1962 Crown Imperial

[Clay Harrison]

Apologies in advance if this is the wrong forum for this.

My son's father in law passed a few weeks ago. He was the owner of a small local used car lot for over 30 years. While in town dealing with the associated issues, his mother in law took him out to the storage building behind the house to look at the old "Chrysler" she wanted him to have!

He bought the car at auction in 1979 and sold it to a customer who couldn't make the payments so he repo'd the car and parked it in the building in 1980.

I guess we could call this a true barn find. My son says it has so much grime on it he can't tell what color it is. He thinks white or silver?

So my son is back home in SC and the car is about 20 minutes from me. Guess it'll be my job to check things out so I have a couple of questions.
Would this car have a vin tag on the fender?
Anyone here know where we can find a parts manual and service manual for it?
I'll load some pics as soon as I can get them.

 

[crv]

Manuals are not hard to find, a quick search on ebay: 1962 Chrysler Imperial Service Manual | eBay Illustrated MoPar Parts Manual for 1962 Plymouth - Dodge - Chrysler - Imperial | eBay

 

[3175375]

Apologies in advance if this is the wrong forum for this.

My son's father in law passed a few weeks ago. He was the owner of a small local used car lot for over 30 years. While in town dealing with the associated issues, his mother in law took him out to the storage building behind the house to look at the old "Chrysler" she wanted him to have!

He bought the car at auction in 1979 and sold it to a customer who couldn't make the payments so he repo'd the car and parked it in the building in 1980.

I guess we could call this a true barn find. My son says it has so much grime on it he can't tell what color it is. He thinks white or silver?

So my son is back home in SC and the car is about 20 minutes from me. Guess it'll be my job to check things out so I have a couple of questions.
Would this car have a vin tag on the fender?
Anyone here know where we can find a parts manual and service manual for it?
I'll load some pics as soon as I can get them.

What a treat! You are in the right place. Factory Service Manual is available via EBay.
Others will chime in with guidance.

 

[Imperialist67]

Check out www.imperialclub.com
- there's a wealth of knowledge about 1962 Imperials. Good luck with it!

 

[413]

Vin tag is in the drivers door jamb. It is shiny like chrome, spot welded on with two open holes. Don’t put rivets in those holes.

Many state inspectors don’t know this is how they are attached. Or that the numbers stamped in the body is not the VIN number.

 

[Ripinator]

Apologies in advance if this is the wrong forum for this.

My son's father in law passed a few weeks ago. He was the owner of a small local used car lot for over 30 years. While in town dealing with the associated issues, his mother in law took him out to the storage building behind the house to look at the old "Chrysler" she wanted him to have!

He bought the car at auction in 1979 and sold it to a customer who couldn't make the payments so he repo'd the car and parked it in the building in 1980.

I guess we could call this a true barn find. My son says it has so much grime on it he can't tell what color it is. He thinks white or silver?

So my son is back home in SC and the car is about 20 minutes from me. Guess it'll be my job to check things out so I have a couple of questions.
Would this car have a vin tag on the fender?
Anyone here know where we can find a parts manual and service manual for it?
I'll load some pics as soon as I can get them.

Mighty fine, Clay. This could turn out to be a fun and satisfying project - getting the car cleaned up and running.

 

[Clay Harrison]

What a treat! You are in the right place. Factory Service Manual is available via EBay.
Others will chime in with guidance.

Ordered!!!

 

[1970FuryConv]

Virginia cars don't usually survive. Lucky it was in a storage garage. Hope you're double lucky and the engine turns!
Also, hope mice haven't eaten it up. Have to kill them with glue boards every year.
Enjoy!

 

[Clay Harrison]

Virginia cars don't usually survive. Lucky it was in a storage garage. Hope you're double lucky and the engine turns!
Also, hope mice haven't eaten it up. Have to kill them with glue boards every year.
Enjoy!

I'm gonna go check it out this weekend.

 

[Clay Harrison]

Does anyone know if 62's had build sheets?

 

[imperialman]

Check out www.imperialclub.com
- there's a wealth of knowledge about 1962 Imperials. Good luck with it!

Agreed > The first place I would research online.

 

[MAXWEDGECHAR]

For the build sheet check inside the seats, specifically the back seat bottom. I have also seen them attached to the outside of the glove box insert. The data plate might be attached to the left front windshield pillar.

 

[Clay Harrison]

Well my son and his family came up from SC last week for the holiday and he came with the car trailer in tow. We spent a long day on Saturday dealing with a myriad of car trash piled in the way, four completely rotted tires, and some groundhog dens that undercut the area where it was stored but we managed to get it loaded up and the trip to SC was fairly smooth. Special thanks to Ron's used tires in Winchester, VA!

She's very dirty but overall in pretty good shape! The headliner is shot, none of the door handles work (and BTW his father now owes him a driver's inside door handle if anyone knows where to find one), the air cleaner is missing. Happy to report NO major body rust.

 

[OKDart]

A plucked chicken! That's what Exner called the '62 line up. I had a '61 Imperial with the really tall fins for a short time.

Here's a few things I know about them. That body style was from 61-63 and boasted the thickest sheetmetal on any production car, so you probably won't find any hail dents or door dings on it! And the front clip is all one piece, so you'd need an army to remove it. The headlights were a throwback to the days when pedestal headlights were common on luxury cars. '61 had trumpet horns, but I think '62 changed to the regular horns. '61 Imperial was first year for the alternator, then in '62 the rest of the Mopars got them. The instrument lighting is electroluminescence, high voltage current runs through the paint and it glows, 66-67 Charger had it too. Your power supply has probably gone bad, but there are fixes for it. The frame on them will put a modern truck frame to shame, they are fully boxed and very thick. The wheel studs are bigger than normal, 5/8" I think, and 5" bolt pattern.
Also the '62 big block transmission is desirable because it will accept a later big block (440, 383, 400), people use them to put a big block in an earlier Forward Look car and still retain the push button shift and tail mounted parking brake.

Online Imperial Club (OIC) for Imperial, Chrysler Imperial, and Chrysler New Yorker Brougham Enthusiasts has lots of good info.