifications and interior all working together as one complete design. "I want people to see it and immediately understand the inspiration, but also discover new details the longer they look at it."

Split Pink and Green Candy Paint Over Heavy Flake

The centrepiece is the custom paint scheme, a split between pink and green candy over a heavy metal-flake base. I wanted the contrast to be bold, unconventional and instantly recognisable, with the flake creating depth and movement as the light hits the bodywork.

Candy paint is particularly challenging because the colour develops through transparent layers, so consistency, coverage and the relationship between the two colours are critical to the finished effect. As a professional custom painter, this is one of the aspects of the build I'm most excited about. The aim is a finish that looks spectacular in person and under changing light, while still being recognisable when the car is eventually translated into a 1:64-scale Hot Wheels model.

Each side of the car has its own identity while forming part of one cohesive design. I've designed the paintwork and the body modifications to work together rather than treating them as separate elements. If flake is your thing, take a look at this  custom Vauxhall Nova with rainbow flake paint for another take on how far metallic finishes can go.

Exterior: Reverse-Cowl Bonnet and Twin-Fin Rear Wing

The exterior of the Chrysler 300C Touring is being developed around the fighter-jet theme. The design includes a reverse-cowl bonnet, a bespoke twin-fin fibreglass rear wing and custom grille openings inspired by the F-15's air intakes.

The twin fins are particularly important. They help bring the aircraft's silhouette into the car's proportions, and they're the feature that most clearly says "jet" from a distance. Rather than covering the vehicle in excessive graphics, I want the major shapes, carefully considered details and the split paint scheme to do most of the talking. Every modification needs to contribute to the overall concept. The goal is a cohesive design, not a collection of aftermarket parts.

Built With Hot Wheels Legends Tour 2027 in Mind

This is the part that adds a whole extra layer of challenge. The Chrysler 300C Touring has to work as a full-size custom vehicle while keeping a clear silhouette and strong visual identity at 1:64 scale. Small details that look impressive on a full-size car can disappear when everything is reduced, so the proportions, the twin-fin wing, the bonnet shape and the split-colour design all need to work together.

It needs to look outrageous as a full-size car but also translate into a Hot Wheels model. The aim is to create something instantly recognisable, even as a miniature. You can follow the official side of things over at  Hot Wheels.

Wheels: Rare Streeter Show Wheels, Custom Painted

The car runs rare Streeter Show wheels in a staggered setup, which gives it a distinctive stance and helps set it apart from other Chrysler 300Cs. They've been custom painted to tie directly into the overall design, with metal flake and candy finishes applied to the inner sections. That carries the pink-and-green theme beyond the bodywork and into the finer details, so the wheels feel like an integral part of the design rather than an afterthought.

Performance Plans: 3.0-Litre CRD V6 Diesel

Under the bonnet, the car currently produces around 320 bhp from its 3.0-litre CRD V6 diesel engine. The performance side of the build is far from finished though. One of my next ambitions is to develop the engine further with a hybrid turbo, methanol injection and supporting modifications, including an upgraded intercooling setup.

The goal is to push the power beyond its current output and create a car capable of serious acceleration and drag-style runs. To be clear, these are planned upgrades rather than modifications already completed. Part of the appeal is documenting the process of taking the car from its current specification to something considerably more capable.

Suspension, Interior and Brakes: The Next Stages

The suspension is another major stage still to come. I want the stance and handling to complement the aggressive exterior design, rather than simply making the car look the part. The plan is a hybrid air suspension setup, giving adjustable ride height and the stance I want when parked while keeping the car practical on the road.

Alongside the mechanical development I'm planning a completely custom interior. The intention is to carry the fighter-jet cockpit theme into the cabin, creating an environment that feels purposeful and distinctive without losing the character of the original Chrysler. The existing dashboard is the starting point, and the finished interior will be designed to complement the exterior so the car feels as special from behind the wheel as it looks from the outside.

The brakes will need to keep pace with the performance development, particularly as the engine moves beyond its current 320 bhp. The final specification will be decided as the mechanical work progresses.

One of the biggest challenges is balancing all of this. The Chrysler is a large, heavy estate car, so the aim isn't simply to make it look aggressive. The mechanical side, the suspension and the interior all have to support the concept too. This project combines traditional workshop skills with modern performance tuning, custom fabrication and creative design, and there are plenty of challenges still to overcome.

Chrysler 300C Touring Build List

This is an ongoing, extensively customised project rather than a car built from an off-the-shelf modification list. Almost every aspect is being approached with the wider design concept in mind, from the candy-and-flake paint to the bodywork. Items marked as planned have not been completed yet.

Engine

• 3.0-litre CRD V6 diesel, currently producing approximately 320 bhp
• Planned: hybrid turbo
• Planned: methanol injection
• Planned: upgraded intercooling system

Interior

• Planned: bespoke fighter-jet-inspired cockpit carrying the F-15 theme into the cabin
• Planned: custom detailing, a more purposeful driver-focused layout and integrated technology
• Existing Chrysler dashboard as the starting point

Exterior

• Reverse-cowl bonnet
• Bespoke twin-fin fibreglass rear wing
• Modified grille openings inspired by the F-15's air intakes
• Split pink-and-green candy paint over heavy metal flake

Wheels

• Rare Streeter Show wheels in a staggered setup
• Custom painted with metal flake and candy finishes on the inner sections

Suspension

• Planned: hybrid air suspension setup with adjustable ride height

Brakes

• Planned: upgrade to suit the engine's power progression, final specification to be determined

What's Next at Gunslinger Speed Shop

At Gunslinger Speed Shop we don't really do ordinary builds. Our philosophy is simple: "we build one-off, cool shit." We like taking vehicles that people wouldn't expect to see modified in a particular way and turning them into something completely different. We love pushing boundaries, experimenting with ideas and creating cars that have their own identity rather than following whatever's popular at the time.

The Chrysler 300C Touring is a perfect example of that approach, but it certainly won't be the last ambitious build out of the workshop. Next on the list is a 1948 Chevrolet Stylemaster that we're planning to transform into a touring-car-inspired machine. The idea is to take a classic post-war American car and give it a completely different attitude, blending its original character with a more aggressive motorsport influence. It's a chance to combine traditional hot-rod styling with modern performance ideas, custom fabrication and, of course, the kind of paintwork that makes people stop and look twice. If you like classic Chevys done differently, our  1968 Chevy Camaro SS feature is well worth a read.

Beyond those two builds there are always more ideas being thrown around the workshop. We work across classic American cars and hot rods, modern performance cars and custom motorcycles. The common thread is individuality.

A big part of what we do is sharing the process. We want people to see not just the finished cars but the decisions, fabrication, problem-solving, paintwork and hard graft that go into bringing an idea to life. Social media lets us take people inside the workshop and introduce custom-car culture to a much wider audience, including people who've never set foot in a hot-rod shop.

Shout-Outs

I'd like to thank everyone who follows, supports and engages with Gunslinger Speed Shop, along with the customers, collaborators, suppliers and fellow enthusiasts who make these projects possible. The custom-car scene thrives on people sharing ideas, skills and inspiration, and we're proud to be part of that community. We're always keen to work with brands and people who genuinely share our passion for creativity, craftsmanship and doing things differently.

There are plenty more unconventional builds planned, and the goal remains the same: keep making things that haven't been done before and never become a workshop that simply copies everyone else. "If it looks a little crazy on paper but we can find a way to make it work, it's probably exactly the sort of project we'll want to build."

Ultimately, this Chrysler 300C Touring is about taking an overlooked platform and giving it a completely new identity. With a clear concept, creativity and the skills to bring it to life, an ordinary-looking estate car can become something extraordinary. And with the performance, suspension and interior work still ahead, there's a lot more to come.

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