All '81-83 Imperials were built with headlamp doors. They were a standard and integral part of the clean front-end styling. The doors pivot downward and lay flat under the headlamps when they open, to form the "floor" of the headlamp recess. This provides a finished look with the lamps on (two of the years had chrome trim on the inside of the doors for an even nicer appearance) that could easily fool someone into thinking there were no doors at all. Most cars with hidden headlamps do not have any finishing detail behind the lamps... the doors just reveal the headlamps and their hardware as if no one ever exposes the lamps in daylight (this was the assumption... they'd only be open when it's dark, as if it never rains in the daytime). A '74 Imop-'78 NYB, for example, is not pretty with the headlamp doors open! The '81-83 Imperials were different, and looked finished even with the headlamp doors retracted. This is normally only supposed to occur when the headlamps are one, but if you shut the car off before you switched off the lamps, the doors would stay open (as on all Mopars with hidden lamps). This was useful if you wanted to leave the doors open with the lights off, perhaps to clean the lamps or to park overnight when you expect weather than might freeze the doors shut. The also stay open if the motors fail, of course. But the doors are still there, just well-concealed! -- Chris in LA 67 Crown 78 NYB Salon On 12/9/04 9:03 am, Larry Noska (lnoska@xxxxxxxxxxxx) wrote: > The owner one-bay said there were no head light doors. I think I found a > 80's with out head light doors in Coeur D' Alene Idaho. I will have to > revisit the car to make sure but I don't remember seeing headlight doors on > the car in Coeur D' Alene, Idaho. > > > Dads 82 > > Lawrence R Noska ----------------- http://www.imperialclub.com ----------------- This message was sent to you by the Imperial Mailing List. Please reply to mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and your response will be shared with everyone. Private messages (and attachments) for the Administrators should be sent to webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To UN-SUBSCRIBE, go to http://imperialclub.com/unsubscribe.htm