We’ve visited the Imperial marque once before, with a gallery that mixed photos of some of the vehicles on their own, and others alongside their owners. Today’s follows the same idea; with vintage photos of Imperials not being that common, I feel any image capturing them is worth a moment of CC fame.
Last time our gallery featured mostly women posing alongside the Imperials. This time the folk in the photos are more varied, and a few include Imperials in barely visible form. But like said, we’re allowing them a chance to shine briefly here at CC.
LOVE THAT RED 1961 IMPERIAL 4DOOR
Awesome gallery. The first shot looks straight out of Life magazine or such.
The second to last shot is of a convertible, which reminds me how rare Imperial convertibles were.
There was a widowed woman on our block who had a splendid Imp coupe in her carport; her husband had started a successful construction company. Her son and his family lived next door; they drove Mopars too. I used to love gazing at the dashboard of that car; mesmerizing.
’39 Dodge in the 5th picture. Serious Chrysler fans!
Back then, even washing the car they dressed much nicer than we do today.
That car-washing shot is one of my favorite vintage car pics that I’ve seen so far. Looks like a three-generation scene, with a guy possibly washing his mother’s car with her, as his own daughter looks on. But the overall shot is fantastic.
Reminds me of the old joke originally told about a Cadillac.
How do you tell the difference between a rich American and a poor one? A poor one washes his own Imperial himself!
I really like the first photo of the well-dressed woman in front of her Imperial. She bears a striking resemblance to Geena Davis.
Behind that tan single-headlight ’57 is a DS 19. Two rare (in the U.S.) cars in one picture.
Not just the DS, but while the Corvair, Rambler, Econoline, Chevy II and Volvo 544 may not be rare they certainly are eclectic. And not even in California! Can anyone recognize the location?
That’s Annapolis, Maryland 🙂
Thank you… had a coastal New England vibe to it. I was looking in all the wrong places.
I was intrigued by that lineup of cars too. Something for everyone!
That’s what I thought, I retired from the Academy (Navy civilian). Best part was walking the streets of downtown Annapolis.
That’s the Maryland State House in the background. Washington resigned his commission there in 1783.
Imperial hardtops from 1957-1965 or so always looked so light and lithe for such large cars. The sedans, on the other hand, were ponderous and heavy. Just goes to show how a well designed greenhouse can change the entire personality of a car.
Pic 1: a curvaceous lady with class… and her curvaceous classy car!
My favorite year was the 1969. I don’t know why other than the look of the cornering lights and the sequential signals.
We still watch the older shows and it’s surprising how many Imperials were used. I always thought Ford had the cars furnished by market sewn up
Fuselage Imperials show up on Adam-12 from time to time. Usually driven by a bad guy or impatient business man that thinks he knows Malloy’s and Reed’s jobs better than they do.
I like the woman with the barbecue sauce and the convertible Imperial. Doesn’t hurt that there’s a big green van parked behind (maybe a Divco or a Metro?). Also like the portrait aspect of the picture (“Jun 66”). Nice work.
Nice catch of the green van. At first I thought it was a GMC like the one sometimes seen as the SWAT van on Hill Street Blues. But it might be a motorhome. Either way I have never seen anything like it in the flesh.
I was going to say that photo #1 was my favorite for all of the reasons others have cited.
But, well, you got me at barbecue sauce.
Yes, Mrs. Colonel Sanders with the convertible and the bbq sauce is indeed my favorite.
Photo 7 is Annapolis, Maryland
Yes, but that Imperial looks quite odd to me because of the single headlights. I’m used to seeing quad headlights in that body style.
That was probably a 1957 model, when some states allowed quad headlights, and some forbid them, and there was no nationwide standard.
Ford “sponsored” a lot of TV shows in the old days, but Chrysler and GM did a significant number. Chrysler had ‘Medical Center’, ‘Mannix’, and ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’, while both Chrysler and GM did The Brady Bunch’ (ever notice that Mike and Carol had a Plymouth convertible and a Chevy wagon, or a Chevy convertible and a Plymouth wagon, but never two new Chevies. or two new Plymouths at the same time?
Another odd one, is ‘Green Acres’. That show was ‘Ford’, but it’s sister show ‘Petticoat Junction’ was ‘Chrysler’…
Studebaker sponsored “Mr. Ed” in the 60s, and Nash sponsored Walt Disney World in 1955.
He’s a slide of the Disney commercial.
I never was a huge Imperial fan until the ‘69 came out. My best friend’s uncle traded a 1969 Cadillac Fleetwood 60 Special for a new 1970 Imperial because he said that the Cadillac rode like a truck! A neighbor had a white ‘57 with the toilet seat deck lid. I still remember that one!
That last image really shows the segmentation that had developed by the early 70s. And the settings remind that urban and rural were still common, with suburbia having not yet become totally dominant.
The car wash scene is just awesome, and captures a less hectic time when you could wash your car out on the street without a stream of automobiles flying by. We used to play nerf football on the street and rarely did it get interrupted by a car going by.
One of my uncles who lived in Wichita was a surgeon. He bought a new Imperial every other year since 1946.
I was born and raised in Southern California and every year my folks would load up our ‘53 Chevrolet pickup (with camper), load us boys and drive Route 66 east. We visited family in Wichita where I could see my aunt and uncle and their kids along with their new Imperial .
Thanks for posting these pictures. Great memories.
Where’s Mrs Marcus (Ethel Merman) saying: “We’re the ones in the Imperial and we’re in last place?!”😊
I always think of Doris Day driving her ’63 Imperial Convertible into an automated car wash with the windows rolled down, then accidentally lowering the top while still in the car wash and getting soaked.
What? No picture of Mr. Drysdale, president of the Commerce Bank of Beverly Hills? Big Imperial driver he.
“Not just the DS, but while the Corvair, Rambler, Econoline, Chevy II and Volvo 544 may not be rare they certainly are eclectic. And not even in California! Can anyone recognize the location?”
Man, you guys amaze me. I’ve got a pretty good eye, better than pretty good, and people here spot things that just completely bypass me. I looked a while and spotted them, but it took a while. Now on first pass I’m just kind of looking, but still.
Location of the very first pic, a SWAG, I’d guess Lake Tahoe.
Great photos. I’ve always liked Chrysler products with the imperial at the top of the list. My mother had a female college friend that later worked for a Chrysler dealer in another state. When we visited she always was driving a new one but the only Imperial I recall was a ’64 Crown Coupe. It was my first experience with power windows. I was eight years old, and that car really impressed me.
#1 A very fashionably dressed lady with a ’58 model from E. A. Boyd Chrysler Plymouth in Sacramento. It could be any of the three trim levels in the 4 door Southampton body style. The scenery has a northern California or Nevada look to it.
#2 A cute little girl riding her wheels by a clean ’56 4 door sedan from California. In the background the white wagon on the left edge has the look of a ’62 Dodge Dart, then a green and white ’55 Chevrolet Bel Air Sport Coupe, and the wagon on the right looks like a ’50-’52 Plymouth.
#3 A happy couple posing with a ’57 or ’58 2 door Southampton. The lady and the kid in the car are patiently waiting for their driver to take ‘one last photo’ before closing the trunk and heading home. In the garage looks like something from the late thirties.
#4 A formal gathering of some sort, perhaps a wedding? They look too happy for a funeral. The building in the background is the Belden-Stratford Hotel at 2300 N. Lincoln Park W. in Chicago. They are posing beside a red ’61 Custom or Crown 4 door Southampton. In front of it is a two tone ’55 Plymouth Belvedere 4 door sedan with a ’61 Illinois license plate. Across the street from the left is a ’55 or ’56 Chevrolet Bel Air 4 door sedan, a ’54-’56 Buick, and a ’58 Impala convertible.
#5 Another cute California girl, this one riding a well worn bike that may have been handed down from her father. She is in front of a loyal Chrysler product owner’s house with a ’39 Dodge, ’57 base Imperial or Crown 4 door sedan, and something out of the late forties in the garage that I can’t quite ID. The owner does keep his cars clean and shiny.
#6 Car wash day. The girl on the right is enjoying her lollipop while watching the old folks demonstrate team work on a ’58 model. Behind it is a ’59 Rambler.
#7 This rough looking ’57 4 door Southampton stands out as the biggest in this lineup of mostly light weights. It is wearing a Maryland license plate that expired in March of ’65, so it was at least seven years old in this photo. Following is a Citroen DS, ’61 or ’62 Corvair coupe, ’61-’63 Rambler American, ’62-’64 Chevy II, and a first gen Ford Econoline van. At the end of the street looks like a black Volvo PV444, and perhap the tail of a VW Beetle in front of it.
#8 A new looking ’65 Crown 4 door with a ’65 Minnesota license plate. It has several badges of some sort in the back window. It is parked by an orchard of some sort.
#9 A happy lady cooking away with a ’57 Crown convertible and a Chevrolet or GMC Step Van in the background. Good quality Polaroid photo.
#10 I have always liked the fuselage generation, especially this first year ’69 LeBaron 4 door from California with an aftermarket side molding installed by someone who could not draw a straight line. Milton Berle is driving one on ‘Mannix’ as I write this, but his is a ’71 model. Across the street from the left is a ’71 or ’72 Ford Pinto, post ’75 Ford Club Wagon, and a ’73 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale Town Sedan.
Thanks for the photos.
I can’t see 1961 Imperial without thinking about Lazlo Gogolak in the Whole Ten Yards. With all due respect to Bruce Willis, the actual stars of that movie were Kevin Pollack, and that car. He should own just for Halloween so he can crash a party with the wig and glasses on.
Dan Berning – Yes, that struck me, too.
Part of it was the styles that were available then and part was comportment of the time.
Thanks, Ralph L. I was looking at that cupola and saying, “Is this Annapolis?” Ruch, nice selection of Imperials. They were a grand automobile.
So much MoPar goodness ! .
I saw the ’39 Dodge and wonder where my ’39 Doge is now .
-Nate
The 1955 Imperial and large wheel tricycle are a real classic… 1955 was a great year for the Chrysler memory…… though most established Americans thought GM…. That what I noticed at 12 years old…