I think the Imperial always had a very distinctive look all it's own, from as
far back as I can remember. The 1956 Imperial certainly flowed into the 1957
style much more gracefully that Cadillac of the same years, and Imperials
continued a unique style with a wedge type shape, growing higher and wider
towards the rear, and always having an elaborate treatment around the tail
lights. They continued to evolve this unique style until 1963, when the Exner
era was over. Even the 1963 resembled the 1962, but they began to loose one of
the unique style elements, the stand alone elaborate tail lights, and finally
after 1963 they lost everything unique to their style, and became an entirely
different car. I think bringing in a stylist from Ford was Chryslers biggest
downfall to the unique style of the Imperial.
Just my thoughts, I know as a kid that's when I started to loose interest in
them, because they started looking like every other car.
Bill '59 Crown
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