IML: restoring the '59 Crown

Let's go with the supposition that you want to have a car that will have the correct color & interior combinations and upholstery type as it would have had out of the factory. Finding that you have black vinyl (which I suspected all along) might make your restoration task easier. You're already not sure what the original color was, so consider the car a blank canvas. You can paint it whatever 1959 Imperial color strikes your fancy, and subject to availability, clothe the interior in any color that Mother Mopar decreed would match that color.

I bought my '59 six years ago. The pictures and video I got from the seller appeared to show a mint green car. When it arrived at the mechanic to get a once-over, my first reaction was, "Oh, it's blue!" Investigating the color choices, I figured it was Aqua Mist, and consequently named her the "Aquitania". The interior leather appeared turquoise, but the colored non-metallic thread in the Balmoral cloth inserts had faded to grey. The metallic thread looked turquoise. Only after the car arrived at home and I had a chance to really go through it, did I learn from the body tag that it left the factory as Ballad Green. But it wasn't quite Ballad Green either. I learned that the car had been repainted in the early '80s by an Earl Sheib-type outfit, which I only am now discovering did some horrendous bondo repair work in the rear fenders (hidden by the pot metal stone shields). I'm guessing that the painter tried to match the by-then-faded green with whatever color was closest in their limited color palette. The colored threads in the inserts must have been green at one time, but even the green metallic threads did not look green.

I knew that eventually a re-paint was in order, and since the front seat inserts had been replaced with Naugahyde, a new interior was in the cards as well. I like the Aquitania name, and don't like Ballad Green, so it was an easy decision to repaint her in Aqua Mist and redo the interior in turquoise rather than green. This is a correct color combination. This process is going on now. The seats and door panels are finished and the chrome and stainless are done. Stripping the paint and bodywork will be started very soon.

Since your car is a Crown 4-door Southampton, not a sedan, you have the widest selection of interior colors in the Balmoral cloth, like a tweed, with black and grey threads, and colored cloth and metallic threads which coordinate with the leather bolsters. All leather interiors were optional throughout the Crown series, but only in blue, tan, red and white, as I mentioned in an earlier post. The Balmoral cloth & leather could be had in medium blue, medium green, tan (gold metallic thread), silver (copper metallic thread), turquoise and rose. Assuming you have no preference in color, it might be easier to choose which interior color of the six you like best, and then see which of the 21 colors would have been appropriate for it, rather than the other way around. For example, let's say you really like Radiant Red (Code R). The only interior color available with Radiant Red was silver leather with black & grey cloth and copper metallic threads (Code 614). However, the Code 614 material was available with 14 of the 21 colors. The rose cloth & leather (Code 616) wasn't offered with Radiant Red, and was only available with 6 colors: Black, Spanish Silver, Oxford Grey, Grey Rose, Deep Ruby, and Ivory White. The rose interior wasn't offered with Persian Pink - for that color you'd have to get that Code 614 (the one with 21 matches). Confused yet?

My suggestion is to figure out what color interior you like best and whether it's available from some supplier. SMS in Portland, Oregon had the turquoise material I needed, and may have others as well. When you've done that, I can tell you which colors (two-tone, if you want) were offered for that color. Purists may scoff at my heresy in not repainting the car exactly as it came from the factory. But we're not talking about a 400-point, numbers-matching '57 Eldorado Biarritz here, and if the car came out of the factory in something really putrid (i.e. Sandstone, ugh!) or in a color you really don't like, pretend it's a brand-new car you're ordering from your friendly and accommodating Imperial dealer!

And that's my opinion!!

Neal Herman

1959 Imperial Crown

1966 Imperial Crown

et al.