Re: IML: The Imperials keep getting printed...

[Christopher H <imperial67@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Yeah, Arran, it's an odd and complicated story, those last of the big
Chryslers. They are far better cars than many people remember.

I've never been able to detect a difference in the sheet metal or side
glass, but I suppose a comparison of part numbers would reveal the truth.
Maybe someday I'll measure my side glass versus a '77 or earlier NYB.

As for quality, a lot of it was perception, but it's a lot easier to change
actual problems for consumers than perceived ones, something few
manufacturers realize (the Audi situation with alleged "unintended
acceleration" comes to mind, or think about all the fear over air-bag
related child injuries in the early 90s, but when's the last time you heard
about that, even before smarter air bags?). As for Lean Burn, my car has its
original ELB system, and it's equipped with the 400-4bbl, an engine not
available in California when new because it didn't meet emissions standards.
And yet I have to get it through Smog Check every two years, and it passes
with figures that would make a modern car proud. Sure, it's only got 17,500
miles, but it's still nearly 30 years old with nearly 30-year-old
technology. And it gets similar mpg to my newer, smaller, lighter,
smaller-engine Jeep with modern control systems and a 5-speed automatic.

As with ELB and the '81 Imperial fuel injection system, a lot of the
perceived problems were rooted in customer expectation of how a car should
run and how well dealers handled both the minor issues of tuning the cars
and the major issue of re-educating customers. The engine controls of this
era were fairly primitive, analog computers burdened with a lot of vacuum
hoses and sensors that were essentially two-position limit switches. When
some of these switches fell out of tolerance, cars stalled or stumbled, and
people rightfully were disappointed. It would have been interesting if these
new systems had come about before the gas crisis. Instead of having so many
400-hp 19-mpg midsize cars today (or nearly 6,000-lb SUVs), we might all be
quite content to be driving 200-hp large cars that get 25 mpg.

The funniest part of the 1970s migration to smaller cars is that many of
them were still equipped with enormous engines. Cordobas came with 400s,
too. Even compact Volares and LeBarons with 318s got relatively poor fuel
economy by today's standards (though my '93 Jeep with the evolution of the
same engine, by then called a 5.2-liter, got better mpg than my newer Jeep
with the 4.7. Again, so much of it was perception. So much of it always will
be. Humans, after all, are we.

Chris in LA
67 Crown
78 NYB Salon


On 6/1/06 6:48 PM, A. Foster at monkeypuzzle1@xxxxxxx wrote:

> Chris;
>  That is one issue of that magazine that I need to get myself as I happen to
> own a lesser Chrysler of that era. One question that I am wondering about is
> did they actually use thinner sheet metal and glass on the 77 and 78 cars as
> opposed to the 74 to 76 cars? I have been looking over a 78 NYB for parts
> and it seems to use the same glass as my 75' Newport.
>   What I found extraordinary is how may of these final C body Chryslers they
> sold. It looks like they consistantly sold over 100,000 cars a year from
> 1974-77, it's true that they were outsold by the Cordoba but they were
> hardly a failure. I am guessing that the downward spiral in 1978-79 had more
> to do with the bad name that the electronic lean burn system, the
> Aspen/Volare, and other poor quality problems gave them then the large cars
> that they selling. 1978 was the year that the CAFE standards kicked in, and
> there were no full sized big block cars available for 79 so I don't think
> that the large cars can shoulder all of the blame.
> Best Regards
> Arran Foster
> 1954 Imperial Newport
> Needing A Left side tailight bezel and other trim parts
> 1975 Chrysler Newport
> Needs the heater repaired.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Christopher H" <imperial67@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: "IML (main)" <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Monday, May 29, 2006 9:21 PM
> Subject: Re: IML: The Imperials keep getting printed...
> 
> 
> The Collectible Automobile article is actually on the O74-78 Chryslers and
> only includes the Imperial as a sidebar, but since the O74-75 Imperial
> became the O76-78 NYB, it¹s an integral part of the story.
> 
> The design saga reveals how the Imperial almost never made it past O73 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 O74 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 O74 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 O78 and O67 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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> 
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