It is funny how your story parallels mine. I too, bought my 59 Imperial many years ago, 1987. Finally put it in the shop in 2004 and got it back in Nov 2005 with the interior still left to be done. That is where the similarity ends. I'm still slowly continuing the restoration. Great to here your almost done with it. I'd love to see pixs. Your an inspiration.
----- Original Message ----
From: Charles Hansen <hansencw@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2008 11:27:30 PM
Subject: Re: IML: car show
Some details about my Imperial at the Car Show in Nebraska (follow-on
to Bill Miller's email):
Ron's restoration shop is in northern Kansas, not too far from Grand
Island, so Ron has displayed cars at the annual Tri Cities (Grand
Island, Kearney & Hastings) Street Rod show every year since it
started 35 years ago. Ron got into the restoration business through
his early days building hot rods. And his restoration shop has turned
out many custom rods over the years, but he also does normal
restoration of classic cars. He has done several Chrysler 300s, but
my car was the first Imperial he
has restored. In fact he even
entered it in the show as a Chrysler LeBaron in spite of my efforts
to emphasize during the restoration of my car about how Imperial was
a separate make back in 1959.
Ron started working on my car in August 2004, after I pulled it out
of a shop in Colorado that had started the restoration project a few
months earlier (another story that I won't elaborate on now). So his
willingness to take over after it had already been partially torn
apart, really saved my car. The mechanical work on my car was
basically complete by October 2005, but Ron waited till it was almost
done before he got busy on getting the interior components (door
panels, etc.). going. Since he had used Gary Goers to do some of the
interiors for the 300s he had restored, he decided to get Gary to
fabricate the interior components
for my car. It took Gary 2 years to
get it done. Many of us know that it is not uncommon to wait a while
and my interior was relatively complicated so I think Gary had some
difficulty in getting all the needed materials. But in the end Gary
did outstanding work.
Ron uses a shop in Scottsbluff, NE to install the interiors, so once
they got Gary's shipment they finished my car at the end of November
2007. I went to their shop just before Thanksgiving to see the work
in progress. At that time it was almost complete except for
installing the seats. When they were done, Ron took my car back to
his shop in Kansas. I could have probably had it delivered to my home
in Colorado in late December or early January, but Ron asked if he
could keep it a few weeks longer so he could enter it in the show. I
thought it would be fun to do that,
plus I wouldn't be likely to
drive it during mid-winter in Colorado.
I traveled to Nebraska last Friday and stopped at Ron's shop in
Kansas on the way. I knew I wouldn't get there before my car had left
for the show, but I wanted to see David's 57 Imperial (David joined
our online group this past January). Ron has the body back on the
frame and there are gleaming chrome pieces laying in the trunk, just
waiting to be reattached. So the 57 is coming along and as Bill
pointed out, it will be heading to the interior shop soon. (After
experience with my car they got the interior components ordered right
away). It's also rather interesting that David's Imperial and my
Imperial are the first cars each of us ever purchased! (I got mine in
1967 for $350 when I was a poor college student. - Then you know the
scenario - drive it for a few
years - get a new car, store the old
one & in a couple years get busy restoring that old Imperial - yeah
right - life intervenes and a couple years becomes more than three
decades.)
I went to the car show on Saturday and it was first time I have seen
my car since everything was complete (only thing missing is the radio
- still being worked on but it's almost done). Ron does exceptional
work and Old Baron looked fantastic! Ron had it positioned on the
show floor in a location that got a lot of traffic, so many people
stopped to look at it. I made a 2x3 foot poster that gave a technical
description of my car and a brief history. I also included a picture
I scanned from a '59 advertising brochure - so it was pretty eye-
catching and many people stopped to read it. Ron had the hood and
trunk opened, and the driver's door open
with the swivel seat
partially swung out. That seat was the feature that intrigued people
the most and many of them asked me if that was customized. The
autopilot and the Mirrormatic also received a lot of attention. My
Imperial was very unique (of course it was the only Imperial at the
show) among the customized hot rods, Corvettes, Mustangs, Chevies,
Chargers, etc. But there were some other classic and antique cars -
'48 Lincoln, '59 Mercury for example. And Ron had a beautiful '33
Huppmobile parked next to my LeBaron. Hastings, Nebraska is my home
town and I got to visit with some friends who came to the show to
look at my car. So the show was a fun experience and I was surprised
my Imperial got so much attention from an audience that I assumed was
mostly interested in customized street rods.
In a few weeks I'll travel
to Ron's shop and do the final checkout of
my car before Ron delivers it to Colorado. And I will finally have
accomplished the goal of turning Old Baron into the newest '59
LeBaron on the planet (at least for a little while).
Regards,
Charlie Hansen
1959 Imperial LeBaron Southampton
- Formal Black - Black Landau Roof - FliteSweep Trunk Lid -
Ruby Interior - always known as "Old Baron" - after all it had 80,000
miles on it when I bought it on July 7th, 1967
On Jan 20, 2008, at 7:03 PM, William Miller wrote:
> Hi All,
> Went to a car show today at Grand Island, NE. Ron Kester, our
> local restoration artist had Charlie Hansens' 59 LeBaron there. Big
> and Black and Beautiful. I know it got at least 2 votes for
> Peoples Choice. He is also working on a 57 Convertible ,
also
> Black , it will be ready for the interior before too many weeks.
> Ron had 5 cars and a rolling chassis at the show. Most of the
> cars there were street rods but the Imperial was the best in my mind.
> Bill Miller
> 68 Crown 4dr HT
> 64 300K conv.
>
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