Neal,
Don't dispair... there is an entire cottage industry that is booming right now making unpopular reproduction parts. There are those of us who enjoy the older, more popular Imperial and Chrysler vehicles, and those of us who enjoy our Brown '81 Imperials, even when they aren't running.
There are already a number of folks out there collecting and preserving the used parts supply (Murray Park comes to mind), and a number of us making repros with advanced polymers, dimensionally accurate manufacturing methods, and surface treatments unheard of when the vehicles were originally designed. When the time comes that parts are needed, they will happen.
The point that needs to be made here, is to preserve what is left. This list does a great job of spreading the word when a car looks like it may be crushed or canibalized... we need to do the same for all of the "lesser" Chrysler and Imperial cars, to ensure adequate supplies of repair parts in the future. Valiants, Belvederes, Miradas, all of them. There are recyclers (used parts dealers) all over the country who will be interested in taking these cars if we cannot find homes for them. Seek these cars out and save them.
Unfortunately the uniqueness of these cars limited their popularity, and also limits the repro market. Prices for NOS stuff, as well as used and repro are higher than for a Camaro or Mustang, but I for one am happy to pony up the extra few bucks to have what I want.
I'll step down from the soap box now, but please, keep up the good work of preserving these fine cars, as well as their smaller family members. There are folks who love their Darts and 880's just as much as we love our Imperials.
Steve Charette
'68 Crown 4 door
'81 Coupe
In a message dated 3/1/2002 6:48:23 PM Eastern Standard Time, mailing-list-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
That's going to be the hard part with our later Imperials/Cordobas, or any
eighties-vintage American car, really - the plastic trim pieces will
eventually deteriorate to the point that they can't be salvaged, and junked
parts cars won't be any better. That era Imperials/Cordobas/Miradas were
never particularly popular to begin with, and the survival ratio will
unlikely warrant after-market suppliers making repro parts. It's all very
discouraging that the plastic-y cars that many of us enjoy, won't be able
to preserved as easily as our Exnerific and Engelicious models.
Neal Herman
1959 Imperial Crown 4-door Southampton
1972 Buick Riviera
1983 Chrysler Cordoba
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