As a Newbie,I was invited to say a little about my 1953 Imperial, so here
goes...
I bought it in '77 from a fellow in Olean, NY, who was the former Mayor. The
car had less than 65K miles on it, and had spent most of its time in Va.
(The guy was a collector; he had owned an L-29 Cord at one time). The
interior was mint, except for the front seat and front door panels. The body
and paint were very good, except for the grille, which was and is very poor
(Korean War chrome). The car got from NY to Michigan with no problems.
For the first few years, I drove it fairly regularly, putting almost 4K
miles on it. However, I started having brake problems, and it gradually
became a Garage Queen, regrettably. The last year it was used to any extent
was about 1990, and I additionaly got involved in some other cars, such as a
1953 Mercedes 220 (basically a late '30s car, styling-wise), a '70 Spitfire
and a '65 Cadillac 60 Special. I also had a '48 Cadillac fastback during
this period.
When we were redoing our garage 5 years ago, I had to get busy on it. So the
carb got rebuilt, I put a new master cylinder it it, took out the plugs,
oiled the cylinders, etc. I did get it running, and took it around the block
a couple of times. But I never could get the brakes to bleed properly.
However, this year, I found a company in the Detroit area who is going to
get the Imperial truly roadable. And that is where it is now.
By the way, if anyone has a line on an excellent or NOS 51-53 Imperial
grille...(I believe the '51 and '52 are a perfect interchange). I could also
use those little crowns that are on the hubcaps.
I think the Imperial website is great! Funny, I had already spotted those
Imperials in The Godfather, and the Bogie flick, Sabrina. Trying to sneak an
Imperial past me in a movie is like trying to sneak the sun past a rooster.
By the way, I was watching "Charlie Varrick" (Walter Mattau flick) recently;
'67? But I digress...
The '53 on the Imperialist site is fascinating, due to the fact that it has
AC! By the way, I neglected to mention that my car has the rare Powerflite
automatic transmission, so it was a late build. It also has the script
"Imperial" on the side; the early ones did not have that.
The choice of materials used in this car, especially the interior, harkens
back to the Classic era. Extremely impressive. Negatives? Well, the Power
Steering is so light, if a fly lands on the steering wheel...
Later. Currell
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