|
Browse by Tags
All Tags » Chrysler » Imperial ( RSS)
-
|
Last time we saw the '71 Imperial Le Baron that I was helping BobAsh get to the Czech Republic, it was parked down on the Alameda street. Now it's on a boat to Bremerhaven, along with an expat German heading back home after many decades in Nordamerika . galleryPost('ImperialBenz600', 6, 'Imperial Le Baron And Mercedes 600 Head To Germany'); I was a little sad to see the Imperial go, but I love the idea of this monster dropping anchor on some quaint cobblestone Central European street as the locals back away in awe. The Oakland warehouse of the shipping company is so close to Alameda that I was able to walk home after dropping off the Le Baron; BobAsh will have the privilege of driving about 475 miles from the dock to his town in the Czech Republic. I'm envious! The shipper's parking lot is usually full of interesting cars on the first leg of their journey to Europe; Porsches and air-cooled VWs are most common, along with 50s and 60s Detroit iron. The afternoon...
|
-
|
Welcome to Down On The Street , where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. Today's car is one I'm quite familiar with, since it's now sitting in my back yard. No, it isn't my current Personal Hell Project; I'm helping Czech automotive journalist Bobash realize his dream of terrorizing quaint Central European villages with an ocean-liner-scale Fuselage Look Mopar. You may recall the '81 Corvette I inspected for BobAsh a while back; that car is now roaring around the Czech Republic in all its Late Malaise glory. This car was a one-owner, estate-sale find. The late owner was a San Francisco chiropractor who garaged it, had it serviced on the dot, and (apparently) never allowed anyone to sit inside. It's got a few minor dings and dents, but almost everything works and the (purple whorehouse-esque) interior is the nicest I've ever seen on an unrestored 90,000-mile car. It's not what you would...
|
-
|
Welcome to Down On The Street , where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. I've been thinking about the Imperial quite a bit lately, since there's a very clean hardtop '71 Imperial Le Baron now sitting in my driveway. We'll get the story on that car a little later, but for today I've got some photographs of a vast, angular '64 Imperial Crown four-door hardtop that I found parked right around the corner from the 1942 Pontiac Torpedo . First of all, when we're talking about an Imperial, we need to reiterate this important Imperial fact, lest we enrage the purists: this is not a Chrysler Imperial; Imperial was its own marque during the 1955-75 period, so referring to such a car as a "Chrysler Imperial" is like calling an Eldorado a "General Motors Cadillac." No wonder these things were outlawed at most demolition derbies! Everything seems to be cast out of great slabs of solid...
|
-
|
These two 60's-era Chryslers were rolling ahead of the Woodward Dream Cruise and parked around the corner from each other at Duggan's Irish Pub, the place where we saw the same company unveil the Chysler PT Dream Cruiser Series 5 . The contrast in awesomeness could not be more poignant. The wagony goodness of the New Yorker and the impossibly complex curvature of the Imperial were causing heart palpitations amongst the assembled. There's even a flaming eyeball on the New Yorker. How cool is that? More pics below. galleryPost('60chrysler', 15, 'Imperial and New Yorker');
|
-
|
Cadillacs aplenty in this series, and a few Lincolns, but how about Chrysler's top-of-the-line marque? I'd been seeing this '56 Imperial around town for years, but only recently was I able to capture it holding still for the camera in a downtown parking space. I'm pretty sure it lives on the island, but it's either hiding on a side street I haven't checked or sleeps in a garage. This 52-year-old is in incredible original condition- not a flawless show car, but as close as you're going to see in a car this old that sees regular street use. Most folks call these cars Chrysler Imperials, but Imperial was a separate brand during the 1950s. Things got more muddled later on when the name was resurrected in the early 1980s, but in 1956 you had two choices: Imperial or Crown Imperial. Here's the only shot I was able to get of this car for quite a while. The '56 Imperial came with a "poly" 354 engine; not a Hemi, but still quite powerful with 280 horses...
|
-
|
Sometimes the old 413 in the '65 Imperial just won't run right. That's when it's time to buy a case of Pabst Blue Ribbon and invite some of your grimy gearhead henchmen to dive into the Chrysler 's innards with you! I shot this circa-1987 image on a keychain...
|
|
|
|