The Collectible Automobile article is actually on the Œ74-78 Chryslers and
only includes the Imperial as a sidebar, but since the Œ74-75 Imperial
became the Œ76-78 NYB, it¹s an integral part of the story.
The design saga reveals how the Imperial almost never made it past Œ73 save
for the desire of a certain design chief who fell in love with the waterfall
grille idea and wanted to see it brought to life. This was the first time I
had heard of a connection between the Œ74 cars and my favorite car designer,
Elwood Engel. Turns out he even personally picked up a knife one day in the
studio and carved the little bevel on the ³spare tire hump² (a la 1964) on
the trunk lid, so I guess I own more Engel-supervised cars than I thought!
There are a few small reproductions in the CA article¹s sidebar of the
design sketches leading up to the Œ74 Imperial, but they¹re too small (and
too few in number) to reveal how much of Engel¹s earlier Imperials is in
this car, and how the design continuity was carried through. (I¹ve always
thought my Œ78 and Œ67 look quite related when parked side-by-side.)
There is a much better place to see these sketches and more: our own
website! A reprint of a fantastic article from the WPC Club News from what
seems to be 1979 or '80 is at:
http://www.imperialclub.com/Articles/74-75WPC/index.htm
Interestingly, Chrysler seemed to think at the time of Imperial's 1975
demise that moving its body to the New Yorker combined the best of both
worlds: The name recognition and appeal of "Chrysler New Yorker" and the
design of the Imperial. When Chrysler let the New Yorker name die in the
late 1990s, it was the longest-continuously-running car nameplate in the
industry. (Funny how they couldn't make Imperial as marketable a name.)
Oh, by the way, if you happen to get the new (August 2006) issue of
Collectible Automobile, you can also see the first-ever mass-printed photos
of the 1978 New Yorker Brougham Salon Package, a model that did not appear
in any brochure or PR photography during its one model year. Twenty-eight
years later, a Salon has finally appeared in print!
Chris in LA
67 Crown
78 NYB Salon
On 5/24/06 8:14 AM, Christopher Middlebrook at delamothe@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Hello Imperialists,
Well, the fine folks at Collectible Automobile magazine have done it again.
Their latest issue features a great article on the 74-78 Imperials and NYB's.
Keep your eyes out for it at the newsstands, it just arrived.
Chris Middlebrook
1962 Custom Southampton
----------------- http://www.imperialclub.com -----------------
This message was sent to you by the Imperial Mailing List. Please
reply to mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and your response will be
shared with everyone. Private messages (and attachments) for the
Administrators should be sent to webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To UN-SUBSCRIBE, go to http://imperialclub.com/unsubscribe.htm
Back to the Home of the Forward Look Network