Re: IML: Is it just me?

[<dansgarage@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Matt!...I must say that if I hadn't gotten started with having an Imperial as my 'daily driver' back in the early '70's, I really think I would have been a "DeSoto' Kinda guy instead! I had a '56 DeSoto in 1967 that my parents had gotten me so I could drive back from Ft. Mamouth, NJ to home in Staten Island on weekends. For the sum of $99.00 I drove home (from Pennsylvania - I think the dealer was named REEDSMAN's and may still be there!) with a beautiful black and white one-owner '56 DeSoto that practically had not a scratch on it. Turns out the original owner had just stopped into the dealership to trade the car in on a new car of some kind and they had just put this car out on the lot! Of course, back then it was just anther 10 year old car and $99.00 was about what you would have expected it to cost. What a car! Now that I think about it, I don't think I even had heard of an IMPERIAL at that time...however, since I was in the Army at that time I was lucky to be able to afford gas for the car....good thing it had this little 2-bbl carb ! (and, of course, gas was only about 30 cents a gallon or so!) If only I could have grabbed up a few Imperials back then!!! ( or maybe Daytona's or Superbirds...then  I could afford to sell them all today and get Imperials for each year!! (and restore then too!)
Dan melnik

---- Matthew Gill <mgill3@xxxxxxx> wrote: 

=============
AMEN TO THAT. I was just at the Mopar Nationals in Ohio just this  
past August and there was a sea of Cuda's, Challengers, and the  
like... *yawn*... Don't get me wrong, I love a big block Mopar as  
much as anybody, but i was probably one of the only guys scouting out  
Imperials. I think i saw a total of THREE in the ENTIRE event! It was  
terrible! I have no idea why there weren't more Imperials... then  
again they're rare like you said, but I was still disappointed. I was  
also disappointed that I didn't see a single DeSoto.

It's so funny when people mistake them for a Cadillac, in fact  
somebody did the same with my '81, a neighbor of mine asked "is that  
a Cadillac?" Hah! PLEASE! Imperials have always been a notch ahead of  
Cadillac. I hope Chrysler does well with the Imperial concept so that  
people know about it, i think it'll be an in your face to Cadillac.  
The 300C has sold so well, people seem to be paying attention to  
Chrysler which is great, I hope the Imperial does very well, and I  
know i'll be waiting to buy my own when i can afford it. Wonder what  
the price will be? I read somewhere in the range of $60k

Matt

On Dec 10, 2006, at 10:42 PM, parrow33@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> We Imperial owners are some of the luckiest in the hobby.  We like  
> automobiles that everyone at car shows love to look at but don't  
> want.  I was in the Dallas Mopar Club for many years and was the  
> only member without a "muscle" car. Most of the guys in the club  
> would rather have been dead than own an Imperial, unless they could  
> pull the engine(to drop in a Roadrunner or some other seen-one-seen- 
> them-all B-body)and push the carcass in the river. But when show  
> time came, you could barely see the car for the solid wall of  
> people looking at it!  A friend of mine & I would take turns  
> staying with the car('61 LeBaron) just to explain what it was and  
> to detail the joys of Imperial ownership. One of the best comments  
> I ever recieved was "Good looking Cadillac! What year is it?     I  
> once had a '65 LeBaron, good silver  paint, black leather that was  
> flawless, everything worked, good chrome, no dents or rust, and  
> tried to sell it. I couldn't give it away! I finally traded it for  
> a '61 Crown!
>   parts car. We Imperial owners rough it with cars th
> at have ALMOST no reproduction parts made and very few remaining  
> parts cars. I have better luck findng parts for a '36 Pierce-Arrow  
> than I do for the Imperials. I wouldn't trade the experience for  
> anything!
>
> Jim Payne
> '59 LeBaron
> '61 LeBaron
> '65 Crown Coupe
> '65 Crown Cv.
>>
>> From: <dansgarage@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Date: 2006/12/10 Sun PM 11:08:40 EST
>> To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Subject: IML: Is it just me?
>>
>> Hi All...Last week my January issue of Hemmings Motor News arrived  
>> and with it, not surprisingly, enclosed in the plastic wrapping,  
>> were a coupe of catalogs filled with 'Car Guy' stuff for Christmas  
>> presents! Again, this is nothing I'd call 'new'! Also included was  
>> a booklette referring to the upcoming ('07) Barrett-Jackson  
>> auction in Scotsdale, AZ. Usually I would look through this type  
>> of auction brochures with 'curiosity' more than anything else,  
>> since unless I hit the lottery I could no way afford to even  
>> think !! about affording one of these cars! Yes, there are always  
>> vehicles up for auction that i would LOVE to own, but I have to  
>> ask myself "If I bought a $100,000.00 GTX with only 250 miles on  
>> it, would I even take it out on the road??'......Sure there are  
>> less expensive cars out there but USUALLY the best ones (I realize  
>> that the term 'best' here is relative!) go to auctions such as the  
>> Barrett-Jackson ones since there are usually lots of folks with  
>> the big bucks attendi!
>  ng these functions. Now, after looking through the b
> rochure that came with my Hemmings, I saw a number of great  
> vehicles I would love to be able to own, but!!! although I may have  
> missed it, I SAW NO IMPERIALS AT ALL listed for the upcoming  
> auction! After thinking about this for a bit I guess its a good  
> news/bad news thing, cause if  the IMPERIALS were as in-demand as,  
> say, Dodge Daytona's, Roadrunners, Chrysler 300's or any of the  
> muscle cars, there would be no way that someone like myself could  
> ever have bought one in the first place! ...and I have been  
> fortunate enough to currently own two! I must admit though, it is  
> beyond me why IMPERIAL's in general are not MUCH more in demand  
> then they currently are! I think they were built so much better  
> then other cars of that era, they certainly are not a vehicle you  
> are liable to see passing you on the road whenever you DO go out  
> for a drive, the production numbers are certainly not high enough  
> for them to have been called 'commonly seen' even when they were  
> new!! If I had a 10 car garag!
>  e ( and the $$ to fill it up!) I'd surely have 10 Im
> perials in it (OK, maybe only 9 with one Hemi, 4-speed GTX!). I  
> know it sounds corny and allthat, but I truly enjoy owning my  
> Imperial(s) even if I just stand there and look at them! So, its  
> GOOD NEWS that these cars not not skyrocketing in price (so far) so  
> we can all afford to own one! The BAD NEWS (if you want to call it  
> that) is that because they are not in great demand, the parts are  
> not as easy to find as, say, parts for a '57 Chevy or a Roadrunner  
> might be. I guess thats what EVERY old car owner has to deal  
> with....and, the more I think about it, thats part of the enjoyment  
> of owning an old car in the first place!...that, along with the  
> looks you get when taking the car out for a drive! I just know that  
> some of those folks are saying to themselves "I sure wish we had  
> kept Grampy's old Imperial! what a car that was!!".......But I'm  
> still disappointed that there were no Imperials going to the  
> Barrett-Jackson auction! (that I know of)
>> I hope everyone has a GREAT Holiday ...stay safe and have a Happy!
>> Dan Melnik
>>
>>
>>
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