IML: They built a good one that day

["Hugh & Therese" <hugtrees@xxxxxxxx>]

During last week I saw my 1958 Imperial.  It's been a while.  It was dark 
and drizzling.  I was hoping to visit the owner of the trucking company 
where it is but he wasn't there so I made up an excuse to get something out 
of the Imperial's trunk while I was there.  The poor old thing is behind the 
main shop, minus its engine and transmission.  The surprising thing was that 
the rear end has also risen, something I had not noticed before.  Of course, 
minus all that weight in the front, the front end is considerably higher 
than normal.  The engine and transmission are stashed away somewhere, shrink 
wrapped on a palette.  It has been shoved so far back, forget about the back 
burner, it's off the stove and out of the kitchen completely.  My visit to 
the owner was ostensibly for other reasons but I'm sure the Imperial would 
have come up in the conversation and he is the only one who will be able to 
raise the car's priority.  The shop did not appear to be that busy, so maybe 
now would be a good time to remind them about the Imperial.

A few years ago a man of almost one hundred years of age was brought to the 
transportation museum I work at, which owns the 58 Imperial, which is why 
the trucking company was willing to work on it for free in the first place, 
back in March.  This old man had, seventy years earlier, worked on the 
production line of the REO factory in Lansing, Michigan.  He came to see our 
1929 REO Flying Cloud coupe with rumble seat.  He sat, frail and thin, with 
watery eyes, and stared at the car.  After a while he opined, "Well, we made 
a good one that day."  Asked what he meant by attentive relatives he was 
logical.  "It's still here."

I thought about the man as I drove home.  No, I didn't build this oddly 
beautiful old car.  And, no, the car isn't unique.  Some 16,000 were built, 
of which around half were four door hardtops.  Thirty are listed on the 
Imperial club web site, which reminds me I really should add mine.  But me 
and this car, named Mrs. Blueberry by my daughter about five years ago, have 
traveled a long way together.  I would be prepared to wager that I have 
spent more time working on it than I have driving it but consider that to be 
time well spent and maybe one of the better time investments I have made in 
my lifetime so far.  The old man went to work and did his job and, 
unexpectedly, made something that escaped, barely, the ravages of time and 
survived to be a cherished museum piece.  The car was restored in the early 
1980s and then traded to a man who died and whose wife then donated it to 
us.  The 58 Imperial was owned by a collector who donated half a dozen cars 
to the museum before he died.  There were two other Imperials and both of 
them were disposed of long before I came along and "rescued" the 58.  When 
we first started it, I didn't know I was embarking on this long, difficult 
and expensive journey.  Maybe I would have been smarter and avoided it if 
only I had known.

At some point, next year, I hope, I will be singing the praises of this 
great car again, about how well it drives and performs.  I have been very 
lucky to have had the chance to drive so many different kinds of vehicles, 
from Model T Fords to ambulances and fire trucks.  I cannot put a finger on 
it exactly but I have found it to be the most enjoyable car to drive of 
everything I have ever tried.  My old Citroen 2CV is up there, certainly, 
with its unique body roll, but the 58 Imperial, Mrs. Blueberry, has a 
presence that is indubitably excellent, and, oh my gosh, if you have never 
accelerated up a long steep hill in a 392 hemi powered car and found 
yourself to be going faster at the top than you were at the bottom, then you 
have missed a very potent form of automotive experience for which there is 
no comparison.  Or the excited waves and thumbs up from other drivers or the 
surprising ability to park in restricted areas at airports because the 
security guards like it just as much as you do.

Chrysler Corporation has made, is making, some great cars.  Mine is one of 
its very best.  It is still here and its prospects are good.  I am lucky to 
have stumbled upon it.  I ended up becoming chairman of the board and now 
manager of the museum that owns it as a result of my enthusiasm for the car. 
You could call it a life changing experience.  A car like this is probably a 
once in a lifetime thing.  I bet a whole bunch of you feel the same way 
about yours.  Aren't we lucky?

Hugh 




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