Just a guess here, but I will say that somebody in the company must have considered the Imperial a labor of love. At least I would like to think so since they kept making it during continued periods of low sales which were the norm rather than the exception.
The most recent Collectible Automobile has an interesting side bar about the 1974 and 1975 Imperials contained within the article about the N.Y. Brougham. In a nut shell, it states that the only reason a '74 Imperial was made is that one of the design folks wanted to see that grille (designed specifically for the to be non-exisitant Imperial) on a production car. Egos and office politics prevailed and resulted in the car being offered for the unanticipated two year run.
Interestingly, I think that I read that the 1975 Imperial production was between 8,000 and 9,000 cars, while the nearly identical car for '77 with NYB badging sold over 56,000. I hate to even think it, but maybe the Imperial name really was the problem?????
Paul W.
-----Original Message-----
From: Christopher H <imperial67@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: IML (main) <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tue, 23 May 2006 22:38:46 -0700
Subject: Re: IML: New Imperial Opinions
Brilliant observation, Mark. I, too, would love to hear such a commitment (heck, from any manufacturer these days, even RR or MB, but especially from Chrysler)! You are spot-on in knowing that everything today needs a âbusiness caseâ to exist, and that no one seems to do something purely because itâs the right way and they know it in their hearts and souls.
Now, I wonder how many people at Chrysler felt that way when our Imperials were made? Or was it just, well, marketing? (One would have to think a number of people working at Chrysler actually did embody âextra care in engineeringâ or there wouldnât have been so many firsts for Chrysler in the 50s and 60s. Wonder when they last earned a meaningful patent?) Hard to imagine nowadays with everything outsourced to suppliers.
Thank you, Mark, for sharing your insight! I believe there is a market for your talent! :)
Chris in LA
On 5/23/06 9:01 PM, Mark McDonald at tomswift@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
I wish I could read an article about the new Imperial in which someone-- anyone-- at Chrysler is quoted as saying "We believe we have the capability of making one of the best luxury cars in the world and we intend to do so."
Instead, you hear "We believe there is a market for a luxury car and we intend to exploit it any way we can."
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