Re: IML: The first Imperial I ever saw

[RandalPark@xxxxxxx]

The first brand new Imperial I remember seeing was the 1957 model. I had seen the '55 and '56 models on the road at the time that they were still considered new, but never actually in the showroom. My folks took me and my sister along when they looked at the new '57 models in the showroom. At the time a new Imperial was out of their reach, but as it turned out, they bought one in 1960. Looking at new Imperials in the showroom was a regular pastime for our family through the late'60s.

Paul

In an email dated Wed, 2 3 2005 5:42:23 am GMT, "Hugh & Therese" <hugtrees@xxxxxxxx> writes:

>As a newcomer to the USA, I saw my first ever Imperial in 1992. ?Actually I 
>saw it often without noticing it at a museum in which I had just become a 
>member. ?I was new to Texas and did not know many people and I hated the 
>idea of joining some ex-patriot club or something like that and I am not a 
>church goer, so the offer to join the museum seemed good to me, even though 
>I was not that interested in trains, which make up an even bigger proportion 
>of the museum now than they did before.
>
>The Imperial was introduced to me, not by other museum members, but by 
>visitors who were excited to see it. ?Unlike any other car, they always 
>wanted to pop the hood. ?They also wanted me start it up to hear the hemi 
>roar but that hadn't happened in years and they always seemed so 
>disappointed.
>
>The car grew on me and the museum was going through a period of transition 
>and I wasn't the most popular guy with the old guard and me and a very 
>disturbed Vietnam veteran decided to h*ll with them all and let's fire up 
>the most useless car in the joint and we'd show 'em. ?The car could not be 
>rented out or run in parades and it was a gas hog and nobody else liked it 
>and that was good enough for us.
>
>We use negative criticism as fuel and get more things done than all those 
>smart alecks who know everything and achieve nothing and we put a battery in 
>it and water in the radiator and it turned over on the first attempt and 
>filled the one hundred foot long building with smoke and I can remember it 
>like it was yesterday and, oh my goodness, that hemi roar was worth it.
>
>And the real work started and I was left alone to do it and I didn't know a 
>darn thing and I kept going and the water pump drove me crazy but not as 
>much as the brakes and I love the car to this day and it lives at my house 
>now and everyone thinks its mine and it was year's before I ever saw another 
>Imperial and even longer before I saw one that was outside of a junk yard 
>and that was almost as cool as being able to drive mine on the highway and 
>if you haven't driven an Imperial with a 392 hemi I'm not sure why you even 
>like Imperials except the styling was always pretty good except for one or 
>two years but I won't go into that.
>
>The car changed my life and I became chairman of the museum board and now 
>manager and of all things I am writing a book about trains because I had to 
>find something to do while my car is still in the shop minus its engine and 
>transmission and its driving me nuts not being able to drive it but the book 
>is being published in the fall but I'd rather be on the highway listening to 
>that hemi sing its song of love to the universe and this is how an Imperial 
>should make you feel and it's OK to be a little crazy about these cars 
>because you never know where they will take you if you just let them.
>
>Hugh
>58 Imperial, Mrs. Blueberry to you, and I hope to get it back on the road 
>soon. 
>
>
>
>
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