C H O P S — And now for something completely different from my exuberantly elegant Exner Imperial redux, the dark blue '62, here...
... Elwood Engel's '64 clean-lined Imp elongated and smoothed out for this long wheelbase owner-driven Crown sedan. The cabin is enlarged and extended rearward for maximum second row accommodations. The color palette is "subtle Turbine car" with a much darker copperfire hue for the body and a lighter gunmetal gray for the vinyl roof and leather-and-broadcloth interior. Pulled up next to an appropriate mid-century house, this Imperial is ready for an early morning, high-speed run out to Palm Springs with four jet-setting friends and their perhaps, dubious, luggage.
B O N U S P I C :
Another super Imperial! And I love the color pallette! Although I love Imperials, and gather that you do, too, I guess Chrsler didn't love them quite so much. I'm assuming that, in order to be taken serously as one of hte big three, they had to have an entry in the luxury car field and they really made an effort for 1957, but after that, at least until the 64s, Imperial was kind of the step child of the corporation. I guess I'm just disappointed that they didn't make an effort with the Imperial the way they did with the others but the volume wasn't high enough and I'm sure the profits were slim. They didn't put the muscle of the corporation behind what should have been their flagship. A pity, really. It wouldn't have taken much of an investment to build a longer wheelbase sedan but they just didn't. Oh well...
ReplyDeletePaul, NYC
Thanks! In my little head, as a child in the 1960s, Imperials were always exactly equal to Lincolns and Cadillacs. I didn't really think about what they were based on or anything, I just was an early reader of their brochures and marketing, lol. They were far more rare than either Lincolns or Cadillacs, too. And flamboyant. I still love their trunks with the stamped in spare tire impression. I'm going to do more Imps when I get a chance.
DeleteGreat work Casey... very well done... cars I wish they had built... imagine the elegant brochures! Best, Rob
ReplyDeleteBest looking car ever in this limo coupe look thanks Casey
ReplyDeleteI'm still wrapping my brain around a "coupe limousine." It's just amazingly awesome. The roofline hints at a bit of the first Continental.
ReplyDeleteSomething about the lines are just, I dunno, achingly beautiful in that old Brooks Stevens way. It logically shouldn't work, but boy howdy, it does!