The article that you discuss is the first place I have seen any mention of the Salon Package that was available on the '78 cars. That particular version of the car looked more like the last Imperial than anything else. Didn't it also say that the Salon used the smaller rear window which had disappeared with the '75 Imperial?
Paul W.
The Collectible Automobile article is actually on the Å74-78 Chryslers and
only includes the Imperial as a sidebar, but since the Å74-75 Imperial
became the Å76-78 NYB, itÂs an integral part of the story.
The design saga reveals how the Imperial almost never made it past Å73 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 Å74 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 Âspare tire hump (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 articleÂs sidebar of the
design sketches leading up to the Å74 Imperial, but theyÂre too small (and
too few in number) to reveal how much of EngelÂs earlier Imperials is in
this car, and how the design continuity was carried through. (IÂve always
thought my Å78 and Å67 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
>
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