For today, I’ll share a few more shots from A. T. Burke’s Flickr page. By all appearances, Mr. Burke was a satisfied Imperial owner. On his post, a brief caption resumes: “The great cornering torsion bar handling, hot rod engine and long wheelbase made this a great highway cruiser.”
I won’t put Mr. Burke’s words to doubt in regard to the Imperial. He was also a fan of watersports, and was quite proud of the second boat on this shot; which he claimed “was the fastest in San Diego. Didn’t look it and provided some surprises.”
I have no idea about boats, so I’ll let you all be the jury on that.
There’s a bit more of the Imperial’s front end on this shot, with the caption “Do it yourself provided utility but not style.” I would think he’s talking about the rustic home trailer. Although I know Virgil Exner was a rather hands-on and do-it-yourself kind of designer.
I’ll finish with this last picture from the same spot. A “1956 Chevy Bel Air is what every kid wanted.” That’s a rather sweeping statement, but in my case, it’s true; I did want a Chevy when I was a kid.
Further reading:
“The great cornering torsion bar handling, hot rod engine and long wheelbase made this a great highway cruiser.”
I agree with A. T. Burke. I would much prefer an Imperial over Cadillac or Lincoln in ’61.
BTW, those fins BELONG on the car! When they shaved them off in ’62, the effect was somewhat unbalanced and less satisfying. The fins were an integral part of the design. If my green ’62 were a ’61 I probably would have kept it!
I think it looks great without the fins. But it was a shocking change in one year. Cadilac took a different approach and evolved the shrinking fin size slowly with each model year. I think it helped with keeping their brand loyalty because it didn’t suddenly make your ’61 styling obsolete.
But then Cadilac had more development money from GM than Chrysler had for the Imperial.
Regarding the second boat ” … which he claimed was the fastest in San Diego. Didn’t look it … “
I agree, it doesn’t look it. But it doesn’t matter. As a character in the 1956 Glenn Ford western movie “The Fastest Gun Alive” said:
” … No matter how fast you are, there’s always somebody faster … ”
I do like the late 1950s OMC 2-cycle outboard (Johnson ?) on the first boat. I can almost smell that mixed gas/oil exhaust.
An only slightly more stylized Imperial. Could you imagine even getting $50 for this thing by ’71? Woof, no wonder the imports ate our lunch.
You have made my day! Always love seeing an Imperial. Ultimate dream cars are final 61 DeSoto and 61 Imperial LEBARON, which this car is. My preference would be formal black (hopefully with trunk mounted faux tire). LEBARON was the top of the line and epitome of OTT excessive chromed luxury. Grand finale for Exners fabulous finned fantasies! 🏆. As I recall the 61 Imperial tail fins were actually higher than fabled 59 Cadillac.👍. At one time, years ago I could have purchased a mint 61 Black LEBARON for a very reasonable price. Unfortunately money was tight, so had to pass. To this day I have a framed collage (which I created) hanging in the family room. With the few surviving 61 Imperials (especially LEBARON) prices are even further out of reach. To me the formal roof of LEBARON gave it a limo like appearance. I actually also liked the definned 62 and 63 LEBARONs still carrying on much of the styling of the 61. Still the 61 LEBARON remains one of the most striking examples of the Divine Decadence of OTT excessive luxury. Unfortunately never to be seen again 😕. The Incomparable Imperial! RIP
As for the boat, would not even want it when I could pilot this glorious LEBARON LAND YACHT!
Beautiful. The same color as my ’63 2-Door promo, a gift from the ‘Stache himself, the late Kevin Martin. Here, I have it parked in front of a similar vintage
GE Clock Radio. https://www.curbsideclassic.com/author/kevin-martin/
I love Telechron clocks. Unlikely hyper accurate 30s technology.
Yeah, for example this one still keeps good time. (Of course, I only plug it in when I listen to the radio.)
Maybe find one that’s a standalone clock, set it to the second, and prepare to be shocked as it proves more accurate than any quartz clock you have. For their own reasons, power companies’ frequencies are super accurate, especially over time. Telechrons keep +-5 second accuracy over long periods of time. I don’t think there’s any typical failure mode that makes it fast, and fairly heavy drag to make it slow. Pleasant constant motion second hand. I like them.
Not only are the frequencies super accurate- power companies are required to make small adjustments to their frequencies to keep clocks like yours synchronized to within a couple seconds of atomic time. A pretty elegant and almost wholly invisible system.
Problem was when some power companies were 50Hz before the US standardized on 60Hz. Some of them provided new electric clocks for free exchange when they switched. Japan still has both by region.
Check my first comment. Besides the collage, I have two 61 Imperial convertible model cars. Have only been able to find 61 LEBARON in 1-48 scale.
Pretty much addicted to collecting miniature cars here, in various scales. They litter my home like cockroaches. They follow me home. The only Imperials that I’ve ever seen have been Jo-Han promos and kits. Pretty impressed that you found a smaller scale Imperial. Or did it find you?
Have had the two 61 Imperial converts for years 1-16 scale. Have recently seen same on Ebay. Also found 1-64 LEBARON on Ebay, but cost was too much for such small scale! Seek and you shall find! Just put in Ebay die-cast 1961 Imperial. 💖👑.
Considering the rest of the 61 Mopar line and the intrigue in the styling department during Exner’s recuperation from his heart attack, I am reassessing the 61 Imperial. It came off a lot better than most other cars that came out of the company that year, and is probably the only one that was clearly improved from 1960.
It looks like the camper trailer upper half was raised to create headroom. Do you have to get in and push upward?