IML: Is it just me?

[<dansgarage@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi All...Last week my January issue of Hemmings Motor News arrived and with it, not surprisingly, enclosed in the plastic wrapping, were a coupe of catalogs filled with 'Car Guy' stuff for Christmas presents! Again, this is nothing I'd call 'new'! Also included was a booklette referring to the upcoming ('07) Barrett-Jackson auction in Scotsdale, AZ. Usually I would look through this type of auction brochures with 'curiosity' more than anything else, since unless I hit the lottery I could no way afford to even think !! about affording one of these cars! Yes, there are always vehicles up for auction that i would LOVE to own, but I have to ask myself "If I bought a $100,000.00 GTX with only 250 miles on it, would I even take it out on the road??'......Sure there are less expensive cars out there but USUALLY the best ones (I realize that the term 'best' here is relative!) go to auctions such as the Barrett-Jackson ones since there are usually lots of folks with the big bucks attending these functions. Now, after looking through the brochure that came with my Hemmings, I saw a number of great vehicles I would love to be able to own, but!!! although I may have missed it, I SAW NO IMPERIALS AT ALL listed for the upcoming auction! After thinking about this for a bit I guess its a good news/bad news thing, cause if  the IMPERIALS were as in-demand as, say, Dodge Daytona's, Roadrunners, Chrysler 300's or any of the muscle cars, there would be no way that someone like myself could ever have bought one in the first place! ...and I have been fortunate enough to currently own two! I must admit though, it is beyond me why IMPERIAL's in general are not MUCH more in demand then they currently are! I think they were built so much better then other cars of that era, they certainly are not a vehicle you are liable to see passing you on the road whenever you DO go out for a drive, the production numbers are certainly not high enough for them to have been called 'commonly seen' even when they were new!! If I had a 10 car garage ( and the $$ to fill it up!) I'd surely have 10 Imperials in it (OK, maybe only 9 with one Hemi, 4-speed GTX!). I know it sounds corny and allthat, but I truly enjoy owning my Imperial(s) even if I just stand there and look at them! So, its GOOD NEWS that these cars not not skyrocketing in price (so far) so we can all afford to own one! The BAD NEWS (if you want to call it that) is that because they are not in great demand, the parts are not as easy to find as, say, parts for a '57 Chevy or a Roadrunner might be. I guess thats what EVERY old car owner has to deal with....and, the more I think about it, thats part of the enjoyment of owning an old car in the first place!...that, along with the looks you get when taking the car out for a drive! I just know that some of those folks are saying to themselves "I sure wish we had kept Grampy's old Imperial! what a car that was!!".......But I'm still disappointed that there were no Imperials going to the Barrett-Jackson auction! (that I know of)
I hope everyone has a GREAT Holiday ...stay safe and have a Happy!
Dan Melnik



-----------------  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