Re: IML: Were most Imperials bespoke?

["john sadowski" <jsadowski@xxxxxxx>]

I recall back in the mid sixties that there were not too many new Imperials 
on the dealers lots. Some of the larger dealers may have had 20 or more used 
ones to choose from. My dad & I used to spend a few hours about every other 
Sunday going to look at cars. I was pretty well versed in Chrysler products 
in those days.
  John
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Hugh, 58 Imperial" <imperial58@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, July 15, 2007 10:18 AM
Subject: IML: Were most Imperials bespoke?


> I wonder if most Imperials were not bespoke, at least outside the major 
> cities.  While on any dealer's lot you might find whole rows of Plymouths, 
> Dodges, De Sotos and even Chryslers, I cannot recall seeing, outside of 
> factory pictures, a whole row of more or less identical Imperials available 
> for sale.  When one was looking for a prestige automobile in the 1958 in 
> the USA, there was a choice of Cadillac, Lincoln and Imperial.  (Foreign 
> makes might be available but their numbers were incredibly small.) 
> Cadillac was the most obvious choice.  Lincoln was at its lowest ebb.  No 
> one has anything good to say about them.  The Imperial was, unfortunately, 
> coming off of its highest point.  The entire range of Chrysler Corporation 
> vehicles had swept the boards in 1957 with their stunning good looks, but 
> the company was caught flat footed by the sudden high demand and sacrificed 
> build quality in an effort to cash in.  The astonishing variety of adverts 
> for the 1958 spoke to this crisis.  It was all too much, too late.  The 
> damage had been done.  Surveys performed at the time indicated that many 
> first time Chrysler product buyers would not ever choose to buy one again.
>
> It was a buyer's market.  But how did people buy their new Imperials? 
> Smaller dealerships would not have one on the lot to even test drive.  All 
> they might have was a plastic model and some admittedly gorgeous brochures 
> that gave  prospective buyer some idea of the cars overall look and the 
> range of options available.  I surmise that it was on this basis alone the 
> cars were acquired.  Following this logic, a good review from Tom McCahill 
> in "Mechanix Illustrated" or other popular magazines such as "Science and 
> Mechanics" must have been worth its weight in gold.  We like to think, as 
> modern Imperial aficionados, that "common" wealthy people bought a 
> Cadillac but the more discriminating individual would want to stand out 
> from them in the church or golf course parking lot with something 
> demonstrably better and more refined, something that was less, shall we 
> say, vulgar.  Showing off wealth more discreetly by demonstrating taste 
> and discernment is a very effective form of snobbery in its own right.  A 
> more cultured outlook denotes superiority over parvenus and their penchant 
> for trashy and ostentatious demonstrations of their obviously newly 
> acquired spending power.
>
> Of course a great many were indeed bought on the strength of the vehicles 
> impressive good looks, basically sound engineering, advanced technological 
> innovations, such as cruise control, introduced as an option in 1958, and 
> a certain amount of faith that what you would get would look as good as 
> the model you held in your hand and all the glossy Saturday Evening Post 
> adverts.  Another attractive element would the almost forced obligation to 
> tailor your purchase from the lengthy list of trim options available.  On 
> the one hand there were three basic levels of trim.  In 1958 the so called 
> base model did not even have a name.  The mid-range, always the most 
> popular, was called Crown, and the highest tier was the Le Baron.  But, 
> even so, you could still get just about all the good stuff on the base 
> model.  My car lacks a second name, so its "just" Imperial, but it has 
> such fancy stuff as front and rear air conditioning and most other 
> goodies, too, but not the "Auto-Pilot" or the limited slip differential. 
> On the other hand I have seen a picture of one so "stripped" that it even 
> lacked electric windows.
>
> I was told by the original owner's niece that the original owner of my car 
> could not stand leather seats and the only way to avoid them on an 
> Imperial was to get the base model.  However he then selected most other 
> options from the catalog.  Being able to option your car to your own taste 
> also gives you bragging rights enjoy being one up over your fellow horse 
> breeders.  The first owner of my car owned and showed Tennessee Walking 
> horses, a breed known for its smooth gait, gentle temperament and stamina. 
> They were bred to carry owners of southern plantations around their lands 
> in comfort.  Such animals are shown for their distinctive walking style 
> but they are never raced or used in any other sports except trail riding, 
> for which they are ideally suited.  One might even say the Imperial is to 
> automobiles what the Tennessee Walking Horse is to other equines.
>
> I wonder if tailoring the Imperial was always the most frequent method 
> when buying them new.  I also wonder how long this lasted.  Without a 
> doubt ordering a car to your own taste is a lovely thing.  I have only had 
> the pleasure of doing it once, for, of all things, a humble Ford Escort. 
> Despite there being dozens on the lot, my wife, who is petite and liked 
> the car for a number of good reasons, wanted certain colors and features 
> and that could not be found without it being special ordered.  I don't 
> think I've ever seen a dealership less happy.  (The discounts they offered 
> us to take something off the lot that was close to what she wanted were 
> very tempting to me, but which married man out there thinks I even had a 
> choice in the matter.)  In the muscle car world, altering the car is 
> almost the whole point of the exercise.  People tweak stuff, add more 
> power, change out the interiors and repaint the cars to create their own 
> custom dream car.  We Imperialists do not favor this approach anywhere 
> near as much.  Maybe its because our cars were pretty much one offs to 
> begin with.
>
> Hugh Hemphill
> 58 Imperial
> San Antonio, Texas.
>
>
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