IML: Paul W. and his '56 and '65 Imperials & Maintenance

[Joe Strickland <jwstrick426@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Paul;

Kudos for keeping your Imperials running and stored properly.  I like
both years.  Each has its strong points.  Both are beautiful cars.
Paul, do you have a website or could you send some *.jpg pictures of
your cars to the club?  It would be nice to see them on-line.  My dad
used to have a '55 model and I loved the "Million Dollar" interior,
especially the large steering wheel with the chrome thumb rests and
ribbed hand grip areas.  Even the steering column cover was a beautiful
piece of work.  The generous use of chrome trim inside really set off
the older Imperials and makes them look especially luxurious by
comparison to todays cars.

I spent some time yesterday looking through the Repair section of the
Imperial Club's information.  I have been wanting to get my '62 on the
road again and brakes are the primary consideration.  I found a wealth
of information on the 3-Point/Total Contact brake systems in the 1960
Service Reference Book, Session 153.  This has greater detail than
anything else I have seen on the '60-62 models.  Based on the good
information there, I believe I will try once more to repair the existing
system before trying to convert to disc brakes.  It would certainly be
cheaper and less trouble to do.

A question for the group - do you think it would be best to replace all
of the steel brake line tubes?

Thanks a million to all those who have had a part in gathering this
wealth of service information.  The number of people experienced in
dealing with the older brake systems diminishes each year.  Most current
mechanics have never even seen any of these and would likely not be able
to work on the system without causing additional problems.

My most recent battle on my '62 was getting rid of some field mice who
had set up housekeeping in the trunk.  I had to completely remove the
trunk floor carpet.  That lead to also removing, scanning and cleaning
up an image file of the jack instructions that were glued to one of the
cardboard panels on the left side of the trunk wall.  I am trying to
decide whether to try to clean the original carpet or to just replace it.

Does anyone know of a source for new carpet material like the original
for a '62 Custom?

For the time being I have placed some moth balls in both the trunk and
the interior of the car.  That seems to be keeping the mice out.  I was
lucky with this car in that the previous owners had always kept the car
garaged.  I have done the same myself.  The dash pad has no cracks and
the steering wheel only has one small one.  Since the interior of the
car is blue, I found and installed a blue plastic wrap on the steering
wheel to cover the crack.  I have vinyl and original equipment seat
cover material to finish repairing the interior parts that have
deteriorated.

Joe S.





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