(first posted 8/3/2013) I like Imperials. I mean, I REALLY like Imperials. And I mean Imperials, not “Chrysler Imperials,” bub! So could I not do an Imperial post during Mopar Week? Impossible! And fortunately, during the AACA Grand National–the same show where I caught the ’61 Town & Country and ’60 Valiant–I caught two of the nicest Imperial convertibles I’ve ever seen. Yes, this show was just lousy with fine vintage Mopar iron. So join me, as we look at two fine examples of good Imperialism…
The 1960 Imperial was thoroughly restyled, losing the 1959’s somewhat sinister-looking grille teeth in favor of more flowing lines, especially on the two-door Southampton and Crown convertible. While many folks consider the ’60 a bizarre conglomeration of kitschy Exner cues, it is one of my favorite Imperials–and for those ready to place this model year under the “kitschy” banner, need I remind you of the ’61 Imperial?
By 1960, Chrysler was extending the Imperial’s luxury credibility to its fullest; a year earlier, Imperial production had been moved to a dedicated factory on Detroit’s Warren Avenue. There, special care was taken with assembly and finish quality, a fact trumpeted loudly in Imperial literature of the day. These were solid cars with proven mechanicals and every conceivable power assist. Who needed a Cadillac? Well, apparently many did, as under 18,000 Imperials were built.
I also love the instrument panel–particularly that bold, dual-binnacle gauge cluster. Imperials also used electroluminescent panel lighting; while common today, it was a unique selling point in 1960. Naturally, push-button Torqueflite was also standard equipment. Pink broadcloth, a push-button transmission and an oval steering wheel–I like!
There’s just something about an Imperial convertible, and as the flashiest, brashest and sportiest Imperial of them all, the $5, 774, 4,280-lb. Crown ‘vert was something truly special–and with a mere 618 copies sold that year, you were highly unlikely to see yourself in traffic.
Apparently the original owner of our featured ’60 took a shine to the identical red-over-white Imperial pictured in the brochure. All Imperials, regardless of body style, were powered by a 4-BBL 413 CID V8 that made 350 hp at 4,600 rpm. The sole Imperial convertible was the mid-range Crown, which featured the standard equipment on the entry-level Imperial Custom plus a six-way power seat, vanity mirror and outside rear-view mirror.
In truth, however, there was no “base” Imperial–at least not in the Valiant V-100 sense, as every Imperial came with power steering, power brakes, dual exhaust, undercoating, an electric clock and windshield washers, along with the aforementioned 413 V8 and Torqueflite.
Lovely little details abound, including the little gold crowns on the fins, taillight bezels and what is, in my opinion, the best script ever seen on a car–the “Imperial” name, spelled out in bold cursive on the grille and front fenders. It doesn’t say “imperial,” it says “IMPERIAL!” And nary a Chrysler nameplate appeared anywhere. No, eBay, no, Auto Trader, it is NOT a “Chrysler Imperial Other Base!” Got it? Good.
This one also has the bucket seats with the “buddy” center section. Due to overcast weather, it is not immediately obvious in the photos, but they’re of pearlescent leather with an oh-so-luxurious, oh-so-Imperial luster.
So many cool details inside, too. I also dig the little “thruster” interior-door releases. Throttling down? Nope, just getting out of the car.
As you might be able to deduce by the Monte Carlo SS in the background, this is a BIG car; sure, younger people might think a 1998 Town Car is big, but they don’t know what they’re talking about. I am reminded of JPCavanaugh’s oh-so-appropriate comment in his ’76 Electra CC:
“So when someone sees my Crown Victoria or my son’s ’89 Grand Marquis and remarks about what a big car it is, I can stop what I am doing, throw open the garage door, wrestle them into the front seat and say ‘No you big dumb idiot, THIS is a big car!’”
Yes! The Imperial is big. The ’76 Electra is big. A 1987 Ninety-Eight is not big, nor is an ’88 Continental–relatively speaking, of course.
In 1960, the Imperial reigned supreme. But the same year brought Chrysler yet another financial crisis (sound familiar?), causing the Imperial to lose its own factory; although the 1964-66 models set new sales highs, the make never really did put a dent in Cadillac’s armor.
But oh, they were special cars, and still are. Even today, I get excited anytime I see an Imperial. Because they’re rare. Because they’re special. Oh sure, I love seeing a ’61 Connie convertible or a ’62 deVille, but neither is an Imperial. I prefer Imperials of any year or model–in fact, even the thinly disguised 1990-93 New Yorker-based version, crappy Ultramatic and all, can pique my interest.
This is why I think the 1960 Imperial Crown is quite possibly the most perfect fair-weather friend you could have–assuming you have the means to maintain and feed one. But by now you’re probably interested in the one-of-none 1956 Imperial convertible. Never fear; let’s check it out right now.
Of course, there was no 1956 Imperial convertible: that year’s lineup was restricted to a four-door sedan and four-and two-door hardtops. But clearly, someone thought a convertible should have been offered prior to 1957…
…as this blue convertible is striking. I thought this was the car written up in Hemmings Classic Car a few years back, but a bit of research proved it was a 1955 model, not a ’56. This is apparently one of only a handful built at the factory towards the end of the model year.
Apparently based on the New Yorker convertible, it was never an official production model. Whether they were made for Chrysler Corporation bigwigs, as practice for the upcoming 1957 Imperial convertibles or built for VIP customers is not clear; perhaps someone here at CC knows more.
The interior, which matches the blue paint and white convertible top, is very appealing. Note the little Imperial eagles in the cloth seat inserts. Very cool.
Apart from the décapotable body style, all the usual Imperial refinements are present, including the “microphone” or “gunsight” taillamps, standing proud of the rear quarter panels.
All this talk of Imperials is really making me wish for a new 2013 Imperial. I think a long-wheelbase 300 would make a good starting point. Make the roof more formal, with more glass area, and also offer two-door hardtop and Crown convertible models. How about it, Chrysler? After all, you no longer have Daimler’s boot on your neck, product development-wise. It’s time for a real American luxury car, not some Euro-inspired pretender. It’s time for Imperial–again!
WOW!
Not just “Imperial” in script on the side, but also the model “Crown”.
Guess they were going after Cadillac and Lincoln with a “bigger” car than even a Chrysler. As you say, these are very big cars (back from when bigger was still better) even when “standard” cars were quite a bit bigger than they are now. I know there’s lots of fans of the 1960 Imperial, and the rare convertible, it doesn’t get much better than that (maybe if you really can’t get enough luxury, the Ghia Limos, but that’s ridiculously low volume)
I’m not sure why, but 1960 had lots of one year only parts (I guess also the ’59 did too, like the unique dash different from other model years). I know they changed models quickly back then (guess this was to provide motivation to buy the next year model, you wouldn’t want to be caught with last year’s styling, would you?) but considering the low volume, it seems that it would be very expensive, these 2 years seemed to be the only ones they changed after only one year, and they were back to back years for some reason. I also like the ’60 style better than the ’59 which seemed even more massive to me (the front grill on the ’59 is probably what does it). The neat thing I think is that you can see the 50’s styling morphing into the ’60s in these cars, they are long and low like ’60s cars but still have the blocky and “upright” grills from the ’60s.
Chrysler then seemed to be going through kind of what Volvo has been going through, trying to get away from just the solid well made but frumpy cars of the ’50s to put a lot more emphasis on styling.
I like the ’56 too but more an admirer of the style of the ’60…though I’m sure the ’56 was likely better made, and also still had the hemi which they phased out after ’58.
I think kids today might even have a hard time believing they once made cars like this (and people bought them), they are a product of that time, but times are quite different now, hard to think we’d ever see anything like them again. Also like that two of the ads show people talking on a car phone, something that would really be a big deal in 1960 (only for those with lots of money) but kids today would wonder what the big deal is
Very true about people having a hard time believing people bought cars this big in those years. These cars were certainly before my time; I see them comparable in size and excess to SUVs and even larger-than-ever crossovers today. So many people don’t need an SUV, but they still buy them as something large to flaunt and to be bigger than other cars on the road. Reminds me of a family of 3 people I knew when I was a kid. They purchased a new Ford Excursion when they came out in late 1999 as their daily driver. Hey the economy was good, gas was cheap, why not?
A hard time believing they once made cars like this? That, I can surely identify with.
As a child, the only exposure I had to cars like this was from reading the car ads in National Geographic when I’d finished my schoolwork. I’m sure the teacher expected us to be learning from the articles, but I made a beeline for the car ads, and ‘read’ the same issues over and over again. To an Aussie kid a Chevy was a big car. A ”tank’ Fairlane was a big car. Actual American luxury cars were like something from another universe; they would never have fitted in the world I knew.
Tom, I really love Imperials too. And I agree that their rareness makes seeing one all that more special. I recall seeing a 1967 Crown Convertible a few years back and literally shaking with excitement. My favorites are the ’61s, ’63s, and ’67s.
As for the two here, that ’56 is truly something unique. I do appreciate the Imperial Eagles in the upholstery. The ’60 is beautiful as well. For some reason though I’ve never liked the Exner-styled convertible Imperials as much as their hardtop coupe and sedan counterparts. I still like them, I just feel like they don’t look as unique as the hardtops from other Chryslers.
Every time I see a Chrysler product from this era I have to be amazed by the size and shape of the steering wheel. Even with power steering, it must have been a challenge to steer, especially with the Imperials wide turning diameter.
My father once let me drive his 1960 Imperial, and I remember that the power assist was so great that you could steer it with a fingertip. Totally effortless! But making it fit in a parking place would have been a challenge, I guess that’s what bumpers were for…
When I was a kid, there was an Imperial from the era of the red one here parked on the street every day in my neighborhood. It was quite a sight among the Impalas and Catalinas; I lived in a working-class subdivision. Anyway, I would always linger over it when I passed on my way to school, and enjoy that over-the-top Imperial logo.
The 56 is gorgeous,the 60 a bit too flashy for my tastes.Hard to believe there was only 4 years between them
Two beautiful Imperials!!. To me there are ordinary luxury cars . And then there are Imperials. The best from Chryco.
+1. There is something about them that seems upmarket from the common-or-garden Cadillac. The ’60 especially.
Is the woman in the “At Your Fingertips” page on a car phone?
Yup. Most folks think the car phone was a 1980’s thing but it actually was created in the 1940’s. Worked on by Bell Labs it was a crude and cumbersome affair but worked well enough for that era
If you are interested here is a link to a good site that talks about the early system with pictures of the components.
http://www.wb6nvh.com/MTSfiles/Carphone1.htm
The cowboy with the white 1956 has one too, I think.
There is an old radio show (think it might be The Whistler) from the late ’40s that used mobile phone technology as part of the plot. The protagonist murdered his business partner and tried to set up an alibi by claiming to have phoned a garage about his broken-down car using a mobile car phone. Touble is, the police pointed out that the location he claimed to phone from was actually a “dead zone” where no telephone transmissions were possible because of the geography.
Growing up in the ’70s I knew mobile phones existed because the TV P.I. Cannon had one in his Lincoln Mark IV
Beautiful cars, words do fail me. My favorite designs have always been the more outrageous ones like the 1961 through 1963 models with the quad stand away from the body headlights and toilet seat. I’ve seen a few at car shows and it is as if they are too radical to exist, to have actually been built.
The 56 Imperial has always been a favorite of mine. It is conservative and tasteful, yet stylish – just as a luxury car should be. I had never heard of any 56 convertibles, but I am no expert on these. I wonder if the Imperial Club website has anything on them? Just checked – there is a short note that 3 were believed built, but no further info. As of the mid 2000s, one of the three was being pulled out of storage and sent for restoration. No idea if this is the same car or another.
The 60 had one of the oddest front ends of anything ever built by Chrysler. To me, it is right up there behind the 62 Dart. According the the imperial Club, there were fewer than 18K Imperials built that year, including 618 convertibles.
After 56 the Imperials and the other Mopars were very flashy and then became rather strange til Elwood Engel arrived and came up with another beauty
No, I must respectfully disagree, jpc. I have alway loved the ’60 front end, with the graceful curve of those bumpers wrapping around the corners, and the conservative grille texture, the ‘eyelid’ shading the headlights giving the impression of looking down your nose at lesser vehicular traffic. It might be my favourite Imperial front end of all.
I liked the Imperials too – my 1958 4-door hardtop had so many unique trim pieces and styling touches on it, all of them of very high quality. Although these were even bigger and heavier than contemporary Chryslers, mine didn’t seem much different to drive than my 57 New Yorker did. With the same 392 hemi, power steering and brakes, and the ability to see all four corners of the car, driving it was a pleasure.
There’ve been a couple of Imperials over the years that I should have bought but didn’t – one of them a maroon 1959 sedan, the other a 1959 2-door hardtop with the stainless steel top inserts.
I’ve never understood the fascination with wire wheels on these cars. They’re heavy and difficult to keep clean, and to me they belong on 1920’s or 1930’s cars.
It’d be interesting to know the serial number of the 1956 convertible – if it was low that’d be an indication that it may have been built at the factory with a 55 body and 56 trim. A high serial number would imo cast doubt on the 55/56 admixture being factory. A friend of mine had a 1956 300B convertible that had supposedly belonged to Dave Beck, the former Teamster Union president; he was pretty sure that the car had been converted from a Windsor or New Yorker convertible, but it had been a thorough conversion with everything that should be on a 300B being on the car.
While I can’t verify this particular `56 convertible, 3 were factory built for top brass execs at the time. There is an emerald green cvt. currently (12/16) for sale in Hemmings that was built for a particular exec, with a highly personalized interior–not the normal coupe interior this blue one has. It’s in rough shape, and the seller wants $40K. He knows he has a 1-of-3 factory custom. it’s worth every penny of the asking price IMHO.
Imperials have always been near the top of my favorites list. They had most or all of Chrysler’s ‘different’ features that I like. My favorites would be the ’60, ’63, ’64, ’67 and ’69. My mother had a college friend that we would visit occasionally. She (the friend) sold Chrysler’s as a part time venture. She had a new ’64 when we visited her in that year. I was 8, and I remember playing with the power windows. They worked without the key back then. As best as I can recall that was my first experience with power windows. Then about 40 years ago while in the used car business I had short experience with a ’60 model. It was a trade in at the local Chrysler dealer that was sold to the lot I worked at. I got to drive it to our lot. I don’t remember much about it. It was winter, and dark when I drove it. It was a dark colored 4 door, and it ran very well. At that time 13 year old cars were unusual, and Imperial’s especially so. I had a few other Imperials cross my path during the 5 or so years I was in the used car business, but not very many. They were rare even when new.
As far as the Imperial nameplate coming back, I have lost much of my desire for the current high line cars. Sure, I still lust after them. But they are so complex. All the electronic features seem to be designed by computer geeks showing off. Granted, the luxury cars of the sixties had gadgets that the average car did not have. That has not changed. But I have a reasonable chance of diagnosing and repairing all those gadgets myself. I do not come anywhere close on modern cars, mainly due to the diagnostic equipment that is required. So the cost of ownership significantly increases.
Thanks for the write up. As I said earlier, these are some favorites. The last time I recall seeing a pre ’75 was about 15 years ago. It was a ’63 that was for sale. It was reasonably priceed, but at the time I suffered from the usual lack of space, time and money. Oh well…
Did you mother’s friend make in-home sales calls? I know that was done in the 1940’s and 50’s.
To me the important thing about the 1957-63 Imperials was that they pioneered curved side glass, which when it suddenly became more common in 1964-65 made a huge difference in my appreciation of car beauty.
Years ago (in a print magazine) I first saw photos of models of the proposed large/midsize curved-glass Plymouths and Dodges for 1962, which unfortunately ended up as the ’62 (flat-glass) Dart and Fury. If Chrysler had found the money, it could have been the first to introduce curved glass on a mass basis, with curvier and perhaps more attractive bodies than those of the ’64 GM intermediates.
Could those photos be found and posted here? The outrageous sheetmetal of those designs really did work much better with curved glass, it seemed to me.
Cool cars and very impressive to a kid when riding in one a school friends parents had an Imperial a very expensive car here new in RHD and way cooler than my dads new Vauxhall, but I last saw it rusting quietly no longer in use in the late 70s.
Well, late to the party, but good to be here!
As for the one-of-none ’56 convertible, I’ve heard that one was made for KT Keller himself, but I can’t back that up.
Pulling the Imp from its dedicated plant was unfortunate. They ended up making them at Jefferson Main, one of the oldest plants in the system at the time. And those 18,000 sales don’t sound like much but that’s close to Lincoln output at the time. (Jefferson lives on, in a completely new facility, as the home of the Jeep Grand Cherokee.)
Blah blah blah, back to drool over those pictures some more. 🙂
This is the first time I’ve seen a 1960 Imperial interior. I am amazed at how beautiful it is and how Italian it looks. Not even a tiny bit dated. I could even see a modern compact airbag in the steering wheel hub.
Tom, thanks so much for the article, the Imperial-reverence, and that Trip-to-the-’56-Chrysler-Corp-Board-Room embodied in that Mediterranean Blue convertible which may well have been custom made for one of its members.
Imperials… where to start, and how to say it? What Imperials are to vintage car lovers -today- (assumption: over 40+) and what Imperials were in their day are distinctly different things. Today, I think I view the styling of ’57 – ’62 Imperials as I might view an episode of Mad Men or a great retro Tumblr blog: they are the romantic apotheosis of how I think things were. All of which can be summed up in my nickname for the dashboard of the ’60 Imperial: the Dolly Parton.
All joking aside, think about it: I remember the ’60 and ’61 Plymouth very well when they were new: very fresh, nice cars: but they were completely overshadowed by their GM and Ford competitors -as if to be invisible. TODAY I’d kill to have a ’60 Fury because it now looks like the ne plus ultra it never was then. And I have to ask myself if that’s not exactly how I view the Imperials.
Having said that, Imperials are a constant subject of reverence and discussion in our car club (an LCCI), and we’re fortunate to have eleven of them in our current membership, including ’57 in Desert Beige, a ’65, and one of the ’68 Shriner’s Imperials. All Hail Mopar Week.
Everything about the Imperial was kind of outrageous, especially the name – one surpassed only by the Studebaker Dictator. I’ve never liked the 1960’s styling very much, neither the front end nor the huge fins in back, although I do think it looks best in the Ghia limousine which is huge enough to wear the styling. On the other hand, the 1956 is one of the most beautiful Imperials ever.
The debut of the 1962 Imperial made me very happy as a kid. The 1961’s outrageously huge fins were gone and the microphone taillights were back in the form of little missiles. Always enjoyed watching Milton Drysdale’s 62 Imperial roll into the Clampett’s driveway.
These are two of the nicest Imperials I have ever seen. Inside and out, they are impeccable. I also love Imperials, especially the convertibles, and would take pretty much any one I could find. I nearly bought a Formal Black ’63 convertible with tan leather (of 531 built) … didn’t act fast enough and it will forever be one of the ones that got away.
The blue Imperial convertible looks close to but not the same as the one pictured in http://www.imperialclub.com website. That one for KT Keller has acplit rear bumper to accomodate a Contiental wheel and a VIn that starts with 9999.
It also has a chrome side spear that stops aobut 15″ behind the trailing edge of the side doors, then switching to four slightly angled vertical “hash marks.” I’d like to know if the KT Keller version was ever sold very cheaply as a “barn find” before it was restored. Thanks for any info…
I own the red 1960 Imperial Convertible. These photos were taken at the AACA Grand National in Moline, IL. It was a cold rainy day. Normally I show my car with the door open and seat swivelled out. Everyone loves those seats. This is a 400 point car and took me app 3200 hours over an 8 year period to do a complete nut and bolt restoration. It is For Sale. Go to http://www.1960imperialconvertible.com for more details.
Thanks for sharing, it was a beautiful car. Unfortunately, it started raining about five minutes after arriving at the show. There were some amazing cars there though, so it was worth enduring the weather!
The light blue 56 convert is largely original and belongs to a friend in the Imperial club who shuns publicity The wagon is a combo of 56 New Yorker T&C, 56 300 and Imperial parts, but looked very nice
To my eyes, there has never been a better set of tailfins than the ones on the ’56 Imperial. This convertible is magnificent.The 1960 Imperial is just bizarre to no good effect.
Nobody, but nobody, ever has done convertibles as well as Chrysler.
Wow, I must have missed this when it was first posted. That interior shot of the ’60 looks so modern-ly streamlined and simple, like a (don’t hate me) Honda dash.
I miss Tom’s articles here…
And I always liked these, some find the front bumper goofy but I enjoy the smirk.
When I was a young kid, my father took me on a day trip to Quantico. I’m not sure what the reason for the trip was, but I remember it “featured” a mock battle on the shore of a small lake. On the way home we stopped at a drug store in Chevy Chase and I all but demanded a souvineer(?) of the trip and got a 1/24th scale model of a 60 Imperial convertible. I seem to remember that it was turquoise green, and of course had those massive rear fenders with the gun sight tail lights.
As we got closer to home, we stopped at a museum outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania where I would see a Tucker for the first time. It would be decades before I finally found out what was the story behind the car.
While these are fabulous cars, my favorite Imperials are the fuselage models. Now those are huge (looking) cars.
Wonder if that museum near Harrisburg is still there?…I think the one we used to pass was called “Autorama” or something like that, but I never got a chance to stop in, but as a kid riding in my Parent’s car on the way from our home in Manassas going to my Grandparent’s home in Northeastern PA, I used to look for it just as we entered the PA turnpike from route 15…it was one of the landmarks I’m sure I always commented on. We took the PA turnpike only 2 exits (I think the toll was about $0.35 for that distance on the pike cira 1973) as we were trying to get to Interstate 81 for the rest of our trip up to Grandparents house. The next year I had my license and one of the first longer trips (well, 2.5 hours each way) I made with my mother, but with me doing most of the driving was up this way.
Never did it solo, though…which is why I never got to stop at the museum…I think my Father would have stopped if it was only us 2 in the car, but with my sisters also in the car on most trips, we were usually in a hurry to get to our destination since they cared not at all for cars, we never stopped.
About 20 years later, we did stop in at a car museum in Kingston PA that was in the process of closing down…in that case we just got to see it before that happened…the owner was a guy named Riley (I remember because in the collection were featured quite a few more Riley cars than you would expect to see in Northeastern PA).
Car museums in particular seem to be an endangered species…they take space, are kind of special interest, and are probably pretty expensive to run…so I guess the message is that if you come upon a car museum today, stop in if you can, who knows how much longer it will be around.
Oh, I’m an Imperial fan too (from a distance)…my Dad owned more mundane family cars, and Imperial never was a Station Wagon (which is mostly what he bought back in the day as a family man)…I started driving the year before they stopped making Imperials and of course wouldn’t have been able to afford one until several years after they stopped making them, and even then never bought a used one…I think the ’63 is my favorite, but I also like the ’60, though I think I’d prefer a ’60 New Yorker or Newport.
’56 Imperial “gunsight” tail lites were the Koolest ever ……
In 2nd place — ’56 DeSoto …..
Awesome cars, a local museum has a 60 convert in black. I go every once in a while to visit. I had some experience with a 60 sedan and a friend had a 63 coupe. Both cars would cruise effortlessly at 120 as we tried it one early morning for a good 30 mile run. Very roadworthy autos, the torsion bar front suspension was light years ahead of the competition.
The ’60 has one of the coolest dashboards and steering wheels ever, and it looks even better at night with the electroluminescent lighting. The dash also looks *very* much like the one in the ’66 Dodge Polara my family had when I was a little kid – no electroluminescent lighting though it still was edgelit and looked nice glowing at night. The resemblance is too close to be an coincidental; someone at Dodge must have liked the ’60 Imp dash.
Outright gargantuan. only the sky was the limit.
what was the price of a gallon of fuel back then?
About $2.00 gallon, (inflation adjusted), or close to the same as it has been in the US the past few years, until the recent increase.
Big cars were a pretty serious drain on the wallet in terms of fueling them back then. The misconception that gas was so much cheaper back then is mostly just that.
When Chrysler initially broadened the imperial line offering for 1951, they included a convertible. Although it produced 651 sales, it was withdrawn the next season. It was still referred to as Chrysler Imperial then, but equally price competitive with Cadillac, Lincoln and Packard. Fast forward to the 1955 effort to separate Imperial from Chrysler which would seem to demand a glamorous convertible to lead the drive. What was management thinking omitting such a key style from the effort?
The suicide door Lincoln Continental is always associated with the Camelot years of The Kennedy administration. JFK did have a personal 4dr convertible and of course the infamous Presidential Limousine. When I see a 1960 Imperial – I recall Jackie’s Ghia built black Crown Limousine leased by the White House for her use and the lead limo in President Kennedy’s funeral procession.
I’m a big fan of the distinctive, but slightly wacky 1960 Imperial’s front end.
Have a 68 Imperial convertible Shriner’s Parade car in good condition for $11000 if anyone interested. Thanks willeys41@yahoo.com
Perhaps the ’60 Imperial might have benefited from design elements featured on Exner’s 1958 Imperial D’Elegance concept car, such as hidden headlights and fender skirts. I think they help unify the design and enhance the Imperial mystique.
Walking the LeBaron roof theme back to ’56, that year’s Imperial 4-door sedan and hardtop could have gone with a 7 inch longer roof instead of the shared Chrysler/DeSoto roof, the extra length extending rearward to the deck. Fenders skirts could have been used too, although Ex disliked them because they hid what he thought was an important design element: the wheel.
Impressive appearance and class leading rear legroom would have set these Imperials apart not only from Chrysler but Cadillac, Lincoln and Packard. Disallowing Chrysler 300’s use of Imperial’s grill would have also helped build exclusivity.
Base 4-door Imperials could have used shared corporate backlight, resulting in still impressive cars.