Southamptons

[Christopher Hoffman <imperial67@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Minor point of correction to Neal's excellent overview...

Southampton was first used on the 1956 Imperial hardtops. The 1955 Imperial
hardtop (which only came as a 2-door), like its Chrysler Division
counterparts, was a Newport.

Chris in LA
67 Crown
78 NYB Salon

On 7/14/04 11:29 am, chrycordoba@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (chrycordoba@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx)
wrote:

> Southampton was the nomenclature used to designate Imperial's hardtop between
> 1955 and 1962, the same as Buick's Riviera, Oldsmobile's Holiday, and
> Chrysler's Newport names were used in the Fifties.  It had nothing to do with
> trim levels, as there were Custom Southamptons, Crown Southamptons and LeBaron
> Southamptons.  By 1961, all Imperials were hardtops or convertibles, and with
> Exner on his way out by 1963, dropping the name made even more sense, i.e. to
> distance the make from what had then become dated styling and passe names.  Of
> course, Riviera and Newport went on to subsequent lives as models in their own
> right.
> 
> Neal Herman
> 1959 Imperial Crown 4-door Southampton
> 1965 Pontiac Bonneville 4-door Vista (Pontiac's mid-60s name for hardtops)
> 1972 Buick Riviera
> et al.