IML: what is a "stripper" and what is a LeBaron?

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

Bill, I had a feeling you would come up with those amazing statistics. 
Thanks.  Do you, by any chance, have the price break on the various trim 
levels, minus added accessories?

If I may, with respect, quibble, there seems to be a contradiction in your 
definition of the non Crown or LeBaron as being a  "Stripper" car.  You 
wrote:

> "For an Imperial, the basic, no-option, Custom was a stripper model.  Yes,
> you could load it up with all the options available on a LeBaron, but the
> base Custom car, with no options, had less equipment than either a Crown 
> or
> a LeBaron."

The logic seems to imply you could indeed get a stripper base model but you 
could also get a stripper Crown and even a stripper LeBaron.  If the base 
model could be loaded up with all the options, and so could the other trim 
levels, does the car's position on the trim ladder denote that the car must 
be, a priori, a stripper?  We have heard of LeBarons, in later years, with 
wind up windows, for example.  In 1958, because all "extras" were available 
at every trim level, it is not correct to say the non-named Imperial was a 
stripper by definition.  Possibly, the introduction of the name, "Custom" in 
later years was an attempt to stratify positions but, in this era, it was 
important not to do so.  You might buy the non named Imperial to avoid tow 
tone paint or leather, but you could still get everything else.

This gets me back to a point I have never had clearly defined to my own 
satisfaction, and it happens to be the question that sparked off this 
particular thread: "What was the difference, in 1958, between a Crown and a 
LeBaron?  Crowns had a crown embossed into its leather seats.  What did the 
LeBaron have?  The LeBaron had a different trim on the sides that read 
LeBaron instead of Imperial but what else was different?  Did they also have 
little crowns above the headlights?  I know they had their own wheel covers. 
Were there any other interior appointments that were exclusive to the 
LeBaron?  What were people paying for, over and above the Crown, apart from 
snob value?

Hugh





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