Re: IML: Imperial 1957 and imperial 1957

["Burton Bouwkamp" <northburt@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Marty,

I was at the Jefferson Plant until 1960. From 1958 to 1960 I was Resident 
Engineering Manager representing Central Engineering (Highland Park) to 
Chrysler- Imperial Division Manufacturing, Sales and Service.

In 1960 they took all manufacturing away from the Plymouth, Dodge, and 
Chrysler-Imperial Divisions and combined them into a Car Assembly Group 
organization. The "Divisions" then became a merchandizing organization. At 
that time I transferred to Highland Park and became Manager of Product 
Planning for the Chrysler carline. The first new design that I was 
responsible for was the 1963 Chrysler. A great looking car with one major 
short coming - the rear track was too narrow for the body. We were unable to 
convince Management to spend the money to increase the track of the rear 
axle.

I don't remember anything specific about the 1959 model so it must have been 
a normal year. Nothing stands out except it was the year we introduced the 
"B" and "RB" engines.
Also, it was fun working with Perfect Circle in introducing Auto Pilot on 
the Imperial. Auto Pilot was invented by Ralph Teetor the blind President of 
Perfect Circle Corporation. The only conflict that we had was that we wanted 
to put numbers on the Auto Pilot control knob suggesting MPH. Ralph wanted 
letters; i.e. "A", "B", "C", etc. The compromise was "1", "2", "3", etc. 
(Ralph was concerned that the knob reading and the speed might not agree.)

Burt Bouwkamp


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <mtnose@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2007 3:26 PM
Subject: Re: IML: Imperial 1957 and imperial 1957


> Hi Burt,
>      Were you working there in 1959?
> If so can you tell us anything about the 59 production year?
> Marty
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Burton Bouwkamp" <northburt@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2007 5:32 AM
> Subject: Re: IML: Imperial 1957 and imperial 1957
>
>
> > Leonardo,
> >
> > I was a Product Engineer at the Chrysler Jefferson Plant in 1957 and 
> > 1958. In general, we built the 1958 Imperial a lot better than we built 
> > the 1957 model.  The reason is that we were not ready for production of 
> > the 1957 model when we started assembling bodies in the autumn of 1956. 
> > Unfortunately, we tried to start production anyway. Initial body fits and 
> > water leaks were so bad that after about a month we stopped production 
> > for several weeks to correct a lot of things. During the shut down we 
> > sent teams of product engineers - like me - and sales personnel to the 
> > field to meet with dealers to reassure them that we knew about the 
> > problems and were fixing them. The whole year was difficult and we never 
> > did achieve our quality objectives. One of our biggest problems in 1957 
> > was water leaks. A second problem was body shake on a rough road - or 
> > even on a smooth road if a tire or wheel was out of round or out of 
> > balance.
> >
> > With the new style we got a lot of new (to Chrysler Corporation) buyers. 
> > Many were so dissatisfied with the quality of their cars that they vowed 
> > never to buy another Chrysler or Imperial.
> >
> > Today, most restored 1957 Imperials probably have had the body fit 
> > problems fixed that we built in to them on the production line 50 years 
> > ago.
> >
> > Burt Bouwkamp
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "Leonardo Gaona" <buickriviera1955@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> > To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2007 12:07 AM
> > Subject: IML: Imperial 1957 and imperial 1957
> >
> >
> > > Hello . i want to know from the point of view of the members of this 
> > > community , wiich imperial is better the imperial 1957 or 1958 , there 
> > > so tiny the differences between them that i would really like to listen 
> > > your opinions about it. thanks
> > >
> > > Leonard
> > >
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