Re: IML: Back in 58 it was different, of course

["Bill Watson" <wwatson5@xxxxxxxxx>]

Calendar year registration figures for the United States :

1957 - 33,017
1958 - 14,801
1959 - 18,484

As for dealers, Imperials were sold at Chrysler dealers, although not all
Chrysler dealers sold Imperials.  And as Chrysler dealers sold Plymouths, it
is not surprising to see dealer tags with Plymouth on them.   Prior to 1960,
the American Mopar dealers were Plymouth-Chrysler, Plymouth-DeSoto and
Plymouth-Dodge.  With the arrival of the Dodge Dart for 1960, Dodge dealers
lost the Plymouth.   And with the death of the DeSoto in 1961, the majority
of the remaining Plymouth-DeSoto dealers became Plymouth-Chrysler dealers.

As for the number of Imperial dealers in the U.S, on January 1, 1959 there
were 1,358, with no exclusives.  (There were 2,579 Chrysler dealers)

So, with 1959 registrations of 18,484 and a dealer count of about 1,358,
each dealers sold an average of 13.61 cars, or 1.13 per month

Although the 16,133 Imperials built in 1958 were assembled at the Chrysler
plant on Jefferson Avenue, the 17,269 1959 Imperials were built at the
Imperial (ex-DeSoto, ex-Graham) plant on Warren Avenue.

Bill
Vancouver, BC


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Hugh & Therese" <hugtrees@xxxxxxxx>
To: "Imperial Mailing List" <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2005 12:38 AM
Subject: IML: Back in 58 it was different, of course


> Our spirited discussion today led me to thinking, always a dangerous time,
> mainly for me.  Anyhoo, back in 1958, Imperial production, at 16,133*,
made
> it the 16th largest name plate.   Plymouth, by comparison, made 443,799
> cars, at number three.  Sales of all cars slumped in 1958.  In 1957, by
> comparison, there were 37,593* Imperials built, but that was a peak year,
> with the introduction of the new body style.  In 1959, the number went up
> slightly to 17, 269*.
>
> *Source: 100 Years Of The American Auto (Publications International, Ltd),
> 2002
>
> The math becomes interesting if you break it down.  At 16,133, there were,
> on average, 1,344 cars a month being sold.  (A number of these cars would
> also have been sent abroad, particularly to Canada.)  I am obliged to
guess
> how many MOPAR dealerships there were in the entire USA at this time.  As
> mentioned in a previous message, none of these was a dedicated Imperial
> dealership.  My own 58 was purchased from a Plymouth dealership in a very
> small town some thirty miles from San Antonio, Texas  Does 2,000
dealerships
> seem like an appropriate guess?  That would be only 41 in each state,
> remembering that Alaska and Hawaii had yet to be formally designated as
> such.  That seems a little low, but lets go with it anyway.
>
> That would means that each dealership would only have to sell 8 Imperials
> throughout the year to absorb the entire production run.  Selling them was
a
> bit of a pain.  You might have one on the lot but more than likely all
you'd
> have is a plastic model and a lot of sales materials stating trim levels,
> color combinations, materials and equipment.  It also meant your repair
shop
> would have to carry tools to work on the car and a certain amount of spare
> parts as well.  I met a man who ran a Plymouth dealership in an even
smaller
> Texas county town called Karnes City.  He said that the Imperial was just
a
> pain in the behind, in every respect.  He wanted folks to buy what was on
> his lot, not have him fooling around on special orders that were complex
in
> every respect.
>
> In passing, I don't know if you could buy an Imperial at any MOPAR outlet,
> such as Chrysler, Dodge, DeSoto and Plymouth.  I have somehow come to hold
> the idea that Imperials were mainly sold at Plymouth dealerships but
cannot
> recall upon what this supposition is based.
>
> Many features of the Imperial were also on the company's lesser name
plates.
> The idea was that the press would talk up these features and then the
> salesmen would be able to sell the Plymouth on its close relationship with
> the Imperial, hence giving the owner a sense that he was getting some of
the
> Imperial's prestige when he bought his Plymouth.
>
> The actual Imperial buyer would have quite a set of choices to make when
he
> made his purchase.  Only one engine and only four body styles narrowed the
> choice quickly but then you'd have to begin thinking about colors, and
cloth
> or leather, and trim levels.  I recently had the pleasure of seeing
Patrick
> Moore's base model 58 Imperial.  It was black outside, with a black cloth
> interior.  The main difference, as near as I could tell, was than his car
> does not have rear A/C whereas mine does.  Other than that, except for
> color, the cars are remarkably similar.  They both have two cigarette
> lighters, whereas the Crown and the LeBaron have three.  With its lack of
> two tone paint, less interior and exterior trim and cloth seats, the base
> model makes a different statement that the Crowns.  It was more
understated,
> you could say, but it could still have all the mechanical bells and
whistles
> you might want.  The only thing I miss is the passenger side mirror.
>
> Once you chose your trim level, the number of options kept on reducing.
> Certain decisions on the part of the buyer, such as a dislike of leather,
> obligated him to go with the lowest trim level, but, then again, not
> everyone wanted two tone paint, either.  On the other hand you could still
> get as much "extra" equipment on the car as your pocket book allowed.
>
> The amazing thing is how varied these cars were once you get down to
> specifics.  For such a low production car, there were no less than three
> different types of wheel cover, one for each trim level.  In 1958, the
> Imperial was built at the same factory as the Chrysler, but on its own
> production line.  It must have been relatively leisurely paced.   63,681*
> Chryslers were built that year, almost four times as many.
>
> Hugh
>
>
>



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