I can vouch for this. I spend anywhere from 2-10 hours a week with my face buried in parts manuals. Certain parts would be considered generic... engine and transmission parts, alternators, things like the accelerator mechanism and wiper motors, for instance.
The things that a car owner will see and feel are most definately different. Although the powertrains are the same (I'm talking '60's and '70's cars) the suspensions are completely different. There is additional isolation of critical members everywhere. The brakes, sway bars, etc are bigger. Within those systems, however, things like fasteners and bushings remain common with C-Bodies. And believe it or not, I've found some non-critical parts on the Imperial that are only shared with the A-Body!
As much as the cars tend to resemble the high-end C-Body offerings, they are a much more robust vehicle. Incrementally better materials are used for trim items, and some components are made using metal one gauge thicker, to reduce vibrations or noises that were deemed acceptable in the Chrysler offerings. That is alot of the reason that the cars weigh so much; the down side is that also made for a great demo derby car.
As Elijah said, the parts books have columns for A, B, and C body, then Imperial. Nearly everything that had any feedback to the driver in terms of look, feel, performance, noise, vibration or harshness is improved on the Imperial, and has a different part number. In the case of the transmission mount, for example, the mount is visually and dimensionally identical to the one used in all other cars, but the '67-'68 Imperial only part is made of a slightly softer rubber compound to further dampen vibrations transmitted to the chassis.
It's almost amazing to look back now in 2002. There is tremendous pressure in the engineering community to commonize systems, and use a modular approach to take a base vehicle and "stretch" it into a larger car. Very different cars can then roll down these "Flex Assembly Lines". You'll see some evidence of this even on the '80's and '90's cars, although there is still a significant portion of the aforementioned hi-end systems to make the Imperial a very special car.
Thanks,
Steve Charette
Imperial Services
www.imperialservices.net
In a message dated 7/19/02 5:47:12 PM Pacific Daylight Time, mailing-list-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
Even the body shells, which do look similar at a
cursory glance, will NOT interchange without some
modification. If anyone is really bored, I can give a
detailed list of specifics. The same is true for the
'67-'68 Imperials. Have a look at a parts catalog
sometime, and notice the very different numbers listed
for almost everything in the Imperial column.
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