Hi Matt!...I must say that if I hadn't gotten started with having an Imperial as my 'daily driver' back in the early '70's, I really think I would have been a "DeSoto' Kinda guy instead! I had a '56 DeSoto in 1967 that my parents had gotten me so I could drive back from Ft. Mamouth, NJ to home in Staten Island on weekends. For the sum of $99.00 I drove home (from Pennsylvania - I think the dealer was named REEDSMAN's and may still be there!) with a beautiful black and white one-owner '56 DeSoto that practically had not a scratch on it. Turns out the original owner had just stopped into the dealership to trade the car in on a new car of some kind and they had just put this car out on the lot! Of course, back then it was just anther 10 year old car and $99.00 was about what you would have expected it to cost. What a car! Now that I think about it, I don't think I even had heard of an IMPERIAL at that time...however, since I was in the Army at that time I was lucky to be able to afford gas for the car....good thing it had this little 2-bbl carb ! (and, of course, gas was only about 30 cents a gallon or so!) If only I could have grabbed up a few Imperials back then!!! ( or maybe Daytona's or Superbirds...then I could afford to sell them all today and get Imperials for each year!! (and restore then too!) Dan melnik ---- Matthew Gill <mgill3@xxxxxxx> wrote: ============= AMEN TO THAT. I was just at the Mopar Nationals in Ohio just this past August and there was a sea of Cuda's, Challengers, and the like... *yawn*... Don't get me wrong, I love a big block Mopar as much as anybody, but i was probably one of the only guys scouting out Imperials. I think i saw a total of THREE in the ENTIRE event! It was terrible! I have no idea why there weren't more Imperials... then again they're rare like you said, but I was still disappointed. I was also disappointed that I didn't see a single DeSoto. It's so funny when people mistake them for a Cadillac, in fact somebody did the same with my '81, a neighbor of mine asked "is that a Cadillac?" Hah! PLEASE! Imperials have always been a notch ahead of Cadillac. I hope Chrysler does well with the Imperial concept so that people know about it, i think it'll be an in your face to Cadillac. The 300C has sold so well, people seem to be paying attention to Chrysler which is great, I hope the Imperial does very well, and I know i'll be waiting to buy my own when i can afford it. Wonder what the price will be? I read somewhere in the range of $60k Matt On Dec 10, 2006, at 10:42 PM, parrow33@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote: > We Imperial owners are some of the luckiest in the hobby. We like > automobiles that everyone at car shows love to look at but don't > want. I was in the Dallas Mopar Club for many years and was the > only member without a "muscle" car. Most of the guys in the club > would rather have been dead than own an Imperial, unless they could > pull the engine(to drop in a Roadrunner or some other seen-one-seen- > them-all B-body)and push the carcass in the river. But when show > time came, you could barely see the car for the solid wall of > people looking at it! A friend of mine & I would take turns > staying with the car('61 LeBaron) just to explain what it was and > to detail the joys of Imperial ownership. One of the best comments > I ever recieved was "Good looking Cadillac! What year is it? I > once had a '65 LeBaron, good silver paint, black leather that was > flawless, everything worked, good chrome, no dents or rust, and > tried to sell it. I couldn't give it away! I finally traded it for > a '61 Crown! > parts car. We Imperial owners rough it with cars th > at have ALMOST no reproduction parts made and very few remaining > parts cars. I have better luck findng parts for a '36 Pierce-Arrow > than I do for the Imperials. I wouldn't trade the experience for > anything! > > Jim Payne > '59 LeBaron > '61 LeBaron > '65 Crown Coupe > '65 Crown Cv. >> >> From: <dansgarage@xxxxxxxxxxxx> >> Date: 2006/12/10 Sun PM 11:08:40 EST >> To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >> Subject: IML: Is it just me? >> >> 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 attendi! > ng these functions. Now, after looking through the b > rochure 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 garag! > e ( and the $$ to fill it up!) I'd surely have 10 Im > perials 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 >> >> > > > > ----------------- 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 > ----------------- 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 ----------------- 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