Hi, The hubcaps are Crown Imperial only because they have spacers to push them out from the wheel as to cool the disc brakes and they are not the same for as many years that has been stated. Try to find the right ones. I know someone that has been looking for years and is in the main stream of the parts business. You can change the car over to standard Imperial or New Yorker brakes but the rear end in the car is wider to allow for the width of the interior and special spacers have to be machined. Believe me, I know many people that have done this on the Town and Countries which use the same set up. The only way to do this car is to do it right. Otherwise you will have a bastard that will not be worth anything to the purest who will be the one that will buy the car someday when it is done and the restorer is ready to sell. If you make this car up out of non original parts as in a street rod style it will only bring minimal money when sold and will still cost the same to restore. Doing the interior cheaply will be ok for the cruse night bunch but take a car like that to an Imperial gathering and although they won't tell you to your face you know the reaction it will get. The only things that the car is missing are the impossible items that are limo only. Is anyone also thinking about the hydraulic windows. Most parts interchange with Cadillac but each motor in the doors is about $250 exchange. Is the limo only glass good? I can't tell in the pictures on ebay because the windows are down in the doors. And then you have the unit under the hood that pumps the fluid to the windows. This is why the windows are down and the interior is in shambles. How much damage has the leaking hydraulic fluid done to the inside of the doors. This is very damaging to paint so the paint has been eaten away from the bottom of the doors offering bare metal to the elements. Remember that these are limo only doors. You don't just graft on door bottoms from a standard Imperial. Then there is the hoses for the windows that carries the hydraulic fluid. And what about all of that limo only rubber? It will take an expert a long time to figure out what to use to make this. I don't think that it is able to be used as is. I think that nobody is thinking of these things when they are estimating how much to restore this car. What about the air conditioning. Is that complete. What about the limo only chrome on the inside. The dash chrome is the same as standard Imperial but what about all the rest. Do you pay the money to have all the pits filled in the pot metal and re-chromed. Do you know how much this will cost!!! What about 54 limo only taillights? Where do you get those!!! What about the limo only spare tire area under the bumper. How bad is that rusted out and who is going to re-make this? I know all of this can be done and this car is the "Dusenberg" of the future according to most who have been writing about this subject but anyone but the most accomplished restorer with all of the machinery in the world to make everything that is missing will never finish the car. How many people out there that own one of these cars are willing to take them apart and loan the parts missing from this car to a machine shop so they can re-create the missing pieces. I could go on and already have but I have seen this too many times that people have taken the attitude that things are really easier then they really are. Like I said before, I applaud anyone that is willing to take on a project of this magnitude and finish it but most times the "finish it" part never happens. Ken
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