More Silly

Bravo, Hugh. The point I have been trying to make is simply this: Chrysler Corp. in general and the Imperial Division in particular didn't have room to make mistakes. We were simply too small a company to be making cars, especially Imperials, with trunks that leaked and carbs that backfired and plugs that fouled etc. Cadillac had been around since the teens and Lincoln for a very long time as well. Both makes had enormous corporate structures and product lines behind them. Cadillac was a techno dinosaur in the fifties it was still using vacuum wipers thru 1957 and the suspension system was a death trap but unlike Chrysler, GM had the good sense to come out with a new V-8 shortly after the war plus the styling was ,for the time, right out of Buck Rogers. Imperial was solid , stodgy , underpowered and a DUD until at least 1955. Apparently no one at Chrysler learned any lessons from Packard- or if they did it was too late. The Imperial was to me the most wonderful car ever built when seen for the wonder that it was underneath the skin - this being the reason Uncle Tom liked them so much, he was not a superficial dilettante when it came to fine automobiles. Unfortunately the American Public were not all that interested in being up to date from a techno standpoint. What they did and still do understand is what is popular and makes a big splash when pulling up at the Country Club or in front of the church for a wedding. They also understand that a car that rusts is not one that will be kept or replaced with its' newer sibling the next year. For a period of time some of the trim on Imperials was anodized ribbed aluminum which looked amateurish as hell, then there was the black plastic and tin power window switches in the 60 - 63 imperials these looked cheap - Cadillac and Lincoln never used anything that was a downgrade in terms of obvious cosmetic items like this. It is little things that make or break a luxury car because the expectations placed on them by the people who buy them are so high. The Engel Lincolns of the early 60's were meticulous in terms of the attention to detail where the visuals were concerned. Ford stayed with this concept for almost ten years and now sells more Lincolns than GM sells Cadillacs. What Cadillac had going for it was visual continuity - you could look at what Hugh correctly calls the brutishly ugly 1958 Caddy and see styling elements that went back to 1949. But when you saw it you knew it was a Cadillac - no question. Imperial on the other hand, was all over the map, every three years needed or not the whole damn thing was turned inside out and the customer reeducation process began all over again. In the car business it's not the deal you get it's the deal you think you are getting. If you think you are getting elegance and quality then you will buy it - if you think you are getting something else you won't.

Chuck Milverton

413 + 727

Kildare, Texas