Absolutely true.
On the other hand, during 1957 through 1966, selling them side by side made the differences between them observable and highly obvious. I think the simplest explanation for the lack of sales was that Chrysler was the number three auto maker, and as such, the Imperial was the third choice among status conscious Americans. I can remember my parents friends who drove Cadillacs in the '60s commenting on how special my mother's Imperial was. As a little kid, that made no sense if they were driving the "Standard of the World". Yet, year after year, they bought their new Cadillacs.
One neighbor had a 1956 Desoto, and traded it in on a '64 Crown Coupe. That family loved that car and they were very proud of it. In 1966 when the dad came home with a new Lincoln Continental, the mother made him take it back. She didn't want to give up her Imperial. When I returned to the neighborhood for a brief visit in 1986, that Crown Coupe was still in their driveway, as was the 1952 Imperial that had lived down the street the whole time that I was growing up. There was no sign of any old Caddy's or Lincoln's by then, though.
Paul W.
One difference though, Chrysler was selling Imperials and New Yorkers in the SAME dealership. There's a big difference between having them side by side or having to travel from an Olds or Buick dealer to a Caddie dealership. I think they'd have a tougher time selling that little Lexus if they were selling Camrys side by side.
Rob
>From:
ChiPieAlandPaula@xxxxxxx
> As to the uniqueness of Cadillac and Lincoln, a closer look reveals that
>this is just so much misinformation. Take a look at a the 76 Ninety Eight,
>Electra and Sedan de Ville. If you look at them in profile, you can see >that the
>entire center body sections, including the cowl and windshield are the >same. For
>that matter look at a 53 Roadmaster and a Series 62. Both share the same
>center section. This approach is referred to as body engineering or >sharing. It is
>the only way that a major car company could possibly spread out the costs >of
>engineering an ENTIRE CAR LINE.
> Just some Thoughts,
> Allan from Billings,
>Montana
>
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