If there was one car that epitomized the ridiculously endless overuse of the Chrysler K-platform, it was the 1990-1993 “Y-body” Chrysler Imperial. Rein-K-arnated after yet another brief tenure of absence, the 1990 Imperial sedan was intended to compete along the likes of “traditional” luxury cars such as the Cadillac DeVille and Lincoln Continental. This final Imperial to date didn’t sell too well, as the K-platform’s roots and limitations were all too evident in this heavily chromed and vinyl covered, narrow-bodied luxury sedan. A high price tag didn’t help either.
Predictably, a coupe version of the Imperial would’ve sold even fewer units, and it should be noted that sales of 2-door Imperials from the 1950s to 1970s were always paltry, relative to their 4-door counterparts. Sales king Cadillac, on the other hand, sometimes sold a significantly greater amount of 2-doors over 4-doors during that same period. But fantasy is always more fun than reality, so here I present to you, the 1990 Imperial Crown Coupe.
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It’s a mild version of the kind of mutant cars I see in my dreams. Am I awake?
Wow, Paul…I thought I was the only one who had dreams of cars that were never built! 😉
I remember these Imperials -and other “premium” variants that really tarted-up the K-Cars with chrome, padded roofs and tufted velour seats. The K-platform could be lengthened but not widened so they lacked the interior room than buyers wanted. Personally I’ve always been a sucker for a bold stand-up grille and am glad the new pedestrian-impact standards have raised hoodlines enough to bring them back -to some degree anyway.
Hehehe. Looks like a truncated Renault Espace with a halo, hood and trunk.
A four door sedan is nice, but sometimes a two door would be even better.
It’s not a surprise that it didn’t sell well. If you didn’t tell me it was an Imperial, it could easily pass off as a Chrysler New Yorker, Dodge Dynasty, or about half of the Chrysler lineup….
>>Predictably, a coupe version of the Imperial would’ve sold even fewer units, and it should be noted that sales of 2-door Imperials from the 1950s to 1970s were always paltry, relative to their 4-door counterparts. Sales king Cadillac, on the other hand, always sold a significantly greater amount of Coupe DeVilles over Sedan DeVilles during that same period.<<
Not from the figures I have seen. E.g, 1966 Sedan 72,410, Coupe de Ville50,580.
The most popular Cadillac of 1968 was the Hardtop Sedan deVille, racking up sales of 72,662 cars at a base price of $5,754 at introduction (increased $31 on January 1, 1968 due to front shoulder straps required on cars built after this date, making the new base price $5,785. The Coupe deVille came in second place in the sales race, with 63,935 sold. By 1973, the Coupe deVille would overtake the Sedan deVille to become the best selling model, and would surpass production of 100,000 for a single model for the first time ever.
http://automotivemileposts.com/cadillac/prod1968cadi.html
I may have jumped the gun with “always”. I had also included DeVille convertibles as “Coupe DeVilles”, which I shouldn’t have. I was going for number of doors rather than names in my count. Thanks for pointing that out.
1965: 62,545 2-door DeVilles; 60,535 4-door DeVilles
http://www.motorera.com/cadillac/cad1960/cad65d.htm
If you squint your eyes hard enough it almost looks like a ’83-88 Cougar in profile.
I don’t see it at all. As a former owner of an 84 and 83 Cougar, that mess looks nothing like them. Not even the 87-88. These Cougars had an upsweep near the rear side window.
It might look like the 1989-1997… Which had the same formal roof line in the rear C pillar.
I like them. I try to think of them like the Packardbakers, which weren’t good Packards, but very good Studebakers. The 90s Imp is the same way; not a good Imperial, but a damn fine Chrysler.
Hideous
As an owner of 88 New Yorker Landau… I approve this design!
Proportionally, it just doesn’t look right. I might also say the 4-dr wasn’t much better, being stretched too much for the platform.
Respectfully, it looks like a stretched ’86 Olds Ninety-Eight at first glance.
+1
I keep looking at it, and really, it’s not bad. A dark color might bring the proportions into better balance. How about an Imperial Crown coupe in formal dress black?
> This final Imperial to date …
I see what you did there.
FCA’s cornucopia of brands is already overflowing. Hard to see a resurrection of Imperial now or ever.
For awhile it looked like they were headed towards having a zillion brands, each with only one or two models under it. “Come on down to your local Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, RAM, Fiat, SRT, Mopar dealer and test-drive one today!” What’s one more?
You forgot Alfa Romeo. 😉
Would love to see Imperial done right, but the chances of it being done right are miniscule, and Fiat (or Marchionne) knows that. I think it’s more likely that Lincoln dies out than that Imperial comes back.
Mopar dealer? Say what?
Mopar is just the parts division. You got a lil too crazy there. 😉
Had it been built it could have added an additional 17 sales to the pitiful Imperial sales total for the year, resulting in another very rare collector car that no one wants.
No sir, I dont like it. Some bodystyles just dont work.
Now Id like to see a ’93 VIsion, LHS or Intrepid coupe. The 1st gen LH cars lacking a coupe variant was a HUGE letdown, IMHO. They wouldve outshined the contemporary GM W body coupes far and away.
That squared off roof line just looks retarded on anything, Renault/Nissan have got away with it but nobody else thats tried.
Depends. The Buick GNX looked sharp with its slick top and formal roofline. But it was better proportioned too.
If this car was shortened between the door and rear fender, de-chromed, slicktopped, a different color and you scrap the ‘granny shoes’ for some LHS crosslace alloys and blackwall tires it wouldnt look half bad.
The ’79-’85 Rivieras, Toronados and Eldorados looked phenomenal with that roofline.
What Nissan are you talking about? Never seen a Nissan with a roof like that. The 1985-88 Maxima had a squared off roof, but was not formal.
Even the JDM Cedric’s, Gloria’s, and Presidents didn’t have a formal roof line, close but not quite formal.
Some cars, that wore the formal roof line good were the 1978-88 GM intermediate A/G body coupes, the Aston Martin Lagonda and the Volvo 740/760.
I always liked the Imperial design of the 90’s. Too bad it was so narrow. I always wondered what it would have been like had the R body survived and this specific design had morphed over such as how the Ford/Lincoln and GM full-sizers had.
I know the 1980s R, New Yorker came close, but for pickiness sakes, the grille was upright and not curved.
I never thought of a 90s Imperial coupe. Interesting idea. I was more into fantasizing a wagon version with some kind of Town & Country moniker.
Hmm. Just thought of a Kickstarter idea. Develop a website with a paid staff to create retro-designs of cars that could have been.
From a styling standpoint, this could almost work if there was a bit (more?) taken out of the wheelbase, between the trailing edge of the door and the rear wheelwell. But then again, I doubt the buyers would have been there as the Imperial nameplate and the Chrysler brand in general was in bad shape thanks to an over-reliance on the K-car platform
I would buy it.
I always thought the styling of the Cadillac coupe of the same era looked a bit awkward as well.
Hey that was my Dad’s Cadillac – his final request in life. In person you really did not notice the smaller wheelbase. He used to get tons of compliments on how beautiful that car was. Of course, I am somewhat sensitive to the negative comments about that car. But honestly, a picture doesn’t do it justice.
To me it just looks like the front and back half of two different cars, welded together at the B pillar.
In regards to the final CDV. The wheelbase was not lengthened like the sedan was, so the proportions were not as pleasing. I would have liked an airier Oldsmobile -like semi fastback roof line. The existing roof design looks better to me in plain metal. I am sorely tempted to find one of these in good shape while they’re still available. if you’re a Brougham fanatic you could go for the Fleetwood coupe.
No.
Interesting, though might have sold only a few dozen units, hardly worth the tooling costs.
Try these adjustment to the proportions: move the cowl and door rearward a good foot, widen the C-pillar for privacy and a narrow rectangular opera window….then you got it!
Never be a Southampton hardtop!
Brendan, very nice work on the art.
As for the car, it looks a lot like the big GM 2 doors of that time, and I don’t really like them either.
Nice work on the photoshop. A production version might have a less backwards-canted, more vertical B-pillar.
It looks a bit like late 80s Olds 98 or Buick Electra.
Was Chrysler’s budget that limited that they could not afford to widen the platform for full size cars?
What’s up with the roof, in the top pic? It looks like a gorilla jumped on it, because it’s starting to mildly cave in. Lol