I have been seeing a lot of activity, CC-wise, at a nearby repair shop. It was across the alley from here that I spotted the bespoilered Honda CRX, and I also found a future CC just up the street. Last week, on a crummy gray day with rain pouring down, I spotted this bustle-back Imperial out front.
The rain was coming down in sheets, but I did manage to roll down the window and stick the camera outside for one fleeting shot just as the light turned green. One thing that strikes me is how small the Imperial looks next to the late-model Impala and RAV-4. Gee, do you think it was in for electronic fuel injection issues?
Here’s a brochure pic for those of you who’ve never seen one of these cars up close. I really wish the weather hadn’t been so nasty, especially since later on I realized that it might well have been the first I’ve actually seen in the metal. Well, maybe I’ll catch up with it another day. Until then, check out jpcavanaugh’s ’81 Imperial CC for more info.
Every time I see these cars, I think of Cannoball Run II and the limo that Burt Reynolds and Dom Deluise drive in that movie.
I think the same thing regarding that movie. While it is a distinctive, elegant design, I never cared for it. Cadillac Seville went thru an iteration like this, too. Not sure, but I think Lincoln may have also.
I bet it’s been 20 years since I’ve seen one of these.
I have bad memories of waiting repeatedly for someone who had a Gold Imperial. I guess the car really did break down all those times. These always have incredibly low mileage. I take that as a warning sign sometimes.
I actually saw one of these at a gas station in the Seattle area within the past year and it was in really nice condition. These cars were partially hand-built IIRC. I’d love to have one in my collection just for the uniqueness factor.
What is the 2013 version of this car on the market today?
Any Lincoln product
No matter how hard Chrysler tried, this was just a Cordoba/Mirada +, built on the same assembly line and no matter how much they said they tested each one after it was built, they still suffered from the same gremlins.
There is an Imperial driven daily in my town, which I see in the grocery store parking lot on a regular basis. Unfortunately, I have never had a camera handy whenever it has driven by or been sitting in the grocery store parking lot. I will try my best to photograph it soon!
It is highly unlikely that this thing still has the fuel injection. Chrysler spent about $10k per car in warranty expense, most of it to change out the entire fuel system and even the instrument cluster, all of which was required for what would seem like a simple swap to a carburetor.
I still have a soft spot for these. We are still trying to diagnose if that soft spot is in my heart or in my head.
A 213.3 inch long body on a 112.7 inch wheelbase does not an Imperial Make.
I’ve never seen an Imperial of this vintage in the metal. I recall a guy I knew telling me his Dad had one in the 1980’s.
My neighbor bought a K car Imperial a few years ago. He was very proud of it until it broke down. Something about the brake system, he said he could not find anyone to fix it. Supposedly, it had some exotic brake system.
I recall telling him that I thought it could be retrofit with a more common brake system. The car sat for 6 months or so before he gave it away.
Odd. I’m pretty sure the Imperial had a standard Mopar brake system for the time—that is, J-Body (Cordoba/Mirada) parts, though the Imperial technically rode on a Y-Body.
Now, something electric/electronic, that could DEFINITELY be your neighbor’s issue.
I-mino, I think Dave is referring to the 1991-93 Imperial, which was a silicone-implant job on the nose and tail of a New Yorker. The special brakes may just have been 4-wheel discs. I know my sturdy ’91 Dy-Nasty had drums in back. Interestingly, a similar problem plagues owners of ’74-’75 Imps. They had rear discs, not shared with any other Mopars AFAIK – good luck finding new hardware today.
Maybe it was the ABS that crapped out.
I wasn’t aware, but apparently the bustle-back trunk was not a copy of the 1980 Seville. Chrysler designer Steven Bollinger penned the design in 1977 as per the following drawings and subsequent clay models:
http://moparmax.com/features/2007/ii_4-bollinger-6.html
We covered GM designer Wayne Kady’s long involvement with the bustleback, going back to at least the mid-sixties: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/the-cars-of-gm-designer-wayne-kady-slantbacks-and-bustlebacks-from-beginning-to-end/
Don’t forget that the ’74 Riviera also had a bustleback, just not as pronounced.
Thanks for that link; but I will say that Bollinger’s roofline and bustleback remind me a bit too much of Kady’s earlier work. But that’s how the design business goes.
The picture is of Kady’s V16 concept dated 1967. It’s a fanciful rendering, and massively out-of scale, but the basic configuration of the whole rear end of Bollinger’s design is very much like Kady’s.
Thanks for the link. It’s a great article!
Within a 2 year period, Cadillac, Lincoln and Imperial all released a variation of the bustleback.
I wonder if each company was aware that their competitors were coming out with a similar design?
There is an 82 imperial for sale at the local car lot that I test drove this last summer .
A 75,000 mile car from Arizona that was in decent shape.
The strange thing about this imperial ,was it still had the original factory EFI.
I thought it was a quiet smooth running car , with the exception of a hesitation off idle.
I passed on buying it though because frankly, if (when) the EFI acted up I had zero knowledge on troubleshooting or repairing it.
Someone near me owns a pale blue one of these that is in great shape by the look of it. I’d bet now that the weather has turned he’s mothballed it. Owned by an older fellow who probably bought it new.
I remember the local Chrysler place having a Sinatra edition on the showroom floor. The salesman said it wouldn’t run because of the fuel injection.
He claimed they were going to swap out a carburetor for it. I never checked back to see if that was true.
Mostly I remember the hideous mink-like carpet in the thing
My stepmother had one of these when I was maybe thirteen or so. The witch was driving her two daughters & me somewhere one evening in Roselle, IL. I was in the back seat since the trunk was evidently full.
I was looking out the window & gasped a little too loud when I saw a ’69 Cougar go by. This triggered one of the girls to scream which triggered the witch to swerve left & smack the median curb, blowing out both left tires & ruining the LF aluminum rim. I never heard the end of how much that rim cost (but I forgot how much it was — hee-hee!)
I liked the way these cars looked but just could not handle the rear license plate location. There’s one of these sitting at a U-haul place in the small dumpy town of Yanceyville about eleven or twelve miles from the house. I’ve lived around here for close to seven years & it has not moved from that location.
Never been a big Mopar fan, but I loved Sky King’s 1956 Imperial with those cool tailights. The late 50’s – early 60’s models were also interesting. Baroque 5,000 pound behemoths 227 inches long with their square steering wheels and spaceship interiors. For fans of American luxo-cruisers of this era, it didn’t get any better than this. No wonder Uncle Tom McCahill loved them.
I have one of these cars, a red 1981 Imperial with red leather interior. Low mileage with rare factory CB radio and electric sunroof. It was originally from Southern California but resides with me in North Carolina so it has been perfectly preserved. It also sports its original EFI system that runs flawlessly. When I purchased the car, I went through the entire system replacing all of the various rubber seals gaskets and what not including all of the small fixes that caused a lot of problems back in the day. The car just runs great it has started up in all kind of weather from 27 degree days to 95 degree days with no problems. I only drive it sparingly but it has gone on several road trips of up to 1000 miles round trip with no problems. The car is more fuel efficient on the road than a comparable carbureted model but the improvement around town in negligable. The biggest benefit to EFI, as it is with any fuel injection system, is the startup and driveability. The car is DEAD quiet and when you are at idle you can’t even tell the car is running from the inside. I have a spare fuel injection plate and a computer (the two things that can give trouble and are unique to the car) the rest of the car is more or less off the shelf Mopar mechanically. The car does have quirks and well I am sure it was alot to learn for mechanics and owners back in the day when carbs ruled the streets but once you understand the layout the car has been surprisingly trouble-free.
Most Mopar cars (other than the muscle cars of the late 60s and early 70s) do not command the premium prices in the collector market at GMs and Ford, but these Imperials simply do not exist anymore in original condition. Most have been converted to carbureted (either by the dealer or the owner) or are in poorer condition. I also have a Cadillac Eldorado of those model years and have driven a Lincoln Mark VI which gives me a pretty good idea of what a personal luxury car buyer faced in 1981.
Much has been speculated as to why the Imperial failed in the marketplace. The EFI system was troublesome for some and Chrysler offered to carb refit the cars during the warranty period. However, for 1981 at least, Cadillac had a V8-6-4 setup that was equally as troublesome yet the Eldorado (and Seville the 4 door companion car) sold in record numbers. The Mark VI was probably the most reliable and conventional of the three but, at least comparing just the coupes (they offered a 4 door for a few years) sold nearly as poorly as the Imperial. Chrysler was going through a massive change in those years from being a builder of large RWD cars to builders of smaller more efficient FWD cars and the Imperial was an afterthought. The Mark VI lingered on with modest sales until the Mark VII redesign which made it a very popular car for a while until coupes declined as a whole.
You have a beautiful car. You impress the heck out of me with your ability to keep an injected Imp on the road, in the same way as the fellow with the supposedly sole remaining 1958 DeSoto with the Bendix Electrojector. Rock on!
Well I am an automotive engineer so I suppose I have an advantage plus time and patience. I think the man keeping an Electrojector going is Smithsonian material. At least the 81-83 are newer and have some support. But yes I do take pride in keeping the car as original as possible. Even finding one with a sunroof and a CB radio is amazing. Seeing as they only built 459 of them in this shade of red, only 7% of them had CB radios, and only 1/3 or so had sunroofs this may be the only combination built.