I have to throw in my two cents here on the Hugh's point that you won't
find Caddies where Chevies are sold. You may very well, especially with
GM products. You may not find this so much in larger metropolitan
areas, but once you get outside the cites, you will most defiantly find
GM grouped together in odd combinations. When I lived in Vale, CO back
in the early '80's I had a '70 Olds 442 Convertible, and I still had it
in my teenage mind that only a dealership should work on my car. I had
to drive about 75 miles to the nearest town (I don't remember the name
of it) that had a Oldsmobile dealership. It was a Chevrolet,
Oldsmobile, Cadillac dealership, and as my car was in the shop I would
check out the new '81 models coming out. I remember seeing a '81
Camero, a '81 Sedan Deville (with the now famous V-8-6-4), and a new
Cutlass. I am not suggesting that this was in any way like what
Chrysler did with the Imperial, but GM did, and still does have many a
dealership with some funny mixes. Most of the time you would find
Imperial at Chrysler/Plymouth dealers, but I have heard that could be
mixed with Dodge, and Desoto as well. I was not old enough to see that,
but do remember the Chrysler/Plymouth/Imperial signs when I was a kid.
I agree about Ford since I can't recall ever seeing Ford/Mercury/Lincoln
all together though.
Bill Ulman
'66 Imperial Crown Conv.
Seattle, WA
-----Original Message-----
From: mailing-list-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:mailing-list-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Hugh & Therese
Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 8:29 PM
To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: IML: Toyota / chrysler airflow
> An interesting historical tidbit on the Airflow was that the Japanese
> were quite taken by the Airflow. So much so that, in 1936, Toyota
> (then known
as
> Toyoda Automatic Loom Works) produced their own hand-built version.
> Here's
a
> picture of the 1936 Toyoda Model AA next to a 1934 DeSoto:
> http://www.1000islandstoyota.com/pages/linkpage.html
Its heresy to say it in this town, now that a Toyota plant is coming,
but imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. One of the things that
the Japanese did that Chrysler refused to do, was stand behind their
high end products - in our case, the Imperial - by creating a separate
distribution chain. You cannot buy a Lexus at a Toyota dealership, or a
Lincoln at a Ford dealership, or a Cadillac where Chevies are sold. The
high end dealerships are totally separate from the run of the mill
dealerships. Chrysler Corp. never did that for the Imperial which has
repercussions to this day in that most folks, even MOPAR fans, call them
Chrysler Imperials. My own car was originally sold at a Plymouth
dealership. I don't think Chrysler management ever really had enough
faith in the Imperial and if they didn't why should the public? As WE
know, the cars had what it took to be the best, but in the high end
sector, you have to have a high "prestige" factor. People will pay
extra for a product that sets them apart in terms of social standing.
They won't if the product does not have that connotation.
Hugh
Back to the Home of the Forward Look Network