Bruno,
Welcome to the list! I'm now on my second '63. The most antique car fun I've
had was with my first one; a Crown 4 door. It was green with a white leather
interior and all the goodies. I used it as a daily driver from 1985 to 1991
swapping duties with my '68 Polara and other antiques I owned. I've always
been impressed with its ride (called it my couch on wheels!) and its ability
to turn heads.
In '87 (or 88, my memory is fading), my green beauty caught fire. I was
headed to church in Baytown and turned left when I lost power steering. As
everyone knows, these cars are HEAVY trying to steer them without the power
assist. Thought I had thrown a belt. I pulled into the parking lot of a
local What-a-Burger and popped the hood. The power steering had hose burst
and pumped fluid on the exhaust manifold. And it was on fire!
I ran into the restaurant and borrowed their fire extinguisher. DEAD! Next,
I went to grab a garden hose. WOULDN'T REACH! So, I threw the hood down and
grabbed my stuff out of the car. Seconds later, the battery exploded. So, I
stood there expecting to watch my green beauty be consumed.
Suddenly, a man in a pickup jumped out with a small fire extinguisher and I
popped open the hood again. Got it enough open to get the fire out and
opened hood all the way and coated it down with what was remaining from the
extinguisher. I turned around to thank the man but he was gone. I wish I
could have thanked him for helping me save this car!
>From then on, every vehicle I have has a fire extinguisher in the trunk. If
you don't have one, please get one.
On a side note, I just bought that car back a few weeks ago. Unfortunately,
its not in the same condition as I sold it and is currently being parted
out. I had sold it in late '98 in my successful search for a convertible.
Frankly, the 'vert has not been as much fun as that green one. But, you've
selected an incredible version of the best Marque.
Not sure why you'd want to convert to disc brakes. The stopping ability of
the '63's were better than previous Imperials of that era due to the
increased size of the brakes to 3 inches with flared brake drums. Hefty
units! The only issue would be (maybe) the issue with single channel
reservoir. But, you'll hear lots of opinions from others on the list.
Mark Evans
1963 Imperial Crown Convertible
http://www.io.com/~maevans/MyImperial/index.html
1968 Dodge Polara 500 Convertible
http://www.io.com/~maevans/MyPolara/index.html
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